I’m all for working smarter, not harder. When I learn a new tip that makes life’s chores simpler, easier, and cheaper, I like to share it with my friends so they too can benefit, such as these simple laundry hacks.
This Buzzfeed video offers some good ideas for when you next decide to attack your laundry:
Some simple laundry hacks
Jeans
Most people have a few different pairs of jeans, your newer ones and your older ones. Personally, I like the process of jeans fading out and getting more comfortable as I wear them in.
But when you’ve bought a new pair of dark indigos, you want them to stay dark. Here are two ways you can keep them looking like they came out of the factory:
- Wash them in a solution of salty water: 1 cup salt to 1 cup of water.
- Never wash them: This is the advice given by Levi’s CEO, Chip Bergh. Instead, some people suggest putting your jeans in the freezer to kill off some of the bacteria that build up on the denim; however, this just slows them down. Airing and spot cleaning your jeans is the best method for refreshing them; if you decide to save water and skip a wash. In fact, why can’t we take this idea to more items in our wardrobe?
- Wash with a cold cycle: This prevents shrinkage and is more color-fast.
Whites
- For refreshing bad-smelling clothes, add a cup of vinegar or bicarb soda, or a few drops of lavender oil to the final rinse. All these ingredients contain anti-bacterial and anti-mildew properties.
- To brighten tired, yellowing whites, again, add a cup of vinegar to the final rinse. Or soak your clothes in a bucket with 5 aspirin tablets dissolved in hot water.
- To soften your clothes, both vinegar and bicarb soda will soften the water and your clothes, and reduce the static electricity.
Dark colors
- Add a cup of salt to the rinse cycle: This keeps colors strong and bright, as the salt is a natural color fixative.
Clean your washing machine
- Add a half-cup of any brand of mouthwash to your empty washer and run a rinse cycle. This will refresh, clean, and kill any bacteria that’s been festering away in there; for how many years?
Ironing
- If you are not a fan of ironing, or don’t even own an iron, you can use your trusty blow dryer; it works quite well, as does a burst of warm to hot air in a clothes dryer.
Smelly hampers
- Tie one end of an old stocking and fill it with a half cup of bicarb soda. Tie the other end and toss it into your hamper. You can replace this every few months with fresh bicarb. This trick works because bicarb acts as an odor eater, absorbing and neutralizing stale smells.
DIY starch spray
- Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a mist spray bottle, fill with water, and shake well until all the powder has dissolved. Shake well before use each time, spray, and iron. This should work as well as any store-bought ironing aid, and it costs peanuts.
Laundry sustainability
Most of these tips not only save you time and money, but they are also a green and sustainable way to do laundry; especially the “no wash” concept, which is challenging at first, but makes so much sense.
Through sharing our ideas, we can help each other to live a more productive, cleaner, and healthier lifestyle, without depending so much on consumerism for everything we need.
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