Five of my Faves:: Laundry that's Fast, Fresh & Going Green

My five favorite laundry items to make the laborious laundry process fast while keeping your important wardrobe staples fresh. Not only do these items clean and steam keeping your clothes in top shape they can save you lots of money, electricity and even gas in your car, and they protect the environment. Now that's a lot of green savings!

I LOVE my new Home Touch Commercial Garment Steamer from Macy's. It completely eliminates the need to dry clean our business clothes or delicate materials with very little time investment. I just used it to freshen up and dewrinkle some clothes I had in storage. Two weeks worth of clothes were sanitised and wrinkle free in 10 minutes! I picked it up on sale but it is worth every penny full price.

A Dryel starter kit is a must to eliminate your laundry bill completely! If you don't have a steamer or even a good iron you should still use dryel sheets in your dryer. They are safer to your clothes and the environment than dry cleaning and they get the job done. I use them for all of my sweaters and other dry clean items. Just put a few items in the bag with a dryel sheet and heat for half an hour. Bam! No driving to the dry cleaner and no big bills. I pick refills up at Big Lots for $5 and you get 6 sheets which will freshen up to 25-30 items. The starter kit comes with a cleaning pen that works well on sensitive fabrics but you can always spot clean harsher stains on your own with other cleaning items. Then the dryel sheets do the rest.

Of all the irons out there I chose the Shark Rapid Pro Lightweight Iron (model G1468) I picked up at Target. It had a great price point but it also had all the features important to me. It has vertical and horizontal steam (a great substitute if you don't need the power of a full steamer to do lots of clothes and just need to hit up some items that are hard to flat iron from time to time). There are many temperature and steam controls that are very accurate. It has auto shutoff in any position - very safe! It's self-cleaning and anti-calcium buildup features make it an iron that will stick with you and never ruin your clothes. The disappointment of ruining your favorite top when you don't realize there is calcium or rust buildup in your iron is worth the extra $10 you might spend on this iron over a more basic option.

Dryer Balls! If you don't have these little guys, go get them. In fact, get several. I use four in my standard size dryer. They are about $5 at any home store like Target or online and are priceless when you see how much energy you save drying towels and other bulky items. I even use them with my regular clothes (not delicates - because I hang dry all of my delicates). They really help decrease your dry time and help makes towels and sheets super fluffy. Plus, you can eliminate your dryer sheets which are harmful to the environment, saving you money forever because these little guys don't wear out. Unless of course your lovely Boston Terrior gets ahold of them (Botti...) and chews holes in them. 

Simple Green Pre-Wash formula is the perfect green savings product. It's biodegradable and non-toxic so it's safe for the environment, it's super cheep (I found a 32 oz. bottle as cheep as $1.50) and a little goes a long way on stains. Simple Green's other products can be used as laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaners around the home and all of them are environmentally safe...but that's for another post another day. :)