Picture this: you’re running late for work. You dig through the clothes in the dryer from the laundry you did last night, and oh no! All of your clothes are either wrinkly and covered with lint! You try to peel clothes off of each other until the static shocks you. You decide to wear the linty, wrinkly clothes to work because you don’t have time to bust out the ironing board or fire up the steamer. Feeling sloppy and disorganized, you head out on your way to work. If only there laundry products that could be a solution for this!
Everyone has their secret weapon — that one product that always comes in clutch to save time in a pinch. This list of 7 of my favorite laundry products has saved me so much time, money, and aggravation over the years and has allowed laundry to become my favorite household chore. I use these products both when I have lots of time to take care of my clothes and on those mornings when I’m rushing to get somewhere.
This post is all about essential laundry products that will save you time and money.
Avoid staticky clothes and use dryer sheets.
My favorite dryer sheets to use are the Fabric Softener Sheets from Seventh Generation. I use the lavender ones and I love them because they come perforated. You are able to only use half of a sheet for smaller loads. I normally use two sheets per load because I tend to wash a lot at once, but I like having the option to not waste if I don’t need a whole sheet. They smell amazing, leave my clothes feeling soft, and best off all — no shocks when I’m taking my clothes out of the dryer!
Need to get wrinkles out stat? Use a wrinkle spray!
The Downy Wrinkle Releaser spray has been a GAME CHANGER. I use this especially on my button-down shirts that get wrinkled easily. All you have to do is spray on the desired area of clothing, smooth with your hand, and you are good to go and wrinkle-free! This thing works like magic and is a must-have if you’re someone who likes feeling put together. This spray has come in handy on so many different occasions and I can’t stress enough how effective this product is.
Always keep a lint roller handy — you’ll never know when you’ll need one.
Maybe you decide to wash that one scarf or fuzzy sweater that you never wear. Next thing you know, the lint from it is all over your clothes. Literally everywhere. Simply use a lint roller to quickly remove all of the lint and fuzz, and your clothes are good as new. For some reason, I tend to lose mine, so I keep more than one on hand for emergencies. TIP: for sweaters that seem to have little balls of lint all over them that won’t come off, try to shave them off with a razor.
Avoid constant washing and keep your clothes smelling fresh for longer!
A laundry hack that I swear by is to use a scent booster like this one. For clothing items like jeans, jackets, and coats that you don’t want to wash after every wear, use a scent booster to have that just-washed scent for a few weeks. This keeps me from feeling that I constantly have to keep washing something, and has saved me time from not running as many loads when doing laundry.
Stop re-washing to get stains out — use a stain remover instead.
Are you sick of re-washing clothes to try to get the stains out? I’ve been guilty of this. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I get rid of an article of clothing if the stain doesn’t come out. I never thought to use a special product to just remove stains, but now that I have, there’s no going back. To use, simply saturate the stained area with this, let it sit for an hour or two, and put it in the wash with the rest of your clothes. I use the one from Seventh Generation, and I love the results I get from this. Doing this has saved me so much time and money by reducing how many clothes I buy, how much water I use, and also reducing how much detergent I use.
Keep your clothes feeling new by using a fabric softener.
Using a fabric softener has kept my clothes in better condition over time, reducing my temptation to buy new clothes when I don’t need to. Because my clothes are better preserved, I spend less money on buying new clothes. This has helped me better use that money for other things, like saving for a new car, paying off student loans, and traveling. You would be surprised how something as simple as using a fabric softener can save you money. To use it, pour in a little bit toward the end of the wash cycle, usually during the final rinse cycle. It also prevents your clothes from clinging in the dryer, which is nice. If you’re looking for a good fabric softener, I would recommend using the Method brand ones. They smell amazing and they work really well.
Use the proper amount of laundry detergent (I use tide pods).
Okay so hear me out: I know that pods are generally more expensive than using a detergent that comes in a jug. But as someone who always uses way more detergent than needed, using a single tide pod for large loads has helped me portion the amount of detergent I use. Because the pods are so concentrated, I only use 1 pod per large load of laundry. The directions say to use 2 or 3, but if I only use 1 pod per large load, and I only do large loads of laundry, in my head, I am saving money on detergent. Hopefully, that makes sense. It’s also super convenient to use pods and not measure out detergent (since I always use too much anyway).
Using tide pods has completely eliminated needing to re-wash my clothes because I added too much detergent. Out of all of the laundry products that I use, these are definitely the most fun. I just get so much satisfaction from popping them in the washer! If you are doing fine with a detergent that comes in a jug, by all means, do what works for you. If you find yourself using too much detergent, maybe give pods a try.