green your laundry routine

July 28, 2009

in food,frugality,home,natural living,no spend month,reflection,savings

Clothes pins 1
Creative Commons License photo credit: Monica Arellano-Ongpin

Being green isn’t always easy, but it has benefits. It’s good for you, good for the Earth, and good for your wallet.

Most green laundry ideas you’ve heard of already.

The one key that is missing though is the clothes themselves. I often hear mom friend’s complain about having to tackle a mountain of laundry. I do this sometimes myself, but only after we’ve been on vacation (note: not when I’m at my Mom’s house since she washes everything for us!), or after we’ve been sick.

We have more laundry than most people, since we’re a family of 6. I could easily do 2 loads a day/5 days a week. That’s a LOT of laundry. this of course doesn’t include accidents, vomit, or other gross things that need to be washed. I usually add about 2-3 loads a week for this. That’s 12-13 loads.

The main way I keep my laundry room green, and more green in my wallet is by keeping a limited number of clothing items for each person. Adam, and his family, are the masters of this right now.

The only exception I have is a nice outfits and shoes. I don’t get out much, so I have a few classic pieces that I will hold onto for forever. Likewise the hubby has a suit and ties, and the kids each have something nice-ish.

I usually go through my clothes seasonally. Since it’s almost fall/back-to-school time, it’s the perfect time to go through your summer wardrobe and purge. Anything you haven’t worn in a year should go.

How many clothing items do you have? Do you feel like you could cut back?

Kelly

© 2009, Whalen Media LLC. All rights reserved. To repost or publish, please email Kelly.

About Kelly


Kelly Whalen is the founder of The Centsible Life, a blog where motherhood and money meet. Her goal is to help readers live well on less. Kelly is a mom to 4, and loves that she can stay at home with her kids, and still pursue her passions for writing, personal finance, and social media. You can often find her on twitter and Facebook talking money and motherhood.

Tagged as: laundry, natural living, saving money

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  • http://www.greeningfamilies.com Steph @ Greening Families

    I hadn’t thought about the laundry implications of keeping our wardrobes to a reasonable size but you are right. Whenever we see a spike in the number of clothes we have (like around the holidays or birthdays), the laundry levels increase. More than one outfit a day doesn’t work if there aren’t other options!

  • http://www.greeningfamilies.com/ Steph @ Greening Families

    I hadn’t thought about the laundry implications of keeping our wardrobes to a reasonable size but you are right. Whenever we see a spike in the number of clothes we have (like around the holidays or birthdays), the laundry levels increase. More than one outfit a day doesn’t work if there aren’t other options!

  • http://retrohousewife05.blogspot.com/ Lisa

    Thanks for pointing out to wash sheets on hot, while you can stick them in the freezer to kill dust mites that isn’t something many people will get around to doing.

    Also my husband and I sadly have very bad allergies so line drying never happens. :(

    But anyway, great tips!!

  • http://retrohousewife05.blogspot.com/ Lisa

    Thanks for pointing out to wash sheets on hot, while you can stick them in the freezer to kill dust mites that isn’t something many people will get around to doing.

    Also my husband and I sadly have very bad allergies so line drying never happens. :(

    But anyway, great tips!!

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  • http://www.DebtFreeAdventure.com Matt Jabs

    Our homemade powder, HE friendly, laundry detergent was one of the greatest projects my wife & I undertook! Not because it saves us $6,500/year (it doesn’t, although it does save $0.16/load) but because it kickstarted our journey to think outside the box when it comes to products in our home. Since making our detergent, we have moved toward making more & more of our own products & are loving it, not to mention our money savings just keeps growing!

    One of my next big things is to install a laundry line like Steve did (which Kelly mentioned nicely). I just installed my back yard (along with my paver patio). As soon as the yard grows in, I will be putting the laundry line in.

    Laundry lines not only save on energy, but they make your clothes last A LOT longer too!

    Becoming more self-reliant is always a good thing. GO DO IT! :-)

    Great post Kelly.

  • http://www.DebtFreeAdventure.com/ Matt Jabs

    Our homemade powder, HE friendly, laundry detergent was one of the greatest projects my wife & I undertook! Not because it saves us $6,500/year (it doesn’t, although it does save $0.16/load) but because it kickstarted our journey to think outside the box when it comes to products in our home. Since making our detergent, we have moved toward making more & more of our own products & are loving it, not to mention our money savings just keeps growing!

    One of my next big things is to install a laundry line like Steve did (which Kelly mentioned nicely). I just installed my back yard (along with my paver patio). As soon as the yard grows in, I will be putting the laundry line in.

    Laundry lines not only save on energy, but they make your clothes last A LOT longer too!

    Becoming more self-reliant is always a good thing. GO DO IT! :-)

    Great post Kelly.

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