Slowly but surely, I’ve been converting my home room by room to be an eco-friendlier place. Today’s tips, I have 5 ways you can make eco-friendly changes to clean up your laundry room.
Washing Your Clothes
1. Ditch the washing machines
Ok, ditching the washing machine is a bit extravagant. What I mean though is that if you have an energy hog that uses a lot of water, you might consider upgrading your washing machine to a newer model if it’s in your budget.
2. Ditch the Hot Water
When doing your laundry, use cold water when possible. Cold water is recommended especially for dark and brightly coloured clothes. For one, using cold water is more energy efficient since you don’t have to heat the water.
Also, some stains will set in the fabric when you use hot water in the laundry machine. Washing in cold water will also prevent some fabrics from fading or shrinking that might happen in hot water. (source: GE Electric)
Having said that, and writing this article during a global COVID pandemic, if you are looking at sanitizing your clothes or your reusable face mask, then hot water is your only option.
3. Ditch your Detergent
Another way to clean up your laundry room is by ditching your regular, grocery store brand of laundry detergent. There are many options that will allow you to have fresh, clean laundry without excess plastic use or chemicals.
Instead, here are a few better alternatives:
Use concentrated laundry detergent. Concentrated laundry detergent contains the same active ingredients but is not diluted, so you need to use less soap per load. This allows is less plastic packaging, and shipping is less costly. I tried the Norwex Ultra Power Plus and I loved it! I haven’t tried this brand, Tru Earth Eco Strips but I’m really curious. Has anyone tried them and have feedback to give me?
You can also try detergents made from Natural ingredients derived from plants and are biodegradable. Here are a few examples that I’m considering trying in the future: Aspen Clean and Company Laundry Liquid.
If you live in Niagara, you might want to check out my favourite Eco Store “Garden City Essential” for their selection of eco-friendly laundry soap. Their Sapadilla Laundry Liquid in sweet lavender is on my list to buy on my next order.
If you like knowing exactly what’s in your laundry detergent, you can make your own. Here’s a great DIY Laundry cleaner from The Queen of Green: Powdered Laundry Soap.
Drying Your Clothes
4. Ditch the dryer
Again, similar to the washing machine, a newer dryer model will be more energy efficient. It might also have a setting where your load will automatically stop when your clothes are dry.
But better than that, especially on summer days, you can hang your clothes to dry. My dryer broke down earlier this year, and I lived for months without a dryer (due to COVID). Even though we are a family of four, it was totally possible.
5. Ditch the Dryer sheets
And one final type to clean up your laundry room is to ditch the dryer sheets. I can’t remember the last time I’ve bought some I haven’t used them in years. Using wool dryer balls ( as seen above, although one seems to have gone MIA for the photoshoot) is a great alternative to dryer sheets.
Why are dryer sheets bad? Well, for starters, they are full of chemicals that need heat to be activated. These chemicals are used for scenting the laundry, preserving clothes but can be harmful to your health and the environment. More on this topic can be found on the EWG website.
In Conclusion
There are so many options when it comes to cleaning up your laundry room, from simple cost-effective switches like switching to cold water to more long-term and costly options, like getting new energy-efficient machines.
No matter what you decided, keep this in mind, when it comes to becoming eco-friendlier, I don’t preach perfectionism. It’s not an all-or-nothing game! I’m a firm believer that small changes over time develop into habits.
Sometimes change can become overwhelming if you are trying too many things at once. Start with one, then when that’s routine, add a new change.
You might also be interested in:
5 Easy Swaps For A Greener Kitchen
List of Basic Zero-Waste Pantry Staples
DIY Eco-Friendly Cleaners
I agree with you. Especially drying clothes by hanging them to dry. I remember as a kid, my parents would use the dryer only in the rainy season. Rest of the time, we would hang them to dry.
I hung mine to dry a lot over the summer, but it’s difficult to do that in the winter around here!
Hi Lucie! I’ve been using cold water detergent for more than 30 years, and I love drying my clothes outside. Especially the sheets, they smell ao amazing when I jump into bed.
Agreed! I love the smell of the outside on my sheets, and even my towels.
I so agree! I think people rely on dryers far too much! Thanks for the tips!