Laundry Tips for Home

If you’re like most of us, laundry seems to pile up faster than you can get to it. You throw in a load and before you can turn around there’s another load waiting to be washed.

Whether you have 2 kids or 10 doesn’t seem to matter. The fact is, laundry is an ongoing task that never seems to be done. So, how can you find a way to keep up and feel less overwhelmed by this never ending task?

Here are a few household tips for laundry maintenance:

Sort your Dark/Lights/Delicates Ahead of Time:

Teach children to put their dirty clothes in the appropriate laundry bins. (If you don't have a couple of laundry hampers to sort with, get some).

Sorting whites and colors, heavy materials and lighter fabrics can take a considerable amount of time. One way to cut your laundry time in half is to set up individual hampers or baskets for like clothing. This works especially well for large families.

When a family member takes off his or her dirty clothes, teach them to throw their whites in one hamper; their dirty jeans in another and so forth. That way, all you have to do is grab a hamper and throw its contents in the washer.

Don't forget to have them check the pockets and remove all items.

Wash Light Clothing and Dark Clothing Separately:

There's a reason why you should presort the light and dark clothing, because you to should wash like colors together. Dark clothing dyes may bleed, and if washed with light clothing the dye could transfer to the light items, possible ruining them.

The Water Temperature Matters:

Dark clothing is better washed in cooler temperatures to prevent color fading. Light clothing looks better if washed with warm or hot water temperatures to rinse soap residue completely and prevent them from looking grungy.

Certain detergents require warm water in order to dissolve completely and properly clean the clothing. Don't wash in cold water if the laundry detergent specifies warm or hot water only.

Use the Proper Amount of Laundry Detergent:

Instructions are on the bottle for a reason. Detergent quantities to use can vary greatly from brand to brand. Generic brands often require that more laundry soap be used because the product is more dilute than name brands. Using too much laundry detergent in your household is a problem because soap residue will not be rinsed completely and over time this residue will make the clothes grungy looking.

So don't just pour in what you think should clean properly, measure it.

Clean The Dryer's Lint Trap Often:

The lint trap isn't just to keep lint and fuzz off your clothes. It stops lint from going down the dryer hose and out the vent. Over time the debris builds up and your dryer will have difficulty exhausting all the moist hot air. Not removing the moist air will mean the dryer will take much longer to dry your clothes. This causes the dryer to have to work harder- not to mention creating a potential fire hazard in your household.

If it's too late and the dryer takes forever to dry the clothes, we have additional cleaning tips on the site for cleaning out the dryer vent to help you.

Don't Over Dry Your Clothes:

Remove the clothing from the dryer immediately and don't let it dry for longer than necessary. Excess heat will damage fabric fibers causing shrinkage, fraying and brittleness. Clothing will look better and last longer too if it's not exposed to excess heat for long periods of time.

Fold The Clothing When its Still Warm:

You'll avoid the need to iron some items if you catch it right when it comes out of the dryer. If you have a dryer without a permanent press cycle, the clothing will go from a highly heated state to being crumpled hot on the bottom of the dryer. As the crumpled clothing cools, wrinkles set in. A profession cleaning tip is that if you fold the clothes when they are still warm, wrinkles can be easily smoothed out which means you don't need to iron them.

Stay on a Schedule:

Set aside time in your day to handle the laundry. Smaller families may be able to handle all of their laundry in a single day; but for most families that just doesn’t work. The best way to keep up with your laundry is to set aside a specific time each day for handling the task.

By keeping on a schedule (and not putting the laundry off), you won't have a mountain of dirty clothing that will take days to do, and you can find the time to wash the extras like sheets, towels, blankets, and more.

Prioritize the Washing:

No matter how structured you are, the odds are good in any household that something will throw a wrench into your schedule sooner or later and you will get behind with the laundry.

If this happens to you, instead of just grabbing clothes out of the hamper and hoping for the best, choose what clothing must be washed immediately and handle them first. For instance, if your kids have plenty of t-shirts to wear, but few jeans, wash those pants first.

Teach Kids’ Responsibility:

As soon as kids can reach the top of the washer and dryer, they can begin helping with the laundry. Even the smallest tots can sort and match up socks and fold towels. If you're employed, there is no need to take on the entire job of laundry yourself.

Begin delegating responsibilities as soon as you think the kids are ready. At the very least, allow each member of the family to put away their own clean clothes. That task alone is a great tip to save you time.