Shades of green: Greening your laundry (Part 2)

Green meter: light green

Reduce your use. It is really easier than it sounds…honestly! Those jeans you wore yesterday: are they really dirty? Can you get one more day out of them? What about those pajamas? Think and look - then decide if that item really needs to be laundered or if you can get one more wear.

Reduce you water consumption by investing in a front loading washing machine, which uses a little over half the water of a traditional top loader.  While this might not be a financial option for everyone, it will save you money in the long-run in water costs.  We switched to a front loading machine early this year, and I'm saving over $10 per month on my water bill; additionally my daily water consumption went from 135 gallons/day to 88 gallons/day.

Lastly, reduce your energy consumption. Did you know that the average clothes dryer uses a HUGE amount of energy? According to the Energy Information Administration, a standard household dryer uses 5.8% of the total energy consumed. That’s a total of 66 billion kWh per year. But what does that really mean? Your average electric clothes dryer uses 4000 watts per hour. For comparison purposes, your washing machine uses 500 watts per hour, and your vacuum cleaner uses about 200 watts.

So what can you do?

First, let your dryer do it’s job. Set your dryer to “less dry” and let it’s auto sensors determine when your clothes are dry. If you don’t have an auto setting, try setting your dryer to 30 minute dry, then check it frequently to find out how long it really takes to dry your clothes. Over-drying clothes causes unnecessary damage to the fibers and inordinate amounts of static.

Make sure your dryer is functioning properly. At one point our heating element was starting to go, and our clothes were taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R to dry. A quick and easy (and cheap) fix and my clothes were drying in half the time.

Keep in mind that standard dryer sheets contain some of the most harmful chemicals found in your household cleaning cabinet. These sheets are designed to add a pleasing scent, soften fibers and reduce static. Alternatively, you can take a soft flannel cloth and douse it with an all natural fabric softener, such as Seventh Generation or Ecover and toss that into the dryer with your clothes. Tossing in this simple cloth will add a pleasing scent and soften your clothing; preventing over drying will keep your clothes static free.