Frugal Friday: 2 Loads of Laundry for the Price of One

Last week when I was at my sister's house we were talking about frugal tips and habits. She reminded of one of my mom's long-standing rituals that I had forgotten about. Once reminded though, I haven't been able to get the idea out of my mind because it just makes such perfect frugal sense.

My mom will wash one load of clothes (whites or light colors) and then manually stop the washing machine halfway through the wash cycle. She will then take the wet but clean clothes out of the machine, place them in a bucket, and add her next load to the same wash water. The second load will use the second half of the wash cycle, then finish through the remaining cycles. Once that load is placed in the dryer or hung out to dry, the first load (the wet clothes in the bucket) goes back into the washing machine on a rinse only cycle.

I plan to revitalize this old habit of my mom's in our own house now. It really does make sense and it doesn't take very much work. I will have to set a timer to remind myself when the wash cycle is halfway through though. I don't remember my mom ever doing that, but I do remember her running to stop the machine, or calling for my sister or I to do it. Now I finally understand why!

For more Frugal Friday tips, don't forget to stop by Crystal's blog.

Also, Toni has a fabulous post up over at Happy To Be At Home on how her family got out of debt. It is so inspiring!