I’m not sure why I thought giving you a week of content on the topic of household tips was a good idea! If there’s anything that makes me lack motivation for housework, it’s writing about it! Maybe it’s because it shines interrogation-style light on my weakness! Laundry, however, is not a weakness. Getting it all done, folded, and put away is a never-ending beast that I don’t always love to do. However, I have laundry down to a pretty good science that works for me and I have a few tips to share!
And since laundry is something that will always be around, and people will always do differently, I’m going to share some of the tricks that keep our household of six in clean clothes!
I will definitely be teaching my children to do laundry before they leave the house, but I will say that laundry is my turf! I want it done right and I know my limits! My kids have to get their laundry to the laundry room and put it away when it’s fluffed and folded.
5 Important Laundry Tips:
- SORT YOUR LOADS!!
Seriously, I know so many people who throw everything in on cold. Maybe that works for you. Perhaps you’re not picky about your clothes, and that’s okay! But I am here to tell you that your clothes really do look so much better for far longer if you separate them before washing!
We’ve all seen the grayish-tinted white sheets; the dingy-looking pinks; and the worst! The tan, dingy, white t-shirt! This comes from not sorting your colors! Well, it can also be rust and iron in your water, but a water softener and/or some Iron Out will help that!
I sort my laundry into several loads: jeans; reds; light colors; darks; white shirts/clothing; white socks/underwear; and towels.
Even if you choose not to separate your colors, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, do not wash your socks with other clothes! They are filthy and will make everything else look dingy! Seriously, if you don’t care about any of these laundry tips, take this one to heart!
- Check for Stains!
I hate stained clothing. And it’s a sad day for me when I have to accept a stain (usually, those items go into the pajama pile). I use Shout as an all-purpose spray. I find that it works best on daily stains. It is the best on grease stains, and works pretty well on food stains, grass stains, and just plain dirt.
A few tips:
- hand sanitizer works well for ink
- Dawn dishsoap works well for tough mud and dirt
- Peroxide works well for blood (or, you can use your own spit too!)
- Vinegar works well for pee smell
- Goo Gone works well for crayons…and underwear skid marks
- Whink! is tough on rust
- Era detergent works great on grass stains (Rub it into the fabric)
- Use LESS Detergent–
Did you know that if you use too much detergent, it actually makes your clothes dirtier? Think about how sticky soap is. If that detergent doesn’t get rinsed out completely, the fabric becomes sticky and dirt adheres to it. Gross.
Whether you use home-made detergent, store-bought detergent, or whatever, you can certainly use less than the directions tell you to! I use Arm and Hammer Free and Clear detergent and seriously, just a very small amount! And my laundry comes out very clean. Y’all! That is NOT an easy task when I have two, smelly teenage boys who practically roll around daily in mud and grass! (But I do pre-treat!)
- Lay Items Flat as You Take Them Out of the Dryer—
This is just how I was raised and had no idea that it might not be how everyone does laundry. Seriously, ladies! This is a GAME-CHANGER!! If you are taking your laundry out of the dryer and dumping it straight into laundry baskets, you are sabotaging yourselves!
As soon as the dryer stops, I try to get the clothes out. I take them out, fold each item in half (except underwear, socks, and swimsuits). It takes only a second per item and keeps your clothes from becoming a wrinkled-up mess!
If you have cotton items, try to only dry them for 5-10 minutes in the dryer, take them out, and hang them up. This will save you on so much ironing…or if you refuse to iron, it will save you from looking like you rolled around on the floor before you left the house!
- Fold Clothes in Outfits—
Some moms are so patient with allowing their children to choose their own outfits. I am not. My sons couldn’t have cared less what they wore when they were little. It definitely wasn’t a form of self-expression (though, it has certainly changed as they have grown!) I cringed whenever they came down wearing neon green shorts and an orange shirt. It’s just something I can’t do!
So, I started pairing up their clothes into outfits as I fold them. I put a coordinating top and bottom together, and that’s how they go in the drawer.
Now that our sons are teenagers, I just put bottoms in one drawer and tops in another. They mostly wear jeans, so almost everything can work together now. They also have learned what colors work together fairly well.
This also helps us to keep every-day, or play clothes together and nicer clothes nice. One drawback of this system is that you pretty much have to have all of your laundry done in order to pair everything up, but I like to do ALL of my laundry two days each week. I hate doing laundry every day and never feeling done because…well…it’s discouraging!
Everyone does laundry differently, but the important thing is that it gets done and that it gets done in a way that does not send Mom into orbit! Hopefully, these laundry tips will help you to come up with a system of your own that works well for you! (I thought of at least two more tips while I was writing this, so check back tomorrow for a few more!)
RElated: Kids Doing Chores
