40+ Ways To Make The Laundry Routine Easier
Have you ever gone home after a long day of hard work and looked at the pile of heaping laundry, and wanted to turn around and walk out of the house? Does the glory of the weekend dim down a bit when you remember you have to do your laundry? Trust us; that happens to the best of us. Well, you don’t need to worry anymore because we are going to give you some great tips on how to get your laundry done, and make your heart feel that much lighter. This article will provide you with tips, hacks, and easy methods on how to turn your laundry routine into a hobby, not a chore. (Ok – that’s asking for too much, we know.) So dear readers, let’s begin.
An Ode to the Wrinkles
Since some of us don’t have the time or the patience to iron out all of our clothes that we have, we usually hope that the divine dryer would do that for us. But what happens when the dryer betrays you?
What happens when it gives you clothes more wrinkled than when they went in? Don’t blame the dryer. It’s not the poor guy’s fault. You left the clothes in there too long, and the wrinkle-free hack was completely undone. the key is to only leave them in until they’re hot, then hang them or fold them, quick!
Spin With Me
For those of you who hate salad with a vengeance, we are going to show you a hack that is going to make you run to the nearest kitchen store. Not convinced? Ha, that’s because you haven’t heard it yet.
Did you know that you can use your salad spinner to wash your clothes, especially your delicates? Yup. With the help of your salad spinner, you can wash your lingerie, crop tops, and more. Wait!! Take us with you to the kitchen store!!
Hang Me!!
For people living alone for the first time, here is a tip: you don’t need to wash everything you wear only once. Shocked? We were, too. What you might want to do with some of your clothes that you have worn for a short time is:
If you have worn them once and figure that you don’t need to throw them in the washing machine, just hang those boys in your closet. and poof, they are ready to be reused. But don’t wear them too many times.
Honey, I Shrunk the Clothes
Picture this: You are excited for a date you have, and you run to your dryer to get your favorite blouse that you had washed that day to look drop dead gorgeous. But yikes! Your blouse is shorter and has turned into a crop top for a 10-year old.
But don’t worry, everyone, all is not lost. Just put your piece of clothing in warm water along with a little hair conditioner, and voila! You are ready to blow your date’s mind, because you will be looking fabulous after all.
Get Set, DRY!!
Need to go to an interview but your lucky shirt is in your dryer and will take too long to dry? Well have no worries, because your dry towel is here to save the day. You’ll be able to wear that shirt in the end.
Just throw a dry towel into your dryer. The dry towel will suck some of the moisture, and help your clothes dry faster. Take out your dry shirt and get ready to impress your future bosses. You are going to ace it!!
Mark My Clothes
If you are a busy person, we are sure you have gone through the age old error of chucking a dress in the washer that should probably have been washed on delicate. It’s alright; we all make mistakes. But there is an easy solution for this annoying problem.
You can use a dry erase marker and very easily mark your clothes to know which one should be washed in what way. You can easily find out which one should be separated from the pile. See? We did away with that pesky problem didn’t we?
Don’t Forget the Cap
Whenever we pour a sticky liquid on a cup or anywhere else, a little bit of the liquid always sticks to the cap of the bottle. And that is exactly the case with our detergent. It is very hard to get that slimy dude out of its cap, which results in waste of detergent.
Fret no more. You can just toss the cap into the washing machine along with your clothes, and the detergent will come right off. But make sure to remove the cap before you put the clothes in the dryer to keep it intact.
Find Fragrance Elsewhere
It is hard to come by a fragrant detergent that has a beautiful smell and makes your day, as, well as your clothes, brighter. Some of them might smell good, but after a good rinse, the detergent might lose the pretty smell.
Sometimes, other detergent smells are so strong that they end up nauseating you, or give you a headache. What you can do is add a little bit of essential oil to the washer during the rinse – maybe lavender or rose – and your clothes will smell like a garden.
Wrinkles: Part. 2
It doesn’t matter how many times you put your clothes through the dryer, there will always be that hard-to-reach spot, like the collar or around a button, where the crinkle just will not go away. What to do when that happens?
We have the answer! Just run those areas with the help of your hair straightener and you are good to go. With its help, you can get into those pesky areas you can’t reach and neither can a traditional iron!
Handle Delicates with Care
You might buy expensive or delicate lingerie to wear at your leisure, but due to a hard wash in your dryer they end up in shambles. That is probably not what you want. Here is a genius technique to keep your delicates in a perfect condition.
Take your delicates and hand wash them. Then you strain the excess water with the help of a colander (yup, the same one used to strain pasta). Once the water drains away, you can easily hang them, not a tear in sight, and the lingerie will be as good as new.
Wash the Washer
Don’t be too busy with washing your clothes that you completely forget about cleaning your washer. That dude helps you a lot. Keep him happy, too. If you don’t wash the washer, germs and bacteria collect in the washer, affecting both the machine and how well it washes your clothes.
You might either go for the extremely expensive washers that are built to keep themselves clean, or you can opt for something that might easily be in your house, such as mouthwash. Keep that machine clean, and it will reward you in brilliant ways.
Throw Some Wool In
We are pretty sure none of you want a stiff, starchy shirt or top that scratches you every time you wear them. Yikes. The easy solution to that is throwing in some woolen balls in the dryer while you are drying your clothes.
The woolen balls will dance around with your clothes while they are being dried, and at the end, you will get soft, fluffy clothes that you will rub your cheek in everyday. You can either make the woolen balls yourself or buy them from the store.
Return of the Wrinkles
If you are in too much of a hurry to use a flat iron, hair straightener, or the dryer to smoothen out the wrinkles in your clothes, here is an easy to make wrinkle releaser that will do away with your wrinkles in a jiffy.
Just use a couple of drops of water, a teaspoon of hair conditioner, and a tablespoon of vinegar. Mix them up. and spray them on your clothes. Believe it or not, the wrinkles will be gone before you know it, and you are ready to go take over the world.
Stick it to me
The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and as you stand up from the bench you were sitting on, you realize that there is chewing gum stuck to your jeans. Trust us; it has happens, and it does make for a fun story. But what do you do to take it off?
Worry not! The solution is pretty easy, and you don’t need to cry over your favorite jeans getting destroyed over some gross gum. Just use some ice cubes and rub it over the area. The gun will solidify and then you can easily scrape off the gum with the help of a butter knife.
How Much is Too Much
It is probably an old question: how many items of clothing should you put into your washer at one time? Well, the ideal would be to fill it up to 80 percent capacity. As a result, your clothes will be perfectly clean.
If you put too few items in, the clothes might be damaged, since they aren’t protected by other clothes and linen. But if you put too many clothes, you might overfill the machine, and thereby damage your machine. Your clothes also won’t be very clean if they have so little room.
Shaving Cream to the Rescue
Imagine you are away from home and spill something on your outfit. And there is a party that you really want to go to. What do you do? You open your bag, and take out your shaving cream, of course. The kind that foams up acts like a soap.
If you wanna be prepared for an emergency, you can always carry a travel sized canister of shaving cream with you. You spray a bit on the stain, wait a few minutes as it soaks in, and then blot the stain off. It’s that easy! Thank us later.
Dust Dust, Go Away
Lint Rollers are obviously invaluable in our lives. Especially if we have a pet in the house, and we want to wear black to a party. But sometimes, we might not have one with any sticky left. What we do then is, we take a duct tape and roll it around an old paint roller. Easy peasy.
Keep in mind to roll the duct tape with the sticky part out and then you can easily use it on your clothes to take out those pet furs that have turned your beautiful black top into black-and-white animal print.
Pin It Up
You might not always be free to take care of every stain in your clothes. You might be in a rush, and decide to take care of them later. But later, you forget where the spot actually was. An easy solution: clothespins!
Just pin a clothespin on your dress on the spot of the stain, so that you can remember you need to clean it. And then, you can easily take care of that pesky spot and throw it in the washer.
A Hard Spot
We have all had to deal with a greasy stain on our shirt collars that we couldn’t clean if our life depended on it. Well, worry not. The answer to that is sitting right there in your bathroom. Your shampoo!!
Your shampoo will take the stain right off. Another hack is to use a dishing liquid which will also easily take off that irritating greasy stain from your shirt collars. After using them, you just throw them in the washer with your other clothes.
Greasy Stain Returns
For those of us working in kitchens, having a greasy apron or a greasy dress is a must. And those stains do not come off easily. Well, please don’t worry yourself too much. It is the chalk to the rescue!!!!
All you have to do is rub the chalk directly on the grease stain. The chalk will absorb the oil, and you can later throw the clothes in the washer. They will come out as good as new, and grease-free.
Folding Efficiency
Are you tired of folding your clothes, or are you having a tough time folding them in a perfect manner? Just take a leaf out of the shopkeeper’s book, and buy yourself a clothing folder. It is seriously a game-changer.
You can easily buy it online, where it is available, well, everywhere. This clothing folder makes your clothes look professionally folded and neat. You can finish folding your clothes in a fraction of the time it usually takes you to fold them.
The Blackest of Black
As good as black clothes look on you, they do sometimes tend to fade overtime due to years of washing them. Well, there is a very easy hack to keep your black clothes as dark as ever, and we are here to tell you about it.
It is very easy. All you have to do is take a little bit of already brewed tea or coffee (without the ground leaves and beans respectively), and add it to your cycle. The clothes will come back as good as new.
Put the Lint Away
Sometimes, you might have a laundry room which is too small or too narrow, and there is no space for a trash can. As a result, a lot of dryer lint might stick around, and make the laundry room look messy.
Instead of letting that happen, take an empty tissue box, or a shoe box, and put it on top of one of the machines, and keep collecting the lint in there so that you can later throw all of it away.
Balls in the Air
Now this is a funny one. Suppose you want your clothes all soft and fluffy, and someone recommended you to hang it in the sun. Buy sadly, it’s raining outside, and the sun cannot help you. What do you do?
Well folks, just throw a tennis ball in the washer and watch it work wonders! That little tennis ball will work better than a fabric softener, and you will end up with soft and fluffy clothes you wanted all along.
Aluminum What?!
This one is unique – and news to us – as well. This is another trick for making the washing and drying procedure of your clothes smoother. And it involves something you likely already have in your very own kitchen. Aluminum foil!
You take an aluminum foil, ball it up, and toss it in the rinse cycle (or the whole cycle) so that your clothes don’t get staticky from the washer. And secondly, you can add the balls to the dryer, and the clothes will also dry faster than usual.
Vinegar, Vinegar
Sometimes when might find your towels to be rougher and stiffer than usual. These towels will be uncomfortable on your sensitive skin after a shower. This might create a problem for you as you really need that towel to dry yourself. What do you do?
The cause is a chemical buildup in your towel and in such a case, it is called a rigid towel. All you have to do is add white vinegar to your rinse cycle. That will make your towels extremely soft and fluffy to the touch.
Too Hot, Too Cold
Apparently, if you wash your clothes in too-hot water, it is harmful for them. It can cause damage, and might end up making holes in your clothes. So hot water in your washer is a huge no-no. But is cold water a good idea?
Nope, washing clothes in very cold water is not a good idea either. Since it is cold, it won’t sanitize your clothes or sheets, thereby leaving the bacteria to stay where they are. Yikes!! For your clothes to be ideally washed, they need to be between 104 to 140 degree Fahrenheit. There you have it.
Noodle Away!
What happens when you buy an expensive rack to dry your delicates and other garments and that rack ends up leaving a crease in your clothes? Well, you didn’t want that, did you? Don’t worry; we have the solution for you.
All you need to do is cut foam pool noodles into half and place it over the wires or rods of the rack. They will increase the surface area and creases won’t form on the clothes. You won’t have to spend your day ironing those clothes.
Judge Your Stains
You have to know that all stains are not the same. You have to study your stains to understand which ingredient is important to spirit them away. For example, for tomato sauce stains, use WD-40, and for coffee and wine stains, use a water and a salt soak.
For oil stains, you can sprinkle sweetener or starch over them before washing. Stenches that wouldn’t go away can be handled by baking soda, and pesky armpit stains can be managed by pre-washing them, followed by a bleach cycle.
The ink we don’t want
Probably one of the most common mishaps that any student or office worker has come across is having ink stains all over their clothes. This usually results in them throwing the cursed shirt in the trash bin, never to look at it again. But wait!!
These ink stains might very well come off. All you have to do is use some hair spray. Take your hair spray and spritz all over the stained area, and then place a paper towel on the spot and press down. Voila! Your shirt is good as new, and ready for more ink stains.
Don’t Let the Colors Go!!
We have all had that sneaky little red sock that found its way into our white laundry, and turned the entire pile pink. That is an annoying thing, isn’t it? Well, don’t fret and listen close. There is a hack to stop that. Yay!
What you need is a “color catcher cloth,” which are easy to make. Take a simple towel, and soak it in a mixture of water and washing soda (not the same as baking soda). Then, just wring it and throw it into the rinsing cycle. And the color of your clothes are safe.
Sock Army
Most of the time, one or two socks get lost in the pile of clothes that you are washing. The moment you throw them in, they are lost, never to be seen again, and you are left with a matchless sock. The solution is right in front of you!!
When you take off your socks, put a clothespin on them, and then take them through the washing and drying process. The clothespin will keep them together, and their weight will stop those sneaky dudes from getting into the nooks and crannies of the washer.
In the Freezer You Go
Well, although this hack is not considered to be a great one, its a hack nonetheless. We are not advocating that you don’t wash your clothes. But hey, sometimes you might have an emergency, and may not have time to wash your clothes.
All you have to do is put your clothes in a zip-lock bag and put it in the freezer. The extreme cold will kill the germs just enough so that the stench is gone, and you can wear it one last time before a wash.
Lemon-y White
The bright white clothes that we buy don’t really stay white after we keep wearing them. They tend to fade over time. This takes away from their beauty, and after a while they end up in the trash. But, you can keep them white and bright!
All you have to do is squeeze some lemon juice over your white clothes and then throw them in the washer for their usual washing cycle. After you take them out, they will be as bright as the clouds in the sky.
Save the Dryer Sheets
This hack is pretty simple, saves you money, and is also used by a lot of people. All you do is take your dryer sheets and cut them in half. You can cut the box in half with a knife, or cut each one.
This hack is useful and extremely cost efficient, since it saves you a bit of amount of money. And if you think it would effect its usefulness, you are wrong. It actually works just as well as using a whole dryer sheet!
Oh, baby!
Who knew that baby shampoo would be handy for adults as well? Yes, it’s useful even if you don’t have kids of your own. Baby shampoo is extremely effective in taking out unsightly sweat stains. Baby products can be useful for all of us it seems.
Put a good amount of baby shampoo all over your sweat stained underarms areas as a pre-washing treatment. Let them rest for 30 minutes, and then throw them in the washing machine for their usual wash. And then, the stains are gone!!
Pesky Blood Stains
This might usually happen with women who have issues during that time of the month. But everyone has experienced this. Blood stains are extremely hard to remove and the stain often does not go away completely. But worry not; we have the answer!!
Spray a generous amount of hydrogen peroxide on the stained area, and within moments, the blood stain will come right up. Although we recommend you try this hack in an unseen area in your clothes, because hydrogen peroxide acts as a mild bleach.
Aspirins are a Boon
Well, folks, aspirins aren’t there just for your headaches. A new hack has revealed that aspirins are just as useful in whitening your clothes that have become yellow over time. Would you like to know how it works? Read on!
What you do is, take a few aspirins and dissolve them in water. Next, you dunk your clothes in that mixture before washing them as you always do. Be ready to be surprised when they come out as bright as they were new.
Short Cycles are Better
Sometimes you might wonder if its better to put your clothes through a longer cycle, because then that way, they might end up cleaner than they do when you choose a shorter cycle. If you think that, than you are sadly wrong.
If you put your clothes through a longer cycle, they would go around in the washer too many times, and as a result might become worn. And the color of your clothes might fade faster. So, a shorter cycle is always the better option for your washer, and your clothes.
Lipstick and Bread
Another common thing that often happens to us are makeup stains. We’ve noticed they usually turn up in the weirdest places on our clothes. And this problem can actually be solved by one of the most unlikely hacks ever: BREAD!!
The way you to do it is easy as well. Take a piece of bread and wet it. Then rub the bread on the makeup stain area. The bread will quickly absorb the makeup. Any residue that is left can be taken care of in the rinsing cycle.
Coffee Stains are a Mess
Imagine early in the morning, when you’re enjoying a cup of coffee, and – oops! You spill an entire cup on your pristine shirt. What do you do? Coffee stains do not easily go away, and you might think you need to throw your shirt away. But nope! Not if we can help it.
But you have to be quick about it. Before the stain has a chance to set in, you can put club soda, salt water, or milk to remove the stain. But if you wait too long, and the stain sits there for a long time, it might be tough to remove it.
Heavy and Light
Did you know that your lighter garments get bullied by the heavier garments when they are in the washer? As weird as that sounds, they do. Due to the weight and size of the bigger and heavier garments, sometimes smaller and lighter garments are damaged.
In order to increase the life of the lighter garments, so that you can enjoy them for a longer period of time, try to separate them in the wash. Try separating blankets and towels form more delicate items. It will help you in the long run.
Towels and Sweaters are Friends
For those of you who wash your sweaters, you know how long it takes for them to dry. And the situation is worse when there is no sun outside to help you with the drying, and you really need that sweater for a party that evening.
All you have to do is fold the sweater into a towel, and then roll that towel up and squeeze it. The towel will absorb most of the water of the sweater, and your sweater in turn will dry up within half of its usual drying time.
