I started “Green Tips” a while ago, but still haven’t gotten around to doing any since the first one! So today I thought I’d share with you tip that I have learned about doing laundry the green way. These are all tips that I have used/done – there are (I’m sure) many other ways you can turn your laundry green, but this is what I do.
- Recycle your clothes. Meaning – don’t just wear that sweater once, if it didn’t get dirty and you didn’t sweat in it, wear it again! Jeans are the easiest to wear several times. I have even been known to wear the same outfit in a row (the next day) – because I work one day, go to school the next – the only person who sees me both days is my husband, and I tested it, and he doesn’t notice:) Saves me time picking out clothes the next day!
- Let your laundry pile up. Doing laundry with the washer half full is one of the best ways to waste energy and water. Go ahead and make sure you save up as many socks and underwear as you can – and make sure the load is FULL!
- Do laundry loads continuously. Meaning: do one load after the other – this way you can use the energy generated from the load before to do the next – this is especially true of dryers – the dryer is already hot – so do another load right away to help retain the heat.
- Use the right products. Everything you put into water will eventually get back into the water cycle. Would you want to drink water with remnants of detergent in it? Be wise about the products you buy. We use a locally made biodegradable detergent (that is highly concentrated so you don’t need as much as other kinds). Also try Borax, OxiClean or Washing Soda – these are all natural biodegradable detergents.
- Ditch the Bleach! Very bad for the environment and bad for you! More info and tips found at Ideal Bite (we don’t use bleach, and I don’t even miss it!).
- Use Cold Water. It isn’t necessary to do hot water for every load. It really wastes a lot of energy. I do cold water for everything – and all of my clothes are clean. If something is heavily soiled, then I would use hot water – but for the most part, everything I do is cold water. Maybe once a month I use hot water. We even use all cloth napkins – it they are never too gross that we need to use hot water.
- Throw out the dryer sheets. Or at least the Bounty ones (and comparable brands)…they are very bad for the environment. Try buying dryer sheets that are natural and eco-friendly. We recently purchased Dryer Balls ($9.99 at Walgreens) – they are reusable and contain no chemicals.
- Hang dry. If you are able, hang the clothes on the line to dry – plus they’ll have the fresh clean scent! Or if you’re like me, and don’t have access to a clothesline (ie apartment living), we use a drying rack. Around laundry day our living room is filled with David’s dress shirts hung on hangers and shirts & jeans hanging on the drying rack. A drying rack is a great alternative to a clothesline. Plus it saves clothes from shrinking! We are currently looking into buying a “double wide” drying rack – that is also collapsible to put away in our closet.
Any other tricks or tips you try?
charliedean said,
March 23, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Seriously, who doesn’t wear their jeans mutliple times?!?
They’re the MOST comfortable on about the third wearing…generally, at least for me, the 4th wearing is a little grimy…THAT IS assuming that I didn’t spill coffee, mark myself with a pen, or otherwise dirty my jeans on the first through second wearings.
charliedean said,
March 23, 2007 @ 12:40 pm
sorry…i don’t have an email address for you….
how did you enable comment rss??
greeninfluences said,
March 25, 2007 @ 7:30 pm
I switched stores all together and became a customer to a safer, better, cheaper and delivered to your door store! All the cleaners are non-toxic, eco-friendly! Love ‘em!
I agree about reusing some of your clothes…besides, worn jeans fit better!
avimom said,
March 26, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
I do so many of these things…but mainly b/c it saves on wear and tear of your clothes! Clothes don’t shrink in cold or hanging to dry, and washing a full load is gentler than a small load. So, it’s good to know I’m not only being cheap, but green, too.
BTW, I also wash everything in cold, even the baby’s food-covered bibs. If you just make an oxiclean paste and pre-treat first, it will all come out.
embell said,
March 26, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
I’m so glad to see this! I too do much of this. We live in an apartment where I have the clothesline in rather secluded area, and use it all the time. A friend hangs hers in their basement (center city), along the edges of the dining roo,. Cozy, and, well, really just fine. (Once they gave a party and realized onlyt the next morning that his shirts were gracing the dark corners of the room. Everyone probably got a good kick out of it.)
And to think that some communities forbid clotheslines as ‘eyesores!’
redcloverstar said,
March 26, 2007 @ 9:37 pm
I’ve been dying to know if those dryer balls really work! Please tell me, so I can stop
buying dryer sheets!
Thanks!
Abbe said,
March 27, 2007 @ 5:21 am
Redcloverstar, I used the dryer balls (from Gaiam) for a while until all of the banging around made one of the ‘fins’ inside my (Maytag) dryer come loose. The balls seemed to decrease drying time, but I would be sure your ‘fins’ aren’t screwed in like mine, that they are molded into the dryer bin itself. Good luck!
La Rêveuse said,
March 27, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
I haven’t used dryer sheets for years, and don’t miss them. The fabric softener (many of which I am allergic to anyway) builds up on your clothes and actually makes them stiffer and they don’t get as clean. Let the fabric be the fabric! It will be plenty soft once you get all of the residue out, and you’ll find yourself not missing the strong chemical scent–you’ll just smell the clean smell. I can’t even walk into the detergent/fabric softener isle of Target anymore–it makes my eyes water!
mosaik said,
June 7, 2007 @ 5:50 am
Put a little white vinegar in the rinse every now and then. It gets rid of the residues from detergents.
Don’t use the stated amount of detergent. Use about half or even less.
Invest in a big bucket eg a nappy bucket or 20 l bucket, and soak the grubby stuff first. Amazing what comes out…
What can a teen do to “go green?” « That’s Swell said,
July 27, 2007 @ 8:16 am
[...] dirty. This will save on water and energy from doing laundry. If you do your own laundry, look here for more [...]
Ashley said,
October 22, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
I use this really cool powder laundry detergent ….. It is called Ecover. Everything about it is green. It uses no chemicals and it’s packaging is even recycled… It is wonderful!