Save some energy, and some money, and switch to cold water loads. It is estimated that 95 percent of the energy used by washing machines goes toward heating the water if you choose "hot" wash cycles. There is no evidence that hot water cleans any better than cold water, especially when there are many detergents available today designed specifically for coldwater use. So skip the hot water, which can shrink or discolor clothes away.

It is economical and better to wash a large load of laundry than to do several small loads where the machine is underfilled.

However, when drying clothes, the reverse may be true. Attempting to dry too many clothes at the same time may result in more energy use from rerunning the dryer over and over. Or save money by hanging your clothes to dry. Don't like the way hanged clothes feel? Then toss them in the dryer for a few minutes to get out the wrinkles and soften it up. But a few minutes to dry a load is better then trying to dry a load of jeans that could take up to two drying cycles to dry.

Laundry detergents are full of ingredients designed to scour clothing. While many break down readily in the environment, they may have lasting effects on aquatic life. some ingredients in laundry detergents, such as colorants, many actually cause cancer or other ill effects in humans. Today there are a number of laundry detergents that are comprised of safer ingredients for people and the environment.

Cryer sheets and liquid fabric softeners are meant to soften clothes, but are typically full of chemicals that are not great for the environment or people. For example ingredients include:

Alpha-terpineol
Benzyl acetate
Benzyl alcohol
Camphor
Chloraform
Ethyl acetate
Limonene
Pentane

Some of these components have been known to impair respiratory function, cause headaches, cause skin disorders, and contribute to cancer.

A better idea is to use baking soda and vinegar in the wash to naturally soften clothes (just don't use vinegar at the same time as bleach because mixing may cause toxic fumes).

Some synthetics are naturally soft, negating the need for softeners anyway. Other ideas include - rumor has it tossing a ball of aluminum foil into the dryer with clothes cuts down on static cling - or don't dry clothes all the way; leave them a little damp to reduce the static - or don't mix synthetics with cotton clothes to reduce static.