Saving Energy, Water And Time With My Maytag Bravos Pair #MaytagMoms

As I write this post, my washer is swooshing and my dryer is humming. Those sounds are familiar around my house, but since the Maytag Bravos XL washer and dryer arrived, we don't hear them quite as often these days. Thanks to the awesome cleaning power of our washer and the efficiency of both the washer and dryer, we are saving water and energy while doing laundry, which means we are also saving time. Since I can't figure out how to stretch my days out to 30 hours each, any time saved is a wonderful thing for me.

Along with the cleaning power and efficiency, the large size of these units is another reason I am able to save some time. Larger size equals less loads to wash! At 4.6 cu. ft., Bravos XL HE washers are Maytag brand's largest capacity top load washers. They have the ability to clean 21 towels in a single load! Now, I haven't had the opportunity to test the whole 21 towel thing, but I no longer have to use every muscle in my body to stuff in my king sized quilt. I gently place it inside the washer around the center, and still have room left.

Between swimming lessons, after school swims and days at the water park, there are always large piles of beach towels that need to be washed. I used to stuff as many as I could in my washer, but I always ended up washing more than one load. Not any more! I can usually get all of the beach towels from the week in all at once. I believe the most I have washed together is 10, but I'm sure I could stuff one or two more in there if needed. This washer is HUGE!

Another thing that has changed since we received our Maytag Bravos XL HE washer is that I now wash most of my laundry with cold water. The Cold Wash Cycle provides the cleaning performance of a warm water wash cycle with the energy savings of cold water. This cold wash cycle has powered out stains like spaghetti sauce, dirt and chocolate with it's extra cleaning action and precise slow-motion soak. Since the washer is so large, I have easily been able to combine the similar-color loads that I used to split into warm and cold wash cycles. My husband especially likes this change so that he doesn't have to read the tags when he takes off his clothes to see which section of the hamper to put them in!

I was worried that by washing larger loads of laundry they would take longer to dry. That has not been the case. In fact, even with the larger loads, I think my clothes are drying quicker now than before with the Maytag Bravos XL dryer! The 7.3 cu. ft. high-efficiency dryer offers Maytag's best drying performance yet!

Do you remember all of the various cycles I told you about in my last post? Well most of those cycles use Maytag's Advanced Moisture Sensing technology to evenly dry loads and virtually eliminate overdrying and shrinking. Unfortunately, this technology doesn't work for every load of clothing I wash. It does work well for sheets and towels, but since our clothes are made with very different materials, I usually have to use a short timed drying cycle after the automatic cycle has finished. Both Brian and Bryce wear cargo shorts, and Rylie and I wear denim shorts, so if those types of clothes are mixed in with t-shirts, the shirts end up dry, but the shorts don't. It is nice, though, to be able to put my sheets in and have them come out dry after the first cycle. I have never had a dryer that sensed even this well.

When it comes to selecting the cycles I told you about last month, I still use most of the recommended settings the cycles on the machines give, with a little modification. I do modify most of the washer cycles to use cold water, and I generally modify the dyer heat to low if I have clothes in there. For the rest of my laundry, I leave the guesswork up to the washer and dryer.

According to Energy Star, the average household washes 400 loads of laundry per year. I feel like I wash that many loads each week! Lucky for us, though, the Maytag Bravos uses 76% less water and 78% less energy making it an Energy Star qualified model. With our power bills being super high during these hot summer months, I will take energy savings anywhere I can find them!

Performance is an important aspect of any appliance I own, and I expect my appliances to live up to the claims the manufacturers make. So far, my Maytag Bravos pair has. This set is swishing and humming while it powers through tough stains and dries my clothes quickly. I can't ask for much more.

To learn more about the Maytag Bravos XL washer and dryer pair, visit Maytag online. You can also follow Maytag on Facebook and Twitter to get some great laundry tips.

Disclosure: I wrote this post while participating in a Maytag Moms Dependable Laundry Ambassador program by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Maytag. I was provided with the Maytag washer and dryer set to facilitate my post.