Three years ago I purchased a clothing rack for my laundry room. Instead of using the dryer for 45 minutes per load, I just toss the clothes in the dryer for 5 minutes maximum. The warm clothing is hung up totally wet, yet dries wrinkle free from the few minutes in the dryer. Any item where wrinkles don’t matter are hung up to dry.
Pants and shirts actually have fewer wrinkles with this method than with the 45 minute tumble.
Sheets, towels, blankets, etc. are not even put in the dryer. We mounted pull out drying racks for towels, etc., and hangs sheets over the 2nd story banister.
Our kilowatt hours have been cut by 50% in just 3 years, from about 1200 per month to 600 or less. Saves carbon, saves money. Lots of money.
I never understood the logic of drying a towel in the dryer. The whole ideal behind a towel is to get it wet.
Sharon
This post was submitted by Sharon .
Zowie - 600 kWh/mo! My family of 4 is around 150 in the summer and 250 in the winter (the furnace and drier are energy hogs).
We have had to open a bedroom window and leave a bath fan on all night to get the humidity in the house down to 40% - otherwise we get ice flows off the aluminum patio door into the carpet. A HRV is too expensive and impossible to install in our home.
Do an energy audit. You’re using a truckload of electricity. Get a power meter and find it. Old fridges and freezers can be big hogs. Our 20 year old ones use only about 10% more electricity than new models because we choose the most efficient back then (fridge-only fridge, chest NOT UPRIGHT freezer).
Look for vampires in your home - things sucking power all of the time.
Many (water softener, door bell, central vac, microwave) all suck more power waiting for you than they use when they’re working! I rewired the microwave so that it only turns on when the door is closed, an old 9V batter powered the door bell (lasts for many years even after the smoke detector is done with them) and we start the water softener regeneration manually every 6 weeks because it cost more to run it’s timer than the softener costs us in salt!
We turn off the garage door opener, central vac and other things in the summer months (open the door manually, turn on the central vac once a month when we vac).
Even when the kids were both in cloth diapers we only did 1 to 2 loads of laundry a week. Other families seem to do at least a load a day.
Read:
Your Money Or Your Life
Better Off by Eric Brende
anything about Voluntary Simplicity / Simplicity Circles
Old windows (vinyl is the easiest to upgrade) with simple double glazing can be upgraded to low-E / argon for $10/sq-ft and insulate 50% better. To do it you just need to be able to measure glass and take a window sash apart.
Comment by Eric — January 22, 2010 @ 12:35 pm