Every Wednesday, Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer hosts a bloggy carnival of helpful tips. From parenting, to organization, to budgeting, to cooking, to housekeeping, you're bound to find a tip that will help you!
Today I'm going to share a few of my favorite laundry tips. These are things that I do to save time, money, and energy.
- Vinegar instead of fabric softener. I LOVE liquid fabric softener, but it's pretty pricey. I discovered on the internet that white vinegar has softening properties without the buildup & expense of fabric softener. True, it doesn't smell like Downy, but it doesn't leave the clothes with a vinegar smell, either. I put some in a Downy ball & toss it in when I start the wash - it's automatically released in the final rinse.
- Vinegar for Wendy's cloth diapers. Even if you don't use cloth diapers, if you have kids, there are times when things get peed on. It's life. The vinegar neutralizes the urine, so everything comes out clean.
- Hanging to dry. If you have read my blog lately, you know I LOVE to use my clothesline. It freshens up the clothes so nicely, and the sunshine helps remove stains. It's better for the cloth diapers, too. It saves on energy in two ways - you aren't using your dryer, and you aren't heating up the house with the dryer & using the AC to compensate.
- Organizing the drying clothes. When I hang things on the line to dry, I hang like items together, even pairing socks before they're hung. When it's time to take down the dry clothes, it's easy to fold & sort things so they can be put away.
- Fold clothes as they are taken off the line. This is kind of obvious, but it still took me awhile to do regularly. I have to handle the clothes anyway to get them off the line - why not fold them as I do it? Then I can put the items away as soon as I bring them inside - much easier than having to take them down, bring them inside, and then fold them.
- Wrinkle/fuzz removal. Even though I love my clothesline, there are some clothes that don't feel the same way. If I take something off the line & it has fuzz or is very wrinkly, it goes into the dryer with a wet dishtowel for just a few minutes. The combination of heat, moisture, and tumbling will release the fuzz and the wrinkles, and I still use less energy than completely drying an entire load of clothes.
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4 comments:
Love your laundry ideas. I posted about laundry, too :0) I've read about the vinegar thing...I've been making homemade cleaning supplies lately, so this will be next!
What great ideas! I like to use vinegar in my rinse, too. I can't wait until we can get a clothesline.
I didn't know about vinegar as a softener. I'll have to try that!
Thanks for the inspiration!! Great ideas!! I figured out how to link up!! Thanks!
Carrie
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