Frugal Friday - Squeaky Clean

I am one of the lucky ones. My husband does laundry. Hallelujah the man has domestic skills, laundry and dishes to boot! I am blessed. I can’t complain. Or can I? Well, yes, yes I can. Because, you see, the man uses way too much detergent. If a little is good a lot is faaaaar better. Man theory seems to be that clothes can’t get clean without a significant outpouring of soap. And this is the last thing we need.

You see we use Kirkland Brand High Efficiency Detergent. I researched this brand before making the switch. This is a high-sudsing detergent and therefore one should use significantly less than what is called for on the packaging (and this makes sense - I mean how many of you really wash your hair then rinse and repeat according to manufacturer instructions? Not me!). Anyway I bought the soap then the hub and I had an engaging discussion about appropriate detergent volumes (because what better way to get down to business than by reviewing the chemistry of laundry).

But here’s the thing. We talked about it. He didn’t listen. Because laundry simply can’t get clean without lots and lots of suds. Case closed. I was confronted with two choices. One - do all the laundry myself. Um, yeah, no. Or two - find another means to an end. I chose option two.

Today I filled an empty detergent bottle half full from a new detergent bottle. Then I diluted both bottles with equal volumes of water. Problem solved. The hub can continue to do laundry and use a large volume of soap. Me, I’ll know we’re actually using less detergent. Shhhh! This'll be our little secret!

And along those laundry lines ... I’ve been giving our softener sheets triple duty. Twice through the drier and then used as dusting clothes. However, I still feel guilty as these sheets end up in the landfill. So, as soon as our supply runs out, I’m going to try making my own fabric sheets. To do this I’ll need liquid fabric softener, a spray bottle and an old washcloth. Dilute the fabric softener 1:4 with water. With each dryer load spray a couple of squirts of the mixture on the washcloth and place in dryer. I’ll let you know how that pans out. Also, synthetics cause the most static. Therefore consider line-drying your synthetics to eliminate the cling. Plus synthetics dry fast anyway. If only I could find that indoor laundry line ...

And one final thought for the day. I came across this no poo post and am thinking of giving it a whirl. Fewer chemicals, better for the environment, frugal ... what’s not to like?

Happy Frugal Friday all!