Do Hand Washing While Your Machine Fills To Save Water

Some delicate clothes just aren't made for running through a washing machine, but washing and rinsing a couple of items by hand is rather wasteful of water. Lifehacker reader MomNatur gets around that problem by doing hand washing while her machine fills.

Picture by Celeste Lindell

Here's the technique in her own words:

I do my hand washing using the detergent filling my washing machine. First I add the detergent and while the tub is filling, I do my hand washing and I rinse using the water that is still filling the machine. If I have a lot, I have to stop the filling so that I have enough water to rinse everything, but when I'm done, I just fill the washer with what I had intended to machine wash, and hang my hand washables to dry. Quick, simple and ecofriendly.

Obviously that won't help if the reason you hand wash a garment is because the dye runs, or if you have a front-loading machine. But for top-loader owners with a handful of delicates, it's a nifty tactic. Thanks MomNatur!