Doing house chores is nobody’s favorite. Even if you do not mind it and find some type of fun or relaxation in it, you cannot deny that if you had the choice you would never do it again in your life. Sadly, we must wash and clean our things if we want them to endure and serve us for long, which is why chores like doing laundry will always be present in our lives.
But all is not lost as there are many ways in which you can make it better and less daunting. With doing laundry, there are many tips and tricks that will allow you to save both money and time and therefore make the whole experience more enjoyable. More enjoyable is one way of saying less boring, but it is an improvement nonetheless. Read on to learn more about tips and tricks to save some hours and cash while washing your clothes.
1. Hire the Professionals
It is not really customary for people to let others do their chores for them when they want to save money. Not having enough time on your hands to do everything yourself may be the reason why you would hire a service for something, but it is often pricey. Pricier than doing it yourself.
However, that is not the case with clothes since laundry services are quite affordable and they make sense. The best thing about it is that the more you have, the more you will save. Scheduling is easy, you can do it once every few weeks, and the services do it quickly and efficiently. They even fold it and deliver it for you. No more hassle and wasting time or money. Learn more about laundry services or schedule your first appointment at Liox.
2. Using Less Product
Laundry soap and other products are not the most expensive things in the world, but saving is saving and you can prevent spending with careful use. Reading instructions on the bottles of your soap or clothes softener will have you pouring in more than you actually need.
You have probably noticed residue soap on your clothes, or they may have been stiffer than you want them. This is all related to more soap used than what was actually needed. Use a bit less each time until you hit that sweet spot. As long as they smell fresh and are clean, you will be fine. The same goes for other products like color catchers and various washing machine cleaners.
3. Dry Clean Yourself
Dry cleaning is reserved for those items of clothing and other fabric that you simply cannot wash yourself because they are too big, too delicate, or doo difficult to handle. Or are they?
Think about what you generally have dry cleaned. Do you really need to take it half a town over and then pick it up another day? Should you be paying for that special care? Read the labels of your clothing and check whether that jacket or coat really cannot go in the washing machine. Modern machines have all sorts of different programs for different fabrics, temperatures, and spin cycles. After all, you can hand wash it too instead of calling dry cleaners. You could save quite a lot of time and money here.
4. Air Dry
Buying a dryer and using it every time to dry your clothes is a western concept and it is a very foreign concept in many areas of the world. For generations, people would air dry their clothes outside even in cold weather. People living in windy regions and those with a lot of sunny hours around the year do not really require anything else. Clothes dryers consume a lot of energy and they can be expensive.
Also, if you fail to clean the dryer vent, you risk house fires. If you already have one, make sure to spend around 30 minutes cleaning it every 6 months or so to help keep it in optimal condition. Cleaning the vents also allows for less electricity to be used each cycle and preservers the dryer.
5. Making Your Own
Saving up money but doing a bit more yourself? It could work if the former is the issue.
Did you know that you can make your own version of fabric softener by using vinegar?
Softeners can be expensive and people usually go through an entire bottle rather quickly.
You can use half a cup of vinegar instead and you will not even smell it on the clothes. You can mix it with softeners and have the bottle last longer. This is also saving if you think about it and your one bottle of softener will last you double the amount of time than usual.
The same goes with wrinkle releasers and saving time on ironing your clothes. Ironing is less and less common as people simply do not have time. Contemporary materials do not require ironing either. If you still have to do it, consider using wrinkle releasers. All you need is 2 tablespoons of fabric softener, a spray bottle, and two cups of water. Mix it until it blends well and that is it. When you come across a wrinkled item, spray it and brush your fingers over it. Within minutes the wrinkles will disappear!
6. Use Drawstring Bags
Mesh bags meant for laundry are great for saving time on looking for your delicate underwear and socks. Keeping up with socks is always an issue with doing laundry. With the bags at your hand you will no longer spend dozens of minutes looking for the missing pairs as everything will be right where you put it.
Huge loads of piled up clothes take long to sort through, so save yourself some time with these ingenious bags. Keeping smaller items together is an underrated benefit that more people need to know about. The bags themselves dry very quickly and you can hang one up in your bin to have a separate place to put your underwear in.