I try to be "green". I only do a full load, in cold water and I stopped separating my colours from my whites years ago. I use phosphate free, colour free, perfume free environmentally friendly liquid detergent.
So do a lot of people. But what I do that I consider really green, is hang all of my laundry outside - all year. Yes, even on a day like today at -27C with a wind chill into the -30s.
I got rid of my dryer nearly a year ago. I hadn't used it in years and even then, maybe used it once or twice a year. The space it used to take up is now where I keep supplies for my bird feeders.
The benefits: much reduced power bill and carbon footprint. And then there's the smell. This time of year, in this part of the world, the house is as closed off to the outside world as you can get it. You do all you can to keep the outside out. But when you bring the laundry inside, the smell is just wonderful.
There are challenges.
You have to plan ahead a little and watch the weather forecast, but I view being in tune with my environment a good thing. I will admit, any significant delay in getting laundry done is easier to deal with for single me than I would expect it would be for apartment dwellers or families with children.
When the snow gets deep I have to hang my bath towels sideways and when it's really cold everything freezes as you hang them - sheets and towels are stiff as boards.
Concerned folk ask how on earth my laundry ever dries on such frozen days. That's where the sublime bit come in. When solids (ice) form a gas (water vapour), skipping the liquid state, it is called sublimation. In below freezing temperatures, when liquid water cannot exist, this is how fabrics dry outside. It may take a little longer, but my laundry does eventually dry, even on the coldest days.
Like I say, my laundry is (and smells) sublime.
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