This post may contain affiliate links. Check out my disclosure for more info.
Doing laundry may sometimes be a boring and tedious task but it’s something that we all have to do. This is actually a great thing because it means we all have the opportunity to make a huge difference!
The typical laundry routine involves tons of synthetic chemicals and a whole lot of water and energy to make our clothes fresh and clean.
Our fabric softeners, detergents, and other added smelly things, unfortunately, do a lot more harm than good. Many of the products contain endocrine-disrupting phthalates, dioxane, and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These ingredients not only have an impact on your health and wellness but also impact the environment when the chemicals are released into the wastewater stream or into the air through the dryer vent. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list to see how your laundry products rank.
Conventional laundry also requires a lot of resources from the water used to the enormous amounts of power drawn from your dryer. This affects your carbon and water footprint as well as your wallet!
However, your laundry routine doesn’t have to be energy intensive and toxic! There are a few simple alternatives that are healthier for you and the planet.
Washing
Washing machines today use less water and energy than ever before! However, we can still take steps to reduce our impact when doing laundry.
Cold Water
Most of the time you don’t need warm or hot water for washing clothes. Hot water takes much more energy than washing with cold water. Plus, cold water is better for delicates anyway!
Guppie Bag
Many of us have polyester clothes but how does that affect our laundry? Well, polyester (and spandex, acrylic, etc.) is made from plastic. Unfortunately, in the laundry, all of the plastic fibers get agitated and can end up washed away into our waste stream. I try to avoid plastic clothing but I do love my yoga pants. My solution? A guppie bag! Put your clothes inside and it keeps plastic microfibers from entering the water during washing!
Natural Laundry Detergent
So many detergents out there are full of harmful chemicals. I hate the thought of wearing clothes drenched in phthalates but I also don’t like the idea of all of those chemicals ending up in our rivers, oceans, and groundwater.
For eco-friendly laundry detergent, you can either buy a greener version or make your own.
Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list for store bought laundry detergent and find one with an A rating such as Biokleen Laundry Liquid or Seventh Generation Laundry Powder.
If you want to make your own, here’s a super simple recipe:
- 1 cup Borax
- 1 cup Washing Soda
- Essential Oils
- 1 cup grated Castile Soap
Mix ingredients together with your favorite essential oils (I love peppermint and lavender) and add 1 heaping tablespoon to each load of laundry. The best part about this recipe is that it can be made zero-waste! The Borax and Washing Soda can be found either in bulk or in paper boxes and the castile soap can be made from scratch or bought unpackaged.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Instead of conventional chlorine bleach, get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the drug store and add it to laundry to whiten your clothes. Besides not having the same chemicals as conventional bleach, hydrogen peroxide won’t ruin non-white clothes if it’s accidentally spilled. Hydrogen peroxide will degrade with exposure to oxygen and light so make sure to keep it tightly closed in its original bottle.
Vinegar Softener
Laundry softeners come with the same problems as other laundry products but their softening properties also make your towels less absorbent (not a good combo if you’ve switched all your paper products to cloth)! Skip the chemicals and just mix white vinegar with some essential oils. Add a ¼ cup to each load.
Drying
Dryer balls
Dryer sheets never made much sense to me. They’re so strong smelling and always felt like they covered my clothes in a film. Switching to something natural helped me avoid chemicals (like phthalates) and avoid having to throw away dozens of flimsy sheets every month.
Instead of dryer sheets, I use dryer balls. They are made of 100% wool and they bounce around the dryer helping your clothes dry faster and feel softer.
I get dryer balls made from local sheep’s wool at the farmers market but you can also find natural dryer balls online. Check out these ones from one of my favorite zero-waste stores!
Line Drying
Avoid the environmental (and financial) cost of a clothes dryer and try drying your clothes outside! You can set up a pop-up laundry line or just stretch a cord from a tree or balcony. I love the smell of sheets that have been out drying in the sun and you’ll be amazed at how fast it takes to dry!
If you live in a place that is rainy and cold most of the year (like I do) there are fewer opportunities for clothes to dry outside. But that doesn’t mean that you always have to use the dryer. There are indoor laundry racks for drying clothes or you can hang up clothes on hangers in the shower to dry.
The best thing about line drying your clothes is that they last SO MUCH longer! Dryers can really damage the fibers but line drying helps preserve the integrity of the fabric.
Natural Scents
Sometimes it’s nice to have your laundry smell like more than just the clean fresh outdoors. In that case, I either add a sachet of dried lavender to the laundry in the dryer or I use a homemade linen spray.
Linen Spray
Fill a spray bottle with half vodka and half water. Add essentials oils of your choice (my favorite is a simple lavender spray). Shake, and lightly spray on clothes. Using this on sheets right before I take them in from the line makes them smell even more heavenly!
Changing up our laundry routine is a great way to not only avoid synthetic chemicals but to also reduce your environmental impact!
Are you ready to make the switch? What are your favorite natural or sustainable laundry swaps?