Saving Green While I Clean!

This post about saving money while cleaning is brought to you by Best Drying Rack.

I’m kind of on a mission this year to reduce (clutter), reuse (all items I already have), and recover (money spent on disposable items!).

Mostly, I’m interested in recovering money that gets sucked away by “hidden” expenses. For instance, I’m researching the true cost of cloth diapers, and one thing often overlooked is the cost of cleaning the diapers!

In fact, housecleaning products and expenses add up fast! Here’s how we’re saving “green” as we clean:

1. Stop paying for nasty chemicals! I used to spend a lot on cleaners that smelled good, or used bleach, or somehow promised to remove the scum from my bathtub. (It didn’t!). All I got was an empty wallet, a nose full of prickly chemicals, and surfaces with a layer of toxins over all. And I was actually paying money for that? (Est. $6/month)

Now we clean with water, vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. I won’t belabor this point right now as books have been written on the topic!

2. Stop buying disposable cleaning cloths! I used to buy box after box of throw-away dusters and sweeper “cloths.” (Est. $12/month)

Now, I use cleaning cloths made from old T-shirts or microfiber clothes, cloth mop heads, and homemade fleece dusters and sweeper cloths. Everything is super inexpensive, and/or can be washed and used again! See, cloth isn’t just for cloth diapers!

3. Stop over-using your dryer! I’ve kind of been a “set it and forget it” gal when it came to the dryer. I never paid any attention to how long clothes were tumbling. So even though we have the dryer with moisture sensors, I know my clothes often stay in much longer than needed. And my cloth diapers – well, I like them to be bone dry, so sometimes I even put them in longer! (Est. $5/month on cloth diaper loads alone!)

But air drying…well, seem so uninspiring with a rickety rack that collapsed every time I bumped it.

Now, I love finding excuses to air dry our clothing, on my new maple wood clothes drying rack from Best Drying Rack.

With long arms for truly separating clothing, and maple / steel construction (no plastic!), this drying rack is sturdy and also rather elegant! Each drying arm pulls up and out separately (and so easily, my three year old does it for me!), so you only have to set up as many arms as you need. Sometimes I open up just half the arms to fit against the wall of my living room.

I now dry my entire load of cloth diapers on just half of my Best Drying Rack. Leaving the other half free for the next load that comes out of the wash! Now I don’t have to run so many loads through the dryer, or for so long either.

I’ve been following my first two rules for saving green while I clean for several years, but just recently started air drying laundry with my Best Drying Rack. The clothes hanging rack is made in small scale production to ensure quality, right here in the USA!! (Retails for $79). They also make umbrella style hangers, and sell laundry washing items!

You know, with Mother’s Day coming up, I bet there’s a lot of moms who might enjoy a cool laundry helper like this! I know I love unique (and practical!) gifts that help me out around the house! Don’t you?

Overall, the drying rack and my other tips are saving me an estimated $23/month! And I’m still looking for ways to save while cleaning!

How do you save money on your housecleaning? Do you air dry your cloth diapers?

Thanks to Best Drying Rack for sending a product for m review. All opinions are 100% my own!