[Green Living] 10 Tips to Green up & Tox down your laundry

UrbanMeisters.com is all about quick, easy & doable solutions for green living! Our mission is to give you tips on how to green up everyday life in big and small steps for better health, well-being and joy. Because even a small green change in everyday life can make a difference- not just to your life but to the bigger picture as well! So don’t think a small green lifestyle change will have no impact, after all small drops make an ocean! REMEMBER, YOU MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE! Today’s article is also about a small step towards green living- greening your laundry. We tell you 10 simple tips to green up and tox down your laundry in this special feature by rocking ethical blogger Holly from Leotie Lovely. So are you up to the challenge?
 

Meet green living specialist Holly from LEOTIE lovely

Leotie Lovely is a conscious lifestyle blog for all things eco friendly, ethical and sustainable. Think of it as your day-to-day guide for living more consciously. Holly, the creator, shares UrbanMeisters’ mission of making green living easy. Holly writes a narrative about each sustainable product she purchases building a holistic picture of the people and places that went into each of them. In her own words, « I try to weave together an aesthetic and digestible tale about the people, places and products which provide sustainable solutions for our lives and planet. Each story is a new discovery on my own path towards a greater state of eco wisdom and ethical awareness and unearths technologies and businesses which problem solve pollution. »

 
What drew us to her was the exciting #GoneGreen2016 challenge she started for herself at the beginning of this year. She took it upon herself to make simple green changes in her day to day chores in the hope of increasing her green footprint and switching to green living. And she has been chronicling her progress since then. Each day she picks up on a different aspect and guides us how to make green changes to it. Today we’re picking a leaf from her #GoneGreen2016 challenge on greening up the laundry.
 

WHY SHOULD WE GREEN OUR LAUNDRY?

It might seem trivial or even mundane but your laundry has a bigger impact on the environment than you think. In a nutshell, the water and energy (power used in washing machines and dryers) used by each one of us has a massive cumulative effect on resources. Other than that our clothes life span decreases with each wash. Washing damages clothes due to the pull and rub action whether it be hand washed or in the machine. Then detergents are also harsh on fabric. In fact clothing damage can be clearly seen in the amount of lint in your dryer. Damaged clothes means more new buys and by now you should be aware of the immense pollution caused by the textile industry– 2nd highest polluting industrial sector. Also don’t forget the harm caused to your health by the detergents, fabric softeners and washing powders as most conventional cleaning products are unhealthy containing toxic and carcinogenic ingredients apart from coming in wasteful plastic containers. The ingredients have been linked to asthma, cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption apart from causing allergies and respiratory irritation.
So all in all, greening your laundry has multiple benefits: cost saving, energy saving, clothes saving and saving your planet over all!

 

10 TIPS TO GREEN YOUR LAUNDRY

So here are Holly’s tips on how to move one step closer to green living by switching to more eco-friendly laundry habits:

1. WEAR CLOTHES LONGER BETWEEN WASHING

   I’m not talking about your socks and underwear, though my husband likes to step repeat that gear, I’m still a one-time-use gal for those two particular pieces of personal wear.

2. WASH BY HAND

   I wash my knickers, bras, bathing suits, running gear, t-shirts, and socks by hand (haven’t lost a sock pair since). This lets me prolong the washing machine wash longer.

3. USE A CLOTHES LINE

   The sun and the wind, when the weather is fair and a clothes horse indoors when the rain and cold come. Our last place had one built in so that it folded over the shower! There are some crazy good DIY ideas on Pinterest to make it easier to dry your ditties at home.

For all 10 tips read the full article here.
 
Thank you Leotie Lovely for this extremely informative post with such easy to follow tips and solutions.
Let’s make small green changes to everyday life UrbanMeisters. And we’ll be here brining you more such tips and solutions to make green living MISSION POSSIBLE!
(All images sourced from www.leotielovely.blogspot.in)