Extending the Life of Your Clothes
Smart Solutions : Episode SSL-917 -- More Projects »
Author Angie Zalewski explains why you should take extra care with laundry to extend the life of your clothes.
- Turn jeans inside out before washing. Any dye that escapes will be re-absorbed.
- Tie all draw strings (on hooded jackets and pants) tightly before washing to keep from losing the string in the casing.
- To keep buttons from coming off in the wash, button shirts before washing. Put a dot of clear fingernail polish on the threads of loose buttons to keep them from loosening more.
Before washing, rub a white wax candle or bar of soap along the teeth of a zipper (figure A) and zip it up. This will keep the zipper moving smoothly even after numerous washings. Repeat every two to three washes.To maintain terrycloth, wash in baby shampoo instead of detergent. Use only 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of shampoo that you would normally use of detergent.Measuring detergent--Feel inside the measuring cup to find the fill line and fill only to that line rather than to the top of the cup. Most people use too much liquid detergent in the wash.
To find the best value for detergent, look on the bottle to see how many loads the container can do (figure B). Divide the price by the number of loads in a bottle to arrive at your cost per load.Find the detergent that works best with your type of water.Instead of dryer sheets, which can be costly, press a random sock against the mouth of liquid softener. Turn the bottle over once until a small circle of softener is left behind on the sock. That amount is all you need to do a load of clothes. Just pitch the sock in the dryer with the wet clothes. If you do use fabric-softener sheets, cut them into thirds and use one per load. Another option is to mix a solution of half water, half fabric softener and spray it three to four times on wet laundry before putting it into the dryer.Make your own mix of spray starch: Mix one cup of water with two tablespoons of cornstarch and put in spray bottle. Use as you would any spray starch.
Resources Cheap Talk with the Frugal Friends: Over 600 Tips, Tricks, and Creative Ideas for Saving Money
by Angie Zalewski, Deana Ricks
Starburst Publishers, 2001
Order this title from Amazon.com.
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