By Danny Seo on February 17, 2010

Our Dirty Secret

The contest winner is #5-Molly B! Please email us at info@crazysexylife.com so that we can send you a 50 load and 25 load bottle of Method’s new plant-based, 8X concentrated, vegan formula laundry detergent!

When I travel around the country and meet people, it’s funny how there are common complaints people share. When gas prices climbed past $2 for the first time, everybody wanted my inside tips on saving gas. As I’ve been trekking around the country to help my friends at Method promote a new laundry detergent, what I’m hearing more and more from people is this: why in this age, where everything can happen at the speed of light, are we devoting countless hours a week to the drudgery of laundry?

I couldn’t agree more. And I’ve tried to find a pleasant way to wash my sheets and clothes. I did the line-drying thing outdoors, thinking it would be like living on a farm with sunny fields and red barns; instead a bird pooped on my sheets. I tossed dried lavender in the dryer thinking it would infuse it with aromatherapy; it clogged the lint trap with what looked like rat droppings. What I really needed to figure out was a way to speed it up, so that I could use my newfound free time for myself.

TIP ONE: IF YOU NEED A NEW WASHER, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY.

Brand new washers are designed to clean clothes faster, use less water and save money on energy use. The Department of Energy recently allocated $300 million to all fifty states as part of their “Cash for Appliances” rebate program. Each state has compiled different rules and regulations on when their program will start, what will qualify and how you can apply the rebate savings. The overall rule is that only Energy Star qualified appliances will be eligible, so for states that are offering rebates on washing machines, the same rebate will not apply to the matching dryer since no dryers currently qualify for the Energy Star mark. So, if your dryer is working fine, just buy the washing machine to take advantage of the rebate. All programs are starting at different times, from February to April, and will continue until all the funding is used up. Keep track of your state at energysavers.gov/rebates.

TIP TWO: STOP OVERDOSING

One dirty secret of the laundry business is that we’re all guilty of over-dosing. If you’ve ever filled a washing machine with clothes you felt could use an extra boost of cleaning power, you likely add more than the recommended amount of detergent. Believe it or not, this can actually make your clothes…dirtier.

Since washing machines are becoming more energy and water efficient, too much detergent can leave a film on your clothes. Since detergent is designed to attract dirt, wearing overdosed clothing can actually make them dirtier faster…causing you to wash your clothes more often. And residual detergent inside the machine can build up, causing it to work less efficiently and leave a mildew smell.

To “clean” your washing machine, pour two cups of white vinegar and run the machine as usual. This will remove all the residual soap and give you a clean palette.

TIP THREE: CHUCK THE DETERGENT JUG.

One of the drudgeries of laundry is hauling the heavy jug of detergent home from the grocery store. It was only in 2007 that Wal-Mart mandated detergent sold in their stores to be a minimum of 2X concentrated, which led to smaller bottles, a savings of 95 million pounds of plastic resin, and less watered-down formulas, saving 400 million gallons of water. Three years later, a new detergent bottle small enough to fit in your front pocket is debuting, which is 8X concentrated and features a patented precise pump that delivers the exact amount of detergent needed with no messy caps or drips on the side of the bottle. This is from my friends at Method (which is cradle-to-cradle certified) and features SmartClean technology, a 95% plant-based formula that inverts the cleaning molecules to clean clothes faster and better. But here’s the best part: For city-dwellers, busy moms, and anyone who dreads dragging a heavy bottle to the Laundromat or home from the store, this is a revolution in laundry. It’s itty bitty, and a little goes a very long way.

TIP FOUR: LET YOUR HAMPER SORT FOR YOU

Nothing can ruin a load of laundry like a red sock mixed with a load of whites. To speed up sorting through dirty clothes all over the floor or on the table at the Laundromat, invest in a 3-compartment hamper that sorts whites, colors and delicates for you. Each compartment is marked clearly with a sign so every member of your family knows what goes in each bin. For apartment dwellers, 3-compartment tote bags are also available for smaller washes.

TIP FIVE: SPEED UP THE DRYING PROCESS

While a clothesline may be the greenest option, it’s not the fastest or most practical one for most. To save time, try to dry one batch of clothes after another; the residual heat from the first batch will dry the next one faster. Add a DRY towel to a batch of wet clothes in the dryer; the towel will absorb moisture while the clothing dries and speed up the drying process. When drying towels and bedding, throw in two tennis balls saturated with fabric softener; the balls will help fluff towels and bedding to speed up drying and keep them softer and less wrinkly. It also saves money since you do not need to invest in fabric softener sheets.

To help a Crazy Sexy Life reader speed up their routine, I’m giving away a 50 load and 25 load bottle of the new Method Laundry detergent. All you have to do is a leave a comment and we’ll use a random number generator to pick the winner! Good luck!

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