From debugging the grill of your car to cleaning pots and pans, there’s more than one way to use a dryer sheet. 

You’ve probably heard the tip about putting dryer sheets in your vacuum or bottom of the trash can to keep things smelling fresh. You haven’t? Well, it’s true. And here are ten additional ways of fluffing up your abode with downy freshness (we always suggest using non-toxic dryer sheets!)

1. Dusting
Use dryer sheets to dust blinds, fans or almost any surface. The anti static properties in the sheets will help repel the dust. They are easy to hold and you can dust your laundry room after folding the clothes. Don’t forget to dust the TV and reduce static on the screen.

2. Reduce Static Cling
Rub on your dress or stockings to keep your dress from riding up. You can also use them on your computer and TV screen. Even rub on your hair to prevent ecstatic flyaways.

3. Pets
Rub a sheet on your wet dog to take away the “wet rug” smell after a swim or bath. Towel him or her dry first. You can remove pet hair from your clothes and furniture with them as well.

4. Freshen Gym Accessories
Keep them in your gym bag, boxing gloves or shoes to keep away mold and stinky funk.

5. Cars.
De-bug or de-sap your car with dryer sheets. Wet down your car and rub with the sheets to remove bug guts on the windshield or the front grill. It works like a charm on tree sap, too. While you’re at it, toss one into the trunk to freshen things up in there.

6. Easy Clean Up
Clean paint brushes by soaking in warm water with a dryer sheet. Works on pots and pans with burnt on food, too. Use the same method.

7. De-Squeak Your Shoes
Rub on the bottom of rubber soled shoes to keep them from squeaking on cement floors.

8. On the Road
Place between your packed clothes to get rid of that musty luggage smell. Keep in your suitcase and camping gear when stored, too. Put them in the air conditioner vent in your hotel room to take away mildew odors.

9. Crafts
Run a sheet over your thread while sewing. The thread won’t tangle as easily. They can add structure to appliqué and quilting projects, too.

10. Insect Repellant
Tuck them in your socks or belt to keep away the bugs. You might look ridiculous but it works in a pinch.

Bonus Sheets!
Wipe scissor blades with a sheet to help them cut smoother lines. Use dryer sheets to polish your glasses, though not recommended for plastic lenses.

Image: This Week for Dinner

One smiley face equals faster drying time and less energy use. Plus, they’re really cute.  

Hand-felted, artisan-crafted, wool dryer balls might not sound exciting, but once you see your energy savings you’ll be wearing a grin as wide as the one on the left. A wool dryer ball works the same as a dryer sheet, in principle. It separates the clothes and promotes the circulation of warm, dry air. The main difference is that these are chemical and odor free. They’ll also shorten your drying time by up to 20-25% and give your laundry a nice fluff.

Balls are sold as a set of 4 for $34.95. From Greenfeet.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

Drying For Freedom is a documentary about the very real repercussions of owning a clothesline.

Do you dare to use a clothesline? You represent a dying breed and quite possibly, a hindrance to progress.

Steven Lake, the director of Drying For Freedom, a film exploring a “new eco battlefield where communities and individuals are banned from drying their clothes naturally outdoors,” says his journey into the wild world of dirty clothes has proven to be a wash when it comes to understanding why people disapprove. Blame it on corporate America selling the dream of electric bliss with the Reagan family as poster children to post-World War II America, creating electric consumption with total disregard for the future carbon impact on the planet.

Whoever kicked it off, it’s become a U.S. born and bred disease that is crossing oceans and infecting underdeveloped countries who aren’t used to laundry convenience.

Lake says it all started when he first Googled the word ‘laundry,’ and learned from Wikipedia that clotheslines are banned in some countries. He was hooked.

“This especially interested me about a place like North America, and seemed a real contradiction about Americans and how much they’ve paid and fought for the price of freedom and that they’ve seemingly and willingly given it up by restricting themselves in their own homes,” says Lake, who seeks to understand how a simple single act which cuts carbon emissions and reduces energy bills could be frowned upon in a time of acute environmental awareness and a return to economic frugality.

Traveling the globe, talking to homeowners, neighborhood associations, appliance dealers, police and environmental advocates, Lake sought to find out why laundry hung out to dry is grounds for prosecution, fines and in one instance in Alabama, murder.

Drying For Freedom Director, Steven Lake

“That people didn’t have the desire and sometimes the right to be environmentally friendly was unsettling,” says Lake, giving the example of the state of California with 300+ sunny days and so few people hanging clothes out to dry as an example.

“It’s these little things that will save us and add up.”

According to The Guardian, by washing and drying a load every two days, an average individual creates around 440kg of CO2 each year (roughly 970 pounds), which is the equivalent to flying from London to Glasgow and back with 15-mile taxi rides to and from the airports.

“Part of the problem is that tumble dryers (like dishwashers and washing machines) generally use electricity to generate their heat. This is typically more than twice as carbon-intensive as creating heat from gas – for the simple reason that, in the case of electricity, most of the energy in the fuel gets wasted up the cooling tower of a power plant, with yet more getting lost in transmission to the home,” reports The Guardian.

With the ability to hang a rope between two trees, not only could the typical homeowner save money, they could greatly shrink their carbon footprint. But sometimes that simple gesture of putting up a clothesline isn’t up to the homeowner.

In the case of the murder in Alabama, Lake says “One man had a clothesline and the other man pulled it down, the man put it up and the man who had the clothesline shot the man who kept pulling it down.”

While Lake agrees the deeply troubled neighbor took matters unquestionably further than most of the stories he documented, it still brings to light the question of why people see clotheslines in such a negative way. What do clotheslines connote culturally for Americans, as well as other cultures?

“If you have a clothesline, it means you are either anti-progress or you just can’t afford it and that means you are the worst kind of person because it looks very ‘ghetto,’” says Lake. In the documentary, a member of a homeowner’s association calls it the same and even his association members are taken aback. In status-conscious American culture, an environmentally, economically sensible and simple act takes on shades of class divide.

AlterNet reports that 57 million Americans – approaching one person out of five – live in homes regulated by homeowner associations (HOAs). Many of these private associations hold sway not only in exclusive neighborhoods but in many more modest neighborhoods like condominium complexes.

“They have sweeping powers to enforce so-called restrictive covenants, which can control almost any aspect of the property, from the size of the house or garage down to details like changes in paint color or placement of basketball hoops. When a house is sold, the covenant goes with it,” reports AlterNet.

Often, these “covenants” include the clothesline ban and leave no wiggle room for exception.

Many have felt the law tightening too quickly with urban sprawl encroaching on older neighborhoods bereft of any stringent clothesline laws. In rebellion, some homeowners have become inspiring clothesline activists, which Lake documents in his film through inspirational tales like Clotheslines For Change.

Clotheslines For Change reports that as of 2009, “passage of ‘right to dry’ legislation in Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont, together with legislative efforts on this front in Connecticut, Oregon, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, were largely attributed to Project Laundry List’s ongoing efforts.” Since the 1970s, Florida has also had a solar rights law that protects most property-owners from the intrusions of community associations.

Drying For Freedom Director, Steven Lake

But because diseases are contagious and homeowners are many, I asked Lake whether he thinks he can really throw a curve ball into the face of change when it comes to inspiring people to put out a clothesline and save energy.

There are a few things to take into consideration, says Lake. One is that the U.S. has sent a very powerful message to the world that we should make life more convenient and thus use more energy which is “infectiously moving on into other cultures and exporting bad habits.”

“We can also send a message out to the U.S. exporting culture which is targeting India and China not to do as we do,” says Lake, “and because we have such an infinite source of credit through borrowing and loans we can’t quite judge the value of not paying for electricity that powers our dryers and I’m not sure we will have this awareness about many parts of our lives without something terribly drastic happening.”

On the Drying For Freedom site, Lake writes: “This is an environmental documentary, but it’s also about characters; the people involved in this fight, for and against it. It’s the passion behind these individuals that drives us to tell this story. Whether you agree with them or not, everyone believes they are right and that is strength of belief which is often hard to find in people these days it’s hard to explain to people why on earth we would be making a documentary all about clotheslines! There are times I’ve doubted it myself, but I always remember why our team got so involved in the first place. It’s different and it matters to us.”

Image: This Tiny House, Drying For Freedom

You may have noticed that the New Year has inspired in us a whole lot of starting fresh and cleaning slate. The time is right for ridding our lives of the old and irrelevant, and making room for only the essentials.

So it’s as good a time as any to talk about a not so stylish and slightly sensitive subject – your dirty laundry. I’m referring to your clothes and a place to put them prior to washing.

If last year’s hamper or laundry basket is Rubber Maid or something similar, please listen up. There are alternatives – stylish containers for soiled garments that don’t need to be hidden away in the closet or under the bed.

Here are some of the hippest hampers we could round up. Choose wisely.

1. Top image: Woven West African Basket – VivaTerra, $198.

Clockwise from top left:

2. Whitney Wicker Triple Bin Hamper – Urban Clotheslines, $85.

3. Ruffle Laundry Bag – Urban Outfitters, $36.

4. Wire Round Basket – My Sparrow, $36.

5. Crunch Drawstring Round Hamper – Umbra, $25.

6. Image above: dwellstudio Owl Sky Large Storage Bin – fawn & forest $80.

Clockwise from top left:

7. Ferm Living Laundry Bag – 2Modern, $80.

8. Crunch Can Natural – Umbra, $20.

9. Bag Caddie – Steele Canvas Basket Corporation, $70.

10. Square Carry Basket – Steele Canvas Basket Corporation, $65.

Above from left:

11. Sedona Hamper w/ Liner – Crate&Barrel, $99.95.

12. Bamboo Hamper w/ Liner – Crate&Barrel, $99.95

The fashion industry is facing many challenges, but one of the most pressing issues is water usage.  The textile industry is the third largest consumer and polluter of the world’s water. Water consumption is a huge problem for growing fibers such as the ever-thirsty cotton plant, with nearly 400 gallons of water required to produce just one cotton t-shirt.

Waste water is conceivably an even bigger issue than consumption. Toxic chemicals produced from dyeing textiles, along with other chemicals such as those used to produce synthetics, are contributing to a major crisis in pollution of fresh water, affecting the health of a number of species, including humans.  (Read The Consequences of Chemicals, Future Fashion White Papers).

Heavy metals such as chromium and cadmium, which are used to make bright and vibrant dyes, pose a threat wherever they appear in a product lifestyle, particularly the use of the dye in dye wastewater. Air Dye is a revolutionary technology that dyes textiles without using any water. Not only are they reducing the overall amount of water required to produce a garment, but this technology also prevents toxic chemicals from entering our ecosystems.

Some manufacturers work in closed-loop production, which means that the waste or effluent produced is treated and re-used, reducing the amount of toxic waste normally disposed of into the ecosystem.  The company Lenzing is a great example, with their fabrics modal and  tencel, made from a wood pulp much like bamboo (which has yet to be manufactured in a closed-loop environment).

But so much attention has been given to the energy, chemicals and water that go into making a garment that what many people don’t realize is the majority of the environmental damage comes once a garment has been purchased. The energy and water required to wash a garment has far more devastating effects than the growing of the raw materials and the manufacturing of the textiles. Surprising? Not really when you consider that the average piece of clothing lasts three years, and is laundered hundreds of times in its lifetime.

The average North American household washes 400 loads of laundry per year. This accumulated number of washes requires 13,500 gallons of water to complete, and is equivalent to how much water it takes to fill a standard above-ground pool!

The first steps towards recovering from our water addiction begin with wearing our clothes several times before washing. But once we get to a full laundry basket that is truly in need of a wash, there are a few basic tips to help you get started on eco-friendly and budget-smart laundering habits.

1) Wash your clothes in cold water: An interesting fact – using only hot water for washing your clothes uses more electricity in a year than leaving the refrigerator door open 24 hours a day for an entire year. Cold water is the best alternative, as it not only reduces fabric shrinkage, but it allows colors to remain vibrant. So your clothes will fit and last longer AND you’ll reduce your carbon emissions by 500 pounds a year!

2) Wash full loads: Washing machines are most efficient when operating at capacity. Take advantage of your washing machine’s full potential and load it up. Your budget will thank you for it.

3) Use the right amount and type of detergent: When doing a load of laundry do you use the cap size as an indicator of the amount of detergent you should use? If so, odds are you are using way too much laundry detergent than what is actually needed. The amount you use should reflect the guiding lines on the inside of the cap. Here’s a great article on Treehugger with more information.

Another helpful hint is to look for phosphate-free detergents. Phosphates are the leading chemical agent in algal blooms and a major cause of aquatic ecosystem depletion. Also, instead of fabric softeners, try using white vinegar in the rinse cycle. The acid vinegar will neutralize the basic detergents and as a result will help keep your clothes looking clean.

4) Consider an Energy-Star rated washer: Gone are the days of scrubbing our laundry by hand down at the lake. If you’re in the market to replace your washing machine, consider a more cost effective one. An Energy-Star or front-loading washing machine can save thousands of liters of water a year and be 30 – 85% more energy efficient.

Image above from Costello Tagilapietra’s 2009 show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week featuring Air Dye technology.

Related posts: Nifty Eco-Friendly Laundry Tricks Worth Trying
Eco Laundry Drying Secrets Revealed
Squeeze Em’ Into Any Teeny Tiny Space Laundry Racks
10 Myths About Dry Cleaning
Dry Clean Only? An Eco Expert Tells Us When It’s Safe to Ignore Labels

Come closer, gentle reader, for I have a confession: I’ve been known to totally ignore “dry clean only” labels. Dry cleaning is expensive and in a lot of cases, not eco-friendly, so I prefer to hand wash and air-dry my delicates. Yup, I’m a clothes drying renegade (just ask my boyfriend after he’s walked into the bathroom and discovered sweaters drying on every available surface). Of course, this creates some challenges, since I don’t have any outdoor space for a clothesline.

Fortunately for me (and the rest of you apartment-dwellers), there are loads of options for drying racks to fit all types of spaces. Here are five of my faves:

1. D-Rack Clothes Drying Rack
   One of the cool things about this drying rack is that it can be mounted to a wall, the back of a door, or be free-standing. It also allows for lots of different configurations depending on your needs.
2. Leifheit Indoor/Outdoor Wall-Mount Dryer
   This nifty little gadget (pictured above) is versatile enough to drying clothes inside or out. It also expands to offer up to 33- linear feet of drying space!
3. Kenney ONZ Magnetic Drying Rack & Magnetic Hooks Set
   For those who are truly short on space (and have in-unit laundry), this drying rack attaches to your washer or dryer magnetically, holding shirts, dresses, and other items as they dry.
4. Lingerie Drying Rack
   Perhaps not as versatile as some of your other options, but incredibly compact, this lingerie drying rack holds up to 12 pieces and hangs in the shower or the back of a door.
5. Household Essentials 5009 Collapsible Indoor Tripod-Style Clothes Dryer
   I love how this collapsible clothes dryer has such a small foot print, yet it holds up to 36 garments at a time.

There’s no escaping it, laundry is a fact of life. Before you toss your next load of whites in the washer, take a look at these five planet-friendly laundry gizmos that claim to go easy on the environment while cleaning your skivvies.

Wonder Ball – According to the manufacturer, this spherical “proprietary blend of minerals and magnetics” reduces the surface tension of the water to allow the gadget to deep clean clothing fibers. It can be used with laundry detergent, or on its own with just water. It works in hard or soft water and will last you about 2,000 washes.

Dryer Balls – What’s good for the washer, is good for the dryer. Several companies make dryer balls, little orbs that you toss in the dryer clothes to keep your clothes from sticking together, so they dry more quickly. Apparently these little doo-dads can reduce drying time up to 25 percent. Who knew?

Static Eliminator Eco Dryer Sheets – Unlike chemical-laden disposable dryer sheets, these reusable alternatives can be used up to 500 times. The hypoallergenic fabric draws static electricity away from garments and whisks away clingy pet hair while tumbling around the dryer.

Soapnuts – Dried fruit gets your clothes clean? Evidently so. Soapnuts are actually the the fruit produced by a particular type of Himalayan tree. Once harvested, they’re de-seeded, dried, and packaged as a natural, organic alternative to standard laundry detergents.

Have you ever tried any of these laundry products? What did you think? Let us know in the comments. And for drying tips, don’t miss these eco drying secrets.

Images: Pretty in Print

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• »

Wonder Ball – According to the manufacturer, this spherical “proprietary blend of minerals and magnetics” reduces the surface tension of the water to allow the gadget to deep clean clothing fibers. It can be used with laundry detergent, or on its own with just water. It works in hard or soft water and will last you about 2,000 washes.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• »

Dryer Balls – What’s good for the washer, is good for the dryer. Several companies make dryer balls, little orbs that you toss in the dryer clothes to keep your clothes from sticking together, so they dry more quickly. Apparently these little doo-dads can reduce drying time up to 25 percent. Who knew?

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• »

Static Eliminator Eco Dryer Sheets – Unlike chemical-laden disposable dryer sheets, these reusable alternatives can be used up to 500 times. The hypoallergenic fabric draws static electricity away from garments and whisks away clingy pet hair while tumbling around the dryer.

• «
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• »

Soapnuts – Dried fruit gets your clothes clean? Evidently so. Soapnuts are actually the the fruit produced by a particular type of Himalayan tree. Once harvested, they’re de-seeded, dried, and packaged as a natural, organic alternative to standard laundry detergents.

Have you ever tried any of these laundry products? What did you think? Let us know in the comments. And for drying tips, don’t miss these eco drying secrets.

Images: Pretty in Print

I grew up in sunny Australia where it was, and still is, normal to hang your wet laundry out to dry on an outdoors clothes line. With the luxury of space and a warm climate, most Australians either do not have a tumble dryer at all or regard it as a back-up for emergencies only. Rich or poor, city or country, culturally this is how things are commonly done.

In my mid twenties, I moved to London. Suddenly I had neither space, nor climate, on my side. My partner and I lived in one-bedroom apartments for nearly five years, with no outdoor space. As is common in London, the apartments came furnished with a front-loading washing machine in the kitchen. I had no experience with drying clothes inside in a confined space, so I might have been tempted to use a dryer had one been provided.

But none of the four London apartments we lived in came with a dryer. And it seemed that no one I knew in London had one either. Of course, tumble dryers do exist in Britain – and they are a big contributor to the nation’s greenhouse gases – but they are certainly not ubiquitous. We looked around and saw that people got by with indoor folding clothes racks and by putting clothes on the central heating radiators, backs of chairs or stair rails, so that’s what we did too. For bigger items such as sheets, we hung them over the backs of doors. My family in Scotland had a clothes pulley installed above the stairs – a clever device where an indoors clothes line is raised or lowered with a pulley system – but we never had this luxury as a renter.

Now in California, our rental home comes with a washing machine and a dryer on top. This is normal around these parts, despite the relatively warm climate and the fact that many houses have backyards. But my drying habits have stayed with me and knowing what I know now, I am not prepared to start using a tumble dryer for my clothes. Firstly, they are tremendous energy vampires – one of the most power-hungry appliances in the home. By not using a dryer I am saving money and helping the planet. Secondly, dryers are rough on your clothes and even garments that are marked as safe for the dryer will not last as long if dried this way regularly. Finally, I now know that drying your clothes naturally is really very easy, no matter the space or the climate. I might only have a two-bedroom cottage and no outdoor clothes line but if I can do it in a one-bedroom apartment, I can certainly do it in my comparatively spacious California home.

I’ve been asked to share with you some of my tricks and tips from a lifetime of doing laundry. I’m not some Martha Stewart wannabe and these are not amazing revelations that will come as news to anyone who has experience with natural clothes drying. Also, I’m not trying to lecture you about how to live your life but simply telling you what I do at home. Perhaps it will help!

My Set-Up

Obviously every home and family is different but this is our current set-up.

We have floor space in the laundry room, which gets reasonable sunlight, so we have a folding clothes rack here. It’s a wonderful luxury for us to actually have a laundry room, since we generally had the rack in the living room when we lived in London. We dry dress pants, jeans, skirts and towels (done in a separate load of course) by hanging them on the rack. Most clothes only take a day or so to dry. Jeans can take longer and may need turning over after a day to ensure air can circulate around the waistband. On an outdoor line we would hang jeans upside down and not fold them over at all, but our clothes rack is not high enough for this.

We also use the rack to peg out underwear and socks. The pegs are not strictly necessary but they do prevent the clothes falling on the floor and they allow more surface area to be exposed to air. I always sort the socks and hang them out as a pair, so they can be put away more easily and I can hunt for missing socks straight away.

We have a curtain rail in the bathroom. This was not installed especially for this purpose but since it’s there, we use it. A clothes rail on wheels would serve the same purpose if you have a convenient place to put it. We generally put shirts and t-shirts and dresses on a coat hanger and hang them on the rail in the bathroom. That way they can be transferred straight to the wardrobe when dry and, except for formal wear, they often do not require ironing.

We hang sheets over the backs of doors. It looks a bit messy but it’s one day once every few weeks (we have several sheet sets) so it’s not a big deal. I do miss an outdoor clothes line for this.

There are only two of us at present and of course this makes things easier because the laundry loads are smaller than a larger family. However, I think the biggest factor is habits and space. Based on my experience growing up and that of other families in Australia and Europe, I believe if I had an outdoor clothes line or a clothes pulley or space for several drying racks, then I could easily accommodate family-size laundry loads.

Hanging out clothes takes about five minutes so I don’t regard it as a significant amount of work. It’s not an unpleasant chore, it’s just about being in the habit of doing it this way. We might find it difficult to cope with the increased laundry with a family but only because we have a small home. We would probably want to move somewhere bigger when and if we have children anyway, for many reasons besides the demands of laundry.

Do what works for you and don’t be afraid to improvise. Even if you can’t eliminate dryer usage altogether, cutting down would benefit the environment and your wallet.

Tips

• The most important thing when you are hanging out clothes to dry is to shake them out so they are straight. Don’t hang out a shirt with the arm bunched up inside itself or it will dry crushed.
• Outside, I like to fold t-shirts over the line and peg them on the seam under the arms so the peg marks do not show. Inside, I usually put them on a hanger, like the shirts, to save space on the rack.
• The more surface area exposed to the air, the faster the clothes will dry. If you need clothes to dry quickly, peg them upside down with no doubling over. The rack has more limitations in this regard than an outdoor clothes line or pulley because it is lower to the ground.
• Hang socks in pairs. This makes it easier to sort the dry laundry and reduces missing sock syndrome.
• If you are low on pegs, you can share one peg between the edges of two different items of clothing. Any difference in drying time is marginal.

Images: alessandraelle, Living in Monrovia, bigwibble6

Lately we’ve seen the mantra “Keep Calm and Carry On” everywhere from T-shirts to chocolate bars. (If your curious about the origins of this now popular phrase, then check out this article in the UK Guardian.) But we love how zJayne on Etsy has taken this British motivational phrase and given it an eco twist: “Keep Calm and Recycle On.”

Each set of three dryer pillows uses upcycled T-shirts filled with organic lavender buds to give laundry a light, flowery scent. They’re reusable and double-secured with a separate interior pouch so you don’t have to worry about the lavender buds leaking out. (“No way, no how!” as the Etsy description says.) These cute little pouches are sewn on a vintage White 1951 machine for a charmingly retro touch and come in several different color combos.

Of course, dryer pillows aren’t the only eco alternative to dryer sheets. I’ve used little rubbery dryer balls to dry clothes more quickly without creating extra waste (like the dryer pillows, the dryer balls are reusable). Air-drying wet clothes on a clothes line is another option if you have the space. The Clean Air Gardening Blog lists several other alternatives to commercial dryer sheets, some of which contain chemicals like Benzyl Acetate and Benzyl Alcohol. Not so great for you, your clothes, or the environment.