Why Eco-Tips for the Weekend? – because we reckon this is when most people have time to think about or try something new to make their life more eco-friendly :-)

Have you guessed it? This one is to do with laundry…sigh!! Doesn’t it just pile up?
This tip is for the launderer as well as the launderess – if you wear you can wash…!

We wouldn’t pass on these tips unless we’d tried them ourselves by the way…! (If we haven’t tried it, we’ll tell you – but you can also tell us if you have!)

If you have any suggestions, please email them to us:
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Yup – that’s right…! ‘Baking Soda’ aka ‘Bread Soda’ aka ‘Bicarbonate of Soda’ can be used in your wash to soften your clothes – instead of using fabric conditioner!

Baking soda is a mildly alkali substance, making it a perfect natural detergent. There are no harsh chemicals, or artificial fragrances and it is generally safe to be used by people with sensitive skin. And it’s CHEAP!!

If your area has hard water, baking soda is even more helpful in keeping clothing from becoming stiff due to the hard water residue.

Just add about half a cup of baking soda during the rinse cycle. This works in much the same way that a liquid fabric softener would work – so put it in the compartment for conditioner (that’s always marked with a flower motif)

Try it! The worst that can happen is it gets washed out with no chemicals added to the environment – right?

We love this image of bright whites out enjoying the sunshine! And – solar power is a cheap way to bleach them!

But we can’t always rely on the sun …so, it’s Baking Soda to the rescue again!

Just use it as a part of the detergent and it will keep coloured clothes bright and keep the whites looking whiter. This can be done by simply adding some baking soda to the detergent you would usually use – try a couple of tablespoons…Easy peasy!

A tumble dryer is a real saviour sometimes -like when you’ve got 4 lots of rugby gear to get done on a wet weekend or all the bedclothes have been changed….

But – it’s expensive! So, we hang out to dry now almost all the time…And if you can’t hang out there (because it’s raining, or you’ve no outside space), then ‘hang in there’...and use a drying rack, or upstairs banisters. (Do it overnight so you don’t have to look at it all evening….!)

One exception to the rule seems to be with towels. No-one likes crisp, board-stiff towels..If you have a dryer, just use it for 5 minutes when the towels are nearly dry to fluff them up.

If you really want the softest possible towel, then why not try the Gifted by Nature Bamboo Towels ?Feeling is believing….

We’re celebrating the arrival of our new white on white towels so all our towels, including the coloured patterns and the Hooded Baby Towel are on Special Offer with 10% off for the whole of July!

For Newsletter Readers, there’s an extra 5% off if you type the word Bamboo into the Promotion Code box at the checkout. This 5% will also apply to anything else in your shopping cart at the time – so go and spoil yourself (or someone else!)

Did you know that we use Bamboo fibre for towelling because it is naturally 300% more absorbent than cotton, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, sustainable plant source and soooo soft you want to stay wrapped in it all day!

Read more in our Reading Room !

Finally, we took part in one of Ireland AM’s programmes on TV3 this morning – Recession Business – which looks at new businesses in Ireland in the current economic climate.

If you’d like to know how it went (quite well we thought!) you can watch it at this link: www.tv3.ie

And if you get tomorrow’s Irish Times you should find us in the magazine!