I don’t know about you guys but laundry is one of my biggest chores each week. With little guy crawling all over the place and Ginger shedding her fur, I find myself doing more laundry than ever before. I know we all grow up with different traditions and habits when it comes to cleaning but laundry is one that I still have a hard time with. I remember the first time I did laundry by myself. I kept all my clothing together, shrunk half the items because I didn’t read the care tags, the colors bled because the temperature was wrong, and I left tissues and a gum wrapper in one of my pockets. It was a disaster. A multi-colored, shrunken clothes, tissue bomb disaster!
Even still, I wonder things like what detergent do I use? How much? What is considered a dark? Is the temperature ok? I know it seems crazy to not be totally sure, but I seriously doubt myself every time I put a load in. So I decided to do some research and talk about some of my personal hacks for conquering the laundry game.
My Personal Hacks For Conquering Laundry
#1
Separate clothing not based on darks and lights but rather on likeness of material. Linty fabrics such as towels, sweatshirts and flannels should not be mixed with softer cottons or delicates. Try separating by differences in fabrics and colors. Darks should include blues, browns, and blacks. Vibrant colors like red, orange, and yellow should all be together as well. Keep all of your whites white (no mixing in those light blues or lavenders). Keep stripes in their own category, otherwise you might get faded stripes and color bleeds. Finally keep all your delicates together, usually these are my active wear and intimates. It seems like these are a lot of different loads but it’s better for your clothing’s longevity to separate this way. Try to make this a weekly tasks so you have enough for a load in each category.
#2
Always wash cold. It saves you energy and it saves you from unintentional color bleeds. No matter how perfectly you try to sort your clothes, chances are you’ve forgotten one dark item {usually a sock!} in a whites wash and had to suffer from some unfortunate color mixing. I know I have been the victim of this one too many times. Always washing your clothes cold ends up saving you money and keeping accidents from happening, though!
#3
Put your detergent in first. If you are doing a larger load the soap distributes more evenly on the bottom. Plus, it creates a good habit so you don’t end up forgetting to put the soap in. (guilty!)
#4
Another simple life hack to keep your clothes looking fresh is to turn them inside out. This keeps your colors from fading or bleeding on to other sensitive fabrics. I love this trick especially when it comes to my jeans!
#5
Make sure your detergent has natural smells. Scents like lavender, lemon, and citrus mixes are always a good thing to look for. Avoiding scents like sea-breeze, berry, and vanilla are good rules of thumb because these kinds of scents tend to be mixed with other chemicals to bring out the best fragrance. Lately I’ve been using the Fresh Lavender Laundry Detergent from Seventh Generation and I love that it actually smells like Lavender and is made from real lavender, nothing artificial.
#6
Line Dry. Turns out line-dry your clothes (unless they are knits) is going to save you money and energy. You don’t have to buy dryer sheets when you line dry and solar energy is a natural stain remover! I need to put that California sunshine to work more often!
#7
A teaspoon of salt. A quick life hack that I found out about recently is to add a teaspoon of salt to your vibrant colored loads. By adding some salt, it keeps your colors from fading and protects the fabrics. Just don’t forget about the cold water!
#8
Finally, pick a detergent that is as natural as can be. I know that as Augustine keeps moving around I need to be careful with the products I keep in the house and what I clean with. I’ve tried to do the best I can in making more natural and non-toxic swaps and it’s been such a reassurance. I love that Seventh Generation is tough on stains but gentle on our world. There aren’t any dyes, optical brighteners or synthetic fragrances. Instead, their detergent is made with plant-based ingredients and it’s a USDA Certified Biobased Product for 97% which is pretty awesome. I can genuinely say I love this detergent and it keeps my clothes so fresh and so clean! Knowing that I have a detergent that keeps my clothes smelling great and keeps chemicals off my little guy gives me so much peace of mind, I can’t even tell you. Plus it’s hypoallergenic which is great because Matthew has sensitive skin.
I hope you enjoyed my personal hacks on conquering laundry! Do you have any laundry hacks or tips to share? Tell me about the first time you did laundry!
Xox
DISCLOSURE: Big thanks to Seventh Generation for partnering with me on this post. All thoughts and opinions, as always, are my own. Thanks for supporting my sponsors. It’s always so great to work with brands I love and believe in!
photos by Priscilla Frey
