Laundry Tips
03/17/2010: Earth Clinic Planet writes: "Save energy, save money, and perhaps even save your house. While you should be cleaning your dryer filter with each use, you should also make an occasional habit of cleaning the vent screen where the exhaust exits your house and even taking the exhaust tube apart to clean it out. Lint can build up in these spaces through months of use, reducing energy efficiency and creating a fire hazard."
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01/06/2010: ECP Staff writes: "Why waste good warm air and humidity when you're shivering in your socks and your lips are chapping even as you sleep? If you have an electric dryer and live in a cold climate, you can purchase or put together a lint kit to reroute your clothes dryer exhaust back into your home. With a short vent tube and a good filter, you can vent your laundry exhaust straight into your home in the winter. The free heat will be more than welcome and better than venting it out into the cold outdoors. Lint kits are available at home improvement stores, or you can fashion one out of a pair of old pantyhose wrapped tightly over the end of the exhaust duct. Be careful here. You're talking about a gallon of moisture per load, so make sure the air in your laundry room circulates throughout the rest of the house."
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1 YEA
[YEA] 05/22/2009: Whisper (rtz4973@hotmail.com) from Timmins, Ontario Canada writes: "I've successfully used (Ronsonol) lighter fuel to remove gum and tar on clothing. It works great removing the glue from sticky stickers. On the bottle it says that it can also remove oil stains that I've not tried. Use it directly on the fabric and use your nail to gently scrape it off the gum, didn't want to damage the fabric otherwise you could use almost anything."
10/26/2009: karmala from Templeton, CA replies: "Since lighter fluid is such a toxic chemical you might want to try using coconut oil instead. I use extra virgin coconut oil for many things around the house... cooking, eating on toast, bath and beauty.... but, it is also great at getting rid of hard to remove sticky stuff. My 2 Labs love to lay under the pine trees and frequently come in covered in pine pitch as a result. I rub a little bit of EVCO on it and the sticky residue is magically gone. Of course it also makes their coats shine and smell wonderful. If I am not going to bathe them at that point, I just finish wiping them down with a towel. I have also used it on gum on clothing and in hair with the same fantastic results."
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02/14/2010: Earth Clinic Planet writes: "For sure, we can save about one hundred dollars a year by drying our clothes on the line or a drying rack, and that fresh air scent is fantastic, but then there is the stiffness. Stiff clothes, especially stiff towels can be such an irritation that we opt for the easy route and stick the wet clothes in the dryer, against our better judgment. Here are a few ideas to soften those fabrics without the dryer and the chemical dryer sheets. First off, you can almost certainly use less detergent, which is just better all around. A breeze will keep towels and clothing softer and more flexible. You might also try adding a bit of white vinegar to the washing machine along with your detergent (use even less detergent that way, and seriously kill germs to boot). As a last resort, you can always throw some items into the dryer for a few minutes after you've taken them down from the line."
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06/22/2008: Susan from Central Kentucky, USA writes: "I also have found vinegar to be great for the laundry. I use the cheap white vinegar and reserve the organic ACV for drinking. I started adding vinegar to the wash cycle filling up the fabric softener and bleach dispenser with vinegar. I also add some baking soda directly in the wash tub. I have eliminated fabric softener as well as bleach and use 1/2 the amount of detergent since vinegar and baking soda softens clothes, baking soda is a cleaning booster and whitener while the vinegar destroys odors and bacteria. I have found that trying to go green is usually healthier too. Hope this serves as inspiration to others. I love this website and have gotten so many useful tips and ideas since March 08. I will report later on my findings on some of the cures."
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09/10/2007: Maria from Houston, Texas writes: "white distilled vinager gets my laundry very clean it takes out grass staines and sweat smell out it leaves it smelling fresh and soft."
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03/15/2010: ECP Editor writes: "Ask your appliance repairman. He'll tell you. You're almost certainly using too much soap in your laundry room washing machine. Unless you have very hard water, the manufacturer's minimum suggested amounts of laundry detergent to wash your clothes is still likely 2-8 times more than you really need. Want to check? Throw a few clean towels in the washer, without detergent, and see if you don't find suds and detergent residue in the water. All that extra soap poisons the environment, makes your clothes starchy, irritates your skin, and wastes resources by bringing the end of your clothes and your washer along much too soon."
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02/13/2010: ECP writes: "It's just a guess, but I'd wager that you could use an extra $100 this year. If you live in a typical household, a c-note is exactly what you would save by making one simple, painless change in your habits. It turns out that 90% of the energy used in laundering our clothes is used up by heating the water for our wash cycles. Switch to cold-water washing and you save 100 dollars a year, with clothes no worse for wear thanks to modern laundry detergents. That's an easy enough change to make, better for the pocket and the planet."
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