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5 Ways to Clean Your Clothes Efficiently

Doing the laundry takes resources. It takes your energy and time; it takes electrical power; and it requires the use of such resources as detergent, dryer sheets, and the money that these things cost. In the course of our busy lives, conservation of resources is a huge boon—not to mention the virtues of saving money—and so, finding ways to do your laundry efficiently is very important. Here are some ways to save time, money, energy, and resources in the course of doing your laundry.

1. Pay attention to the water temperature. Cold water uses considerably less energy than warm water, and there’s less chance of warping or harming your clothing. Although hot water cleans the most effectively, you won’t need that much power in the majority of cases to get your clothes sufficiently washed. Check the tags, and if you think you can get away with washing in cold water, go for it.
2. Sort by weight as well as color. It’s common sense to sort your loads by color to prevent anything from getting discolored if a garment runs, but did you know that you should also sort your loads by weight? The dryer will generally take as long to dry the load as the heaviest item in it needs, which means that if you mix light cotton shirts with thick towels, the towels will slow down the whole process.
3. Do full loads. As tempting as it is to just toss a piece of clothing you want to wear that night into the wash to make sure it’s clean, it’s highly inefficient to wash less than a full load because it still uses about the same amount of energy. If you really need to wash something, see if anyone else in your family has clothing that needs to be washed, and simultaneously save energy and help someone else out!
4. Use half the detergent. On most bottles of detergent, the amount specified is almost double what you actually need to clean that load size. If you cut the detergent you use in half, you’ll both save money and benefit the environment, minimizing the amount of soap suds and other chemicals that make it into public water.
5. Let Crest pick up your dry cleaning. Crest will come to your house, pick up your dry cleaning, and return it for no extra charge. No reason to make the drive when you can avoid doing so, and since you’re probably on one of Crest’s routes, your clothes will basically be carpooling with other people’s clothes, which also benefits the environment in addition to being convenient.

These days, you’ve probably got enough on your plate without having to spend more time and money on laundry. Do yourself a favor and streamline the whole process—and a few months from now, you’ll look back on what you saved and smile at how easy it was.

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