Do all your ironing at once

It's a Sunday. It's probable that you've cleaned all your clothes ready for a new week at work tomorrow. Perhaps you've cleaned all your shirts using Ecover or some other fancy product. But have you ironed them? Or do you hate ironing so much that you leave it to last minute, ironing your shirt in the morning after breakfast?

Well, you could try those no-iron shirts with gimicky names like techno cotton. I have tried this myself but I'm not convinced with the output. I like a nice clean crease down my sleeves.

Instead, get all your ironing done today. That way you won't be wasting energy reheating the iron every morning. It will also give you chance for a few extra minutes lie-in in the morning! Speed things up by ironing while watching MTV or listening to the radio.

Alternatively, you could persuade your place of work to adopt a casual dress code, at least on a Friday, or even once a month for charity (you pay £1 to dress down or £2 if you don't). Nobody needs to iron jeans, t-shirts or jumpers.

Make life a bit easier too - dry clothes on the washing line if possible, or if using a clothes maid, hang the clothes out neatly to avoid creasing.

Got any other tips for energy efficient washing? Please leave a comment!

caldini