Saving Money Big-Time on Your Laundry

Have you ever considered hand-washing your laundry?

You might well have a commodity that people who are employees or are self-employed lack or at least are short of–TIME. If you put in an hour of work in your home to save having to pay out dollars, you can keep the portion of your public benefits that you would have needed to give away. For example, instead of spending perhaps $3 weekly at the Laundromat–that’s $13.50 monthly, more than half the price of a $25 Metro PCS “voice-only 4G LTE” cell-phone plan–you can simply hand-wash at  home.

I use for items like towels and clothing three dishpans, each eighteen-quart. Those fit neatly, two on the counter next to my sink and one in the sink. I use dishwash detergent in the dishpans. I have found that it is too difficult to rinse out laundry detergent with this method. I fill the “rinse” basin first, with hot water and about one Tablespoon of white distilled vinegar (as a fabric softener) for linens. I fill the “rinse” basin with cold water alone for clothing. I set the “rinse” basin and the empty basin ready to receive clothing to be hung on the counter. Then I fill the “cleaning” basin with soapy water and add the textiles. I can do one bath towel, two hand towels, and a dish towel in one load. Twelve pairs of socks and two dinner napkins make up another load. One dress (adult’s) makes up a load. (As you can see, I separate clothes by wash temperature, not color.) I set a timer for fifteen minutes and do other things. When the timer alerts me, I move the “cleaning” basin to the right. I remove the textiles from the water. I press them against the side of the dishpan to release water and to avoid the heavy labor of wringing fabric when it remains heavy with liquid. Then I prepare new “cleaning” water and start a new load, setting the timer for another fifteen minutes. After that second load is washed, the items from the “rinse” basin are ready for the “done” basin, ready to be hung out to dry.

I never do more than three sink loads in a day. I have tried doing more, and I find it oppressive. You might find that you prefer getting a whole Laundry Day over with.

What about larger items–jeans, sheets, or blankets? You’ll need a bathtub, a plunger/plumber’s helper that you bought spanking-new and have dedicated to the laundry, and regular laundry detergent. The plunger is for agitating the items in the water. The only way to wring out the clothes is to stomp out the water with your bare feet, which means that all the detergent should be rinsed out in a large amount of water in the tub first. (There is an expensive alternative, of getting a manual wringer machine, such as is sold by Lehman’s, an Old-Order Amish company.)

Regarding items that need to be sanitized, such as diapers, you can probably wash them in the dishpans in the sink, but after you rinse them in the toilet upon use, soak them in one tablespoon of chlorine bleach to one gallon of water. This can be done in a covered pail, well out of the reach of children or pets.

As to hanging the textiles, on a clothesline, furniture, or a rack that you can find in a thrift store are all fine. Personally, I keep clothespins hanging in each grid opening on shelving over my bathtub and I drape linens over the tub transfer bench that I use due to disability. There is no keeping you from hanging a clothesline indoors! Any drying clothes will add humidity to your home, which at least in Winter you will appreciate.

© Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.

  

The "Hankering" Way to Target a Low-Cost Menu

Instead of going grocery-shopping when you pass a store, pass up the store until you figure out what you really want–and how to get it on your budget. Here’s a personal example from today. I’d been having a vegetable lasagna and turkey at alternate dinners and supper. (More on that turkey on the Recipes Page.) I was thinking of taking out a can of peaches from my emergency storage, but realized that fruit wasn’t “It.” I’ve been drinking canned pineapple juice at many breakfasts ($2.99 for five servings), enjoying a couple of tangerines or an apple left over from my pre-holidays Food Bank delivery (December 20, 2017–has to last until the next delivery after vacation, on January 10, 2018—note well, this post was written months ago and posted on the WordPress site!) Furthermore, I was having occasional snacks of Bonne Maman jam (just a teaspoon or two–Bonne Maman is reasonably-priced and does not include high-fructose corn syrup, which I avoid ingesting. It satisfies a craving for sweets.)–I didn’t really want fruit…. But that line of thought clued me in that I wanted produce. I started to plan putting corn into the cornbread that I’d be baking once my current zucchini/pineapple/coconut quick bread is gone, but something out of a can or the freezer didn’t hack it. I wanted fresh, and I wanted greens. 

After all, today (when posted on WordPress) is only a week past the Winter Solstice, and fresh greens are hard to find at a reasonable price. I went to the produce mart, and was delighted to find that sunny California (well, except for our tragic wild fires) has produced romaine lettuce at a decent price ($2.99 for three hearts of romaine–the bunched romaine worked out to a similar price, oddly enough) to provide at least six large salads. In a less sunny corner of the world, you might need to purchase winter greens like turnip, mustard, or collards, but you get the idea of how to narrow down your choices. Find your “hankering” first. Hand over that cold cash second.

(C) Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.

Food Prices, Including Chocolate Costs, are Rising. Buy Now!

General Mills will be raising its prices on Cheerios cereal, Yoplait yogurt, and many of its other processed goods as soon as it can overcome the reluctance of some grocery chains that are trying to keep prices stable. The reason is overwhelming pressure on its logistics expenses, as truck freight costs have escalated rapidly during this past year.

Other companies that are likely to follow this example are Campbell Soup, Kellogg Co., Conagra Brands Inc., Hershey Co., Mondalez International Inc, J.M. Smucker Co., Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods Corp., and B&G food makers—all due to truck freight cost rises. (My source for the above is the March 22, 2018 article, “Food Makers Ready Higher Prices,” in The Wall Street Journal, page B1.)

And, specifically, cocoa and its products are going to be hit hard, due to agricultural problems in Ivory Coast and Ghana (The Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2018, page B16.)       

Therefore, a word to the wise: Buy all forms now—chips, unsweetened baking bars, and unsweetened cocoa. You might want to put some candy bars in the freezer for your kids’—or your—later enjoyment, too!

© Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.