Lunch | thefashionablycleanlady

Here are 16 quick ways to save time and money on laundry:

1. Re-wear your jeans, at least 2x.

2. Re-wear and re-purpose. Pj’s worn two nights in a row can be exercise clothes in the morning.

3. If you have only wore it for a few hours, hang it up!

4. Make your own laundry soap. Laundry soap recipes can be found for a dime-a-dozen on the internet for both regular machines and H.E. machines. Homemade laundry soap lasts longer and is much cheaper.

5. Use cold water, it is just as effective as warm/hot.

6. Use a clothes line (indoor or outdoor) to wasting energy by running the dryer. If you do need to run the dryer, run it during cold/winter days and keep your laundry closet/room open. You can warm part of the house and possibly not have to have the heat on.

7. Have a laundry schedule and stick to it!

8. Put clothes away, RIGHT away, to avoid ironing, or hang it up right away at least!

9. De-clutter and de-clothes your closet! Less clothes makes for less laundry! Limit kids to 10 outfits each.

11. Dry a wrinkled garment with a wet cloth for or hang in the bathroom while showering with hot water to avoid ironing.

12. Begin laundry at night, and throw into the dryer in the morning.

13. Make sure your clothes always go into your laundry basket and NEVER on the floor!

14. Keep laundry in closets or laundry room and out of immediate sight.

15. Teach and train children how to sort clothes, transfer to washer and then to dryer, fold and them away. They will be better about taking care of their clothes when they realize how much work it can be to get them washed.

16. Immediately spray or soak a stained garment. After washing hang the garment to dry, rather than putting it through the dryer where stains can be baked on permentantly.

As school has started and fall is quickly approaching, the cooler weather provides plenty of opportunity for hospitality (inside and outside the home) and parties. Parties can be loads of fun, but tons of hard work, especially if your thinking of ideas from scratch. Recently the family I was living with was hosting a luncheon for all the college-age and career age singles and young-married couples after church. Our host was expecting about 50 people. To prepare a lunch of that size and the “theme”the party was quite an undertaking-but with a little budget creativity and a few helping hands she pulled off a “fall-equinox party”. The idea came from the date 9/22- which just so happened to be the first day of fall (and according to certain sources started 4:22 pm). A lite lunch of chicken salad sandwiches (or eggplant/vegie for the vegans), ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit and cut veggies was the perfect way to say “good-bye”to summer and “hello”to fall. The host even opened up the pool for the “last -swim”of summer (though in Florida swimming season extends almost until November). She made simple white signs that had the menu on them, a sun and moon and others pointing to where the bathroom was (or the room where ladies could place their purses) . The guests enjoyed the nice weather as the pool veranda was open to eating and they could come and go in the house as they pleased.

Party themes don’t have to be elborate. In this case, a few simple signs made the decor perfect for the occassion. Party themese can come from anywhere circuling around the time of year, old photographs, favorite foods, or favorite games. To plan ahead keep a notepad with you and jot down ideas as they come to you, then hold on to them for a later date.

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