9 Laundry Hacks that Really Work

I’m a little OCD about my home (organization and cleanliness) and even more so about my laundry. 

These past four months of transition as we’re still trying to get settled into our new home have drove me nuts!  I’m still trying to find new homes for everything, which is so outside of my personality.  I like order in my home.

On to the laundry…  I don’t let anyone touch my laundry. 

I have very specific things I do to ensure my clothes are perfectly laundered.  Laundry day is on Mondays in my house.  The beds get stripped, the clothes get sorted, and I get to work. 

As you can probably see, I’m a little intense about the topic, lol.

I’ve tested so many different laundry products and hacks that I know exactly what works and what doesn’t work for me. 

In case you’re a woman after my own laundry-loving heart, I compiled a list of my favorite hacks to make your life a little easier.

1. Deep clean your towels.  Ever notice that your clean towels don’t smell so clean?  Or maybe your towels don’t seem to absorb like they used to after a shower?  The problem could be fabric softener build up, which leaves your towels stiffer, stinkier and less absorbent than usual. 

Several years ago I found a hack on Pinterest that works like a charm.  Now, I try to wash a load of towels (all colors) with this method every month or two to keep our towels in tip-top shape.

Here’s how I do a towel detox:  Wash your towels on normal cycle with HOT water and add one cup of white vinegar.  I have a front-load HE washing machine, so my detergent tray can’t hold a full cup.  I add the vinegar directly to the drum.  Skip detergent and softener (trust me on this one). 

After that cycle is complete, add 1/2 cup of baking soda (again, directly to drum) and run on normal cycle with HOT water.  Skip the detergent and softener again. 

After the second cycle is complete, dry as normal.  The smell is gone and your towels are as soft as when you first bought them, pinky swear!

2. Keep your whites white.  If you have an all white bed like me, keeping your whites bright is essential. 

When using bleach, I add all of my whites to my washer and add only bleach (to the bleach tray).  I skip detergent and softener when using bleach.  I find detergent and softener can interfere with the bleach doing its job. 

I run the washer on the whites cycle in COLD water.  If you don’t have a white cycle on your washing machine, just run a normal cycle with cold water.  I then run a second cycle on normal with my usual detergent and softener to get out the bleach smell and add an extra rinse on to ensure that all traces of the bleach are gone.

Sometimes, bleaching can cause your whites to begin to yellow…  What a pain in the butt!  My mom suggested using white fabric dye when your whites do yellow, to bring them new life.  I haven’t tried this method, but she says it really works.

3. Skip the homemade laundry soap.  Cue the angry comments about this one…  Here’s the thing, I’ve personally tested homemade detergent recipes many times and it just doesn’t work for me.  Yes, you’ll save money by not buying detergent.  But the homemade soaps that I have DIY’ed just don’t work as well as store bought. 

Sorry, but it’s the truth. 

They don’t get out the tougher stains and they don’t leave your clothes smelling as fresh. 

I found myself washing with my homemade soap, drying, seeing the stains didn’t come out, then having rewash and spot treat with a stain remover because my DIY soap just didn’t have the soap strength to handle it.  By the time I was wasting all the extra water to rewash what the DIY soap couldn’t get out the first time, I wasn’t doing the environment or my water bill any favors.

4. Read all. the. tags!  I spend so much of my laundry time reading individual clothing tags about how to wash and dry them.  Taking the time to do it right has saved me so much money because I avoid shrinking, destroying the shapes/materials and colors bleeding…  Therefore, I don’t have to replace the pieces that I damage from not washing them properly.  Score!

5. Use special detergent for your delicates.  I discovered Glamorous Wash a couple weeks ago when I ran out of my {discontinued} specialty laundry soap.  I posted about this detergent on Insta-Stories and was blown away by how many of you were raving about it.  Y’all never disappoint! 

This soap is amazing.  I use it to wash a delicates load every couple of weeks, when I have enough for a full load.  I use it to wash my silk pillowcases, pregnancy pillow case, sleep masks, undies, bras and any delicate tops or PJs.  The scent lingers forever and I’m obsessed. 

Every time I open my lingerie drawer it smells heavenly.  The scent is so strong (in the best way possible) that I can smell my bra through my clothes…  And I love it!  One Gorgeous Girl DM’ed me and said that she uses unscented Tide pods and Glamorous Wash together to get her clothes with tough stains clean but still smelling great.

PS- Always wash your delicates on the delicates cycle!

6. Use laundry bags.  This is a new discovery for me…  And I’m wondering what on earth I’ve been waiting for.  I have a small laundry bag that I use to wash my sock liners, shoelaces and other easily lost items.  It’s so nice not having that one random sock lying there for months because I washed them together in the first place!

Dress:  Goodnight Macaroon

7. Toss the iron, grab a steamer.  I’m probably going to go down in history as the world’s worst ironer.  I can’t iron to save my life. 

It wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t want things to be wrinkle-free…  But I do. 

So steaming is the answer for the iron-challenged, like me.  I have been through many, and I do mean many, steamers.  They all seem to have something about them I don’t like… 

Biggest problem of all is when they leak.  I finally found one that I love, this Conair Steamer.  Here are the reasons why this one stands out among the rest (that are now in my trash can):

• It heats up SUPER fast (40 seconds!)
• It stands up (no spills or steam on your wood floors)
• It doesn’t leak and it has a long cord

All of those things combined make for a great steaming experience.  I used this bad boy on Sunday to steam all of my shirts and dresses during my great closet purge, and it is hands-down the best steamer I’ve used.

8. Spot Treat before washing.  If you wash some stains, you’ll only set them into the fabric, making them harder to remove.  Recently, Soka left a small stain behind on our ivory front room sofa and we were able to fully remove it with a clean microfiber cloth, hydrogen peroxide and some elbow grease.  If you need to know which products to remove what stains, this is a great cheat sheet.

9. Use your washing machine to bring new life to your sneakers.  I’m often tempted to just toss out my dirty sneakers rather than clean them because they look beyond help.  Wrong!  A run in the washing machine can do wonders to even the dirtiest of tennis shoes. 

Here’s how I do it (nabbed these tips from Pinterest): Throw a couple of old towels in the washing machine.  I prefer to use towels that I don’t care are mixed with dirty shoes, so car washing or garage towels are perfect.  Remove your shoelaces and put them in your handy dandy small laundry bag. 

I use Shout stain removal spray and spray the crap out of the fabric parts of my shoes.  I’m guessing any stain remover will do, but be sure to really soak the dirty fabrics to get them good and clean.  I throw my shoes and bag of shoe laces on top of the towels, then add 1-2 more towels on top. 

I then add in my normal detergent as well as a scoop of Oxiclean to really knock out the stains and also clean the bottoms and interiors of the shoes.  I run my concoction on the delicate cycle.  After the cycle is complete, if there are any remaining stains on the fabric portions of the shoes, I douse them in stain remover again, and run a second cycle on delicates with Oxiclean. 

I typically don’t wash my shoelaces twice unless they need it.  Honestly, I think you’ll be shocked at how clean your shoes will get!

PS- I often take my shoes to the shoe repairman up the street to clean my heels and replace the bottom of my heel.  It’s usually about $10 and my shoes stay in great condition.

I’m working on perfecting my master closet this week.  Leave a comment below if you would like me to do a post about my closet organization and/or a closet tour.  Also, please let me know if you like these types of home and cleaning posts.