Money-Saving Tips for a Greener Laundry Routine
Love it or hate it, laundry is an unavoidable part of my week. But, over time, I have found a few ways to minimize the number of loads that I need to do and save money while doing them:
- Wear things more than once and reuse your towels. By limiting the frequency with which you wash items, you may find that you can do one fewer load (or more!) every week or month.
- Select an environmentally-friendly laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheet. Or, better yet, skip the fabric softener and dryer sheet altogether. Also, try using less than the recommended amount of detergent and see if you notice the difference. For years, I have used slightly more than half of the recommended amount of a concentrated detergent and have not used fabric softener or dryer sheets at all; the difference is minor, and I save quite a bit of money each month.
- Whenever possible, wash your clothes in cold water. Up to 85 percent of the energy used to run a washing machine can go into heating hot water for the wash.
- Consider investing in an energy-efficient washer and dryer. Many new models use less water and consume less energy than older models.
- Unplug your washer and dryer when you are not using them or utilize a “smart power strip” that eliminates phantom energy loads to appliances that are not in use.
- Skip the dryer altogether. This is a bit of a no-brainer. If you do not run the dryer at all and hang your clothes to air-dry instead, then you will save all of the energy that would have gone into drying that load.
If you enjoyed this post, keep yourself updated with all my latest posts:
Sign Up for Daily Morning Emails
Comments
-
April 19th, 2010Trackback from : Money-Saving Tips for a Greener Laundry Routine
You’re right. Energy efficient washing machines and dryers are easy to find these days and often no more expensive than non energy-efficient models. My girlfriend and I recently moved out of a fully-furnished property we were renting and invested in a washing machine, oven and fridge that are all low-energy and they work just as well and cost no more so it’s an easy decision to make.
One thing my grandmother always made me do was to wear an undershirt. Some people do but most people don’t. This can limit the “dirtyness” of your shirt and would limit the amount of times you would have to wash it. Just a thought!
Yes, always use environmentally-friendly laundry detergent and cold water for laundry.
I switched to cold water detergent a long time ago. It is a great way to save electricity and money. Even if you don’t hang dry all of your clothes, try to make an effort to hang at least some of your clothes to dry. That way, at least the dryer will need less energy to dry everything else.
I will refer this page to my mother and I’ve telling this to her for a long time
My Mum did still does everything by hand, I can’t say I continued this fine tradition however
. In the Asian soceirtty where I live items like washing machines and dryers are still status items, brand and “street cred” matter most, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any emphasis on environmentally-friendly models at all in any major store here.