Meeting Some Resistance in My “Reduce a Bill” Challenge
October 8, 2007 – 10:17 amWelcome to Working For Financial Freedom. If this is your first visit please read about this blog. You can keep updated by subscribing by email or to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
So, my “Reduce a Bill” Challenge is turning out to truly be a challenge.
If you are just tuning in now here’s the scoop. For the month of October I’m going to line dry my laundry; at least 4 loads a week in order to save money and reduce my electric bill. I’ve challenged my blog readers to join me. Other blogs have picked up on it and we have quite a good group going. It’s not to late to join, just leave a comment on this post or the original challenge post with what bill or expense you want to reduce this month. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy or hard, maybe you just want to spend $5 less a week on groceries or eat out less.
How did the first week go?
Well…I was able to line dry 3 loads of laundry. I hit a bit of a snag. It seems when I air dry my husband’s t-shirts the neck of the t-shirt doesn’t shrink back to normal and it dries really odd looking. DH doesn’t like it; and truly, he has a point. It looks bad.
So what can I do?
I’m going to arrange my laundry this weeks so all of his t-shirts are washed in one load and then they will be dryed in the dryer. I haven’t had a problem air drying my clothes, the kids clothes or my husband’s shorts or pants so I will keep air drying those so that I can meet my goal of 4 loads line dryed a week.
Has anyone else had this problem with line/air drying t-shirts? Any suggestions?
Other than that I’m doing good and it doesn’t take me much time at all to hang up the clothes.
How is everyone else doing?
10 Responses to “Meeting Some Resistance in My “Reduce a Bill” Challenge”
What a great solution you came up with regarding your Dhs shirts! You are doing Awesome with sticking to hang drying your clothes,WTG! :).
My “No Spend Days” is going pretty good. I have had 2 already since starting this challenge Oct 4th and yesterday Oct 7th :). WOW, in a 3 day period I had 2 no spend days!
With my budget however we really don’t have much room for spending so I just might exceed my 10 no spend days for the month of Oct lol.
By Heather on Oct 8, 2007
What part of the shirt are you using to hang it on the line? Try hanging them upside-down, or folding them over the line (around mid-chest level). I found if I clip at the shoulders, they look funny, but anywhere else can easily settle out (or maybe a touch of the iron for stiff cotton tshirts).
By Jenny P on Oct 8, 2007
Heather,
You are on a roll! ha ha!
Jenny,
Hi! Welcome to my site. Thanks for visiting.
Ok, this will sound stupid but I don’t even have a clothes drying rack. I’m hanging a lot of things on hangers in my laundry room (I have a 9 foot rod on a shelf in my laundry room) along with a small rack (for one shirt). The kids stuff dries fine hanging up but I noticed my husband’s shirts tried funny on the clothes hangers (the corner of the hangers poke through the shoulder area of the shirts). So I’ve been laying them flat on top of the dryer, washer and the one small rack I do have. Even drying flat the neck area is funky.I guess I could hang them in half on a clothes hanger (like a pair of pants) until I get a clothes rack.
I have a HE washer, could that possibly be spinning the shirts too fast that the neckline gets a little warped?
By Momof3 on Oct 8, 2007
What about trying drying the load only a little bit? If it takes 40 minutes for them to be perfectly dry, maybe take them out at 20 and hang them for the rest of the time.
I find that if I hang shirts at the stomach over the line, there aren’t any problems later.
By Kacie on Oct 8, 2007
I’m with Kacie. I can’t line dry due to rain, but during the summer I dry them most of the way and throw them in the dryer for a 5-10 minute fluff.
On my project, I’m completing my first No Spend day. Tomorrow will be another.
By Mary on Oct 8, 2007
Hang drying t-shirts on hangers will definitely make them look funny. I like the hanging upside-down idea. And I think Kacie’s idea would probably work pretty well, too.
So far my grocery bill is staying low. I went shopping with the grocery game list today. I didn’t buy a whole lot, but I got great deals on everything I did buy. I also cleaned out my pantry, so I can better organize my finds.
My eating out bill spiked. I’ve been sick with a cold, and there’s nothing that kills my motivation for being frugal and cooking more than being sick. So I backslid for a few days. I’m back on track again though.
By Lynnae @ Being Frugal on Oct 9, 2007
Kacie,
I will give it a try. I’m actually caught up on laundry so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to experiment.
Mary,
Great job! I will take your tip and try it tomorrow. 1 load I will dry in the dryer half the time, and the finish it my air drying. The other load I will air dry first and then finish by fluffing in the dryer and see which works the best.
By Momof3 on Oct 9, 2007
Lynnae,
How are you liking the Grocery Game so far?
Is the cold getting better? I feel your pain; there is nothing like being sick that kills your motivation to cook (and do the dishes afterwards…)
By Momof3 on Oct 9, 2007
I usually hang my comforters over our bar stools to dry, so that saves atleast one load a week.
All of my “camis” and underwear get hung up also and that is usually one load.
Our dryer seems to take forever to dry lately. I clean the lint filter after every load.
By Debby Banning on Oct 13, 2007
My old dryer took forever before we got rid of it (it was actually the washer that died first). I noticed a huge difference with our new set (which is actually our first new set. our first washer & dryer we bought used). I think a lot of it has to do with how fast the washer spins the clothes; it really gets a lot of the water out. My drying time went from 1 hr 15 to about 45 minutes!
Maybe the hose going from the dryer to vent is clogged a bit?
By Momof3 on Oct 15, 2007