Air Dry Your Laundry

Each load you hang prevents about 5 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and saves about 50 cents on your electricity bill, says Sanjayan Muttulingam, lead scientist for the Nature Conservancy. That "is not frivolous. It really does make a difference," says Muttulingam, who drapes his newly washed running clothes over a drying rack in his basement. Ada Fisher, 82, who hung the laundry of her 16-member Lancaster County Amish family for decades, advises newbies to hang shirts upside down so that wind and gravity press them nicely. She recommends traditional all-wood clothespins because the springs in the new ones can wear out.