How to Save Energy: Laundry Room Edition

Who knows how long you’ll be stuck in your home? By the time of this writing, you could be completely out and living life as normal.

Or you might have learned that you need to stay in for another few weeks.

This whole coronavirus thing has certainly disrupted all our lives!

Perhaps you’re feeling a financial crunch as a result. And even if you’re not, you can still save money and energy in your laundry room.

Plus, since you’re around your home more, you may feel tempted to do more around-the-house work like your laundry. So, you may get even more savings than normal.

And you can use those savings whether coronavirus is taking its toll or not.

So, here’s a details guide for saving money in your laundry room:

1. Wash with Cold Water

Look, this one’s easy and requires almost no effort on your part. You simply need to change your washer to wash with cold water.

By washing with warm (versus hot) water, you cut your energy usage per load in half.

Using cold water saves even more.

2. Only Wash Full Loads

Honestly, your washer uses about the same energy regardless of the load size.

So, just wash full loads to get the best bang for your buck!

3. Dry Only the Right-Size Load

Dryers, on the other hand, are a little different. Fill them up too full or with not enough, and they use more energy than necessary.

Read your dryer’s manual or Google your dryer model number and find its manual online to figure out how much you’re really supposed to put in.

4. Cut Drying Time…With Tennis Balls?

Yes. That’s not a joke. Really, any ball around the size of a tennis ball does the trick. For the best results, use wool or rubber balls.

However, tennis balls will do.

When you use balls in your dryer, this separates your clothes and creates air pockets. Then, the warm air from your dryer can access all parts of your clothing with ease.

This cuts your drying time. And that saves energy.

Wool balls also absorb some moisture, which also cuts drying time.

5. Dry at High Speed or on an Extended Cycle

At first, this sounds like it uses more energy.

However, truthfully it removes more moisture before your dryer begins drying, which actually cuts dry time.

6. Use Lower Heat Settings

Yes, this actually extends your dry time. However, it uses less energy because your dryer won’t spend time drying when your clothes are already dry.

So yes, you can easily save energy in your laundry room with those tips. And you barely have to use any additional effort.

In the world of energy savings, what could be better?