Green Laundry Room Makeover

Clean clothes are a must, but so is a clean environment. Find out how to get both, by following these tips in the laundry room.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• green
• laundry
• room
• makeover
• washer
• dryer
• sheets
• detergent
• bleach
• clean
• clothes
• white
• darks
• brights
• permanent
• press
• hot
• cold
• water
• heat
• dry
• national geographic

[DorkVader26]

to flush a water efficient toilet twice. You often times have to rinse the clothes twice in front loads or even wash them 2-3 times to get them clean again.

[DorkVader26]

It's funny watching this and how clueless National Geographic is. Having been in the dry cleaning industry for years. Front Load washing machines don't and will not last as long as top load washing machines for numerous reasons. They also generally don't clean as good due to low amounts of water in them. The idea behind cleaning is to suspend the soil in the soap/water solution then rinse it away. Front loads don't use enough water to do this (in some cases). Sure they work but it's like having

[craziestbxboy]

well i guess your an exception

;P

[Myobokuuzan]

That is so weird O_O my clothes come out clean all the time. Are you sure you aren't putting the washer to the right settings? Like you don't want to put "light soil" on clothes that have been splattered by food stains or mud.

And front loader washing machines spin a lot faster than standard top loading washers.

[Myobokuuzan]

Not all front load washers are like that. I have a front loader and it takes about 25 min to wash all of my clothes on a light soil setting, or on a heavy soil setting would be about 40 min on my permanent press cycle.  I wear a lot of white shirts and t-shirts and I ALWAYS wash on cold water and they are always clean :)

[craziestbxboy]

blah cold water wont be any good for dingy whites i use cold for everything except whites and forget those front load washers you will wait 2 hours or 45 minutes just for a wash cycle blah!

[debzam]

ABSOLUTELY! I was so excited about my new front loader, till I started getting complaints about the results. I had already told someone else about it and she got one too and had the same problems. It's a waste of water, not a savings if you have to do it twice or don't get results.

[thibaulthalpern]

Sure, if you live far from the laundromat then yes handwashing would save more time. In my case, the laundry machine is right at home. I rent a room in a family household. I used to live in the tropics (in Cameroon) and that actually meant changing clothes everyday and sometimes more than once a day if I sweat more than usual. To then do laundry by hand only once a week would be too much clothes piled up. I had to do it more frequently.

[SmallWorldFilms]

Actually, like all other tasks it becomes easier with practice. In truth, doing laundry by hand is not as time consuming as carrying it downstairs to the car, driving to the laundromat then putting it into the machines. It is more physically demanding and may not be a good choice for people with physical limitations. I usually only do mine on weekends.

[thibaulthalpern]

Handwashing is quite time consuming. To make it less time consuming, one would do it everyday. It's a little less convenient for many people. The next option would be to use an efficient washer. For drying, it really isn't necessary to use a dryer unless one lives in an area where there is no space (e.g., one rents a room in a house and there is no other areas to hang dry one's clothes).