Are you ready to learn how to become a laundry ninja? Seriously — these life-changing laundry hacks will make your clothes cleaner and laundry day an occasion to look forward to.
Plus, when you tell all your friends and family about these tips, they’ll be super impressed.
Key Takeaways
- Sort laundry by person using individual hampers for easier organization.
- Clean your washing machine monthly using distilled white vinegar to maintain its efficiency.
- Roll your clothes instead of folding to save space and prevent wrinkles.
- Use white vinegar and baking soda to brighten whites, remove odors, and soften hard water.
30 Laundry Hacks You’ll Wish You Already Knew
Let’s jump right in!
1. Sort Laundry by Person
Give each person in the family their own laundry hamper. If it has compartments, even better so they can separate their clothes by color, type or soil level.
This saves you time when doing laundry since you don’t have to sort the clothes by person anymore.
2. Clean the Machine
We recommend cleaning your washing machine once a month! Your machine might have a self-clean system that doesn’t require any added cleaning solutions. But if not, pour one cup of distilled white vinegar into the drum and run a hot cycle.
While the machine is running, wipe the outside of the machine with a cloth dampened in a 1:1 water and white vinegar solution.
3. Roll Your Clothes
If you hate folding, rolling is an effective and easy way to fold your clothes. It helps keep the garments wrinkle-free and saves space in your closet. You can do this with anything from bed sheets to underwear.
In fact, folding your underwear can save space and make it easier to find the pair you’re looking for.
4. Wring It Out
If you don’t have a tumble dryer or are just trying to save energy, you’re probably familiar with air drying your clothes. Doesn’t it take so long sometimes? Well, with a clothes wringer, you can save time. Clothes wringers can remove up to 90 percent of excess water so your clothes will air dry way faster.
5. Hanging Clothes to Dry
When you clip clothes to the clothesline, we recommend hanging clothes at their full length. The clothes will dry quicker because they get better airflow. For garments like t-shirts and shirts, hang them from the hem though. This will prevent stretching at the shoulder area.
6. Not the Radiator
We’re so guilty of this one! Living in a tiny apartment with small windows for a while, we got used to speed drying our clothes on the radiator. Yep — it does the job fast. But it can also fade the colors, cause the clothes to go out of shape and even worse, help mold thrive in your home (1).
7. Buy Wrinkle-Free Fabrics
If your main priority is to save time, then buying wrinkle-free fabrics on your next shopping trip can help. Synthetics are naturally wrinkle-resistant, so that means less ironing for you! Just take them out the dryer and hang them up. Job done.
8. Speed up Drying Time
Add a fluffy towel to your tumble dryer at the start of the cycle. It can absorb excess water and actually speed up the drying time. Just note you’ll need to remove it after 20 minutes, or it can actually add to the moisture and extend the drying time.
9. Ugh, Wrinkles
Take your clothes out of the dryer as soon as the cycle is finished. The clothes will still be hot, so you can fold or hang them and the wrinkles won’t set. Then you skip the ironing and save time!
If you do forget to take the clothes out right away, just dampen a cloth with water, add it to the cycle and put the dryer back on for 30 minutes. This will bust out the wrinkles so you can try again!
10. Sock Hack
This might cramp your style, but if you’re sick of pairing socks, why don’t you just buy one type of sock from now on? For example, in our house, we always buy white ankle socks when we’re shopping. That saves us from having to sort through all different types and colors of socks on laundry day.
11. Bright Whites
Are you sick of your whites turning grey or yellow? We have some awesome tips.
First, try adding a cup of distilled white vinegar to your detergent dispenser. This can help to brighten whites (2).
½ cup of baking soda in the drum or detergent dispenser will also do a great job at brightening your whites (3).
We also recommend hanging your whites to dry in the sun. Photodegradation can cause your whites to brighten in the sunshine (4).
Lastly, wash your whites often! When your white sheets, shirts and towels are exposed to constant dirt, sweat and other elements, they can get dirty quickly. We recommend washing your white sheets once a week, and other white garments after one wear.
12. Bin It
Keep a laundry bag or little bin near your washing machine to put in mismatched socks. Then once a week, you can sort through it to try and make some matches!
13. Wear It Again
You don’t have to wash everything after wearing it once. Of course, if it’s soiled or dirty, definitely do. But you can get away with wearing an item a few times before it needs to be washed. If in doubt, use our recommendations:
- Jeans can be worn up to five times.
- Suit trousers or skirts can be worn up to six times.
- Pajamas can be worn up to three times.
- Sweaters can be worn up to three times.
- Leggings or yoga pants can be worn twice.
- Bath towels can be used up to five times.
- Bras can be worn up to three times.
Wash These Garments Regularly
14. Teach ‘Em Young
Why not teach your kids to do some laundry tasks? Not the ironing, obviously — but pairing socks or organizing their hamper. It will save you time as a busy parent if they have already sorted their clothes by color or type.
15. Fantastic Folding
Folding isn’t everyone’s strong suit. If you find your t-shirt drawer is always messy and chaotic, get a folding board! You place your clothing on these plastic boards and then use the wings to fold the clothes so they are perfect, neat and tidy.
16. Soften Your Water
If you live in a hard water area, it’s normal if your clothes come out the washer all stiff. Perhaps your laundry pods aren’t fully dissolving either. Well, instead of investing in an expensive water softener, just add vinegar to your cycle! A cup of distilled white vinegar along with your detergent can help to soften the water, and therefore, your clothes (5).
17. Overwhelmed by Laundry?
Have a laundry day! Get the whole family involved, play some music and make a fun day of it. Have breaks with snacks and a favorite TV show. When the day is done, you won’t even remember it being a day of chores. Plus, the laundry will be complete and you’ll have a fresh, clean slate… I mean, hamper.
18. Bag It
Do your delicate items ever get ruined in the washer? Use mesh bags! They come in many sizes. Put your delicates — like underwear, bras, camisoles — into the mesh bag, zip it and put it in the washer. Now, it won’t get tangled up with other materials or stretched out.
19. Chalk for Grease
If you have a nasty grease stain, chalk can help get it out. Just rub a piece of white chalk over the stain and let it absorb the oil and grease. If the stain persists, rub chalk over it again. Then launder as normal and voila — stain be gone!
20. Stinky Gym Clothes
Do you ever find that your gym clothes smell bad even after you’ve thoroughly washed them? Well, you’re missing white vinegar!
Before you launder your gym clothes, fill up a basin with cool water and ½ cup of distilled white vinegar. Let the clothes soak for a couple of hours to remove the bad odors. Then launder as normal. Next time you go to the gym, you’ll be smelling fresh!
21. Make Laundry Fun
If laundry isn’t your favorite thing ever, then make it fun. Put a movie on in the background while you’re ironing, or listen to an audiobook while you’re sorting out clothes. Time will pass and your mind will be distracted by something more exciting than white socks.
22. “The Urgent Hamper”
Never run out of underwear or socks again. Never worry about your work uniform not being clean. You need to have “The Urgent Hamper” in your house! This is the laundry hamper for things that need to be washed immediately. If you notice garments in it, that means they need washing ASAP.
23. See You Later, Sweat Stains
We wish we knew this tip years ago! We could have saved a lot of shirts. But the best way to get rid of sweat stains is to spritz them before laundering.
Make up a bottle of half water and half distilled white vinegar. Spritz the underarms and collars of your shirts. The vinegar will help to lift the stain before you wash it.
Top Tip
24. Laundry That Always Smells Good
Speaking of essential oils… add them to your laundry routine. Essential oils have many benefits in the laundry room and we couldn’t imagine our routine without them. You can add a few drops to the detergent dispenser to add a lovely, natural fragrance to your clothes.
For example, lemon oil is a strong and invigorating scent that will make your clothes smell amazing. Add eucalyptus oil if someone has been sick, as it can relieve the symptoms of a cold (6).
We also love lavender oil. It’s a calming scent and when using it on our sheets, it can aid sleep (7).
25. Unshrink Your Clothes
If you accidentally shrank your clothes in the wash, fill the bath with water and a capful of baby shampoo. Soak the shrunken garment for 30 minutes. Roll the garment in a towel to remove excess water. Then lay the garment flat, but stretched it out to its original shape. Let it air dry. It should be back to its normal size now!
26. Clean the Hamper
We recommend cleaning your hamper often so your clothes don’t get dirtier and stinkier as they wait in there! Plastic ones are the easiest to clean, but you can also use a damp cloth and white vinegar to clean cloth ones.
27. Wash New Clothes
When you buy new clothes, wash them in a cool cycle with ½ cup of distilled white vinegar. This can neutralize odors, remove excess dye and generally clean your clothes! Add a few drops of essential oil to make them nice and fragrant.
28. Iron Clothes With a Hair Straightener
If you don’t have time to iron an item, quickly get wrinkles out of a garment with a hair straightener. On a low or medium heat, straighten the wrinkles to bust them out! It won’t be as effective as an iron but it works in a pinch.
29. Ditch the Fabric Softener
Fabric softener is great for softening clothes, removing wrinkles and static. But fabric softener can contain harsh chemicals and contribute to plastic waste (8).
Instead, add a tennis ball to the dryer to keep clothes soft and fluffy. If you don’t have a tennis ball, scrunch up a tennis-ball-size of aluminum foil and toss it in instead. Otherwise, buy some wool drying balls which can be reused over and over again.
30. Homemade Stain Remover
Stain removers can contain harsh chemicals. While they usually work every time, you can also make your own stain remover. Mix one tablespoon of white vinegar, one tablespoon of dish soap and two cups of water. Put it in a spray bottle and spritz stains as soon as you notice them. Rub it in gently and let it soak for 15 minutes before rinsing away. Repeat as necessary, then launder as normal.
FAQs
How Do I Get Motivated to Fold Laundry?
The best way to get motivated to fold laundry is to do it while listening to music. Other motivational methods include meditating, listening to audiobooks, and watching YouTube videos while folding.
What Do Tennis Balls Do In the Dryer?
Putting a tennis ball in the dryer is designed to reduce wrinkles, prevent tangling, and aid the removal of dirt and debris. However, in reality, it could leave your clothes smelling of heated rubber.
Should You Turn Clothes Inside Out When Washing?
You should turn your clothes inside out to reduce wear and tear and color fading and improve odor removal. It also prevents patterns from fading and shredding fibers.
How Do You Keep Towels Soft and Fluffy?
The best way to keep towels soft and fluffy is to put them through a standard wash cycle, then repeat the process using white vinegar and baking soda instead of detergent. The baking soda breaks down the grime and strips away the detergent chemicals to leave softer fibers.
What Does Baking Soda Do In Washing Clothes?
Baking soda breaks down enzymes in clothes, killing bacteria that create odors and grime. It is better than most detergents and is 100 percent natural, so better for the planet.
Revamp Laundry Day
With these laundry hacks, tips, and, you can revamp laundry day! Not only are they something new and exciting to try, they will help get you clean clothes, bright whites, aid organization and save time.
Make sure to share your favorite tips with your friends and family. They’ll be so impressed.
