While we’re on the topic of water, I received this interesting email from Seventh Generation about their new campaign, “Get Out of Hot Water“. While Seventh Generation makes wonderful, naturally-derived cleaning products for your home, they also put out a great monthly newsletter. Their writing addresses education about keeping our families safe from chemicals; environmental implications of our home uses, and how we can improve them; and philanthropies Seventh Generation is involved with.

“Get Out of Hot Water” is a wake-up call to use cold water in your laundry instead of warm or hot water. They explain that heating water uses 90 percent of the energy when doing a wash - eliminating that step can save you plenty of money, especially if you do as much laundry as we do! There’s a calculator on the site where you can estimate how much money you can save - just plug in if you use hot or cold water; if you have a standard or energy efficient washing machine; and how many loads of laundry you wash per week. If you take their pledge, you can receive a free copy of their guide Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning! The offer is good while supplies last, so take the pledge today! What do you do to reduce energy costs for your laundry?

Personally, I do wash everything in cold water, except for sheets and towels. Cold water protects the color of clothes, making them wear out in less time. However, I do believe that sheets and towels, that take a beating from our bodies on a daily basis, need to get a warm (not hot) bath. I’ve found that warm water is usually hot enough - I can’t say I’ve ever used the “hot” water on the washing machine! But this is personal preference!

Last winter, I wrote about a green challenge from Crunchy Chicken, titled the “Freeze Yer Buns” Challenge. From November through April, CC asked readers to turn their thermostats down for saving energy’s sake (and maybe getting in a little extra cuddle time with a loved one in the process). Since we were living in Panama at the time, living very close to the equator in winter did not affect my heat - especially since we didn’t have any. I did try and reverse the challenge for my home by turning off air conditioning units when we weren’t in the room. Let me tell you - Panama + no air = no fun.

This summer, the always inspiring Crunchy Domestic Goddess is hosting a wonderfully motivating green challenge aptly called “I’m having a quickie - The Five-Minute Shower” Challenge. Over 60 people have signed up, including yours truly, to reduce their shower time to 5 minutes (or less!) from June through August. I know for me, shower time (usually) means a few (precious, not-taken-for-granted) minutes of quiet and unwind time; often, it means lingering under the water. Next thing I know, it’s, well, way past five minutes!

You can get your kids involved by timing you, or purchase a shower timer so you can’t escape the countdown. I’m personally on the fence about a shower timer, because it tries to justify buying another piece of plastic that you really don’t need (your watch on the toilet, or a cooking timer would work just as well). But, to each is own, and there are some clever products out there to accessorize the shower you’re hopefully going to be spending less time in anyway.

The point is, showering faster saves many gallons of water, as well as energy to heat the water. According to CDG, cutting your shower time by three or four minutes can reduce your water consumption by roughly 10 gallons per day; reducing shower time by one minute can result in saving almost 1,900 gallons per year! Now, this might be enough to get you to shut down the spray faster, but getting teenagers to follow through with this might be the true challenge…

So sign up, buck up, and good luck!

Let the summer contests begin! BabyLegs, one of my favorite go-to gifts for any season, is having a fun, Willy Wonka-esque promotion starting right now. SEW Golden refers to BabyLegs’ new signature gold-overlocking stitch found inside the seam close to the logo. Buy specially marked packages of BabyLegs in retail stores across the country from now until July 15th and look for your golden ticket, to win everything from blankets and bibs, a year’s supply of BabyLegs, to a Grand Prize trip to Seattle, BabyLegs’s headquarters.

Even in summer, BabyLegs are great to protect exploring knees, and make colorful fashion statements for kids of all ages. They have a wonderful range of colors and patterns, including an organic line, earth tones, and of course, funky. The SEW Golden promo isn’t available anywhere on-line, only in stores. Find your local SEW Golden retailer and happy hunting! Wouldn’t it be fun to sing “I have the Golden Ti-cket” (what, you mean you don’t already?)