Conquering Mount Washmore!

I've always been a fan of line-drying washing ... there's something satisfying about bringing in laundry that smells of outdoors (except when the nearest 'couldn't-care-less' neighbours have bonfires in the middle of the day!) & today is a nearly-perfect laundry day.
I've been signed up to FlyLady for about a year now & the laundry habit is one of those that I have down to an art - many of the others are still a bit of a struggle! LOL So, the deal is that 'one load a day keeps Mount Washmore at bay' & somewhere along the way, I have found that the 2-3 loads I was doing every day no longer make a full load every day? Does that make sense? I guess where the guys get their stuff back folded & ready to put away at the end of each day they do it straight away & I'm not washing clean clothes that had languished on the floor unworn until they were unclean - you live & learn! LOL
So anyway, back to the laundry...
For a long time now, I have used about one third of the laundry powder/detergent that it recommends on the pack - manufacturers are there to sell product ... not to save us money. Ine third does clean as well as the recommended dose! I also use the 'quick wash' facility for practically everything - modern detergents are designed to work at low temperatures & do the job (in my machine at least) in 40 minutes, including a good rinse & spin.
Fabric Conditioner only needs to go into washloads that will be line-dried. The fragrance (if that's what you have it for) evapourates in the drier anyway ... & I never use those fragrance sheets for the drier either. Tumble dried washing is perfectly soft & smells fine without additives - but I do prefer it for line-dried clothes. Even then, a cheap store's own brand is fine.
Recently, I had a moment of clarity: tea towels, face cloths & dishcloths (we've used the washable ones for over a year & haven't had to replace them as yet - must save a fortune on sponges etc.) do not need to be soft & fluffy - so they don't need to be tumble dried! Obviously, it's a bad idea to put fabric conditioners in with these things ... it effects the absorbency a lot! So I line-dry them too.
Just a day or two back, I had a happy accident. The towels in the dryer came out damp - it was still early in the day, so I set them on the line to finish - and they stayed fluffy. So now I start the towels in the dryer to fluff them up & finish them on the line. Each load is in the dryer for around half the time, saving energy - and money!
On the same note, I line-dry cotton bed linen without fabric conditioners too. They come off the line fresh-smelling & crisp.
If it has been a windy day & I fold all the laundry as it comes off the line (I take some care with folding so as not to fold fresh creases in) I can get away without doing much ironing at all. The ironing is my least favourite household chore, so anything that helps avoid it has to be a good thing! LOL. & of course, that saves time, energy & a bit more cash.
So what about the cost? on figures I read some time ago (so this is not an exact science) the cost of tumble drying a full load was estimated at 14p. So using ball park figures I no longer tumble dry tea towels etc (around 2 loads per week) & only half dry another couple loads of towels each week. So that's around 42p per week (don't laugh ... you'll see how it adds up!)
And as I'm on top of the Mount Washmore now, I can leave the laundry for a day or two if the weather isn't line-dry friendly without having to do an 'emergency' load for whatever we need (underwear was a favourite! LOL) saving around 3 more loads each week & another 42p.
That brings us a total saving of maybe 84p per week - which adds up to around £43.68 per year!!
Like I said, it's not an exact science & during the winter months I do have to use the dryer (we don't use the central heating ... so drying anything in less than 3-4 days is fairly impossible) but you get the idea.
When I do use the dryer (it's a condenser model) the water is recycled to water plants.
I've recently found this recipe for making your own laundry detergent - I'm gonna try that soon I think & see what other savings are there to be had.