Who doesn’t love massive piles of dirty clothes?

Being in college is very difficult but there are some things are are harder than other.  Besides all the school work, I struggle to keep up with my laundry.  In my old apartment it used to not be such a huge problem because we had a washer and dryer in our apartment.  I could just throw a load in the washer when I left for class and then I could come home and switch it to the dryer.

As of right now I have moved to a place that does not have a washer and dryer in it.  Instead it has 3 tiny coin operated machines across the street and they are expensive it costs $2 to wash and $2 to dry plus the machines are so small that I can’t fit an entire load in them.  The first time that I did laundry there I decided that I should only wash my clothes and not dry them.  Big Mistake.  I spent $8 on the washers and then I didn’t dry them so they were soaked, which in turn lead me to have to call my neighbor so that he could help me carry the heavy bag up the three flights of stairs to get back to my apartment.  Then I tried to hang my clothes all over the apartment to get them to dry but after a week there were still a few pairs of jeans that had not dried (I have a large amount of clothes, because I am a shopaholic).  It was a huge mess.

So, how can you avoid this struggle?  First, plan out when you are going to do your laundry.  I reserve on Saturday or Sunday a month that I can just devote to laundry day.  Then I sort all my clothes, which is very important, into blacks, blues, reds and whites.  I have found that most other colors fit into one of these categories (such as purple goes with blues, pinks and oranges go with reds).  Next I make my way to the laundromat, which there is a very nice one by my place that charges $2 to wash and .25 cents for every 5 minutes of drying time.  I did 7 loads of laundry the last time that I went and it only cost me $11.

When you put your clothes in the dryer do not put more than one load in at a time, if it is a big load then you can even separate it more so that it is in two different dryers.  There is usually not a limit on how many dryers that you can use at once, which is the one nice thing about a laundromat, you can do all your laundry while you are there.  This will save you time and money.  I usually put 25-30 minutes on the dryer (they are massive at the laundromat I go to, look for that feature when you are looking for one) and then if the clothes need more time, I take out which ones are already dry and which ones are still wet and do it by 5-10 minute increments.

The less amount of clothes that you have the more money you will save but this will also help:

• Do not buy detergent at the laundromat – it is very expensive
• Make sure you bring a large enough bag or basket to put all your clean clothes into (they compact more if you fold them)
• Bring enough quarters to do all your laundry or if you put money on a card to use in the machines make sure that you put enough on it the first time so that you can keep track of how much you are spending
• Do not stuff more than one load or half a load into a dryer, this will only end up costing you more since the clothes will not dry and you will just have to keep running the dryer.

Look here on how to make the most of your clothes so that you have to do laundry less often.

How do you save money when you wash your clothes?  Do you wash your clothes?

My Shopping Technique

I am what I would consider to be a shopaholic however, I am a very frugal shopaholic.  There are some steps that I take every time I get the shopping craze in order to protect myself from overdrawing my small bank account.

Here is how I do it:

When someone invites me to go to the mall with them, I immediately have to think of an excuse for why I can’t go.  They are usually things like “Oh I’d love to but I am in the middle of a huge project for school”, “the mall? ummmm maybe, can we go at 8:30?” (our mall closes at 9), “I am actually feeling really sick and tired”, “sorry I just laid down to take a nap” or if all else fails do not respond and after the mall closes then text them back – “OMG I’m sorry, my dumb phone must not have gotten this text until now.”

If you do get suckered into going, this is my second step, unless there is something that I NEED, I take all my credit cards out of my wallet and I don’t carry more than $10 bucks on me (if I am that lucky to have that much).  This basically prevents me from buying anything.  If you feel nervous about this, then just start out by leaving them in your car and then after that becomes comfortable leave them at home.

Step three – go shopping with someone that you can help pick clothes out with.  Tell them that you should try on some of the ugliest dresses in the store.  This brings moral down, that means that they will get discouraged that they do not look great in the ugly clothes (because they are ugly) and you can get out of there quickly before you go clean out the shoe rack (that is my weakness!)  If you use this step DO NOT let your friend buy any of those terrible clothes!

Step four – Pretend that you are getting really bored of shopping, because if you have no money or any way to buy anything you will be bored.  Then go do something fun, like go into a costume jewelry store and try on all the crazy stuff that they have in there.  It will make you feel more excited!  Claire’s is my personal favorite for this.

When I actually do go shopping for myself, I usually like to go by myself and I like to go to places like TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, and Gabriel Brothers.  This is where I buy almost all of my clothes.  TJ Maxx is my very favorite store: they have so much name brand stuff for so cheap it is ridiculous!

I go to these places when I am in the mood to browse and to try on clothes.  I usually pick a bunch that will look cute on me but I pick them in the wrong size, either too small or too large that way I don’t really feel the love for them and I can have an easier time putting them back.

If I really do need something, I usually check out amazon and ebay for what I am looking for, especially if it is workout clothes.  Then I can compare prices and I always compare them to the same product sold by the actual brand so that I can see exactly how much I am saving.  Once I have found what I am looking for I wait.  Which is extremely hard for me to do.  I wait for two days.  If I cannot remember what it is that I was going to buy, then I do not buy anything, if it is something that I can remember but I feel “enhhh” about it, I don’t buy it.  I only buy things online if I cannot stop thinking about them for those two days and I really need them.

I probably spend at least 8 or 9 hours a week just browsing clothes and shoes on the internet.  What do you shop for the most when you go shopping?  What kinds of things do you use in order to save your money when you do go shopping?