Laundry hacks to simplify washing day

Oh, the endless chore of sorting, washing and drying the clothes we need to wear. One day, the whole thing will be replaced by a self-cleaning world uniform jumpsuit that looks good on everybody and is perfect for every occasion. Until then, we are stuck with laundering but maybe we can make things a little easier on ourselves?

Check out some of these simple laundry hacks to take the pain out of the whole laborious process.

Let the sorting hat do the hard work.

Okay, it’s less of a hat and more of divided hamper situation. And it doesn’t talk. But gifting every member of the family with two hampers for their room gives them the responsibility of sorting lights and darks. By the time you are standing in front of the machine, the most annoying part will be almost done!

Images from Pinterest.

Avoid building the giant pile of clean clothes.

There is nothing more depressing than actually doing the washing but having to face an ever-growing pile of clean clothes… at first it’s just the basket, then it spills over the sides but you keep adding to it, until finally you are rifling through the basket instead of your closet for each day’s outfit. The best trick to avoid this is to fold your laundry straight from the line or dryer before it even hits the basket and then put it away. Half the time, this takes care of any wrinkles and you’ll find that only certain items need to see the underside of an iron.

Stains don’t have to be such a pain.

Keep a bucket in your laundry for pre-soaking super soiled clothes before washing and rub stains, collars and underarms with household soap. After they come out of the machine, they’ll be as good as new.

There are also few time-tested ways to deal with the grubby marks that are peculiar to school days:

Chewing gum: place the garment in the freezer and the once the gum is hard it will peel right off.
Ink stains: spray the stain with hairspray and leave to set for a few minutes before throwing in the wash load.
Acrylic paint: banish the stains that come home with artwork for the fridge by scrubbing with a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol.
Grass stains: soak affected area with mix a solution of 1 tbsp dish soap with 2 tbsp hydrogen peroxide, and scrub the stain out.

Lost socks, wherefore art thou?

Many more column inches than this blog post have been devoted to the mystery of lost socks. Whether sock monster, evil conspiracy or rapacious dryer, it’s a difficult issue faced by the entire sock-wearing population of earth. We don’t know where the socks go but we do have a brilliant trick up our sleeve for keeping them at home. Give each family member a sock-only mesh bag and throw the bags into the wash together. Then peg the socks out in pairs on the line or simply pop the bags into the dryer. This way the socks stay in pairs right up until you fold them and put them back in the drawer.

Images from Pinterest.

Make everyone do their own darn washing…

Seriously! It’s good preparation for life in the real world where you either do your own washing, buy new clothes every day or stink like a hog pen. You’ll be doing the whole family a huge favour if you teach them laundry skills from the get-go.

Make your laundry life easier with a Panasonic washing machine.

The Panasonic washing machine lineup includes five front loaders and two top loader models, so now our range and load capacities easily cater to everyone from busy singles to families as big as a football team. The feature set incorporates innovations in Panasonic’s unique ECONAVI technology for increased energy saving; and Steam Action to reduce wrinkles and lighten your ironing load as well as providing fully refreshed, allergen-free garments.