How to Save Money & Energy on Laundry

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By Juli
User-Submitted Article

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You want to be green and you want to save money. Following these 10 suggestions will help you do both when you're doing the laundry.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

1. Use the "express wash" cycle if you have one on your washing machine, for almost all your loads. It's a shorter cycle, and spins clothes faster so they're not as wet as when using the normal cycle.
Step 2

2. Use half as much detergent on all but the most heavily soiled loads; your clothes will be plenty clean.
Step 3

3. Only dry clothes until the just-barely-damp stage, about 10-15 minutes before the cycle ends, and hang them up to finish drying (or iron them -- see step 10 below). You'll save expensive dryer time, and your clothes won't be as wrinkled.
Step 4

4. Better yet, if you have a backyard with room for a clothesline -- hang your clothes out to dry. Nothing smells better than clothes dried in fresh outdoor breezes, and line-drying saves wear-and-tear on your clothing.
Step 5

5. To save on ironing usage and time, you can "cheat" on casual wear, print blouses and shirts by only ironing the collars and sleeves, and maybe the hem around the bottom if it's turned on itself. On busy, multi-colored prints, wrinkles are invisible.
Step 6

6. Be sure to close your dryer door tightly after you take clothes out -- if left open, the light in the dryer stays on and uses electricity.
Step 7

7. Though you might think you're saving money by cramming in as many clothes as the washer will hold, don't! The larger the load, the harder your washing machine has to work -- which could lead to breakdowns. Fewer clothes also means less drying time and fewer wrinkles, so less (if any) ironing.
Step 8

8. Also to cut down on ironing: remove clothes from the dryer as soon as the cylce is finished, and hang them up or fold them neatly.
Step 9

9. Instead of putting softner in the washing machine, make it last MUCH longer by soaking a washcloth in fabric softner, wringing it out lightly, and then putting it in the DRYER with wet clothes. You can use the washcloth with 2-3 loads before re-applying softner, and you'll notice your clothes are much softer and fresher-smelling.
Step 10

10. If clothes do need ironing, do it as soon as possible after taking them out of the dryer. The longer they "hang around" wrinkled, the longer it will take to iron the wrinkles out and the longer your iron is on -- and an iron is one of the biggest enery users of all household appliances. Following step 3, ironing clothes when they're just slightly damp is even faster and more efficient.