We've been doing it all wrong. Putting whites in one basket and bright colors in another, wondering the entire time why our electricity bill keeps going up. The real way to conserve energy and save money when you're doing the laundry? Sort your clothes and linens by the type of fabric. It'll help cut the energy you use in the washer and dryer. Here's how.
Next to your central air or heat, your washer and dryer could be the most power-guzzling appliances in your home. So if you're down to cut your energy use (and pad your wallet in the process), get started on a fabric-sorting system today.
That's right. Empty your hamper and finish up all your laundry tonight. Tomorrow, you'll want to start tossing your dirty clothes in new bins: Super-light fabrics where you used to have whites and heavy fabrics (like towels) where the darks used to go.
Why? Well you'll conserve energy these two ways:
Wash Cold
Now that there's a little more variety in your laundry loads, you'll want to wash everything on the cold water setting. Considering that nearly 90 percent of the energy your washer uses goes towards heating the water, you're definitely getting a bang for your buck here.
Of course, you should still take caution not to wash a bright, new candy red shirt with your dress whites. Only wash together colorfast clothes that can mingle, even in cold water.
Dry Like With Like
That one load with your blue towels,your blue jeans and your thin blue t-shirt takes forever to dry, doesn't it? You might even have to run the dryer twice. It's because when you mix up your fabrics in each load like this, you're throwing away money.
Lighter items, like that t-shirt, dry much more quickly than heavier fabrics, like your towels and jeans. So when they're combined in the same load, that shirt is going to tumble long after it's dry. It also can extend the dry time of the bulkier items, wasting at least few bucks every month.
- Related post: Green Idea: Going Half-Luddite With the Laundry
(Dryer image: Flickr member Byrdiegyrl licensed for use under Creative Commons, Bill image: Flickr member Chazz Layne licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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I definitely do this. I have to do laundry on coin machines, so when I sort laundry by fabric weight, I find that I can often get two loads from a single round of the dryer. All I have to do is make sure I time it right so that the second load is done washing just when the first load is halfway through the drying cycle.
People with washers in their home won't have to worry about that, of course. But it'll save you a ton of money in the long run if you're stuck with coin-operated facilities.
Socks always make up their own load. Weirdly they take longer to dry than almost any other kind of laundry.
I've got a greener method of drying, believe it or not. There is no clothes dryer at my home, everything is hung on the line.
But, I do live in Hawaii and in a house. Mother Nature's dryer won't work for everyone. Plus certain items come out nicer in the drier, like sweats and towels. When I was dabbling in urban condo living, I did do the same, dry all jeans together, light weight items together. Also like to add you don't need to dry jeans until they are bone dry. I would take them out when slightly damp and air dry them in my condo.
I live in Edmonton(where it's blistering cold in the winter and not much warmer in the summer) and I hang dry my clothes. So I know for sure hanging clothes to dry is possiblefor anyone.
I also like to dry things until they are slightly damp and let them air dry the rest of the way. I think that it is easier on the fabric too.
I dry hang my clothes in a one bed flat with no garden in London. The only annoying thing is sheets, but we still manage those.
I've already been doing this to some extent by separating workout clothes/delicates from the rest of my laundry, and by washing a load of just towels too. I'll pay more attention the next time I do laundry though, and might be able to change other stuff around.
I used to wash cold all the time and still do. But I think it needs to be mentioned that underwear and socks needs to be washed in hot water to fully kill all bacteria. I learned this from a doctor. Underwear and socks needs to be washed separately from other clothes in order to potentially stop the spread of fecal matter to other clothing. I wish that bit of information was added in when I first started washing cold.
I do three types of loads.
Whites/towels/rags - hot
colors- cold
blankets -cold
I don't line dry as it rains too much here and I'm in a small apartment. I want to one day....
Even in cold, I've had colors bleed. Sorry, whites stay separate. Blacks have their own load as well.
A towels + sheets load is usually done separately also, with jeans sometimes mixed in. Whatever can be hung on a rack to dry will get hung.
Delicates are 100% separate from the rest.