Saturday, March 12, 2011

Depression Era Teachings: Laundry and rinse loads

I continue to learn new lessons on frugality from my little 91 year old Alice.



Alice has taught me to use her 'rinse cycle' for clothes that are not dirty (per say).  An example would be her nightgowns. Instead of running her nightgowns through an entire full wash cycle she'll have me run them through the rinse cycle. Her pants (just worn inside around the house) and sheets are another example.

I'm glad to learn about this frugal tip. I can see how it will help keep water and electricity costs down.

Do you have any frugal ideas that you've learned from an older woman?

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip, keep them coming. I'm on the verge of canceling my cable tv and trying to find a cheaper version of my cell phone. I heard someone bought one at Walmart that is only costing them about $100 a year. I also may look into calling cards instead. Do you unplug appliances you are not using. I did it for a while and then went back to the usual. Linda

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here in Florida we can hang clothes out to dry. I also remember as a child hanging clothes in the basement and using those lines with safety pins to have curtains for plays we made up. We had more fun being creative than getting new toys.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a great one! It will be a few years probably before I can use it though. I did learn a similar one while in Africa. They diluted the dishwater to be only slightly soapy, then just dried the clean dishes without rinsing. I haven't done that one either :( Maybe when the kids are grown.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is a good idea,in this economy we can use all the help we can get. Thanks again. Blessings jane

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have come to respect water ... which alone can clean well.

    Also, used to recycle the rinse water for the next wash load; now that might be hard to do with an automatic washer. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've thought of doing that--just rinsing things out--I figure I haven't been rolling in the dirt. I remember when I was a kid, I threw out a small piece of onion and caught heck for it from my mom--she said how she could have used that to flavor something. Now, I think the same thing when I get down to a little piece of onion.
    She taught me so many thrift ideas, things I do now myself--reuse aluminum foil after wiping off, wash out plastic sandwich bags (if no meat, etc. was in them), all sorts of things too numerous to think of right now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My Mom taught me alot about how to save during laundry. I only use about 1/4 cup per large load of laundry. It cleans just the same.

    I don't use special detergent for whites..sensitive color detergent works great on everything.

    Airdrying makes your clothes last longer, and washing them inside out stops them from fading as fast.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well my Grandma used to save jars, string, twist ties and rubber bands. She put homemade jam in the jars--although I taught her NOT to put it in used pickle jars- yuk!

    She also stitched around the edges of rags with her peddle sewing machine--so they lasted and she made her own furniture polish--which I wish I had the recipe for. It was a dark oil.

    I loved going to her house because it was so tidy! I was fascinated with her drawers and closets--all things put away nicely. No rubbermaid containers back then, she would take recycled gift boxes and store things in them, and shoe boxes and tie them with recycled string. She also made use of coffee cans and jars and paper bags, very little garbage came from her house, and she stood guard to make sure not too much extra was brought in either.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love this idea. Going to start using it. Hugs

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment.