When I had my baby the first thing I noticed more than anything was the sudden increase in washing.

I remember sitting at a post-natal group and we had to write down all the things that had changed since we had our babies, which was about 2 months after giving birth, and I was not the only one that wrote down "washing". I seemed to have piles of it, and I admit I did not use cloth nappies either. They were just becoming popular when I had James. Anyway, despite not having the nappies to wash I did have a lot of other clothes to wash and it felt that the machine was on constantly.

Now with so many different washing brands on the market and products to wash at lower temperatures and "balls" to use to minimise drying times etc. I too was confused and at a loss as to where to start. I know that I may not have always been environmentally aware, but I am getting better.

Washing Powders

There are of course many different types of washing powders on the market, and we are not going to list all of them or make recommendations, but would suggest that you try and opt for powders that are non-biological and eco-friendly for your newborn baby and that work at lower temperatures. The ideal would be to wash at 30°'s, but in reality there are, and will most definitely be, times that you will need to wash at higher temperatures, especially once you start weaning your baby - believe carrot stains like nothing else on earth.

Young babies clothes don't get very dirty, they perhaps can get soiled at times, but most of the time they probably just need freshening up so a lower temperature wash could be used more often. Certainly, as the children get older you might need to consider pre-soaking clothes before washing them but you need to consider your child's skin sensitivity to some of the biological products on the market.

If you use fabric softeners try to use the concentrated versions and again non-biological.

Drying washing

If like many of us, you have a tumble dryer, it is a lot easier to dry clothes in them than to take the time to hang washing on the line, or perhaps you don't have access to an outside space to hang washing. But they use a lot of energy and where you can hang washing on the line is obviously the best green option.

If you do use a tumble dryer you can buy drying balls which help speed up the drying process reducing the time the tumble dryer is on.

Eco Washing Aids

When we started looking at green issues these new products popped up.

Eco Balls

Ecoballs® replace washing powder. Ecoballs not only save on heavy shopping loads, they are reusable for up to 1,000 washes and cost only around 3p per wash. That compares with 25p-30p for washing powder.

Ecoballs scientifically formulated filling of mineral salts produces ionised oxygen that penetrates deep into fibres, lifting away dirt and grime without fading colours or damaging delicate fabrics.

Just 3 Eco balls amongst your washing and they soften clothes even in hard water, so no conditioner is necessary, and as Eco balls do not contain soap, you can also cut out the rinse cycle to save energy.

They seem quite expensive to buy around £20-30.00 each and I have seen it recommended that you need three of them to work. Perhaps it might seem a lot to pay upfront, especially when all the washing powders have special promotions to make you buy them at a cheaper rate. However, probably not a false economy if they work as you will never have to buy washing powder again.

Magno Balls

The Magnoball is used against preventing lime scale build-up in your washing machine and dishwasher it will fight to remove the existing build up. Magnoball's magnetic power crystallises lime scale particles, these transformed particles are unable to settle in your clothes or on the heating elements of machines and pipes. Economical and environmentally safe, once you start using the Magnoball you may no longer require anti-lime scale tablets to soften your water as the Magnoball will do this by up to 70%. You can even lower the washing temperature and still find that the clothes are clean. Can be used with the Ecoballs or if you choose to use detergent you can use 70% less. They are recommended to be suitable for all washing machines and dishwashers and can last up to 10 years and the magnets are guaranteed for 5 years.

Drying Balls

Drying balls help soften your clothes. Used in the tumble dryer these balls speed up the drying process by separating clothes as they tumble, thus saving money and the environment.

A Word of Caution

A word of caution, as I have read across the internet there are up and down sides to these products. For some people they seem to work adequately and on lightly soiled items, but there are many comments that heavily soiled clothes don't fare so well. There have also been comments on the Ecoballs causing damage to machines when they break open and all the contents fall into the machine.

The other consideration to be greener is do you really need fabric softener? With your comments and a conversation we had in the office, reacting to a particular advertisement that says "switching to concentrated softeners will remove lorries of the road", perhaps not using it at all will reduce the lorries on the road to zero.

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