Laundry is one of the tasks that we all have to do anyway. Some stains are harder to remove than others and sometimes we just have trouble with our washing machine, that’s why we all need some tricks and tips to do our laundry more easily and not spend half of the day doing it. Here are 12 tips and tricks that can make your laundry routine much easier.
1. Mark your spots
Nobody has the time to do laundry every day, and sometimes we stain our clothes and throw them in the laundry basket and once it’s time to do it, we spend so much time trying to sort our clothes and see which ones have stains and which ones don’t, only to realize that we’ve missed some stains. One thing you could do is mark the stains on your clothes before putting them in with the other laundry.
2. Use shampoo for collar spots
You spent a whole day outside wearing your favorite light-colored shirt, and then when you get home and remove your shirt, you realize that you have a yellow ring around your collar. Try using shampoo for this stain, apply it on your collar, leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes and then wash your shirt like usual.
3. Use hair spray for ink stains
Who didn’t stain his clothes with ink before? We’ve all been through this at one point in our life and we’ve all lost some good pieces of clothes because of this kind of stain. One very effective way to remove ink stains is hair spray, put a cloth underneath the stain, put some hair spray on it and then press down. You can even try this on old ink stains that you couldn’t remove.
4. Shrunk clothes? Try hair conditioner
You know that feeling when you buy a beautiful dress, you wear it and everyone compliments you and tells you how beautiful you look, and then when you wash the dress, it magically turns into a shirt. Hair conditioner is your solution to this problem, it helps unshrink clothes, just mix a ¼ cup of conditioner with warm water and put your clothes in it for 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Color and dirt catchers
Are you tired of separating your clothes, colored, whites, and blacks? Try using color catchers, they are washcloths that contain a special liquid that catches dyes and doesn’t let them get into your other clothes. To make one, you can add some washing soda to water and mix very well, then you put a towel in the mixture and squeeze the excess liquid out, once it is dried, it will be ready for you to use.
6. Coffee for dark clothes
One of the main problems with washing dark clothes is that they lose their color after a number of washes. To prevent that, you can use coffee or even tea because they are natural dyes and they will help keep your dark clothes like new. In the washing machine’s rinse cycle, add 2 cups of brewed coffee or tea.
7. Dry delicate clothes with a colander
Delicate clothes can get deformed and lose their shape in the dryer, that’s why it’s better to use a colander, put the delicate clothes inside of it and let the excess water drip out and then hang it to dry in the open air.
8. Add essential oils for freshness
Are you tired of your clothes smelling like your detergent? Do you want a smell of freshness? Try using some essential oils in the washing machine’s rinse cycle, like lavender essential oil or lemon essential oil, or whatever scent you like, that way, your clothes will smell fresh whenever you wash them.
9. No more wrinkles with ice cubes
Just think about the struggle we go through every time we pull out our wrinkled clothes from the dryer and we think about the time we will spend ironing them so we can look decent when wearing them! Well, now you don’t have to go through that anymore, just put some ice cubes with your clothes in the dryer and say goodbye to wrinkles.
10. Soften clothes with woolen balls
If you want to soften your clothes, try throwing two neutral-colored woolen balls in your dryer in the hottest setting. This trick helps soften the clothes but for some reason, it seems like it doesn’t work on dark-colored clothes, so keep that in mind.
11. Dry clothes quickly with aluminum foil
Did you ever think you will use aluminum foil in your laundry routine? Now you will. You can use aluminum foil while washing and drying your clothes; roll up an aluminum foil ball and put it inside your machine before washing to reduce the static electricity build-up, or you can put it inside in the drying process to speed it up and have your clothes ready faster.
12. Clean washing machine with mouthwash
There are a lot of products you can buy to clean your washing machine and remove the dirt build-up. Especially, you can just use your mouthwash. To do so, put some mouthwash where you usually put your detergent and start your washing machine full cycle, once it’s done your machine will be as good as new.
Those were 12 tips that can make your laundry routine much easier and quicker. They will help you save more time to do other chores in the house or have some time for yourself. Let us know in the comments below what you think about these tips. If there are any tips that you have up your sleeve that we didn’t mention in our list. Don’t forget to share this article with your friends and family.
