I’m a money-saving mum – I’ve saved LOADS by changing how I wash my clothes, I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner

A MONEY-saving mum has revealed how she’s saving hundreds of pounds a year simply by changing how she washes and dries her clothes.

Jamie-Lee Birch, 31, from Gloucestershire, says laundry labels are key to saving money in the long run and shows how you can do it too.

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The average UK household spends a whopping £526.50 a year on clothes and shoes, according to financial expert Nimble Fins. But not Jamie-Lee, who manages to save herself thousands just by changing how she takes care of clothes.

“For clothes I would say I spend about £100 a year on myself and that’s just because I can keep my clothes longer,” she tells Fabulous.

“Although that’s probably a little skewed because I also buy a lot of my clothes second-hand.”

Jamie-Lee said she recently posted how much money she could save by taking care of her clothes.

“As ridiculous as it sounds, no one had ever really spoken to me about washing clothes, and it was a lightbulb moment when I realized clothes had these labels for us to follow.”

Like many of us, the mother of two used to machine wash everything at 40 degrees – most of the time without even separating the colors.

This meant she “ruined so many clothes,” particularly in her 20s, before having her kids, Harper, six, and Kit, two.

Jamie-Lee, who shares her smart household tips on TikTok and her website Savvy Jamie, said she was also “terrible at removing stains” and threw them in the clothes hamper earlier, which meant she had to buy more. Not only that, but the mother-of-two ironed everything she could, unknowingly shortening the lifespan of some items.

“I once had a beautiful chiffon dress and I foolishly tried to iron it,” she revealed. “The iron went straight through and burned a big hole. I was absolutely devastated.”

But that all changed when she learned to understand what the symbols on tags mean and explained them in a recent video on TikTok.

What do symbols on clothing mean?

Some of the symbols on clothing indicate what can and cannot be tumble dried and which items should be hand washed only.

When you see an iron with dots on it, it indicates the temperature at which you can iron – three dots mean you can use full heat, explains Jamie-Lee, while one dot means you only iron at low temperature .

Now, Jamie-Lee says she skips ironing altogether, finding that “drying things on a hanger actually helps reduce the wrinkles.”

“Remember, if you’re ironing something all the time, heat reduces quality, only iron if you really need to iron it,” she tells Fabulous.

Laundry tips to save money

With her tips, the savvy mom advises checking the recommended washing temperature and only washing similar colors – including white, light and dark garments.

“Also, only dry items that can be tumble dried and items that you need to tumble dry,” she says.

“Even if it can be tumble dried, regular use will degrade its quality over time, so linen dyeing is one of the best things you can do.”

Another way to make money taking care of your clothes is by being able to resell unwanted items.

“I’m able to wash my kids’ clothes in a way that they can either be passed on to any future kids we might have, or I can give to friends,” says Jamie-Lee.

“Or I can sell them on places like Vinted or eBay and make some money back from that.”

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