Making a few simple changes to reduce water and energy consumption while cleaning not only has a positive effect on the environment but is also easy on the wallet. Here are a few tips:
In the kitchen
Try washing your fruits and vegetables in a large bowl of water instead of under the running tap. You can then use the water to give your indoor and balcony plants a drink. The same goes for leftover water in glasses that you no longer want to drink - your plants will be happy to receive it!
Not only water but energy can also be saved in the kitchen with a few simple tricks. For instance, did you know that your kettle and coffee machine will use a lot more energy if they’re clogged up with limescale? You should therefore make sure to descale both regularly. When boiling water on the stove, make sure you adapt the size of the pot to the cooker top (and to what you’re cooking) and put a lid on it. This will bring the water to boil more quickly and help you save energy.
In the bathroom
In the bathroom, you can save water by doing everyday things: for example, turning off the tap when washing your hands or brushing your teeth. You can use the same little trick in the shower - just turn off the water while soaping up. This will significantly reduce consumption.
There’s also another way of saving water while brushing your teeth: fill a cup with water and use it to rinse and clean the toothbrush. It may seem like a trifle at first, but if you brush your teeth at least twice a day, you'll save more water with this method than if you rinse your toothbrush under the running tap.
When doing laundry
When doing laundry, the motto is: the lower the temperature, the higher the energy savings. You only need to wash bed linen, underwear, socks, towels, and cleaning clothes every now and then at 60 degrees to kill the bacteria. Otherwise, 30 degrees (or even colder, if your machine has that setting) is perfectly sufficient.
When doing laundry, you should also make sure to only do full loads, rather than running your machine with the drum only half full. So long as you can touch the rear drum with your hand, your machine is optimally filled and will give good washing results.
During the summer months especially, you can dry your laundry outside in the open air - on hot days it’s dry in a flash and it smells fantastic! Every time you do without the dryer, you save a lot of energy.
Other household energy-saving tips
Dust your radiators regularly so that the heat energy can be fully released into the room. It’s not always necessary to vacuum clean your whole house - often, it is enough to just have a sweep with a broom. When vacuuming, you don’t always have to run the cleaner on the highest setting. Instead, you can adjust it to the level of dirt.
You can save energy in the household especially if you turn down the heating by two degrees, switch to energy-saving LED bulbs, and make sure to always switch off your appliances completely and not leave them in standby mode. The best way to do this is with extension cables: just flick the red switch.
Use resources sparingly
In addition to saving electricity and water, you can also make savings with other little things when cleaning your household. For example, avoid unnecessary disposable products such as kitchen rolls or cleaning wipes and use a microfibre cloth instead. This is also good for the environment.