post-off: what are your laundry room secrets?
Laundry is not one of those things that we talk about much. And rightly so — it’s not exactly titillating conversation. But on the few occasions that we have brought it up among friends, we have learned so much. Like the mesh lingerie bag from Target that can hold all our delicates; it makes it easy for the guys to do a load without worrying about what goes in the dryer and what doesn’t. Just pull the whole thing out! Another thing we’ve learned recently is the many uses for fabric softener sheets, though another friend tells us we should avoid them entirely. Now you tell us: What little tips and tricks do you know about doing laundry? Do you have a detergent you adore — everyday or fancy? Do you put sweaters in the machine? How do you stop pilling? Please share!
June 14th, 2006 at 9:11 am
This is one of my favorite topics. I used to hate doing laundry, but now I’ve got a system, so it’s not a big deal. Here are some of my tips/tricks/habits, whatever you may call them:
My laundry room is a closet tucked under the stairs of my house. Since I don’t have a huge room, I keep the tops of the machine clean at all times so that I can use the flat surfaces as a folding table.
I have 3 laundry baskets for sorting: whites, jeans, T-shirts and other.
I save used fabric softener sheets to swipe over the mesh in the lint trap after each load and swipe them over the tops of the machines to pick up any stray lint before I start folding clothes.
I use Tide Free powder (we have allegies and hubby hates fragrance) and store it in a tin marked “Laundry” that my mom got me from Restoration Hardware. It sits on a shelf next to the washing machine and makes the task just that little bit more pleasant.
I like to buy all white towels for the house (especially bar mop towels for the kitchen) to simplify sorting loads, and every 2-3 washes I add a cup of bleach to the wash water to keep them white. I always wash my towels in hot water because I think it helps keep them white and as sanitary as possible.
I try to do a couple of loads back to back while the dryer is warm to save energy. I also remove the clothes promptly to avoid wrinkling – in order to do this, I limit myself to 2-3 loads in a session so that I don’t have piles all over the house. I have found I only need to run the dryer for about 40-45 minutes if I don’t overload, so there’s no waiting around all day.
Also, I love to do laundry while I’m doing tasks in the kitchen – so while the machines are running, I’m swiffering the floor, cleaning out the pantry and unloading the dishwasher, getting tons done and making the laundry a little less dreary. A book on CD or a movie on the portable DVD in the kitchen helps too!
June 14th, 2006 at 9:24 am
When I was just out of college my sister and I got an apartment together, at a price we could afford. It quickly becamse known as “Pooh Corner”. The reason for this is not because my sister and i were in love with A.A. Milne, but because the previous tenet had owned ferrets, which she allowed to run free throughout the apartment. The result: poo all around the corners of every room the ferrets had ever entered. I spent two days wiping the walls down with a clorox solution.
The worst part was the smell antime the air conditioning came on. Apparently the poo had gotten down into vents on the floor. Fortunately the poo also dried up (as poo does) but when the air came on the smell would return in full force.
My solution was to put dryer sheets over the inside of the vents, so when the air came on the dryer sheets would nutralize the odor. Pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself!
June 14th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
I was advised at by a high-end swimwear boutique to avoid using Woolite for washing my newly purchased $220 bikini. Apparently, the material can lose its elasticicity when Woolite is used. Instead, they recommended Ivory Snow or other gentle soaps, and at the price of that swimsuit you know I’ll abide by this rule!
So be aware– Woolite can wear down the elasticicity in fabrics!
June 14th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
yesterday i received martha stewart’s july. in it she gives a tip i’ve never heard before. if and when you notice your towels are no longer absorbing/drying you after bathing, it is probably because the towels are being washed with a detergent that has fabric softener in it. STOP! and to reverse the nonabsorbtion use 1 cup of distilled white vinegar in the next wash cycle of towels! whalah!
June 14th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I don’t know if they sell it in the US, but Sil (pronounced Zeal) is a really wonderful German detergent. It comes in liquid, powder and capsules. Last time I was in Germany I used it at my Aunt’s house (this was during a bike trip across Bavaria, so my luggage consisted of sweaty, muddy, mildewed bike shorts and shirts) and it cleans the nasty out of really yucky clothes and leaves them looking better than before. If I have a stain or some thrift clothes that need a good washing, I just put a capsule in the wash with them (no soaking or pretreating required) and everything looks marvelous. Again, I don’t know if it has an American equivalent, so if you’re in Germany, make sure to bring an extra suitcase just for detergent
June 14th, 2006 at 6:32 pm
I think Zout is great stuff–seems to get out even old grease stains…Also, I wash my cashmere sweaters in the washer on the very delicate cycle, and then hang them up to dry..someone (I do not remember whom) told me this makes/keeps them softer than drycleaning, and it has worked well so far…
June 14th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
I got my degree in apparel and textiles and I can tell you, AVOID fabric softeners and dryer sheets. All they do is coat the fabric to make it feel softer. Your clothes are more likely to stain if you use any softening product.
Best practice is to wash in hot with half the recommended detergent, a little ammonia in the wash water makes everything super clean (great for shirts or anything oily) I even throw my cashmere sweaters in the washer on gentle with a little hosiery wash, washes completely clean and leaves my sweaters much softer than the dry cleaner
June 14th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
I think this is an original “Hints from Heloise”: once a year run your washer with nothing but hot water and a gallon of vinegar. The vinegar will disolve all the soap scum hiding in your washer and hoses. Clothes will come out much brighter after this yearly clean up.
Diane
June 14th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
I didn’t really care for/understand laundry until I started cloth diapering my son. Then, I found out all those little additives are actually really terrible for your clothes and may be even more terrible for your body.
For instance, fabric softener just coats fabrics, making it less absorbant and actually increases the time it takes to dry. Also, fabrics, especially cotton, are more likely to stain and stain badly.
Many detergents have optical brighteners, which are nothing more than miniscule crystals that supposedly reflect light but instead just create a cruddy, nasty buildup on your clothes that can hold in stains, smells and other yumminess.
Also, some detergents have active enzymes, which when mixed with certain solutions can actually be toxic–for instance on my son’s diapers if he were to pee the enzymes that were in the detergent I used would cause him to break out in a horrible, nasty rash. Gross.
Basically, you should try to very little (less than half of the required) detergent that is ideally fagrance, enzyme and brightener free with no fabric softener. If you are addicted to the fs, try Seventh Generation brand. It’s slightly less evil.
June 15th, 2006 at 6:37 am
I’m in love with Tide, I use it for stains and for detergent. I wash all of my clothes in cold so that I dont have to seperate them because I live by myself and usually only have one load. I dont dry most of my clothes because they fade and shrink. Good topic!
June 15th, 2006 at 9:57 am
I have a laundry mystery perhaps someone can help solve. Occassionally after I finish a load of laundry there will be oily looking spotted stains on some clothes. I’m not sure what causes it and I can’t get it out. It is most noticable on my husband’s lighter colored work shirts, but it is not limited to that (I’ve seen it show up on a dark brown t-shirt). I’m not sure what is causing it or how to prevent it. I don’t use fabric softener, but my upstairs neighbors who share the washing machine do. I do use dryer sheets and after reading the comments I’ll stop now. Could either of these be causing the stains? I have a feeling it is more of the fabric softeners fault, but that is just a guess.
June 19th, 2006 at 8:41 am
I have this same problem. I thought it was from lip balm going through the dryer, but have been very careful about checking pockets, and it is till happening. For the most part, I have found that washing the stained clothes on hot will get rid of it, but I still would like to know what is causing it! I have been using dryer sheets, but I think I will switch to dryer balls now that I have read this.
June 20th, 2006 at 6:52 am
I have been finding what looks like little burn marks on some of the things coming out of my dryer. Has this ever happened to anyone? I can’t figure out what it is!
June 21st, 2006 at 5:22 am
Katie and Jan — I experienced oily stains like that and tracked them back to fabric softener (liquid is more likely to cause stains, but the sheets can do it too). The internet-provided solution that finally worked for me was to scrub the stain with a plain bar of soap. You do have to involve a bit of water in order to do the scrubbing, which will eventually hide the stain (once the fabric gets too wet and soapy to tell where it was). Throw it in the wash at that point — the extra wash/dry cycle won’t make the stain worse. Then you can do the soap process a second time if the stain didn’t come completely out.
August 8th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Please help me. After years of waiting ,we have put on an addition and the one thing I wanted most was a laundry room. Now I want to make it appealing to be in. I too would like the “Laundry” box that Restoration Hardware used to sell. I can only find sources out of the US and the shipping fees are outrageous. Does anyone have a resource? I want the laundry room to be clean and inviting. I want some unique decor and need resources. Thanks so much
August 13th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Katie and Jan – those little dark spots could actually be oil from your washing machine’s transmission fluid. If the transmission of your washing machine is at the end of its life, it will most likely be leaking oily goop under the machine, and some can leak out onto your clothes, too. This happened when I was little and my mom finally figured out what was happening – it was disgusting to have these little brown spots on supposedly *clean* clothes. If your washer is really old (say…20 years or so), this could definitely be the issue. Washing machines wear out after that long.
September 8th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
OK, I got those brown stains that looked like burn marks or deep impeded rust spots and thought it was the wahing machine getting old – oil from the transmission or rust spots from the where the porcelain had been chipped. So we bought a new washing machine, a front loader and we still have the same problem. We didn’t replace the dryer, but perhaps the culprit is the dryer. These spots don’t get on all fabrics, but seem to love our sheets and white t-shirts. Any other suggestions? Thanks
April 18th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Great advice! Thanks for the great post.
Incidentally, its spelled “voila”, not “whalah”.