There is no getting around to washing dirty clothes, but there are laundry hacks that could help get your clothes clean, bright, and fresh-smelling. And even save your odd socks and other delicate garments from being ‘eaten’ by your dryer or washing machine.
Even if you are a laundry pro, the laundry hacks discussed below can solve some of your biggest laundry challenges – and save you money and time.
10 laundry hacks for your next laundry load
1. Use vinegar to perform laundry magic
You probably have distilled white vinegar that you use for cleaning or cooking. It is nearly essential for clothes that look bright and clean every time they come out of the washing machine. Use it or buy an extra bottle of distilled white vinegar for your laundry room. Here are the benefits of using vinegar when doing laundry.
- Add a cup of vinegar to your final rinse to eliminate detergent residue that makes fabrics dull and scratchy
- A cup of vinegar in the rinse cycle can remove mildew and odor from your clothes
- Vinegar can help eliminate marks from hemlines after you have changed them
- Several cups of vinegar and hot water can remove the microbes that make a front load washer stink
2. Keep your socks from disappearing
Did you know that you can keep your socks paired up using a mesh laundry bag when washing them? This is one of the best laundry hacks, particularly when washing baby socks and other small items. Just load the mesh laundry bag with the socks and other small laundry items and toss them in the washer and then into the dryer – no more lost socks.
3. Baking soda could deodorize more than a refrigerator
When you purchase a replacement box of baking soda for your fridge, buy an extra box for your laundry room. In fact, baking soda can improve the performance of laundry detergents and products or replace a few. Here’s how baking soda can be helpful in your laundry room;
- If commercial fabric softeners make your towels less absorbent, replace the fabric softener with baking soda in the last rinse cycle
- Improve the cleaning power of oxygen bleach, and chlorine by adding a cup of baking soda to your washing water while using bleach
- Clean the gunk on the bottom of the iron using baking soda without leaving scratches
4. Secrets to drying clothes faster
You never want to realize that the one cloth you want or need to wear was missed during your weekend laundry run. Perhaps you need it clean and dry as quickly as possible. Before you toss any laundry item in the dryer, add several dry bath towels. They will absorb part of the moisture and speed up the entire drying process.
If you hand-washed a garment, you may want to put it in the kitchen salad spinner and spin it several times to ensure it dries quickly. The spinner will remove more moisture without twisting or wringing your cloth – that means your garment will have fewer or no wrinkles.
5. Remove wrinkles using ice
Forgetting to remove laundry items from your dryer inevitably results in lots of wrinkles. So, what should you do when the cloth you wanted to wear today has wrinkles, and you don’t have the time to iron it?
Well, remove all the other garments and toss several ice cubes into your dryer along with the wrinkled cloth. Tumble for about 10 minutes on high heat setting. Once the cycle is finished, remove the garment and hang it up. Try to smooth the cuffs, seams, and collar (if any) with your hands. Don’t be surprised that you have created a steam dryer. Note that the melting ice creates steam that relaxes the fibers and eliminates wrinkles.
6. Sometimes, you should let the dryer do the talking
Some laundry rooms are small. But no matter how tiny your laundry room is, the chances are that there’s an in-built message center. Use an erasable whiteboard marker to make laundry-related notes for everyone who uses your laundry room.
When your kids are doing laundry, they might not know all the laundry hacks you know. Help them avoid laundry disasters and overcome various laundry challenges by leaving notes of what they can or can’t put in the dryer or washing machine.
7. Reverse a shrunken sweater using a hair conditioner
Sometimes, laundry disaster strikes, which is why you need to know various laundry hacks to keep your clothes looking great. Whether it’s an accident or someone doesn’t know that wool and dryer never mix, somehow your sweater may end up in the dryer and come out smaller than usual.
One of the laundry hacks that may be helpful in this situation is to mix a solution of hair conditioner and cold water and submerge the shrunken sweater. Allow it to soak for about 30 minutes. This hair conditioner solution will relax the woolen fibers so that you can safely and gently pull the sweater to its initial shape.
Final thoughts
There is really something for nearly everyone to hate about doing laundry. For instance, impatient people hate spending time doing laundry. Easily-distracted individuals hate folding clothes. And no one enjoys the part where piles of folded clothes are left in the living room for days! Fortunately, the laundry hacks discussed above can make the process of doing laundry easier.
If you cannot do your laundry, Do My Laundry can handle all your dirty laundry and give you the chance to get back to the things you love. We offer ISO wash laundry service, visitor laundry service, eco-friendly dry cleaning, and wash & fold laundry service in Toronto.
