Here are some tips that you may or may not know that are likely to save some of the time and expense on the laundry and clothing budget. Use less detergent than required. Often you won't need as much as the box recommends so play with the amounts. Make your own detergent for pennies. There are numerous...

Our old electric dryer died a couple of years ago so we sold it for scrap and started using a clothesline. The electric bill went down by $30/mo. And we gained space to store canned food! I also have two drying racks that I use indoors in wet weather, or out on the deck in good weather. And the deck...

Thanks, jillibean. I guess I need to get a finer grater or get a food processor that I can dedicate to just this. (Freecycle, here I come!) Penny

In your instructions for mixing the laundry powder, when you say 11-14 oz of soap are you referring to its weight or its measurement in a cup? I tried it by weight and I'm thinking maybe that's wrong. I used it on a batch of towels and the grated soap didn't dissolve completely so I had to...

[:) Hi, I have been looking into homemade laundry soap and if you would have mixed in Arm and Hammer washing soap you would have enough for about two years. I found the recipe on Stretcher and can only find the washing soap online. If you could heat the jar and melt the soap you could still do this,...

Hi, I don't suffer from dust mite allergy, but I looked on Stretcher and came up with this link: http://www.stretcher.com/stories/05/05jan10a.cfm I found that using Pine Sol is harsh on the clothes. I try to find gentle soap and if it is sudsy, put in vinegar. I live alone, and am amazed at how much...

The last time I was out of washing detergent, I used a little bit of my hand soap (natural homemade lemon scent) and a little vinegar to cut down the suds. It worked great. I have been looking locally for Arm & Hammer washing soda to mix with grated soap for it seems the most frugal way to go- about...

Well, good news! I was going through a Reader's Digest all-things-household book when I happened on a section on washer troubleshooting. Turns out that both of my washer woes (poor agitation, not spinning) can be caused by a loose drive belt. Now that we know what the problem probably is, the husband...

So far I'm still wringing by hand. I hate it. It irritates my hands, doesn't work very well for the clothes, chills my already freezing joints, and takes a lot of time. I need a tool of some kind. I'm thinking about taking two plastic laundry baskets taht nest inside of each and drilling...

I started out at the beginning of summer stringing up a clothes line outside. After much fooling around and putting it here and there, I came up with two places to hook it up. When summer is here, we have a small AG pool and the clothesline needs to be rerouted. Since I have one old original pole, I...