Earth Day Challenge: Going Green In the Laundry Room

Earth Day Challenge Idea #1

I will be posting some Earth Day Challenges this month. Here is a great one! Even if you choose just one idea, it will help our Earth that Heavenly Father has created for us. If you followed me through Spring Cleaning...You already have recipes for making Cleaners. But they also sale non-toxic cleaners in the store. Just making that switch is a good start. Here are some other ideas as well for going Green in the Laundry Room.

So what's so wrong with conventional cleaning products?

On the surface, they're great at what they do, repelling dirt, dust, and grime with nothing more than a spritz and some elbow grease. But many of these cleaners contain toxic ingredients that, while safe in small amounts, could have unknown long-term side effects—like phthalaltes, which help products hold onto fragrances, but may cause birth defects; volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which lower indoor air quality and can be connected to respiratory problems; phosphates, which break down dirt but can also affect algae when they enter the water supply; petrochemicals, or petroleum-based by-products that have been linked to cancer; and chlorine bleach, which disinfects but can cause serious health problems.

Many of these ingredients are the same compounds you are working to eliminate from your furniture, beauty routine, and laundry processes; if they don't have a place in your living room, medicine cabinet, or closet, they shouldn't be in your cleaning supplies, either.

I also recommend ditching the dryer sheets, which can be full of cancer-causing chemicals and neurotoxins such as toluene and styrene. They also break down organic fibers, shortening the life of your fabrics. Instead, toss a sachet of dried organic lavender in the dryer for a healthy, sweet scent.

Hang it out to dry

There are upward of 88 million dryers in the U.S., each emitting more than a ton of carbon dioxide per year. Because dryers uses so much energy, skipping it altogether can make a real difference. While some homeowners' associations and municipalities oppose hanging clothes out to dry, the pro-line drying movement, headed up by Right to Dry, is putting up a good defense for your right to harvest free solar energy. LineDryIt also has some solid resources for getting started, including advice on how to line-dried laundry with getting stiff clothes. Added bonus? Clothes last longer when you line dry because there's less wear and tear than when you use the dryer. Even if you choose to use the Dryer you can just damp dry clothes a little , then hang them out to dry. That way you save some energy in the Dryer.

Wear it more than once

It doesn't go for everything (unmentionables and socks come to mind), but the simplest way to cut back on your laundry's impact is to--duh!--just do less of it. Wearing your clothes more than once before tossing them in the dirty pile is the first step in greening your laundry habits. The United Nations Environment Programme crunched the numbers and discovered that you can consume up to five times less energy by wearing your jeans at least three times, washing them in cold water, and skipping the dryer or the iron.

Green Laundry: By the Numbers

* 90 percent: Amount of total energy used by a typical washing machine to heat the water; only 10 percent is used to power the motor.

* 34 million tons: Amount of carbon dioxide emissions that would be saved if every U.S. household used only cold water for washing clothes--that's nearly 8 percent of the Kyoto target for the U.S.

When the time comes to replace your Washer & Dryer

Choose an energy efficient washer. Right now they don't make an energy efficient Dryer. I guess that is hard to do. I just ordered a new energy efficient washer and dishwasher.They use less water . And have other neat features.