4 Ways to Slash the Cost of Housecleaning

Keeping your house in order shouldn’t cost a bundle. If you do the cleaning yourself — instead of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars annually on cleaning services — you’re way ahead of the game.

Use the following tips to create a tidy, comfortable living space while giving your budget an extra break.

Switch to DIY cleaning supplies

Die-hard frugalistas make their own laundry soap. “3 Easy Ways to Get Laundry Soap for Nearly Nothing” tells all.

Erin Huffstetler, who blogs at MyFrugalHome.com, goes one step further: She makes her own four-ingredient dishwasher detergent. It takes only a couple of minutes to mix together the washing soda, kosher salt, baking soda and lemon juice, and portion it into molds.

The cost works out to 4 cents per dishwasher load, and there’s no borax or questionable chemicals.

Baking soda and vinegar can replace many other commercial cleaning products.

The first is great as a nonabrasive porcelain scrub, deodorizer, tarnish remover, laundry brightener, oven cleaner, carpet freshener and grout de-grimer, among other things. See “8 Handy Household Uses for Baking Soda.”

Vinegar is magic. It can keep drains open, clean even the greasiest stovetop, shine windows and mirrors, de-gunk showerheads, and remove hard-water stains. For more information, see “27 Money-Saving Ways to Use Vinegar in Every Room of Your Home.”

Don’t waste water

You need plenty of water to clean a home properly, but don’t waste the stuff, especially if the water utility charges by the amount you use versus a flat rate. You likely also pay a sewerage fee for the water that goes down the drain — yet another reason not to overdo the H2O.

Don’t run the dishwasher until it’s full, but avoid pre-rinsing dishes when possible, as we detail in “9 Bad Habits That Are Running Up Your Water Bill.”

The same holds true for your clothes washer. Run full loads whenever possible. If you must do a smaller batch, adjust the load size; no need to fill up a “super” load of water when a “full” or “small” load would do the trick.

Let everyone in the house know this rule.

Air-dry dishes and clothes

You don’t have to rely on electricity to dry your dishes and duds. Turn off the dishwasher before it gets to the drying cycle, and let your plates and cups dry by themselves.

If hanging laundry to dry outside is allowed in your area, put up a clothesline or create a temporary one with bungee cords. In my household, we also drape towels and sheets over deck railings and — in the winter — atop interior doors.

We also use three large drying racks during winter and inclement weather. Two of them spaced about a foot apart can hold one queen-sized sheet, with the second sheet draped over the other rack, plus a wooden chair. They dry within a few hours.

We have a smaller drying rack for socks and underwear, and put shirts and T-shirts on plastic hangers. All four racks fold neatly into a closet when not in use.

Two other benefits of air-drying:

• Your clothes last longer when they’re not bounced and tumbled (and shrunk) at high heat.
• The smell of sheets and pillowcases dried in the sun and wind makes for some truly luxurious slumber.

For more savings, find out if your region has off-peak utility rates. If so, run the dishwasher and do your laundry at those times.

Save money on commercial brands

If you don’t want to make your own soaps and cleansers, at least work at spending less on the store-bought stuff. Watch for sales at supermarkets and drug and department stores. You’ll generally spend a lot less if you shop for cleanser, bottled ammonia, vinegar and baking soda at the dollar store.

The dollar store is also a good place to buy some of your cleaning equipment. Seriously, how much do you want to pay for sponges, dustpans, mop buckets, brooms and the like?

Be sure to pick up some microfiber cloths, which are absolutely magnetic when it comes to dust and dirt — and unlike those disposable dusters, the cloths can be used and reused. Just give them a good shake (outdoors!) to rid them of the dirt, and launder them now and then if you like.

A true frugalista lifestyle is all about repurposing. For years, I used a discarded detergent tub as a mop bucket. Newspapers are great for cleaning windows and mirrors, used with some of that vinegar-and-water solution mentioned earlier. Socks worn-out at the heels? Use them as dust cloths by wearing them over your hands.

Get creative and save.