apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I already do this. I've always washed my clothes in cold water. The only time I use hot water is when I want to felt old wool sweaters for a reuse project.

Me too. Even though my new washer has a warm cycle I don't choose to use it. When we moved last fall the house we purchased came with a front load washer. I soon learned that this is not a clean machine and is a real back breaker so it went up for sale and I went shopping for a really basic washer. I was happy to notice that the one I bought had a cold only rinse. There was a warm wash cycle if a person wanted to use it but rinse only came in cold. I thought that was brilliant and responsible. I was rather dismayed to see that most of the stores only had those front load machines though - they really are not easy on the body when you go to use them and it was next to impossible to get the ugly dirty water out of the front of it.