Table of Contents
- What Are Some Laundry Hacks?
- 1. Remove Grease With Chalk
- 2. Making Your Own Reusable Dryer Sheets
- 3. Make Your Own Laundry Detergent
- 4. Drawer Stickers So the Kids Know Where Clothes Go
- 5. Pre-Sort Bins
- 6. Use the Quick Wash Option
- 7. Ironing With Your Dryer
- 8. Ironing Entertainment
- 9. Aluminum Foil as a Dryer Sheet
- 10. Vinegar Laundry Hacks
- 11. The No-Sort Technique
- 12. Establishing Laundry Routines
- 13. Add Lavender Oil to Linens
- 14. Mesh Laundry Bag to Keep Socks Organized
- 15. Pool Noodles Prevent Creases
- Need More Cleaning Hacks?
Laundry. Laundry. Lau…sorry I fell into a trance because that’s what happens when I think about laundry and that’s exactly why I needed to go on the hunt for some laundry hacks.
Let’s face it, laundry sucks.
Nobody likes to do laundry and the people that do are the ones you don’t invite to brunch.
However, laundry doesn’t have to seem like a chore. Instead, you can implement some of these hacks to make your life easier instead of worrying about how to get that stain out of Tommy’s shirt.
There is nothing fancy about these diy laundry hacks. But hey, any hacks that you didn’t know about before are awesome!
What Are Some Laundry Hacks?
1. Remove Grease With Chalk
Grease on clothes sucks. You’d think that pre-treating the stain with detergent would be your best route but that isn’t true. Chalk is the way to go.
Just rub the chalk onto the grease stain and then wash the clothing. Some type of magic happens with the chalk dust that makes the stain disappear.
I like to use good ol’ Crayola chalk to take care of the job.
Credit for this hack goes to Apartment Therapy.
2. Making Your Own Reusable Dryer Sheets
Is there anything worse than getting ready to throw some wet clothes into the dryer only to realize you don’t have any dryer sheets?
Well, yes. There are a ton of worse things in life but running out of dryer sheets or fabric softener can be pretty annoying.
Did you know you can make your own by buying some cheap sponges?
Check out how this awesome mama makes reusable dryer sheets.
3. Make Your Own Laundry Detergent
Have you ever thought, “What can I use if I have run out of laundry detergent?“? There are a few things you can do in a pinch like:
- Use a cup of baking soda
- Use a tiny amount of gentle shampoo (like baby shampoo)
- Before adding clothes, throw a cup of vinegar in the water
- Use a cup of laundry Borax (I don’t know who has that laying around though.)
But, what if I told you that you could make your own laundry detergent mixture? I know this sounds like some Little House on the Prairie nonsense but it’s true. I’ve done it and it’s so cheap!
How Does She shows you how they were able to make a cheaper and better DIY laundry soap.
4. Drawer Stickers So the Kids Know Where Clothes Go
Asking your kids or even your spouse to put their clothes away sometimes seems like an exercise in futility.
How do they not remember where things go?!
Well, we all need a bit of hand-holding from time to time so I found these awesome drawer stickers that show you where things should go (socks go in here, now you shouldn’t lose any!)
Now they should have no excuses for clothes going into the wrong drawers and if they are still doing that then you know they are truly trying to ruin you.
5. Pre-Sort Bins
You’re probably used to having one large bin where all of your clothes go. There is nothing wrong with that but it means that when laundry time comes around you need to separate your clothes.
Why not set up a three bin system where you have light, darks, and denim? If you rarely wash your jeans then you can knock this down to a two bin system.
You’ll save so much hassle if you can just separate your clothes right when you take them off.
6. Use the Quick Wash Option
This hack is dependent on your washing machine, but I bet your washer has a quick wash option.
What’s so special about the Quick Wash option? It cuts down wash time in half. You might think that this is ridiculous because you need the full hour to wash.
The reality of it is it’s pretty ridiculous for a machine to take a full hour to wash clothes. Why waste electricity and water? Not everything needs a deep clean.
Give the Quick Wash option a shot and you’ll see that your clothes come out just as clean and smell just as fresh as the normal cycle time. This is the only cycle I run it on!
7. Ironing With Your Dryer
Most people know this one but ironing clothes is tedious and terrible.
If you like to play games then play the game of trying to get your clothes out of the dryer right when they are done. This way you can lay them flat on a surface, hurry up and fold them, or hang them up to avoid wrinkles.
If you miss your small window of opportunity that is okay because you can always put a moist cloth in the dryer along with whatever wrinkly outfit you want to wear and watch how the dryer magically takes the wrinkles away.
8. Ironing Entertainment
If you really do need to iron then you might as well knock a couple things out at once.
If TV is your thing then set the ironing board up in front of the TV and go to work.
Maybe you like audiobooks and podcasts (like me). You can listen to them while you iron.
Ironing doesn’t require much mental strength so you can do a lot of other things while you move a hot appliance over fabric.
The last 4 tips come from the awesome Thrifty Little Mom.
9. Aluminum Foil as a Dryer Sheet
This one completely defies all logic but yes you can use aluminum foil as a dryer sheet.
I believe it because Budget Savvy Diva says so.
It’s even reusable! Make a few and use them as dryer balls to cut down on drying time too!
10. Vinegar Laundry Hacks
White vinegar is one of those miracle liquids. It seems like it can do almost anything so I wasn’t surprised to see that some people use it for their laundry hacks. I use it a lot with dirty towels, especially if I may have forgotten to put them in the dryer and I don’t want them to smell like mildew.
There are just too many to list here so check out what Ask Anna has to say about the miracle that is vinegar. Basically, make sure it’s always in your laundry room.
11. The No-Sort Technique
If you really don’t want to sort your laundry before washing then you can use vinegar to ensure that your colors don’t run.
I tried to tell you that vinegar is a small miracle. All you need to do is add half a cup of vinegar to each load and your clothes will be safe. I literally have never sorted my clothes my entire life…I didn’t know it was a laundry hack (I was just lazy!).
Org Junkie explains her experience.
12. Establishing Laundry Routines
If you want to be more productive with your life then you need to establish routines. Establishing routines helps you figure out when you can do the fun stuff and when the non-fun stuff needs to get done.
Maybe you set a day of the week when all of the laundry gets done or maybe you decide that you’re going to try and do one load a day.
Whatever you do, try to establish a routine that will allow you to knock that laundry out so you can get back to Netflix and wine.
How Does She has a great post on how to build a laundry system.
13. Add Lavender Oil to Linens
The House of Smiths comes through with this awesome tip.
I promise you that you can use drops of essential oils for damn near everything.
EVERYTHING!
14. Mesh Laundry Bag to Keep Socks Organized
Why do I always forget to do this? I will use a mesh bag to keep lace underwear and bras safe, but I never think about using it to keep all of my socks together. Which is crazy because I absolutely hate not keeping matches together.
So remember this laundry hack to save you time from looking everywhere for your missing sock!
15. Pool Noodles Prevent Creases
Sick of those pesky creases ruining your clothes? Ditch the drying rack and say hello to your new best friend: the pool noodle! Just take one of those trusty floating tubes, make a snazzy cut down the side, and slide it onto your drying rack. Voila! Smooth, crease-free clothes in no time.
This laundry hack is cheap, easy, and practically foolproof. So go ahead and wave goodbye to those frustrating lines and hello to hassle-free laundry days!