What are your laundry hacks?

[Dani]

Sundai, that is too bad about your apt. situation. When I was in an apt., I'd take a chair to the laundry room or out in front where I could watch the laundry room. I'd read and keep an eye on my loads, since people would try to steal the dryers mid-cycle.

I use the dryer for the first 5-10 minutes. That gets the wrinkles out, plus saves my colors, and then I hang the items. I dry towels all the way through, and in the winter I use the dryer for the full cycle.

I used to have a 3 sorter system. It took up so much room. I can eyeball my hamper and determine if I've got a full load of darks, towels, etc. and go from there. I try to do a load every other day or so, so that it doesn't pile up. I fold on commercial breaks and it's really not that big of a deal.

I'm very effecient with my upstairs/downstairs travel. I take a full armful of shoes & clothes upstairs, bring hangers and dirty clothes back down, etc. When I'm going up or down, I scan the area for anything that needs to be transported. This saves me a lot of time overall and keeps clutter to a minimum.

[Sundai]

Originally Posted by kav122

wow, sundai---I think that situation would definitely make me think twice before I threw something in the hamper!

Originally Posted by Megan

I'm also in an apartment and stuck with using communal machines. It's not as bad as I thought - we have machines on every floor, and I've never had to wait, nor have I had anyone take my laundry out. It is expensive though - $1.75 to wash and $1.75 to dry. So my frugal hacks are to wait as long as possible so that I can have a completely full machine, which has meant buying more socks and underwear than I probably need.

Of course, that doesn't work on clothes that I wash on the gentle cycle (my work clothes) or my various technical workout gear that must be washed without fabric softener. Both of these categories of clothes, however, have some stuff that must hang dry and others that can go in the dryer. I don't have the space to hang everything in the apartment, so I try to do both of these loads at once, then toss the dryer stuff in one machine rather than two. It's not a huge frugal hack.

Originally Posted by Dani

Sundai, that is too bad about your apt. situation. When I was in an apt., I'd take a chair to the laundry room or out in front where I could watch the laundry room. I'd read and keep an eye on my loads, since people would try to steal the dryers mid-cycle.

I use the dryer for the first 5-10 minutes. That gets the wrinkles out, plus saves my colors, and then I hang the items. I dry towels all the way through, and in the winter I use the dryer for the full cycle.

I used to have a 3 sorter system. It took up so much room. I can eyeball my hamper and determine if I've got a full load of darks, towels, etc. and go from there. I try to do a load every other day or so, so that it doesn't pile up. I fold on commercial breaks and it's really not that big of a deal.

I'm very effecient with my upstairs/downstairs travel. I take a full armful of shoes & clothes upstairs, bring hangers and dirty clothes back down, etc. When I'm going up or down, I scan the area for anything that needs to be transported. This saves me a lot of time overall and keeps clutter to a minimum.

Originally Posted by kav122

wow, sundai---I think that situation would definitely make me think twice before I threw something in the hamper!

I know.

So my frugal hacks are to wait as long as possible so that I can have a completely full machine, which has meant buying more socks and underwear than I probably need.

I have EXTRA undies, 40 to 50 pair. IF anything will get me down there it'll be I'm Out of clean Undies.

When I was in an apt., I'd take a chair to the laundry room or out in front where I could watch the laundry room. I'd read and keep an eye on my loads, since people would try to steal the dryers mid-cycle.

I watch guys PEE on the laudryroom window behind the bushes. Nice, huh? Some people are Just disgusting.

Well, here is something NEW I just bought. L.L. Bean $90. I love it. Corner hamper fits perfectly in the corner. A nice space saver AND the inside bag comes out so you can wash it. First NEW hamper I ever bought. I don't know why I never bought a new one before. I always picked up ones at yard sales or secondhand stores IF they were in good shape. I was such a pennypincher.

[kav122]

I found a new (old) product and have been recently using it. It is called Mrs. Stewart's Bluing and it was apparently a "staple" in my grandmother's generation. A little squirt makes whites whiter. Also good for colors, white pets and white hair. Use too much, though and it will give your whites a bluish tint (which washes out eventually). Interesting fact: white haired ladies that used too much got---you guessed it! Blue hair! Which is where the term "blue-haired old lady" probably came from!

[lucille]

Wow, and I always thought the blue hair was intentional. I love that hamper, it looks rather durable.

[khorrell]

Lucille, how do you feel about having such a long-lived (and loved) post? I feel like this was one of my first WiseBread threads!

You've obviously hit upon an important subject!

[Looby]

Wow Sundai that's crazy- I thought it was bad when some of my clothes were stolen from the dryer but I guess it's nothing.
My laundry hack is a dye grabber- it's a treated terry cloth that I throw in with the load so I don't have to separate lights and darks. I've been using them for years and have never had an issue. They say that they should be replaced after 30 uses but I've kept each of mine for way longer than that. When I finally get round to replacing it I give the old one to my SO for a car rag!
(Also when I looked them up to see if they were available in the states- I get mine in the UK- I realised they are not recommended for use with fabric softener but I always use fs with mine)

[indieretailer]

Originally Posted by khorrell

Lucille, how do you feel about having such a long-lived (and loved) post? I feel like this was one of my first WiseBread threads!

You've obviously hit upon an important subject!

I'm with khorrell. Thanks Lucille! I love all the posts on this subject.

[Sundai]

I HATE to iron too. I usually don't buy anything that needs to be ironed but occassionally I do find some White shirt that is cotton that I just can't resist. I have a weakness for unusually pretty White Cotton shirts, usually with embroidery or some unusual little detail I hadn't seen before. Then I HAVE to iron but that's only once and I wear it. If it's only a few hours I hang it back on a hanger then hang it up on my shower rod so any wrinkles will steam OUT over my next few showers. Also fill a spray bottle with HOT water and give it a good misting and pull down and smooth any parts that have deep wrinkles.

I just saw this contraption that is supposed to be 90% faster than ironing. A steamer. You use it with anything already hanging. Looks cool.

As far as folding. I fold EVERYTHING right out of the dryer. Saves a lot of wrinkling. But some things still need to be ironed if they are delicates. Even in that short time in the pile of folded clean dryer-fresh laundry the wrinkles will set in. I don't mind FOLDING, I actually find it kind of a soothing activity. All my towels and washcloths are Psychotically folded and stacked in their places. I am kind of fanatic about that. I have ONE special shelf in my bathroom JUST for washcloths. ONLY WHITE ones I use on my face and are stacked in one pile. All the others are in two separate piles. Growing up we were VERY poor and hardly ever had washcloths, usually pieces of ripped up old towels so now, well, I think you understand that little neurosis. I am also that way about my socks and underwear. I have one HUGE drawer JUST socks, all folded neatly and assorted by colours. Underwear, I have two drawers of, neatly folded varying colours systematicly to ensure I wear them all equally. If you spread it out you get a lot more wear out of them. I probably have 50 pairs of undies. Another neurosis. It's these little things that stay with you all your life, isn't it? And WHEN to you ever get to talk about this and tell anyone?

A hint as to how to keep your house looking less cluttered. Walk around entire house every few days and put ALL clothes where they should be being the bedroom, hamper or bathroom. Then when it's time to do laundry the pileup isn't so bad.

[Sundai]

Originally Posted by lucille

Wow, and I always thought the blue hair was intentional. I love that hamper, it looks rather durable.

It's so funny. The first few months I didn't want to put DIRTY clothes in it. They were all piled up around it on the floor. I know, I'm an Idiot.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Megan

As for the folding, my trick is to always save a good tv show on the DVR until it is time to do laundry - then I can sit and fold and watch television and enjoy myself.

I always try this, but the show usually ends before I finish folding! I end up sitting there watching TV with a shirt in my hands....