5 More Frugal Laundry Tips
When I wrote that recent post for Purex, I had more tips to share than would fit in the post length they wanted. Soooo, here are the extras!
1. I wash most laundry in cold water
Generally, the enzymes in laundry detergents will work in water that's 60º F or higher, and since I don't live in a super cold climate, the cold water here works just fine.
Cold water obviously saves electricity, but also, it's gentler on clothes and doesn't cause as much fading.
Sometimes hotter water is necessary to get some stains out (such as greasy stains), but I'd say I wash 95% of my loads on cold, and I notice no ill effects.
(If you are worried about killing germs while someone in your household is sick: Using your dryer on high heat is going to be more effective for that. If I was doing laundry in a hotel or hospital, I'd exercise more serious bacteria precautions. But I am not doing laundry on that scale!)
I do sanitize my dishcloths and washcloths by boiling them for ten minutes once or twice a year, but that's much cheaper than using hot water for every load all year long.
2. I use the sun to get stains out of white fabric
Food-based stains (such as tomato sauce) are tough to get rid of! But if that type of stain is on white fabric, I lay the item out in the bright sunlight, and usually that gets rid of the stain.
This also works for food containers stained by tomato sauce.
Note: I don't recommend this tip for dark-colored clothes because the sun might fade the whole item.
3. I always, always sort out my lights and darks
I have met a lot of people who think this is an unnecessary step, but if you want your light-colored clothes to stay fresh and new-looking, you really, REALLY should not wash them with your dark clothes.
Throwing lights and darks all in together will get you dingy, dull whites/lights in a hurry.
And once your light items are dingy, you might be tempted to replace them.
Better to take a few minutes to make a light and dark pile, and keep your clothes looking new and fresh!
4. I sometimes ignore "dry clean only" labels
(Apply this tip at your own risk. I'm not assuming responsibility for any of your laundry. 😉 )
There are some garments that for SURE should only be dry cleaned.
Like...a dress covered in sequins.
A suit jacket.
A pair of leather pants.
(Not that I have ever owned a pair of leather pants. But if I did, I'd dry-clean them!)
But sometimes I do think manufacturers are a little too quick to slap a "dry clean only" label on an item, when all it really needs is a gentle wash in cold water plus line-drying.
For instance, you know those dresses I just bought from Target? The white and the blue-striped ones? They say dry clean only!
And I think that's crazy, especially for a white dress that I will wear regularly. The cost of dry-cleaning would quickly exceed the price of the dress.
Plus, the fabric is just cotton and polyester.
So, I boldly threw the white dress in the washing machine after I wore it recently, line-dried it, and it's jussst fine.
If you aren't quite brave enough to put an item through the wash, you could try hand washing it in cold water with gentle detergent to see how that goes.
Obviously, if you choose to follow this tip, you are incurring a little bit of risk. But I can tell you that I personally have never ruined an item by gently laundering it, and I have saved myself a ton of money on dry-cleaning fees this way.
Just don't try this with an item you absolutely, positively cannot risk ruining!
5. I use liquids vs. pods
Load for load, pods are usually the most expensive way to buy laundry detergent (and this holds true for dishwasher detergent as well).
It is not that challenging to pour out laundry detergent, so I have never been particularly tempted to pay extra for the pods.
Thank you for all the tips. I don't own a dryer so I hand my laundry to dry. It is for free. I did own a dryer once and got rid off it quite quickly. Sorting out the items which don't go into the dryer took longer than hang them. And not only once did I miss a delicate item and in the dryer it went... and came out ruined. Also my sons weren't too reliable in sorting things out but they were quite capable in hanging the laundry to dry.
Here in Germany the cheapest detergent comes as a powder. This is also recommend by the manufactures of washing machines. They also recommend to actually run the occasional hot cycle as it is good for the washing machine and prevents the build-up of bacteria.
I am with you in avoiding dry-cleaning as much as possible. It is very hard on the environment and expensive too and things don't really get washed nor clean....whatever does not survive my washing-machine or hand-washing does not belong into my wardrobe :-).
Of course it depends on your washing-machine also. Mine has a very gentle cycle in which my really delicate cashmere sweaters come out very nicely and multiple times already. All my silk tops and blouses and anything with feathers go into the machine as well and come out fresh and clean and in good shape. The winter jackets and bedding with feathers I then take to the the laundromat and put them into their dryers. Otherwise it will go all lumpy and cannot be saved.
And it is important to only run a full load of laundry as it is cheaper and better for the environment too.
And I do close all zippers etc, delicate tops and items I put into laundry bags. Also very small items so they don't get "eaten" by the washing-machine or clog it.
@Lea, I woukd actually prefer powder but it is rare that I find it. Except in the warehouse store. Lots of good information. Thank you.
@Lea, I was picturing you with a glorious bunch of clothing that had feathers decorating the outside (boas and such), until I clued in that you were talking about down feathers : )
Time for some caffeine!
@Suz, Speaking of boas, I have a friend who is one of those super outgoing, gregarious Auntie Mame types and she often entertains at the local community theatre, talent shows, you name it. She has tons of boas and sequined evening gowns and fancy clothes. I was invited to her apartment once for a Christmas soiree, and she had a bunch of boas -- all different colors -- that she had draped on her Christmas tree instead of using tinsel or strings of popcorn. That fit her personality so well, and it was a (very bright and festive) frugal hack -- use what you have to decorate with instead of buying something that only has only a single use.
@Lea,
When our children were younger I would sometimes put the Lego in a pillow case and wash it at 40/no spin. Toys can become so grimy!
@Amy cheapohmom, Have you considered making your own? I've been using this one for about 5 years and it passes even my picky roommate's review.
½ c. grated soap
(80g of bar soap grated in the food processor)
1 c./200g Borax
1 c./250g washing soda
Mix well.
1 to 1.5 t. per HE load.
If something is extra grimy or washed out, either
1) soak in Oxyclean before washing;
2) add s bit of Oxyclean to the load; or
3) add 1 t. TSP (trisodium phosphate) to the load. This is the most effective and also the most damaging, being the "phosphates" that have been removed from laundry detergent because its not good for the environment.
@WilliamB, TSP is also good in dishwashers if you have hard water. TSP softens the water which allows detergent to work better. That said, it's banned in many places.
I do remember, in the early 70s, six foot high soapsuds on the edge of ponds in this town--our count was the first to ban phosphates in the US.
@Suz,
Ha ha, I thought the same thing!
@Suz, I thought the same thing!
I have a confession - I found my daughter’s school blazer at an op shop (thrift store) for $5, a little mildewed, and I washed it in my machine! It came up so well and saved a small fortune. I’m now very casual about ‘dry clean only’ labels.
@Emma, I love that you found your daughter's school blazer at a thrift shop, got it for $5 and machine washed it. That's awesome:)
@Emma, Is it polyester or wool? Lots of school blazers are all poly and can be gently washed.
@Rose, l can’t actually find it on the label anywhere. I washed it in cold water so there wasn’t any shrinkage anyway.
I do ignore dry-clean-only labels on many garments and have never had an adverse result. It is also better for the environment to not dry clean clothes. That being said suits, some dresses, and wool coats do go to the dry cleaners.
I practice hints 1-4. I also use a color catcher to pick up dyes that are released when washing laundry. I reuse them until they look "grungy".
I have been using laundry sheets and they may not be the most economical but it is an attempt to use less plastic.
I have a dress that says dry clean, but have never dry cleaned it.
I read somewhere years ago (maybe from Amy Daczyszyn?) that if a label says "Dry Clean Only" you really should, but if it says "Dry Clean" they're not really serious about that directive. I wear professional clothing on the regular and have put both types in the washer. Most of my clothing is thrifted or from consignment shops, so not a huge monetary loss if there were a disaster. BUT THERE HAVE BEEN NO DISASTERS!
I try to avoid these types of labels in the first place so it's not a real issue.
Disclaimer: YMMV.
@Kristin,
I had to Google what YMMV was - never come across it before.
Sometimes I ignore the dry clean only labels with a few exceptions:
1. Suits
2. Dress Pants (I wear a difficult-to-find size and am petrified to lose any of my dress pants). Dry cleaning has ensured I kept some of my pants well over 10 years.
3. Dress shirts when we have an event (i.e. wedding, funeral, major work function)-I just cannot get these shirts to look as nice when I wash/iron!
For my cashmere sweaters that all say "dry clean only", I hand wash and dry flat. Everything else gets tossed right in the washer.
I don't even know where the nearest dry cleaner is, so . . . yes. 🙂
I'm wondering about the cost comparison between liquids versus powders now. I've started buying powder, and I like it better because it doesn't take up as much space in my laundry area and I don't feel like I'm paying for water. I don't worry overly much about the cost per use, though, so I've never bothered doing a big cost breakdown on it.
@kristin @ going country, I stopped using powder detergent when I started using all cold water for my laundry (save for towels, sometimes, I feel like a good hot water wash is needed!). I found the powder didn't dissolve quite as well in the cold water. I try to use about 2 T of liquid detergent with each load, rather than fill the cup up to the line!
@Karen A., I don't use powder detergent for the same reason - it just doesn't dissolve well in cool washes. Also, in Ireland, all washing-machines are cold-fill only - is that the same in the US?
@Joan from Dublin, no, in the US we usually have 3 water temps, cold, warm and hot on our washers or various combinations. I use powder and usually don't have an issue with it dissolving, but my cold water isn't that cold here in South Florida.
@Joan from Dublin,
Americans have hot, warm and cold wash settings but the newer machines only have cold settings for rinse cycles. I have an older machine that lets you pick which temp you want for rinsing, but this was discontinued due to the government wanting us to save more energy. I hope they don't copy your country and limit us on wash temps, too. Not that it matters -- I doubt I'll ever buy another washing machine at my age.
@Joan from Dublin,
Interesting- I use only powder and wash all of my clothes on cold and have never had a problem with it dissolving. I wonder if it’s an issue of water softness/hardness?
@Karen A., I found that too (that powder detergent doesn't dissolve as well in cold. I'm fine with liquid if I can avoid those random white smudges 🙂
I've read that 'dry clean recommended' basically means you can wash it at home but 'dry clean only' means you should really dry clean it or it can damage the clothing. I own very things which need dry cleaning so somewhat of a moot point for me, but it's helpful to know. There's more info about it here:
https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/laundry/do-i-have-to-dry-clean-this
I usually line dry my clothes unless it's cold/damp/I'm in a hurry. This seems to be more common in Europe, from what I've noticed. I'm not really sure why it seems so strange in America!
This isn't so much about laundry and more the environment, but I use microfibre cloths instead of kitchen roll to mop up messes and they do a great job. I use ripped socks or toilet paper for anything more grim and throw those out!
@Sophie in Denmark, At least in the US, the distinction between "dry clean" and "dry clean only" etc is a myth.
@Sophie in Denmark, some homeowner associations here in America prohibit outdoor clothes lines. Very ecologically irresponsible!
As others have said, I too follow all these tips. I rarely buy any fancy or structured clothing that would require dry cleaning, and I've washed other garments with "dry clean only" tags without mishap, although I try to avoid things with those tags.
Also, has anyone else completely ditched ironing? I gave away my iron and ironing board several years ago and haven't missed them a bit.
@A. Marie, Our iron is only used for my daughter’s Perler bead projects these days!
We use our iron all the time--Daughter quilts, I collect antique textiles, and Son wears suits, ties, and pocket squares to church every week. He had been dry cleaning silk pocket squares until I found out and protested. Hand wash and iron for free.
I will also say his non-iron dress shirts really do come out beautifully without ironing. They've made incredible strides in that technology.
We're also lucky enough in our 1920 kitchen to have the original ironing board and sleeve board that fold back into the wall, so it's zero trouble to iron anything.
@A. Marie,
I would be hard-pressed (no pun intended) to even find my iron. Chances are it left the place with one roommate or another. But I don't miss it. Anything wrinkled gets tossed in the dryer for the 10-12 minute "de-wrinkle" cycle, and it comes out just fine, damp but no wrinkles. I line-dry it the rest of the way.
@A. Marie,
I stopped ironing during covid, but my husband has asked me to iron some dress shirts for him now he is going back to the office again regularly. 🙁
@A. Marie, I very rarely ever iron anything anymore. I'm more likely to use the steam function on the dryer to get rid of wrinkles.
@Rose,
I do a lot of ironing because I really like the look and feel of a well ironed item. But I do it in the living room while watching TV
@A. Marie, Iron? What's an iron?
Seriously, I keep mine for the occasional hobby use but don't really know how to use it. If I knew how to use it, I might have to iron something.
@A. Marie, I never iron although ironically I don't mind doing it that much. I think the last time I ironed something was an outfit for a job interview and that was over a year ago.
@A. Marie, I iron at most 2 shirts a week for my DH...if he doesn't iron them. He usually wears a dress shirt to church and usually one other dress shirt for work. If he happens to wear polo pullovers those days...I don't iron at all. I just make sure I pull them from the dryer immediately. I love summer because I can go months without ironing!
@A. Marie, Husband has performance outfits that have to be ironed, or I would give away our iron and board. Tried using one of those steamers but the results were not crisp enough and the other men in his quartet thought he looked shabby in comparison to them. I have to admit when the husband told me that, I had the uncharitable thought that the two of them who wear toupees that look like they trash picked a dead weasel from one of the many abandoned traplines around here need to look in the mirror before calling out someone for looking shabby...So now I use the iron. Husband does all the laundry, so I figure it is an even exchange.
@Lindsey,
I know a presidential candidate whose hairstyle looks like he trash-picked a dead weasel, too....it must be the newest fashion, ROTFL!
@A. Marie, this may horrify you all, but I not only enjoy ironing, I iron my sheets. The feeling of sliding into bed on freshly ironed sheets is, well, sensually self-indulgent. (Can’t say I enjoy it so much that I’d want to earn my living that way). I also sew, so an iron is necessary.
@Susie, One of my little “if I were richer than Croesus” fantasies is ironed sheets every week.
@Lindsey, LOL.. trash picked weasels. And what you don't know is if they truly think not crisp enough OR the mere fact wifey did not iron. Kudos for holding your tongue - not sure I could do so.
@WilliamB,
Richer than Croesus fantasies would make a nice blog item!
@Fru-gal Lisa, BAHAHAHAHAHAH
@Lindsey, That was hilarious!! How dare they say he looked shabby!
@A. Marie, I love using cloth napkins and they usually need a bit of spiffing up after they come out of the dryer. Husband has two shirts that need ironing but I have lots of napkins so his shirts don't usually get ironed until I'm out of cloth napkins.
@A. Marie, Yes! When I got out of the air force, I swore I would never iron again (threw out my nylons too!). I have broken that vow for my son for a dress shirt or two, but my iron is just for crafty stuff anymore 🙂
@Rose, I use my iron a lot too. I like to sew and you need to iron each step so it comes out correctly, and I also quilt. One thing I still do is iron my husband's cloth handkerchiefs! They fit in the drawer better, and I like doing it because it reminds of my childhood watching my mother iron my dad's hankies. I don't think my grown children own irons-they use steamers instead.
I wash most linen, cotton and rayon in cold water and hang it to dry even if it has a dry clean label. I also wash merino wool and cashmere on the special wool setting on my machine and dry flat.
If something is structured or especially expensive, I will send it to the dry cleaners but I do try to avoid this. Last fall I sent 3 items to the cleaners - a wool blazer, a quilted jacket and a long, dressy dress. It was $102 to get these cleaned. This is absurd.
On occasion I use a dry cleaning kit at home and I do own a high-quality steamer. However, since I have left the traditional work force, I don’t dress like I use to which means clothes prep is much easier.
@Bee, $102!! That's crazy. I haven't had anything cleaned in years, but before Covid we still had a $1.79 cleaners by our house where I took anything we needed cleaned. They closed up, and I have only had a few things cleaned since then, but I had no idea it had become so expensive. That's crazy.
@Marlena, I was stunned! Back in the dark ages when I worked in an office and both my husband I had to dress for work, our cleaning bill was $35 every two weeks. Dress shirts were$0.99 each to have them washed and pressed. Most other items were between $2 -3 each. I guess that I’m getting old. I find myself saying, “I remember when” a lot now.
I just don't buy things that say dry clean only. I avoid them at all costs!
And sometimes I'll wash the bike/exercise clothes in a warmer temp water to make sure the stink and sweat gets out. I line dry those kinds of clothes (inside on my drying rack), so I want to make sure they smell halfway decent.
@Maureen,
If they smell the bacteria are not all dead. You will need to wash at higher temperature or can give it a try bagging and freezing for a few nights. Sports clothes often start smelling, partly due to the high percentage artificial fibres.
@JNL, Bacteria is killed in museums on textiles they own by freezing.
Quick question for the hive mind: is there a different between cold and tap cold? I've been using tap cold but perhaps I shouldn't? Thanks 🙂
@Shelagh, I wondered that with my new washer too! Basically tap cold is the "coldest" option, according to my manual - it excludes drawing from the hot water line, which it will sometimes do on the cold setting (e.g. maybe if it's drawing out of a well on a cold day or something, to get it to a temp like 60 as Kristen said, that works best with detergents?).
I have never noticed it making any difference on either setting. Maybe it's noticeable for those who live in a particularly cold (or hot) climate?
@Shelagh,
Tap cold is the water that comes into your house, which can vary depending on the season, and that might affect how well the detergent cleans. Cold water might have some hot water added to the tap water to raise the temp up to a minimum level for cleaning.
@mbmom11,
According to Google, cold on a washing machine ranges from 60°-80 °F. I know in the winter here, tap cold is very brisk, and the detergent would not work well. I wind up using warm for moat loads as my water is very hard - I think it washes better with warm.
@Shelagh, Thank you for asking this! We recently got a new washer for the first time in 20 years, and it has the tap cold setting, so I just used that as default. Now I know!
@Shelagh, I live in northern Alaska. In the winter we use the warm cycle because the cold water coming out of the tap is barely above slush. Our appliance repair guy told us that is what he does, so we have copied him ever since hearing that advice.
@Lindsey, a friend of mine lived in Death Valley for a couple of years. In the summer, she used her cold water tap for hot water and turned off the water heater to use the hot water tap for cold, because it was insulated and inside her air-conditioned house.
I bought a dress at Torrid and it was only after I realized it fit in all the right places and I sucked up the price that it was dry clean only... I kept it and wore it to an outdoors wedding. I hung it up inside out to dry/air out.. I damp wipes the pits etc. I wore it 2 more times in cooler days and finally I decided to tempt fates.. It was getting a delicate cold wash and a hang dry- I was too worried about odor!
Totally fine! I would bet if I dried it much more than a few minutes on low it could shrink oddly due to the fabric.. but I am not worried anymore!
In the rare instance I need to dry clean something, I've had good luck with those home dry cleaning kits.
I worked for a dry cleaner throughout college and learned a lot about textiles and how to clean them. The law is that all clothing must have a care label, and sometimes the manufacturer is lazy and sticks a dry clean only label on clearly washable clothing. Then again, while almost all silk is washable, the maker of a silk blouse doesn't want a ton of idiots who machine washed and dried the garment to complain, so they stick a dry clean label on, too.
I wonder if the deal for the dress is the belt? That would probably get ruined going through the wash. I didn't even check my dress's care label, just tossed it in the machine.
One more thing: people always assume that it's cleaning/washing that is "rough" on fabric, when it's actually dirt much of the time. Dirt acts like sandpaper on fabric. Also, moths are attracted to the smell of dirt, skin oils, stuff like that, which is why cedar and mothballs are supposed to keep them away, by masking the smell. If you put all your clothes that you're storing away clean, moths won't bother you. If you put one piece away not clean with 20 clean garments, the moths will munch on all of them.
@Rose, ALSO, while I'm at it:
100% cotton like Kristen's and my Target dresses do not come out well when dry cleaned.
Urine and poop must be washed off, not dry cleaned. We used to get an incontinent old lady's dry clean only clothes and they had to be surreptitiously washed. (Not by me.)
@Rose, I can't believe the collection of things you know! And I say that in admiration, not snark.
@Lindsey, It's OK. I get the dogs' names wrong all the time. I was addicted to Sherlock Homes as a kid (still am, actually), and, in A Study in Scarlet, Holmes tells Watson that he's going to try to forget the information that the earth revolves around the sun because it's of no use to him. “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
I thought that was dumb when I was 12 but I don't any more! Working to fix one of my websites this afternoon (sigh, I have to keep digging until I figure it out) and I'll probably forget autonomic functions by 8PM.
@Rose,
Love that Sherlock Holmes bit of wisdom! Thanks for sharing!
I use powdered detergent (2 tablespoons) on cold, line or rack dry anything that might shrink or reach negatively to tumble drying, and very rarely iron. The iron mostly comes out when I am sewing.
I do use color catcher sheets because of washing mixed color loads. My wardrobe is very small, I rewear slacks and shirts that are clean enough for a second day, and thus would run completely out of underclothes long before accumulating a wash load of a single hue range. The sheets always have a coupon printed inside the box, so the cost is modest.
@Ruby, I use the color catcher sheets too and never thought to look inside the box for a coupon. Thanks for the tip!
Unfortunately I ignored a care label on a borrowed formal. It said hand or gentle cycle wash but I didn’t check the label, assuming because it had sequins it had to be dry cleaned. And the dress was ruined. I’m not really sure what we learn from this example other than reading the label is important.
@Jan in GA, The dry cleaner should have checked the label and called you.
The worst garment I ever handled was one of those horrible 80s sweaters some of you might remember. It was white angora with various patches sewn on the front. Said "dry clean only," which we did and a black leather patch bled all over the angora. The customer was super angry because it was an expensive sweater and didn't like me telling them it was just not cleanable or washable as is. Cheaply made even if expensive. Meanwhile, Chanel couture silk blouses came up beautifully after cleaning.
By the way, it's called dry cleaning because no water is used, not because the clothes don't get wet. They do--they go into big machines and have chemicals dumped on them. Then they're pressed and finished with steam, usually.
@Rose, That would have been nice for them to check. And maybe they did... my husband dropped it off. Our most recent dry cleaning issue is my husband's missing blazer that they have never located.
@Jan G, The sequins probably more or less dissolved in the dry cleaning fluid.
I have long ignored the dry clean label on clothing & just use the gentle/delicate wash cycle, then hang or dry flat. Since we have just moved to southeast Louisiana, the sweat & stink factors are way more prevalent than our previous KY climate. So it’s more important than ever to be able to wash & dry without too much extra effort.
I do ignore sone dry clean labels!
Often I wash them separately, in cold water, and line/ hang dry.
In the past I inherited some lovely cashmere sweaters. I washed them inside out in cold water, and gently stretched them into shape, drying them flat on a towel. They turned out great!
I mentioned this in your last laundry post, but I’m a fan so I’ll repeat it. I don’t use scented detergent, don’t use scent booster additives, and I do not use scented (or any) dryer sheets. If I have a load of laundry that has some extra smell to it, I just add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the bleach dispenser and it does a great job.
If someone really likes a particular, light scent to their clothes, I highly recommend adding several drops if an essential oil to a wool dryer ball.
I did Dry Clean my business clothes, because I was in Sales and Marketing, where appearances very much mattered. And my husband's business suits, which he likewise wore daily.
But in my retirement life? No, I ignore most Dry Clean Only labels and now wash fussy items on Cold, Gentle wash setting, then line dry on a rack out of the sun. So far there have been no disasters, and I've been very happy with the results.
Dry cleaning is so expensive where I now live! I do not miss the weekly dry cleaning charges, that is for sure.
Since we don’t have a dry cleaner within 50 miles of us, I don’t dry clean unless my husband has worn a suit. I wash in cold water almost always, and hang the laundry out to dry as often as I can. All of my laundry products are scent free due to my husband’s excema. I love fresh line dried clothes!
You brought up laundry pods, and I agree they are costly. However, when our church wanted to do something to benefit a local ministry for homeless youth, the director said they could really use laundry pods -- and could we please donate some? She told us that the homeless kids can easily carry a laundry pod in a backpack, and since they sometimes are invited to spend the night at a friend's house, they can ask to use the family's washing machine and use that pod to launder their clothes. Ditto, if they go to a coin laundry. I had never heard of that before, but I know many of you are very charitable people and I just wanted to tell you about this. Likewise, those pods would be handy if you were going on a trip -- much easier to pack than a box or bottle of detergent. They've also come out with laundry sheets that dissolve into detergent when wet; you just toss 'em in a wash load and voila! Hopefully, they'll lower the prices some day.
@Fru-gal Lisa, excellent point.
I use pods (Costco brand) and I typically wash only large loads. The package says to add 2 pods for a large load, but I only use one and it has never been an issue. That’s how I get around using Jess detergent while using the pods
@Fru-gal Lisa, I agree the pods are pretty well suited for those purposes. Even better, if you can find them, are laundry detergent sheets. Unfortunately they're harder to find; but they don't burst, bleed, or run afoul of the TSA.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Never thought of this. Thanks for passing the info on.
@Fru-gal Lisa, Our local food bank also requested laundry pods because they could split them up among families so everyone got something. Otherwise, they had to give out an entire bottle/box and there wasn’t always enough to go around.
@Fru-gal Lisa, I'm going to fill some baggies with laundry pods and drop them in our little free food pantry in your honor. Thanks for the info.
Pods are a great choice for vacations and when married to a spouse who refuses to measure laundry detergent for a front load. 🙂 I think the marking on some laundry caps are a bit hard to see too, perhaps on purpose.
Lol, this may be the same spouse who washed my wool skirt and it then became doll size...needless to say he has many great qualities but laundry is not one of them.
@Mar, I once sent my clothes to wash 'n' fold service and stupidly didn't look through them first. No kidding, my cashmere sweater was then worn by my daughter's teddy bear.
@Mar, I don't know if this will work or not, but I've heard that if you shrink a wool item, you can use some hair conditioner on it and try stretching it out to its original size.
Also, if you ever need to wash an Afghan (the blanket, not someone from that nation), use the cold water temp (unless it's Alaskan slush, LOL!) + gentle cycle + double the amount of liquid fabric softener -- and it, too, can be stretched back to its original size. (Make sure you've measured before tossing it into the washer, so you'll know what the original size is!) That came from a pal who likes to knit and crochet.
She also unravels and reuses yarn from stuff she buys at garage sales to re-knit or -crochet. However, she says you have to be pretty experienced to be able to do this; the yard has kinks in it from its first incarnation -- and is therefore difficult to work with.
I was interested to see the dial on your washing machine. Ours is very different, we can choose to wash at tap.water temperature, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 75 and 95 degrees (C). I calculated that the difference between washing bedlinen at 40 or at 60 would be only some 20 euros a year, so I wash them at 60 as that kills the dust mites (I have asthma). I do not use the dryer as the dryer wears out fabric a lot more than the washing machine does.
And that got me thinking about how choices depend on individual situations, as always:
We have our own washing machine and can choose when we do our laundry
It is windy nearly every day, but not to an extent that "the laundry is blown to the next state" as one reader put it
When it is hot, it is often humid but not so much so that the laundry won't dry
Even if it is somewhat overcast the laundry will generally dry within several hours outside
I work from home and can keep an eye on the clouds.
I live in the countryside and the air here is clean: No soot, no burning wood, and bbq only on sunny days at dinner time
In short, the conditions for line drying are propitious in my case. And that surely helps to make laundry one of the household chores I like best.
@JNL, your description of your laundry situation is making me think about moving to The Netherlands! (Also, I really like what I see of your King and Queen on The Court Jeweller blog. Unlike many other royals, they seem to be enjoying their jobs and each other.)
@A. Marie,
I read Antonia Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots a few weeks ago. It sure is better to be a crowned head in this day and age!
I always use hot water for most things especially underwear. Staph, strep, salmonella and E. coli are NOT killed in a cold water wash, and as someone who's been hospitalized three times with bacteriological infections, I am very careful. (Once salmonella, one strep (in which they contemplated amputating my leg) and 1.5 years ago with campylobacter.
@Rose,
I am also a stickler for washing on hot (60 Celsius), bed/bath/kitchen linens and also underwear.
How very useful that you used to work a a dry cleaner's! I recall that we had a moth infestation in the 80s, in our student home. Preppy lambswool sweaters were popular and we moaned when we saw the holes. Gross and expensive. I cannot recall where the infestation started but let's just say that some students still had to learn household discipline.
I would be surprised if your washing machine water is hot enough to kill staph!
@Kristen, about 100 degrees kills staph, supposedly. And I use bleach on whites now and then and run through some Lysol in case any bacteria is still alive in the washer. (Some bacteria live for weeks inside a washer.) MRSA is harder to get rid of than normal staph.
@Rose, Whether they knew it or not, old-fashioned folk who ironed everything were also looking after their health. The very hot irons killed some diseases and lot of vermin.
@Kristen,
For staph, over 60C indeed. (Local hospital website). I'll check the others as well. For dust mites, 60C is enough, my lung specialist advised. My machine can do 75C, soperhaps would be better option.
Why do american washing machines not have temperatures on the dial, I wonder?
@WilliamB, Yup. Oh, I would have hated living back then. No temperatures on the sad irons, and after all that work getting your whites white, if the iron managed to have a smut (ash) on it from the coal or wood stove you heated it on, too bad, so sad, game over, time to rewash that! Grrrr.
And believe me, guys, and I swear I'll stop yammering on about laundry:
once you've have sepsis and gangrenous toes, and the surgeon keeps visiting your leg with a gleam in his eye, you'll take this stuff more seriously.
Fortunately, I'm too evil to die, so salmonella 0, Rose 1; staph/strep 0, Rose 2; and campylobacter 0, Rose 3.
@Kristen, my machine has a sanitize setting which I believe heats the water to almost 160 degrees. Full disclosure - I have *never* used that setting. But it is hot enough to kill staph from what I've read.
I don't think I currently own anything that requires dry cleaned.
I do have an iron and regular ironing board. I have never used the steam part of it though. I use it when I sew. When I worked days and evenings, I was a stickler for ironing my scrub tops since I made those and the fabric is usually cotton. Plus I would also use spray starch. I learned to make my own with cornstarch and distilled water. Working nights, there are fewer people to impress and I see most of the residents in glow of night lights or open the bathroom so as not to shock them awake.
I sort my clothes, too.
I send all my husband's dress shirts, suits, and a handful of my dresses to the dry cleaner otherwise I take care of all delicates at home. The thought of ruining dry clean only items gives me too much of the ick to tackle them on my own. Thankfully my dry clean only items are worn gently and able to be worn a couple times before going to the dry cleaners.
I have a drying rack in the laundry room that is used year round. My son does his own laundry and he's very good at using the drying rack on clothes that shouldn't go in the dryer. I also make sure to put away/hang clothes right away when they come out of the dryer to avoid wrinkles.
I got a wool coat on clearance for $25. I have worn it for several winters but I have never had it cleaned because it's hard to spend more to clean an item than I paid for it. Haha.
@Lorraine, Interesting, by looking at total cost I see it the other way around: $75 for a coat *and* a cleaning!
Good point about coats. Some of wash at home, such as puffer coats, but the large/long wool ones go to the dry cleaner. About once a decade.
I follow most the tips you listed. I rarely buy anything that requires dry cleaning anymore but even those items I generally hand wash. Most of our laundry is washed in cold water, except for towels, sheets and underwear. My MIL taught me the "trick" of using Biz and sunlight years ago to get rid of stains on white clothing.
@Beverly, Sunlight is good but you can also use stronger hydrogen peroxide. Not the medicinal stuff but the hair bleaching stuff. It's easy to get in a beauty supply store. It is usually called "developer" because the hair dye industry likes to pretend that dyeing doesn't require peroxide. But be careful with it.
I'm a little less cautious than some people, in case some of you haven't figured it out. I use a lye bath when I make pretzels, I use high-acid bowl cleaner on old blue bathroom stains, etc. If you're careful it's fine. Besides, it's science.
I have to say, I have seen lots of influencers doing those a day in the life videos where they are cleaning house or resetting their homes for the week and all the clothes, darks, whites, etc. just go into the same load. This drives me mad. I cannot understand how sorting laundry appears to have gone out of style. Or is it that these people have so much money that they can afford to just buy new clothes all the time? Either way I find it very wasteful.
Also laundry pods, no offense but how did this become a thing? I use liquid detergent and I have all my add ins like oxi clean, bleach, softener, softener beads, laundry soda all organized and in containers so I can easily scoop out what I need quickly and it saves me money.
All said, I know that laundry is a personal thing for everyone so I always say do what works for you.
Overall I’m a very lazy launderer. Just about everything goes in and the only thing I separate out are whites and (in a different load) very saturated reds and purples. I don’t line dry either, and wouldn’t even if I had an appropriate space. I’d rather save by not using heated dry in my dishwasher, thankyouverymuch.
I sometimes ignore the DCO instructions but most of what my DCO obviously really need it, such as suits. My answer is to air them out before returning to the closet and clean them only when they’re dirty.
Best ProTip: get a clothes brush to brush off dirt and muck. Much easier on the clothes, the wallet, and the environment.
For laundry detergent I make my own powdered, using soap flakes (usually hotel bars ground up in the food processor), borax, and washing soda. I’ve never had the problems Kirsten has with poor cleaning and musty smell. Another thing I don’t like about pods is that you can’t control how much detergent you use. Most of the time you need about half of what the bottle suggests.
Hanging cloth diapers in the sun removes breastfed-baby poop stains just like it will tomato stains. Both of my babies were cloth diapered in the 80's, and I was considered a dinosaur even back then for using them. I dried their diapers in the sun and they got zero diaper rashes.
I wash most things in cool/cold water, which in the summer for well-users in Florida means getting water that is almost warm. When I need to sanitize a wash, I usually use a laundry sanitizer unless I'm absolutely sure the fabric can take the hottest water.
I use white vinegar as my fabric softener.
The heavy scents in the laundry aisle at the stores give me a headache, so I avoid those aisles. It's great that unscented laundry products exist, but one has to take a deep breath to go get it off the shelf amongst the overpowering scented items on the aisle.
I buy almost nothing that requires dry cleaning. My wool winter coat is one of the few things I will dry clean. I buy most of my clothes used, so I'm more willing to ignore a dry clean label on an article of clothing, anyway. It's not like I'm going to lose much money if it fails, and I've had no fails that I can think of. I wash and dry very carefully, is all.
I actually like to iron. I love using my big homemade ironing board topper and I love the crisp, neat look of ironed things. Confession; I don't iron often, though, because I don't have enough time. I will iron cloth napkins, tablecloths, some of my sheets, fabric for sewing and the resulting sewn project, and the occasional article of my clothing. I used to iron DH's shirts. When I have time to do it, I find it oddly relaxing to iron and create neatness out of wrinkles.
@JD, We used cloth diapers for our son (he's 34 now) and the only diaper rash he ever had was caused by an antibiotic that gave him terrible diarrhea. I used white vinegar as a rinse aid and line-dried as often as possible. A windy, sunny day is the best for diapers.
People thought we were exceptionally crunchy granola, which we were, but we were also ridiculously poor!
I generally avoid buying clothes that need dry cleaning. However, years ago I needed a light blue blouse as part of a work uniform. Unfortunately, light blue was not a common colour choice that season and the only one I found was made from acetate and said dryclean only. I decided to take a chance since it was the only option. Dry cleaning wasn't available where I was, so I just washed it by hand. Unfortunately, this changed the texture of the fabric and so I had to wear a slightly wrinkled blouse for a few months until I finally found another light blue blouse. You can be sure I avoided a dryclean only label. Lesson: Don't take a chance on acetate fabrics.
I had a laundry debacle yesterday - which led to me using the tub clean function for the first time. It took 1 hr and 11 min (!). Someone we care for (with memory issues) put something in the wash (Depends) that we didn’t notice until it was too late. What a mess (i said nothing, just spent an afternoon cleaning up -using a shop vac, hand wiping, running the tub clean function and 3 more wash cycles to get all the slimy, fluffy, white stuff totally eliminated. I will be much more vigilant in future.
@Jean C, What a mess; bless your response!
I ignored the dry clean only label on a wool coat and hand washed it. The wool shrunk a little while the polyester liner did not, so now the liner sticks out a little and the whole thing is just a little tight. That was an expensive mistake.
@SK, I once bought a full wool skirt at a thrift store, ridiculously cheap. Its lining also stuck out; I figured someone tried to wash it instead of dry-clean it. The wool will wash but an acetate (?) lining won't. My solution: I took a pair of scissors and cut out the liner. I've worn that skirt for years and it's held up very well! It didn't need a liner in the first place.
I do most of these tips. I always wash in cold water, excepting towels and my HB's white t-shirts, they get washed in hot, my HB is the original "dirt kid". Liquid detergent. I hang to dry in the summer, in the winter into the dryer with "dryer balls".
I bought a lovely winter coat from the thrift store, it has faux leather trim and faux fur on the inside, it said dry clean only. I asked a dry cleaner how much to clean it, he said $50.00 CDN. I bought it for about $23.99 less my 30% seniors discount. So.... NO. HB said to wash it in cold at a gentle cycle, very minimal detergent (less is more), and hang to dry. It came out perfectly.
Since I am of the odd variety, I love doing laundry, especially putting the clothes away as it lets me see what I have and try to think of new outfit ideas in the process.
This whole conversation is making me think of Ross teaching Rachel how to do laundry on Friends lol. I always remember never to mix pink with whites thanks to that episode.
@Sophie in Denmark, I meant red with whites! Which results in pink clothes haha!
Kristen, I agree with everything in this post. I rarely dry clean anything, with a few exceptions (blazers and suits come to mind). I *always* separate light colored clothes from dark colored clothes. (When I was a kid/teen, my mom would often ruin whatever my newest/favorite piece of clothing was....if it was white or light colored, it would come out with red or pink splotches. If it was black or dark colored, it would have bleach stains or other mysterious stains making the item unwearable. Oddly, no one else's clothes were ruined. Yes, I think it was on purpose, somehow. I started doing my own laundry early on).
I had a recent odd laundry win....I DO NOT recommend this for leather pants, or anything leather you are not willing to take a chance on. I found my late 80s/early 90s black leather motorcycle jacket down in our basement, and it was covered in mildew. (Or maybe mold....hard to say). We had had a flood in our basement 2 years ago, as well as humidity issues in our house, which have since been corrected. Anyway, I tossed it in the washer on the "delicate" cycle, and it came out clean as a whistle! I hung it up to dry. it could probably use some leather conditioning cream, but otherwise, it's good to go. I'm hoping my son will wear it. (It's a unisex style).
@Liz B., I used to live near Daytona Beach, home of Bike Week (Harleys, not Schwinns). I was told that you could tell a "real" biker by how dirty and dusty his leather jacket was; the bankers and businessmen riding in to town had new-looking leather jackets along with their expensive new "hogs".
Great tips. Try not to use pods for anything. The plastic around pod can gum up plumbing over time.
I have the same washer as you and have always washed my clothes on “light” instead of regular or heavy and the cycle is shorter!
I also ignore dry-clean-only labels too. 😉 I'm WAY too lazy to deal with dry cleaning. And, like you said, the items I have that say dry clean only wash up fine!
Off topic, but who is that tie-dyed cutie on your bed? She looks like a Squishmallow...
Does anybody know if the front loaders self clean cycle use too much water. It's a 4 hr cycle.
I try to not dry clean anything but my husband's suits. The cost plus I don't like the way the clothes smell afterwards.
I'll be washing a Pendleton wool blanket here soon. Last dry clean cost was outrageous to say the least. Even *if* if shrinks a bit, a queen on a double will still suffice.
Has anyone of you some advice for rayon / viscose? It always gets super crinkled and I can't ge the crinkles out even with ironing. I don't have a dryer.
I stopped buying rayon because of this, but seems lots of clothes nowadays are rayon.
@Lina, try washing it in a smaller (cold) load, get it out of the washer as soon as it's done, and shake shake shake it out! When you think you're done, give it a few more hard shakes. I realized that's what my son was doing, and I was surprised how well it works to get rid of a lot of the crinkles. If you can, spread it out to dry flat and tug it smooth, and you can smooth it with your hand too.
I absolutely ignore dry clean only labels, most of the time. With a background in sewing and costumes, I have learned some things:
- some clothing items really are dry clean only. Suede, leather, suit jackets with a lot of interior structure that won't handle the agitation of washing.
- one situation manufacturers will use a dry clean only label is when they have not washed the fabric before production, and do not want responsibility for shrinking or twisting of the fabric from laundrring. The shrinking will most times be pretty negligable, and mostly the initial couple of washes as the fabric relaxes. I would say it is mainly construction rather than material (silk, wool etc) that is a reason to dry clean. Most materials (other than leather and other materials that do poorly with water) can be washed just fine.
- silk fabrics will easily show water marks if you try to spot clean and then let it dry. Clean the spot, get the whole piece of clothing wet, then let it dry.
- dark colors will shrink more than light, and often feel a little stiffer. I ghink it has to do with the dye process.
- a spritz of vodka will help with odours, and rarely leave stains as it evaporates quickly. I have sprayed a lot of arm pits (on clothes and costumes).
I do ignore dry clean only labels, with the exception of suits. I buy almost all clothing at thrift stores, so I’m ok risking my $4 dress investment.
I only use powdered laundry detergent, mostly because it comes in a cardboard box as opposed to a plastic bottle. It’s also easier to clean up when my kids spill it when they do their laundry.
"That shirt may be an ugly rectangle..." oh you make me laugh!
I wash almost everything in cold as well but will do a load of pure whites on hot with OxyClean. Sometimes I'll do towels and sheets on hot as well. My washer does not have different degrees of cold like the one in the photo; I've actually never seen a washer like that before.
I buy Tide Professional powder and Tide liquid and both work really well. I do have a fancy liquid detergent supposedly made for "whitest whites" but I'm not convinced that it does a better job so I'll use it up but won't repurchase. I've never purchased laundry pods though I do use dishwasher pods. Now you're making me rethink that.
I definitely machine wash and line dry some items labeled dry-clean only. Silly that a cotton poly dress would be labeled that way.
I'm like you- if it's a special item that says dry clean only I usually follow the tag.
For the tomato sauce on white- what's the process for that? Rinse, put out to dry? Full wash then dry?
I usually wash in cold water, then place in the sunshine to get rid of any residual stain.
Having been married to a Pakistani and close friends with an East Indian family I was told to absolutely ignore the instructions to dry clean anything made of Silk as it would ruin it. It just makes sense as Indian women have worn silk forever and they certainly did not have dry cleaners any where. Wash gentle, cold water and line dry. Simple I have even washed wool and it came out fine with no shrinking.
Unless it's 100% wool, I ignore dry clean only. I put most of my clothes in lingerie bags so they can't get twisted, I turn my knits inside out, and wash it all in cold - but I don't sort, except for towels. Towels and the like, I wash in hot.
I absolutely ignore the dry clean only labels. After working at 2 dry cleaners in college, I quickly learned that they don't necessarily put everything in the dry-cleaning solution. Many times, they would hand wash garments!! Some items that people thought were being dry cleaned were washed in the big commercial washing machines--it all depended on the fabric. The chemical solution used for dry cleaning wears clothes out faster, and I don't recommend for most clothing.
The washer sheets are the cheapest I have found and no plastic bottle in the land full
I use earth breeze and have them mailed
Yes
My hoa banned outside lines
However I do what the Victorians did and have indoor lines
Helps with humidity in winter too
We’ve recently started using soap nuts for laundry. It seems to be working well!
I just washed two blazers this past week - one was a hand me down from mum, the other from a thrift shop, and made of jersey on the outside - both were lined. Both survived!