Laundry Cleaning

It will make your linen closet look like an HGTV-inspired dream.

Are donation centers open during the coronavirus crisis? What about charities like homeless or women’s shelters? We've got all the answers.

To learn more about the best (and most hygienic) laundry practices during a pandemic, we spoke with a laundry expert.

Even if you have access to a washer, you might want to take this extra maintenance step just to be sure you’re not sleeping in a literal bed of germs.

For as often as we use laundry detergent to keep our washables clean, we might be making silly mistakes.

This could be a good option for those who choose to use free and clear detergent—but would like their laundry to be mildly scented and aren’t bothered by essential oils.

Maybe this says more about me than I should admit, but at the age of 35, laundry has become a very big deal.

I recently tested name brand dryer sheets against two other fabric softening alternatives, and while the difference in softness was significant, it wasn’t enough to convert me to start buying dryer sheets. I know too much.

Washing and drying clothes uses a lot of energy and water in a typical house. Here are 10 ways you can reduce your consumption of water and energy while doing laundry.Move the dryer closer to an outside wall The farther exhaust air has to travel from your dryer to get outside, the more energy your dryer will use on every cycle. If you can, move the dryer as close to its exhaust port as possible. Can you reduce the number of elbow bends in the exhaust pipe?

Elbow patches: Not just for professors! Okay, so I’m not going to pretend I didn’t get an eye roll when I presented my husband with his cute little heart shaped buffalo check elbow patches, but I didn’t really get that much resistance either! I think he secretly loved it. I know I did, and isn’t that really all that matters? Whatever the shape may be, elbow patches are a great way to gussie up an old favorite with items you already have around the house.

No matter what price I pay for dark denim jeans, they always seem to bleed. Some are worse than others (one brand in particular seems to hemorrhage indigo) but they all are culprits. Here’s how to protect your furniture from a tough-to-remove stain: It may not seem like that big of a deal, but just wait until you leave your (very unwanted) mark on a friend’s white Barcelona chair. Ever tried to remove indigo from white leather? Make sure that doesn’t happen!

When you have to pack clean clothes with dirty clothes, everything ends up smelling slightly less than fresh. But there's a hack for that!

Have you noticed your clothes smelling… musty? Even if you’ve switched the load from the washer to the dryer immediately after the cycle has ended? Before you run out and buy a strongly scented laundry detergent to cover the smell, give your machine a thorough cleaning. Taking care of your washing machine can help it stay clean and prevent walking.

For hundreds of Amazon's 5-star reviewers, there’s one stain treatment that stands out from the rest.

This tip will not only save you money on dry cleaning, but it’ll also help you save money on buying clothes. It’s an all-around life hack, really.

Here's how to get your witchy wardrobe through the laundry without bringing harm to everything else in the process.

We talked to a laundry and fabric care expert to get some insight on how exactly we should be washing our favorite cold weather staples.

If you’ve ever heard (or believed) that you shouldn’t mix bleach with hot water, then we have news for you. It's nothing more than modern-day housekeeping folklore.

Days and weeks go by while the flowery blouse and the flowy dress hang unworn... because you pulled them out of the dryer wrinkled and you just do. not. want. to iron.

This homeowner's laundry room had also become her storage room. So she wanted to give the space some love—but, like, budgeted love.

Here are 21 of the best hacks of all time—for packing your clothes, stowing your delicate jewelry, and doing laundry on the go—that will help you squeeze every drop of joy from those golden vacay days.

The thing that will make the biggest difference in your swimwear's longevity is how you clean and care for your suit—and especially how it's dried.

What does it mean to modernize laundry? First, create an environmentally and health-friendly way to wash. And, second, make it fashion.

Those of us who survive and thrive in this world of letting strangers tell the internet how tidy we are have learned some mad skills when it comes to cleaning and laundry.

On the hierarchy of clothes-related crises, nothing grates more than having to forego stepping out in a smashing ensemble simply because you forgot to dry a piece of clothing ahead of time. For those of us who know this soppy scenario all too well, this Kickstarter campaign for a fast-working countertop tumble dryer just might offer a solution we’ve been looking for.

White or natural color wools can yellow for a number of reasons, ranging from age to the environment it’s stored in. If your wool has yellowed naturally or because of a bleach stain, don’t fear! You can bring it back. I recently took in a stray rug that had a pretty significant bleach stain. The stain was intimidating but the rug was really nice, so I was determined. I figured it couldn’t get any worse than it already was!

Sometimes we find ourselves in the most cliché nerd predicament: a leaking or exploding ink pen (where was your pocket protector when you needed it!?). But you can put away your inhaler, because removing an ink blob is easier than you think. Just grab some milk and vinegar and get to the stain ASAP! 2 parts whole milk1 part white distilled vinegarLarge bowl 1. Place your garment in a bowl at the most shallow part, allowing it to be covered completely with the mixture. 2.

There's nothing I dread more than seeing a hand-wash tag on my new favorite shirt. Until now.

Given the environmental impact and the fact that switching to cold water also saves you money, why are we still stuck on the heat cycle? Here's the science behind turning up the heat.

With this fun hack, we’ve all got one more excuse to accessorize our living rooms and bedrooms.

The process of making your very own, super-powered lint roller is simple.

Here’s an oldy but a goody that’s even more relevant now as MORE people are doing it… I recently bought my first pair of “serious” jeans. The reason I know this is because as I was standing at the register about to pay A LOT of money for them, a cool dude who was standing next to me at the register said, “Oh, you’re going to like those.” “Do you have a pair?” I asked him.

I don't get stuck in re-entry inertia with a suitcase clogging up our bedroom for a week or more

In our apartment building there are 15 units with roughly 40 people in them. On the main floor there are 2 washers and 1 dryer for everyone to share. Needless to say, laundry is always running around our place (even at 6am, which we have found to be the best time to do ours!) and because of it, there are a few tricks and tips we have picked up to insure our laundry turns out clean and timely. Before heading downstairs to run a load of laundry we always fill our Downy Ball with a bit of vinegar.

Last year we purchased a sectional sofa with clean lines and best of all, removable and washable upholstery. Even though the tag said it was ok to do so, we were still shy about using our washer to get things clean. Curiosity won in the end, so we tossed them in — said a silent prayer — and hit start! We originally purchased our ridiculously large sofa (over 15 feet total!) from a dealer in KC, just before the holiday season last year.

For as nice as fabric softener can make your clothes smell, it turns out that sometimes, they're not so great for the environment, or your skin.

What's going on inside those wizard sticks?

Is it possible to find a laundry hamper that’s cheap, sturdy, and so stylish that it makes you feel like Jean Seberg in 1960s Paris? No, it isn’t. That’s why you’ll have to make your own. This vintage inspired design cost around $20 to make and is perfect for holding all your Breton stripe shirts.

Spills are almost always unexpected, and always a pain. My mother clearly knew this: when I left for college she gave me a small, thick book called “Field Guide to Stains,” which I still have and reference more frequently than I ever thought I would. STAIN REMOVAL STAPLES I find the best way to deal with stains is to be prepared.

Here’s a quick tip I learned from friends who regularly go car camping: they always bring a large size salad spinner with them, just in case they find themselves needing to wash, then dry a t-shirt, socks, or intimates… I’ve got several technical synthetic material athletic shirts, socks, and tights/sleeves I prefer to hand wash and hang dry throughout the week immediately after workouts (they can accumulate a funk quickly, the sweat hog I am).

Ah, spring: when a young man’s fancy turns to beating rugs and scrubbing the crisper. And no, those aren’t euphemisms, but chores that are infinitely easier to accomplish now that going outdoors won’t result in certain death. Some of these require access to a hose, but there’s hope for apartment-dwellers, too… I am stupidly excited about finally getting to scrub down the recycling can we keep in our pantry.

Anyone else at war with piles upon piles of laundry? It never occurred to me how much motherhood and laundry go together, but here we are! While it’s still an uphill battle, I have learned that some things (when I actually do them) help keep the relentless laundry situation under control.

Dear Alice, I live in a big apartment building with a busy laundry room — during peak days/hours the machines are usually all full. So what about those machines where the load has finished but the owner hasn’t come back to switch the wash to the dryer or take his dried laundry home? I often have to stand around waiting for someone to show up and deal with their clothes. Is it rude to remove those loads so I can get my own laundry started?

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing has revolutionized my thinking about decluttering and spurred me to action in a way that, for once, doesn’t feel like I’m spinning my wheels. Marie Kondo tells us to ask one question when deciding what to keep: “Does it spark joy?” and I’ve been asking this while going through my entire wardrobe. Here’s why I think it’s the best decluttering question ever.

I’ve ruined a lot of great clothes in my life and most of them could have been saved had I known a few handy laundry facts before I embarked upon my trial-and-error method of clothing care. Official warning: don’t make my mistakes! Don’t do this stuff anymore.

Preparation is the key to success. The next time your favorite sweater shrinks or you smear sauce on your sleeve at dinner, instead of furiously Googling for a solution, you’ll remain cool, calm and collected because you committed these five in-a-pinch laundry hacks to memory. No garment steamer? No problem. If your clothes are just a bit more wrinkled than you’d like them to be, don’t break out the iron, just use your dryer (if you’re lucky enough to have one at home).

Instructions are important to pay attention to, especially when it’s laundry time. You might think that measly little tag inside your favorite sweater doesn’t offer any sound advice, but in reality, the future of your wardrobe might depend on it. You see, many of us take the words “Dry-Clean Only” as a slight suggestion, when they need to be read literally (should you want to preserve the life of your garments). And yet, just because a tag recommends dry-cleaning (i.e.

How often do you swipe on deodorant, get dressed, and get ready to leave only to realize you’re streaked with visible white deodorant marks right before you walk out the door? Sometimes you can get the spots out easily, but other times they’re so stubborn you wind up changing your outfit at the last minute. (Personally, I’ve fallen victim to trying to use a wet wash cloth and stretching out my shirts in the process—ugh, the struggle!).

Over on a Reddit thread about items that can and can’t be BIFL (bought for life), there’s a series of comments about what makes towels (and sheets, and duvet covers) good enough to last a lifetime. They come from Reddit user (and fabric expert) JessthePest (all of whose comments are delightful, if you care to spend a morning falling down various Reddit rabbit holes). I recommend the entire towel thread, as well as her extended sheets manifesto.

Confession time: My body and I have a long, sordid love-hate relationship. I’ve dealt with chronic illness and body image issues for as long as I can remember—I was always somehow too sick or too big or too small in my mind, and I was never forgiving or kind enough to myself when I needed it most. And over the years, my struggles with my body became very much personified in my wardrobe.

As if laundry isn’t hard enough to keep under control, there are those little labels with tiny instructions and inscrutable hieroglyphics that we’re supposed to obey. But, seriously, who has time to sort not only by color and clothing type but by meticulous instructions?!

It would be great if we could solve all our clothing problems with a quick spin through the washer and dryer. But some items wouldn’t withstand their rigors — and some problems just can’t be solved with the washer and dryer. There’s another ubiquitous household appliance, though, that addresses some common clothing conundrums. Here are some occasions for sticking clothes in the freezer instead.

Doing laundry seems like a fairly straightforward process, and it’s one of the first chores many of us learn how to do. But there are a lot of ways—both big and small—that you could be damaging your washer and dryer in the process, so it’s important to be careful when you’re throwing your clothes in the wash.

You know how it goes — it’s been a minute since you did a load of laundry, so you roam the house scooping up soiled clothes. When you happen upon the moist dish rags in the sink and the cleaning cloths you recently used to wipe down the counters, you toss those in, too. Hey, we’ve all done it. But is it even OK to wash your cleaning supplies and clothes together? The question, of course, isn’t whether you can. It’s whether you should.

Keeping socks paired up through the laundry cycle is pretty simple if you toss them in a mesh bag beforehand, but that step doesn’t make its way into everyone’s routine. If you’re more likely to toss dirty socks in the general direction of the hamper—well, you’re probably hoarding a pretty large “orphan sock” collection.

I’ve tried so many things to help me manage the massive amount of laundry that is generated in my household. I strive to do a load a day, I “complete the cycle” by putting folded clothes away right away, and I even bought myself a nifty little tool that makes folding extremely satisfying. But I’ve realized that what I need to address is something way more fundamental. Nothing quite screams You’re behind on laundry like a hamper that’s too full.

Empty tissue boxes: Can’t live with them, but can’t figure out anything to do with them once they’re empty (other than just tossing them). Luckily, we discovered an awesome reason to save your used tissue boxes from the recycling bin, and upcycle them into something more purposeful for your home. Use your empty tissue boxes to collect dryer lint, folks. Dryer lint! You know, that unsightly stuff you peel off the filter before you do a load of laundry?

Once in a blue super blood moon, a blogger comes along and from the first time you see them on video, you want them to move into your house and be your best friend. For me, that moment came this year when “meeting” delightful wish-she-would-adopt me mama Tonya Payne of Hey Tonya, whose YouTube tutorial documenting her complete overhaul of a tiny rental laundry room using only dollar store products is going viral. Because it’s genius — and she’s just plain adorable.

We all love shortcuts — especially when they involve saving time doing repetitive, not-fun chores that we can’t escape …like, uhh, laundry. With the more recent advent of washing machines and detergents that are said to wash clothes just as well with cold water as with warm or hot, the suggestion to flout convention and forego separating seems to be gaining popularity. Here’s why we say no to combo laundry loads and yes to doing laundry the way your mother taught you.

We’ve all been there. After several loads of laundry, the measuring-cap-slash-lid on your detergent can get pretty grimy with gunky buildup. But thanks to a clever tip from Redditor bluechris11, we now know a solid way to quickly clean your gross detergent caps. Believe it or not, you can simply toss your dirty detergent cap in with your next load of laundry to give it a good wash.

If you’re anything like me, then you love cuddling up with plush throw blankets when you’re in bed (and on the sofa). But with all that close-knit nightly snuggling, it can be hard to figure out the right time to let go of your favorite throw and toss it in the wash. Luckily, we have laundry experts John Mahdessian, founder of Madame Paulette, and Kim Duk Won, owner of Manhattan’s Nordic Cleaners to call upon for help.

Nothing compares to the smell of fresh laundry that’s been hanging outside to dry. Not only is it a fresh and efficient way to do laundry, it’s also oft-touted as a way to brighten whites without having to use special detergents or harsh chemicals. All you need is plenty of time and sunshine. First, wash your clothing as usual, adding up to ½ cup of lemon juice to the wash for an extra boost. (You can also add lemon juice to a spray bottle and spray directly on tough stains.

There are a few conversation topics that remain off limits today. Polite company (if they want to remain polite) might not touch politics. Coworkers often avoid talking about their salaries. And unless you’re very close friends, you probably don’t ever feel brave enough to reveal how truly filthy you actually are at home. Thankfully you don’t have to.

Paring down your wardrobe can make your life so much easier—less clothing takes up less space, and keeping your options to a minimum makes getting ready quicker. But on the other hand, it can be a challenge: what if you still want the option to try new trends and experiment with different styles without buying more and more clothes? If you’re in this boat maybe it’s time to try a clothing rental service.

Amidst vociferous feelings on both sides of the debate, many millennials are famously abandoning top sheets. But along with traditionalists and Xennials like me (I’d never do it), the bedding industry mostly hasn’t caught up with this probably-here-to-stay trend, because top sheets do serve an important purpose as part of a sheet set.

On National Laundry Day (April 15, if you’re curious), GE conducted a poll about the public’s laundry habits. Pertaining to bath towels, “50% of those polled live by the philosophy that ‘I’m clean when I use it’ because they all admit to using their bath towel at least five times before throwing it in the washer. An additional 14 percent use their bath towels more than eight times before it hits the laundry basket.

Laundry isn’t just about washing dirty clothes so you have clean ones to wear. It’s about cleaning and maintaining your wearables and textiles so that they always look their best, whether that means making jewelry sparkle, getting stains out of the lining of a purse, or keeping shoes looking their sharpest. And there’s a simple way to have all those things: A tube of non-gel toothpaste.

Even if you know all about sorting lights and darks, how to wash and dry different fabric types, and you remember to use the mysterious but very useful permanent press setting, there’s still an easily overlooked laundry mistake that could ruin your clothes and, in rare instances, your washer. Here’s the quick task you need to add to your laundry routine: Make sure your zippers are zipped before you do laundry.

Why is doing laundry always so tedious? Maybe because it takes forever. We spend an average of 18,000 hours of our lives on laundry, and just over one year (375 days) just folding clothes. These stats come courtesy of the marketing materials for the Laundroid, an automatic laundry folding robot, of course… because they have an automatic folding machine to sell. But also, you had us at laundry folding robot.

Oh yes, there is a wrong and a right way to wash laundry, and you're probably doing it wrong. No more lazy laundering, y'all.

We may not know what tomorrow brings, but that doesn’t stop us from worrying about it. Because let’s face it: There’s a lot going on in the world and in life. We need to carve out as many happy-making moments as we can. One really good place to start? Your underwear drawer. As sexy as the things within it might be, the drawer itself is a pretty unsexy idea.

What is it about laundry? For some reason, a well-designed and organized laundry area can inspire deep wells of envy. That’s certainly how I felt when I saw IKEA’s gallery of gorgeous laundry rooms—maybe it’s because my washer and dryer unhappily occupy a wall in my kitchen, a wall where style and organization is certainly less of a priority. Here are some of IKEA’s ingenious ideas you can steal for your own laundry space.