I am going to start trying to post a "Works for Me Wednesday" post every Wednesday with something I do around the house or elsewhere that works for me! I am excited about this because I recently found a love for trying new things, especially money saving frugal things! I used to be a person that didn't care about money spent, spent plenty of it, was very wasteful, and very disorganized! Also not to make myself look worse or anything.... lol.... I was an awful housekeeper! I never cleaned house because I was too busy with my stay at home job, I also never cooked, did laundry, or anything besides "work".
I am glad those days are over and I must say, if they had an "Extreme Life Choices Makeover" show I would definitely be the #1 star! I am proud to say that in just a short 2 months or so, I transformed into a regular little Susy Homemaker! It just makes one feel so much better to be eco-friendly, cook good meals for so cheap, and have a spotless house all the time! Yes I have given up my stay at home job for the most part, I still do a few hours a week and still bring a decent little income, but for the most part I am have become more involved with being a good mother versus being a good worker. I wish I could balance the 2 of them better but I am finding it hard right now. I am constantly tired and once I finish the housework and cooking I find it hard to get motivated to do any real work. Plus my son is out for the summer and it's hard to do anything with him around, work wise. Once he goes back to school and my new baby is born I am planning on returning to my job and putting at least 20-30 hours a week back in and bumping that income back up.
Anyways, enough rambling already! Here is my Works for Me Wednesday!
Hang drying laundry!! Today I am trying this for the first time ever. I have been fortunate enough to have a washer and dryer for the past 4 or so years and it is just so easy to throw wet clothes into the dryer and turn it on. I am not sure how much electricity this is actually going to save, or how much money off my light bill but I sure hope it's more than noticeable. I am one of those people that throw the laundry into the dryer, turn it on on the hottest setting then forget about the clothes and when I get around to hanging them I turn the dryer back on to get the wrinkles out. So I go off to do something else and forget about the laundry again for another 3 hours, then I turn the dryer on again to get the wrinkles out.... again.... and usually wind up forgetting them again.
Needless to say, I read somewhere that the electric dryer can be one of the most energy consuming appliances in a home next to the hot water heater and refrigerator. My light bill has been dropping the past couple of months since summer is in full swing here in Texas and the AC cost considerable less to run than electric heaters. Last month my bill was 135$. I haven't gotten my bill yet this month but I am hoping for at least a 10$ drop from that. I am going to note when my cycle runs and note that today I started line drying my clothes, and when I get the next months bill I am going to compare and see how much I really saved.
I know nothing about this so I am hoping to drop at least 20-30$ off my light bill but my estimate could be totally off, like I said I don't have any idea how much it will save. If my light bill only goes down like 5$ a month, I will probably wind up just drying my laundry in the dryer again because it is very time consuming to line dry, plus I have to constantly guard my clothes from my dogs who are at this very moment jumping in the air trying to grab my husbands jeans to play tug of war with. As much as I hate to say it, if this doesn't save a good chunk of money I will regretfully be going back to the old ways. Hopefully this will work for me.
I am glad those days are over and I must say, if they had an "Extreme Life Choices Makeover" show I would definitely be the #1 star! I am proud to say that in just a short 2 months or so, I transformed into a regular little Susy Homemaker! It just makes one feel so much better to be eco-friendly, cook good meals for so cheap, and have a spotless house all the time! Yes I have given up my stay at home job for the most part, I still do a few hours a week and still bring a decent little income, but for the most part I am have become more involved with being a good mother versus being a good worker. I wish I could balance the 2 of them better but I am finding it hard right now. I am constantly tired and once I finish the housework and cooking I find it hard to get motivated to do any real work. Plus my son is out for the summer and it's hard to do anything with him around, work wise. Once he goes back to school and my new baby is born I am planning on returning to my job and putting at least 20-30 hours a week back in and bumping that income back up.
Anyways, enough rambling already! Here is my Works for Me Wednesday!
Hang drying laundry!! Today I am trying this for the first time ever. I have been fortunate enough to have a washer and dryer for the past 4 or so years and it is just so easy to throw wet clothes into the dryer and turn it on. I am not sure how much electricity this is actually going to save, or how much money off my light bill but I sure hope it's more than noticeable. I am one of those people that throw the laundry into the dryer, turn it on on the hottest setting then forget about the clothes and when I get around to hanging them I turn the dryer back on to get the wrinkles out. So I go off to do something else and forget about the laundry again for another 3 hours, then I turn the dryer on again to get the wrinkles out.... again.... and usually wind up forgetting them again.
Needless to say, I read somewhere that the electric dryer can be one of the most energy consuming appliances in a home next to the hot water heater and refrigerator. My light bill has been dropping the past couple of months since summer is in full swing here in Texas and the AC cost considerable less to run than electric heaters. Last month my bill was 135$. I haven't gotten my bill yet this month but I am hoping for at least a 10$ drop from that. I am going to note when my cycle runs and note that today I started line drying my clothes, and when I get the next months bill I am going to compare and see how much I really saved.
I know nothing about this so I am hoping to drop at least 20-30$ off my light bill but my estimate could be totally off, like I said I don't have any idea how much it will save. If my light bill only goes down like 5$ a month, I will probably wind up just drying my laundry in the dryer again because it is very time consuming to line dry, plus I have to constantly guard my clothes from my dogs who are at this very moment jumping in the air trying to grab my husbands jeans to play tug of war with. As much as I hate to say it, if this doesn't save a good chunk of money I will regretfully be going back to the old ways. Hopefully this will work for me.
5 comments:
Good luck! I need something that will work for us. Our electricity bill last month was $250 and we don't have electric heat or air conditioning! We replaced our hot water heater thinking that would help and it is only saving an average of 2 kilowatts a day or 60 a month which apparently due to rate increases didn't change my bill!!! So perhaps I should think of hanging my clothes. We do about 5 loads of laundry a week, maybe that will help us???
Good for you! You may find that you don't like the "crunchiness" of line-dried clothes. If it bothers you, toss them in the dryer for 5 minutes before you hang them out. I've started doing this, and it makes a huge difference in the softness of the clothes while still saving lots of energy!
I've started line-drying to save money, too. But I also find it relaxing!
Jeni is right about the crunchiness--this is usually a problem with heavy cotton things like jeans and towels. I do the opposite of her--I line dry and then take them off while still damp. Then I throw them in the dryer for 10 minutes. Either way, it works.
If you do go back to machine washing/drying, here's a great tip: run the wash through the last spin cycle twice. It will throw more water off the clothes and the dryer won't have to work as hard. That could save you a little money, too.
I had to giggle when I read your post. I have been a washer and dryer girl all my life. However, I am now in Taiwan and have no dryer! Yikes. I was scared. However, it has been fine. Can't tell you how much it saves, but hanging your clothes on the the line is nice. I wish I had a dryer to get rid of the crunchies =) That is the only downside!
You can also buy a rack to hang your clothes inside, away from the dogs!
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