Clean your clothes, save your water

Doing laundry can be a big enough pain, especially if you let it pile up for weeks, and drag it to the laundry room, before dumping it into your washer. But, try not to take out that frustration on the water used in your washing machine. The best option for completing this tedious task, is to use a front loading washer, because it only fills partway and then rotates the clothes through this reduced amount of water. Instead of the 40 gallons required to operate a standard washer, these front loading washers use about 20-25 gallons of water per load, and usually cut the energy use by about half. Even though you can save water by using the front loading washers, it’s still better to do one full load in these washers than two partially full loads, because it takes twice as much energy to run the two separate loads.

If you find it hard to part with your trusted washer for a front loading washer, you can still lessen your water and energy use. It is even more important to wait for a full load, when using a standard washer, because of the lack of water level control. Even if you’re only tossing in one shirt, the washing machine will use enough water to clean an entire teams’ football gear . Also, you can use cold water for your clothes, which is generally enough to make them sparkle again, and doesn’t have the extra energy cost of heating the water. Laundry isn’t often considered a thrilling activity, but it also doesn’t have to be a waste of water or energy , with some simple changes.