Washing with Rain Water

It’s been raining and raining in Georgia and I’ve put some of that rain water to very good use. Many thanks to my youngest sister for leading the way here. As soon as her rain barrel filled, she decided to do a load wash with the water. Old school-huh?

Her rain barrel has a handy faucet on the bottom making it easy to fill watering cans or, in this case, buckets. Her laundry room is attached to her garage so she didn’t have far to carry them and it was all concrete or tile floor making a splash less of an issue.

The load of wash turned out just fine and since rain water is soft, you only need about ½ the amount of laundry soap.

Though they insist our back gutters are clean, water continues to drip over the edge of them when it rains. Instead of spending my energy arguing, I grabbed 3 buckets and set them under the steady dripping/stream. A rainstorm later, I have 3 buckets of fresh rainwater. Walla!

Now unlike my sister, our washer and dryer are upstairs-carpeted stairs. Carefully I haul buckets up the stairs and pour them in the washer. Three 6-gallon buckets later and the washer isn’t even half full. Geez it takes a lot of water to fill those things.



Did you know the average front load washer uses only 14 gallons of water per load where as a top load washer uses 55 gallons for a full load? WOW!

After adding the soap, I loaded the clothes and set it to regular/ large load on cold of course. It began filling the rest of the way.


Your concern maybe overflowing. The washer automatically stops filling when the water has reached a certain level. With that in mind, you’ll want to put the clothes in before you let the washer continue filing or, in the event you have 55 gallons of water, before you completely fill it.

Worried about dirt in the water? I used the water right after it finished raining. If you wait much longer, I’d suggest just using it for your plants in the event mosquitoes have gotten to it first. Other than that, any other dirt settles to the bottom so when pouring, just stop before the dirt starts flowing in. It’s not hard.

Because most of our clothes are cotton, we don’t put jeans and t-shirts in the dryer to avoid shrinking. This also saves energy and it’s easier on your clothes so they last longer and don’t fade.

As I was hanging the jeans, I noticed they felt very soft. You know how stiff denim gets when it air dries? I wondered if there would be a difference and sure enough they were! Even my kids agreed. The rain water did the trick. Now it's your turn.

For more information on using rain water visit my friend the Rain Catcher.
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