Doing laundry is expensive and takes a lot of time – if you don’t know what you’re doing. With a few simple tricks, washing becomes much more convenient and cheaper.
The average German uses 5,840 liters of water just for washing every year – that’s 12 percent of personal water consumption, as heizsparer.de reports. The first step is to only wash when the machine is actually full: The ideal capacity can be found in the machine’s data sheet and if not, for most wash cycles there should still be about a hand’s width of space between the laundry and the drum. But there are also newer machines with magnetic automatics that can adjust the amount of water to the filling quantity. This is particularly practical for households with few people where there is less laundry to do.
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The right wash cycle
To prevent the laundry from discoloring or being washed at the wrong temperature, the washing cycle should be adapted to the material. Separating white laundry from colored laundry helps to keep the white laundry bright, and if you also let your white laundry dry in the sun for a short time, this also has a bleaching effect. This means you can avoid using bleach, which attacks clothing and causes it to wear out more quickly. Many people wash very hot, but it’s not necessary. Washing towels and bed linen at 60°C and clothes at 30°C is sufficient: the fabrics are less damaged and the water needs to be heated less. Compared to washing at 60°C, washing at 30°C saves 70 percent of electricity, which is worth it in the long run. If the laundry is then to be put in the dryer, the laundry needs to be spun with more revolutions; if it is hung up, it needs to be spun with less. Both ultimately save electricity and put less strain on clothing.
Some items of clothing have to be washed by hand – which uses more than twice the amount of water than machine washing. To still save water, you can add a dash of vinegar to the detergent, which speeds up the effect. By the way, short washes do not save water. However, many machines have a timer that allows you to set when the machine should start or be finished. This means that instead of running the laundry quickly in the evening, you can easily set the timer and take it out of the machine the next day.
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Home remedies instead of chemicals
Commercially available special detergents contain chemicals that attack both clothing and the person wearing it. This is unhealthy, harmful to the environment – and expensive. Most stain removers can be replaced with simple home remedies such as lemons, vinegar, salt and baking soda. The only thing to consider is what the stain and fabric are made of. Some of these household products can also attack the materials. But if you know what you’re doing, it’s best to rub the stain on your shirt with such an agent, let it take effect for a short time and then you can save yourself the pre-wash cycle. By the way, it is only suitable for heavily soiled laundry anyway.
In addition to all these and many other small and large tricks, it is important to use a machine that suits your needs and to maintain it regularly so that it works as well as possible for as long as possible.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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