Doing Laundry for Less

Very few people enjoy doing laundry but it still needs to be done. With the average family doing 6 loads of laundry each week, washing our clothes is one of the largest contributor's to our monthly energy bill all year long. Luckily, there are ways to keep these costs to a minimum.

Drying your clothes costs almost 8 times what it does to wash them so it's an easier target for cost reduction. However, since washing your clothes also involves the hot water heater, you can still work on reducing your energy usage. There are new detergents on the market that are specially formulated to work effectively in cold water. Even for white clothes, you can use cold water for the rinse cycle to save on hot water usage.

Use the appropriate water level on your washing machine and run only full loads. Many newer model washing machines have different settings for different levels of soil. Using the light soil setting on most loads will not only save you money but save you time as well. Light soil cycles run for shorter times than heavy soil cycles, therefore using less energy. Since most of us don't relish doing laundry, saving time along with saving money is an added bonus.

With the cost of drying our clothes being so much higher than the costs of washing them, this is one area where we can really make a large impact on energy costs. The highest savings would be achieved by using a good, old-fashioned clothesline but for many apartment-dwellers this is not an option. An alternative would be an inexpensive wood or plastic drying rack that you could use at least for lighter clothes. That would still save some money on drying costs.

If you must use the dryer, separate clothes into faster-drying and slower-drying loads. Use the moisture sensing setting if your clothes dryer has one. This does a much better job than you trying to guess how long it will take. This will not only save you money on energy costs, it will prevent over-drying which can damage your clothes. Do your laundry all at once so you can put one load in right after another while the dryer is still hot. This takes advantage of residual heat so is another way to save both money and time.

As with any appliance, proper maintenance will keep your dryer working at optimal efficiency. Clean the lint trap after each load. Check the vent hose for buildup or clogs annually and replace as needed. A clog will not only increase your energy costs by taking longer to dry the clothes, it also becomes a fire hazard. One last tip for those who have newer machines. Make sure the dryer is actually all the way off. If there is any light on, the appliance is still using energy and every little bit helps in our fight against soaring energy costs.