My friend Sandra from Simple is Pretty is stopping by today to share a few of her favorite laundry tips, and guess what?? She brought presents!!! One lucky winner will get to choose their favorite lavendar bags & wool laundry balls from her brand new Etsy shop, and ALL of us get a discount! Get ready for some awesome DIY tips to help make your laundry routine feel like second-nature!
In our house, laundry is ongoing, but I’ve learned a few tricks along my way. When Casey asked me to share some tips with her readers, I was honored! Here is how I do laundry in my house…
Tip #1: A Load a Day Keeps the Chaos at Bay
I try to do at least one load of laundry a day to keep up. We are only a house of four, but I find if I leave the laundry to one day a week it is a very dreaded day that drags on forever.
I have two young boys and they each have a laundry hamper in their rooms. When it is time to do their laundry, I just dump the hamper into a laundry basket and remove any whites to wash separately (since we don’t have a lot of white clothes in our family, I wash everyone’s whites altogether). The laundry basket with one son’s clothes goes downstairs to be washed. I usually do my other son’s laundry the next day using the same process. This way, I don’t have to worry about sorting, since only one son’s laundry is in the basket. I just fold it and take it straight to their room to put it away.
I like to start a load of laundry before breakfast and then the load is usually ready to dry shortly after breakfast. I’m not super fond of doing laundry (I imagine many people feel the same), I try to get my least favourite tasks done as soon as possible in the day so I don’t have to worry about them anymore. Laundry is no exception!
Tip #2: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
I use cold water to wash most of our clothes. Cold water helps prevent the dyes from different color clothes from fading and also transferring to other clothes in the same load. If I have new blue jeans, I usually wash them separately or in a jean only load for at least the first 3 washes and I also use 1-2 cups of vinegar in the washing machine (or in the detergent dispenser) to help set the color. This method also works well for red or pink colors to help prevent dye transfer. The only time I use hot water is to wash my white towels. I find the hot water just works better to get them super white.
Tip #3: Live Green to Save Green
I use my own homemade laundry detergent to wash our laundry. I originally got into making my own laundry detergent because my oldest son has sensitive skin and is easily irritated by detergents and fabric softeners. But I really love how it works for my family and I like knowing what is in our laundry detergent.
I also don’t use fabric softener. Instead, I use vinegar with a few drops of lavender essential oil in the softener dispenser. The vinegar smell washes out in the rinse cycle. Clothes are still soft and smell good and the towels will be more absorbent.
In my dryer, I use wool dryer balls. They save time and electricity by drying your clothes faster. The dryer balls absorb moisture and provide better air circulation by rotating the clothes. I usually use 4 to 6 dryer balls depending on the size of the load of laundry.
Thanks for the tips, Sandra!! If you’re interested in trying some of these laundry products at home, then you are in for a big treat!
One lucky reader will get to choose a free set of wool dryer balls & a set of lavender bags from Sandra’s new Etsy shop, and EVERYONE can use the code PRETTYORGANIZED15 to get 15% off anything in her shop!
About Sandra:
Thanks so much Casey! I love your blog and I’m glad to be a part of it
Love dryer balls.
Ang
I love the dryer balls! That is such an ingenious idea! I havea terrible problem with my clothes not drying all the way so these might do the trick!
I would really like to try out the dryer balls. Am I the only one who didn’t know what these did?
The wool dryer balls seem interesting!
I’ve wanted to try wool dryer balls.
Thanks for the giveaway! I love the idea of dryer balls! And of course, anything lavender is divine. I love the different prints available in Sandra’s shop!
Thanks Grace!
Those dryer balls are awesome!! Would love to win some to try out / convert to using.
The lavender bags look lovely!
Never heard of using wool balls and hope to try some!
I’d actually LOVE to try the wool dryer balls. I think the concept is fantastic and who doesn’t love saving money with using less electricity!?
Can you use any other scent than lavender with the vinegar to create the fabric softener?
Renee, I’ve used many other essential oils to scent my vinegar when I use it as a fabric softener. I my other favorites are lemon and grapefruit. You can even experiment with a couple of scents together
My favourite item from the Simple is Pretty Shop is:
Winter Collection Twig Branch Lavender Bags / Lavender Sachets (set of 3)
my favorite product from the shop is either the grey dryer balls or twig berry pouches
I like the feather dryer balls.
I love the narural wool dryer balls
My favorite product is the wool dryer balls.
I LOVE the wool dryer balls. What a great idea!
I’m curious about the dryer balls too. I’ve never heard of them. Also, thank you for the tip on always using vinegar instead of fabric softener. I’m definitely going to try this out!
Glenda, You are very welcome for the tip! I’d love to hear how it works for you
Vinegar Is a great softener but have never used with the oil. Where is a good source to purchase escentual oils? I have never heard of the wool dryer balls but would love them I’m sure – can’t stand the rubberized ones. Would love to be a winner of any of the items.
Hey Myree! Funny that you asked — a friend of mine from high school just started selling essential oils and I actually just “liked” her facebook page today! Not sure how far she can ship (she lives in Michigan now). Here’s her facebook page if you want to check it out: https://www.facebook.com/LetsHashitOut/info & I think this is her website: https://www.letshashitout.com/
I’m sure she would be a helpful resource!
Dryer balls….
Would love to win–I’ve been wanting to be more natural with how we do laundry in our house.
My mom always made lavendar bags to put in closets, and still send me some sometimes when she send me boxes from France so of course I love that product!! But I’m pretty excited about trying those whool dryer balls!!
I love your ideas for the home made detergent and soften. I will have to try that. And the laundry balls!…who knew?
I love learning about natural alternatives for cleaning. I have very sensitive skin and eczema and I am always looking for cleaning alternatives that don’t harm my skin.
I’ve been trying to find recepies for natural laundry detergents here in Sweden (where I live) and found out that Borax is prohibited in Sweden. That makes me think about how “natural” it really is? I have no idea what Borax actually contains but still seems strange that it is forbidden in one country and “natural” in another, don’t you think??
Yikes!! I definitely want to research it now. It makes me think of all of the food additives that they allow in the US that are banned in so many other countries. Scary! Thanks for sharing — I had no idea!
How do you get rid of fuzzies from the clothes in the dryer? I am in need a of an easy quick fix! The lint trap doesn’t always get it all!