Your system sounds spot on; I may even follow suit. But I see your concern: that the water, energy and soap powder involved will wash away your good intentions.

However, you don’t have to give home-made rags the luxury treatment. There’s no need to blitz them at a high temperature or put them in the washing machine by themselves, as each cycle uses up to 120 litres (26 gallons) of water. Instead you’d get away with rinsing dusters in cold water or popping them into the washing machine with the rest of your clothes.

Use an eco-friendly detergent (www.ecover.com) and avoid the tumble dryer (the most energy-intensive appliance).

I’m all for these green shortcuts. I even put my kitchen cloths on top of plates in the dishwasher to take full advantage of its cleaning powers — and it really works. With your winning combination of re-using and reducing, you are scoring plenty of green points, not least by avoiding buying new products, with inevitable swaths of plastic packaging.

In a few months you could raise your eco-status even further. Tide Coldwater, a detergent available only in the US but coming here soon, claims to cut energy costs by working well in cold water.

Q: Can envelopes with stamps be recycled?

Two weeks ago I mentioned the problem with gummy strips on the back of envelopes bound for recycling and said that it’s better to rip them off, if you can, as some paper mills take exception to them. This sounds bad news for stamps, which also contain adhesive. However, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) tells me that the low amount of gum on then lets them off the hook.

There is another way to recycle them. Remember when the only acceptable thing to do with stamps was to send them to the guide dogs charity (www.guidedogs.org.uk)? I was never sure exactly how it helped these loyal mutts, but I’ve since learnt that a kilo of British stamps is worth £1.50 to international stamp dealers. This feeds a puppy for a day. (see, Walking the dog feature).

Bird lovers might prefer to support the albatross appeal by sending their stamps to the RSPB (www.rspb.org.uk). Rapidly declining numbers, as a result of industrial-scale fishing methods, prompted the launch of the appeal last year.

Do you have a green dilemma? E-mail it to ecoworrier@thetimes.co.uk

Special supplement: How to be green