Do you struggle with laundry day? You are not alone. Laundry Genie helps people just like you take control of their laundry day, not just with home delivery laundry service, but at-home tips, too. While doing your laundry every week can feel overwhelming, we’ve found by incorporating a few simple tips, you can spend less time washing, drying, and folding and more time enjoying your life. Keep reading to get 20 tips only the laundry experts know.
5 Tips for Sorting Your Laundry
One of the most prominent time-consuming aspects of cleaning your clothes is the sorting of your laundry. To help, we’ve crafted five sorting tips. Try a few or implement them all into your weekly laundry schedule to quickly become a laundry sorting specialist.
1. Sort By Color
Laundry colors matter. Sorting them helps ensure colors won’t bleed into each other and allows you to select the proper water temperatures and detergent for white, lights, and darks.
2. Sort By Fabric Weight
Sorting your items by weight may sound unnecessary, but keeping like-weighted items with each other helps ensure more delicate fabrics will not be damaged during the wash. Likewise, bulky items like towels take much longer in the dryer, so keep that in mind when sorting.
3. Use a Mesh Bag for Delicates
For certain hand wash or more delicate clothing items, a mesh bag can help a lot. By placing your delicates inside a lightweight mesh bag before placing them in the washer, you can help prevent your clothes from potential damage.
4. Separate The Stains
Lightly worn items may be fine to throw directly into your washing machine. However, clothing with heavy grass, food, or bloodstains probably should be spot cleaned and soaked. Take care to pull out heavily soiled or stained clothing and do the proper pre-treatment to keep your clothes looking their best.
5. Laundry Sorter: Buy or Make Your Own
Purchasing a laundry sorter with multiple compartments or hampers can help you sort the clothes and household items as you go. Invest in a multi-bag laundry sorter, or make your own to help save you tons of time when sorting your clothes.
5 Tips for Washing Your Laundry
When your clothes are properly sorted, it will be time to wash. Below are five tried and true tips to get the most out of washing your clothes.
1. Hire A Wash and Fold Service To Do Your Laundry
Nothing beats a local wash and fold service if you are busy with family, school, and work. They allow you to drop off your dirty clothes while they handle everything else. From sorting and washing to drying and folding, a wash and fold service is the ultimate laundry hack for big families and young professionals alike.
2. Use the Right Detergent
If a wash and fold service is not right for you at this time, then be sure to stock up on the correct detergent at home to keep your clothes, towels, and sheets looking and smelling fresh. Your washing machine manufacturer should be able to recommend the ideal type and amount of detergent for each load. For individuals with sensitive skin, try a scent-free, hypoallergenic detergent.
3. Turn Some Clothes Inside Out
Typically, the inside of your clothes has the most contact with sweat, oil, and other stain-producing things. Turning your clothes inside out can help extend the lifetime of your clothes and ensure the dirtiest parts are cleaned more thoroughly.
4. Don’t Overload
Your washer and dryer were not made to be overloaded every time you wash your clothes. Doing multiple small loads throughout your week can save you time and extend the life of your machines. Plus, smaller loads may help keep your clothes looking and smelling better.
5. Select The Right Temperature
Water temperature matters a lot when doing laundry. Each temperature has an intended use you should know. Cold helps keep bright colors intact, while hot is best for heavily soiled garments and whites. Warm works well generally for darks, but cold may actually be better for the environment, saving you on your monthly electric bill, too.
5 Tips for Drying Your Laundry
Now that you’ve mastered sorting and washing your laundry let’s look at the art of drying. Most dryers today let you set it and forget it, but be sure to consider these important tips before drying your next load of laundry.
1. Don’t Overload
Capacity is key to drying your clothes properly. Overloading your machine can cause unnecessary wear on the machine and your clothes. Additionally, overloaded dryers can take nearly double the time to dry your clothes well. Save yourself the hassle and stick to smaller, more manageable loads on laundry day.
2. It’s Okay To Air Dry
Drying your clothes on a line has become a lost art. Only about 21% of homes in America own a laundry line but don’t dismiss this tried and true method. Air drying can be better for delicates and could save you hundreds of dollars each year on your electric bill, so don’t be afraid to air dry your next load of clothes.
3. Use A Dryer Sheet
Sick of staticky, bad-smelling clothes? Dryer sheets can help keep your clothes smelling great while reducing static buildup. This will make folding your clothes much more enjoyable and help lock in that fresh laundry smell for weeks to come.
4. Choose The Right Setting
Not sure what setting is right to select on your dryer? Here is a quick overview to help.
- Cotton (High Heat): Use for towels and heavy fabrics like jeans and sweats
- Permanent Press (Medium Heat): Use for synthetic fabrics
- Gentle (Low Heat): Use for delicates
- Air Dry (No/Low Heat): Use to touch up or other delicates
5. Use Aluminum Foil
Using aluminum foil balls can have a similar effect as dryer sheets by helping reduce static buildup. They can also help reduce wrinkles and improve dryer times by keeping your clothes better separated.
5 Tips For Putting Away Your Laundry
After your laundry is dry, laundry day is not over. Folding and putting away your clothes is sometimes half the battle. To help you properly put your laundry away, try out some of the tips below.
1. “Watch A Movie” While You Fold
It’s no secret that folding mountains of clean laundry can be time-consuming and boring. If you need a motivator to sit and fold, try playing your favorite movie or show in the background. This can be a fun way to keep your mind occupied and even share your favorite flick while you get your housemates to join in on the fun of folding.
2. Use A Folding Board
Folding boards and tables can help provide a hard service to get your creases just right. Large boards can also help provide room for sorting.
3. Hang Clothes On The Hanger Immediately
Don’t like folding? Try hanging your clothes in your closet. Going straight from the dryer to the hanger will also help keep your clothes wrinkle-free and looking great.
4. Fold Your Laundry While It Is Still Warm
Another impressive way to reduce wrinkles on your clothes is folding while they are still warm from the dryer. Letting your clothes sit for days will have those creases locked in, causing you to wash them again or bust out the iron. Skip all that, and remember to fold immediately for best results.
5. FINISH THE JOB
Need help to finish the job at your home? Let Laundry Genie help. We offer free pickup and delivery with our Weekly wash and fold service, saving you hours every week. Plus, you will get your clothes returned smelling great and always folded and wrinkle-free, making putting them away and finishing the job a breeze. Schedule your free pickup online, or visit our FAQ page now to learn how Laundry Genie is helping Houston kick laundry day to the curb!