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You are here: Home / Naturally Frugal Living / Laundry Tips

Laundry Tips

May 25, 2012 by Alea Milham 18 Comments

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Laundry Tips and Tricks

Every time I do laundry, I think: “Good hygiene is overrated!” I haven’t been able to convince my family to become nudists, but I have found a few tips to make laundry a little easier.

Use Vinegar to Remove Mildew from Laundry:

It is summer and in our house that means mildew. Somebody forgets a wet towel in a hot car or bunches it up in a pile in the laundry room or leaves it wadded up in the beach bag, etc… the possibilities for creating mildewed towels are limitless for my creative family. But I have a secret weapon: Vinegar!

I add one cup of vinegar to a load of laundry at the beginning of the wash cycle and it removes all trace of the mildew smell from our towels. The best part is it only costs a couple of pennies per load.

Reducing Night Time Allergies:

Both my husband and daughter have allergies and asthma. As soon as they were diagnosed we took the usual steps to minimize exposure to allergens, including using allergy free mattress and pillow covers, replacing curtains with blinds, and regularly dusting, vacuuming, and mopping. Despite these steps my husband and daughter continued to have asthma attacks – most often at night. Then I made one easy, cost-free change that greatly reduced their night time asthma attacks: I moved the dirty clothes hamper from the bedrooms to the bathrooms. In my early attempts to make the bedrooms allergy free, I completely overlooked that they were bringing more allergens in each time they changed their clothes and placed them in the laundry basket. By having my husband and daughter change their clothes in the bathroom and leave them there for me to collect we have minimized the incidence of night time asthma attacks.

Use Towels to Sort and Carry Laundry:

Since my laundry hampers are in the bathrooms on the opposite side of the house from the laundry room, I have to either lug the entire hamper (heavy!) or carry my loads individually (dropping items the whole way) to the laundry room. So I came up with a solution to my problem  I lay dirty, but dry towels on the bathroom floor. Then I sort the laundry by colors on to the top of the towels. I grab the ends of the towel to create a laundry sack and carry the “sack’ directly to the washing machine. I dump the contents in the washer and then add the towel to the towel pile on the laundry room floor. After the contents of all the “laundry sacks” have been washed, I do a load of towels.

Laundry Tip from my Grandmother:

After washing a load of “good clothes”, pull them out one at a time, shake out the wrinkles and then lay them as flat as possible in the dryer. This reduces the likelihood that you will pull your clothing out in a knot. It also ensures that most of your clothing will emerge completely wrinkle free, requiring little or no ironing.

Before I remove our nice clothing from the dryer, I gather hangers. As I remove each item I hang it up. If you have a small laundry room you can place an Adjustable Shower Curtain Tension Rod across the room, above head level (so you don’t bump into it when it is not in use). After placing an article of clothing on the hanger, hang it on the curtain rod to keep it wrinkle free until you can place it in the closet.

Fold Laundry on a Higher Surface:

I used to dump the pile of dry laundry on the couch. As I folded I would create piles on the back of the couch. Up and down I would bend and at the end of laundry day I would have a sore back. I also had a lot of folded clothes that accidentally on purpose ended up in an avalanche created by one of my children. So I completely dreaded laundry day and put it off which only made laundry day that much worse.

Then I had an inspiration and placed the laundry on the dining room table. It was easier to stand at the table folding laundry, which reduced work time. Bonus: The piles of clothing are also much less likely to meet with disaster at the hands of my children while sitting on the table!

More Laundry Tips:

Laundry Tip from my Daughter:

Buy underwear in lots of different colors, so that no matter what color load you are washing you can include a few pair.

Laundry and Exercise Tip from my Sister:

Stand on a balance board or bosu ball when folding your clothes for a core workout!

Time Saving Tips otherwise known as Laundry Confessions:

I only fold my kitchen towels when my mother-in-law is coming to visit. wrinkled towels
Wrinkled towels dry dishes just as well as folded towels.

I don’t fold socks either. I just throw them in a basket and let the kids go fishing for socks. Nobody can tell if your socks are wrinkled as long as you wear long pants. Smile

Even More Laundry Tips:

Homemade Laundry Detergent
Using Dryer Lint in the Garden

What are your favorite laundry tips?

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Christina says

    January 16, 2022 at 10:19 pm

    Okay I have to admit that I COULDN’T EVER EVER DO THE SOCKS AND DISH TOWELS NOT FOLDED. The sock basket my best friend does and my OCD kicks in and I start getting very frantic. My socks have to be matched as soon as they come out of the dryer. My towels have to be folded one certain way. Everyone’s underwear must be folded and put in the drawer nice or else I dump everything out, then fold them the way they’re supposed to be. All colors of each hanging items must be put together. Whites first then reds then so on.

    Reply
  2. Linda says

    January 20, 2016 at 9:52 am

    I LOVE all the hints and comments???

    Reply
  3. Cheryl says

    July 8, 2014 at 9:24 am

    I have been using towels for years to carry my loads down to the laundry room, and shake out everything before putting it into the dryer, just before the dryer is done I start taking a few items out, let the dryer continue while I’m hanging up what I took out, and repeat until the dryer is empty. Also, do all my folding on top of the dryer to keep the back from giving out. I do like the vinegar idea to remove the mildew odor since I sometimes forget I have a load in the washer until the next day, so I will give that a shot next time.

    Reply
  4. Amanda says

    March 21, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    1. Have all laundry in big pile and pick out the colours to use as I throw the laundry in
    2. Do laundry as normally would
    3. Fold pants, pyjamas, and bath towels
    4. underware and socks just get thrown in the drawers
    5. all shirts and sweaters get hung
    6. face cloths, and dish cloths/towels just thrown on the shelf

    Reply
  5. Kathy says

    February 2, 2014 at 1:09 am

    When my children were growing up, each child had a different color hangers. Plastic….I hate wire hangers. I had 3 girls. I hung the clothes up as they came from the dryer. They could tell at a glance which ones were theirs. No digging through looking at tags to see whose was whose. I hung everything, t shirts, jeans, dresses except underwear, pjs, linens…etc. Each child had a tote, preferably the same color as their hangers. Their folded clothes went into the totes. I put away the linens. Sometimes they prefer their t shirts folded. It was their responsibility to take them from the hangers, fold them and return hangers to the laundry room or a designated section in their closet. I found that t shirts didn’t wrinkle as much if they were allowed to cool on a hanger before being folded. We did have to have lower closet rods, but they could manage this when they were very young. No favorite jeans hung in the wrong closet.

    Reply
  6. carin says

    November 17, 2013 at 5:24 pm

    I have each son do their own laundry on a different day and have for years then I’m not sorting, folding or matching for anyone but myself and my husband. We use different laundry detergent (I’m sensitive to smells and he likes his super smelly) so separate our laundry too. It really cuts down on the amount of time it takes to sort everyone’s laundry out and we run about one load per person each week.

    Reply
  7. Misse says

    January 25, 2013 at 12:27 pm

    I don’t have room for a shower curtian in my laundry room. So I have wreath hangers on the back door and hang my laundry on them as I take them out of the dryer.

    Reply
    • Alea says

      January 25, 2013 at 1:19 pm

      What a great idea!

      Reply
  8. Christy says

    June 6, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    Tip #1 – all children who are taller than me must do their own laundry (I am 5′ so that happens in about 4th or 5th grade). Sylvia (7) can do her own with help putting the soap in ( I have a front loader).

    Thats it, my only tip! LOL – I too carry the dirty clothes on towels and the day my daughter bought socks that don’t match on purpose was the day I stopped carring if any matched. I just put the right size and sex and style together and call it a day.

    I need to get my son with allergies clothes out of his room – thanks for the heads up!

    Reply
  9. April @ The 21st Century Housewife says

    May 30, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    This is a wonderful post, full of excellent tips! It’s the perfect resource for me as I am sure my laundry multiplies in the night – my laundry baskets are always full despite running at least four to five loads of laundry a day, and there are only 3 of us! Thank you for sharing these great ideas!

    Reply
  10. Annie says

    May 28, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    This doesn’t work for me at this house, but at a previous house, our laundry room also housed our chest-type deep freeze. The freezer made the BEST laundry folding table. 🙂

    I hang laundry a lot and when I do, I designate a line for each of us (one for Kat, one for Shane, one for me and one for linens). I don’t care how they items go up on the line, just as long as they are on the right line. Then, when dry, I take them down and fold them into the basket in the order I like (i.e., all of Shane’s shirts together, all of the cloth napkins together, etc.) It makes putting things away much easier for me.

    I must be a little OCD, because the idea of not folding dish towels or pairing up socks makes me start to twitch…ROFL!

    Reply
    • Kathy says

      February 1, 2014 at 3:21 am

      Annie, I don’t know how long ago you posted your reply but………………OMG! You had me bent over laughing so hard! I am also OCD! There is NO WAY I could leave anything unfolded nor unmatched!!!

      Reply
  11. Jackie @ Crest Cottage says

    May 25, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    Great tips! My asthma is way worse at night, too… I should move the hampers!

    Reply
  12. Karen says

    May 25, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    I don’t have mildew, but I use vinegar in place of chlorine bleach. It is still antibacterial without being anywhere near as caustic as bleach.

    Reply
  13. Vikki says

    May 25, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    I hang my clothes out of the dryer too, but hang them on the towel rack just inside my laundry room door. Which by the way is tiny and has tree doors that all open INTO the room. I fold my laundry directly from the dryer into laundry baskets. Each person has a laundry baskets that must be brought carried out on laundry day, then they are easily picked up the same day and everyone can put their own laundry away.

    Reply
  14. Kelly says

    May 25, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Ha! We don’t fold the kids’ socks either. We too dump them in a basket and make them figure it out on their own. We don’t even fold their laundry because they just throw it in piles on their floor or in their drawers (if we’re lucky).

    Actually, we only have a few weeks left of doing the kids’ laundry at all. Once they hit high school, we make them do their own, and our youngest has only a few weeks left of middle school.

    Whoo hoo!

    Reply
  15. Carolyn says

    May 25, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    If you pin the heels of the dirty socks together before you wash them you never have to look for its mate again!

    Reply
  16. Vicky says

    May 25, 2012 at 11:32 am

    This is great Alea! I love your tips especially the laying the clothes flat in the drier! I also use towels to carry the laundry though my laundry has become a much lighter load than I expect yours is. I also love the folding on the table tip, haha I use the couch..not any more! I’m now also going to let the family fish for socks too! I hate pairing socks!

    Why didn’t I think of some of these tricks?

    Thank you x

    Reply

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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