There are several laundry hacks and ideas on the internet, all of which promise to spare you from the hassle and errors that make laundry day something to dread. Sadly, a lot of the hacks don’t work because they don’t take into account the science of fabric care. What was done when the fibres and fabrics were made months or years ago determines what functions well in your laundry room.
We’ve gathered seven tried-and-true laundry tricks to help you navigate the sea of available solutions. They’ll help you save money, make your clothes last longer and look better, and maybe even stop a laundry accident.
1 Use Vinegar to Perform Laundry Magic
Most likely, you use a bottle of distilled white vinegar for cleaning or cooking in your kitchen. To keep in the washing room, take it or get another one.
For laundry that consistently looks spotless and brilliant when it is taken out of the washer, distilled white vinegar is practically necessary. Several advantages include:
eliminates drabness. To get rid of detergent residue that makes clothes seem dull and feel scratchy, add a cup of vinegar to the last rinse.
eliminates smells. A cup of vinegar added to the rinse cycle will aid in getting rid of body odour and mildew from clothes.
removes blemishes and stains. Children, are you expanding like weeds? You can use vinegar to help get hemlines that you’ve repeatedly adjusted free of stains.
cleans up a stinky washing. Some of the bacteria that cause front-loading washers to smell can be eliminated with hot water and a few cups of vinegar. (This works best for mild odours; for aromas that are extremely overpowering, you might need a stronger cleaner.)
2 Keep Socks From Disappearing
Using a mesh washing bag to wash your socks will simplify your life and keep the pairs together. This is an excellent idea for little goods like baby socks.
Simply load the bag, throw it in the washing, and then immediately put it in the dryer. No more socks alone.
3 Baking Soda Deodorizes More Than Your Refrigerator
Get an extra box of baking soda for the laundry room when you purchase the baking soda replacement for the refrigerator. Your washing products can work better and could be replaced by baking soda.
Skip the fabric softener: Use baking soda in the rinse cycle if commercial fabric softeners make your towels less absorbent.
Whiten the teeth: When using bleach, add one cup of baking soda to the wash water to increase the cleaning effectiveness of both chlorine and oxygen bleach.
How to remove gunk from a sticky iron: Use baking soda to remove the sludge from the iron’s bottom without scratching it.
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4 Tips for Drying Clothes More Quickly
Nobody enjoys realising that they forgot to bring one article of clothing to the weekend wash run that they need or want to wear. You need it to be clean, and you need it to dry as soon as possible. A couple of dry bath towels should be added before putting it in the dryer. They will hasten the drying process and aid in moisture absorption.
Another suggestion is to spin a single garment in your kitchen salad spinner numerous times if you hand-washed it to speed up the drying process. With less wringing and twisting, which can harm fabrics and leave them with plenty of creases, more moisture will be removed.
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5 Apply Ice to Reduce Wrinkles
Wrinkles always result from forgetting to take garments out of the dryer. What then, if you don’t have time to iron the shirt that you intended to wear today and it is covered in them?
Take out all the other clothing and put the wrinkled shirt and a few ice cubes in the dryer. At least ten minutes of spinning at high heat.
Remove the shirt and hang it up as soon as the cycle is over. With your hands, smooth the seams, collar, and cuffs. Your own steam dryer was just created. The fibres are relaxed and wrinkles are reduced by the steam produced by the melting ice.
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6 Let Your Dryer Do the Talking
Your laundry room has a built-in messaging centre, despite its small size. Simply make notes on a whiteboard with erasable markers for yourself or others. Kids and teenagers may not be as knowledgeable about laundry tips as you are when you ask them to help. Leave instructions on what may and cannot be put in the dryer to help them prevent mishaps.
Use an old towel or a whiteboard eraser to simply remove the messages. If the ink shadows are still visible, use some rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth to clean the finish. Make a paste of baking soda and rubbing alcohol and scrub with a soft cloth to erase difficult-to-remove ink.
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07 To Reverse a Shrunken Sweater, Use Conditioner
Sometimes bad things happen. Your beloved sweater accidentally wound up in the hot dryer and is now one or more sizes too small, whether it was an accident or someone didn’t realise wool and dryers don’t mix.
Do not fret. Put the shrunken sweater in a solution made of cool water and hair conditioner. Give it at least 30 minutes to soak. Using the hair conditioner will help the wool fibres relax, allowing you to gently tug the sweater back into form.
