We spend on average 384 days doing laundry in our lifetime. Let’s try to cut that down, shall we?
Three hours – that’s the amount of time most of us spend on washing, drying and folding laundry every single week. What’s more, the LG Annual Household Survey 2016 found that almost 60 per cent of us do more than three separate washing loads per week. While clean clothes and linens are a must, there are ways to cut down on the time you spend doing (and sorting) laundry.
Reclaim your week by using these 10 simple time-saving steps.
1. Store sheets inside their matching pillow cases to save time scrambling through the linen cupboard. Bonus points for how much more organised it’ll look.
2. Get rid of sweat stains and save time on scrubbing, by using lemon juice, table salt (mixed with equal parts hot water), ammonia (mixed with equal parts hot water), aspirin (make it into a paste with water), white vinegar, baking soda (made into a paste) or hydrogen peroxide (mixed with equal parts hot water) before washing.
3. Save time by sorting your clothes before you wash them. If you have the space, invest in four laundry baskets – one each for whites, darks, colours and any special items (for hand-washing or dry-cleaning).
5. To dry jumpers faster, lay them flat on a dry towel, then roll up. Press gently to squeeze out excess water and then lay out to dry as normal. You can also throw a dry towel into the dryer to get your clothes to dry quicker.
6. Get rid of wrinkles by making your own wrinkle spray – you’ll spend far less time ironing as a result. Mix two teaspoons of fabric softener with two cups of water and spray liberally before ironing.
7. For sticky stains (like chewing gum), put the whole garment in the freezer for a few hours, rather than wasting time trying to pick it off. It’ll peel off right away.
8. Found a tissue in the wash too late? Put the whole load in the dryer – the tissue bits will get caught in the lint filter and you won’t have to pick them off one by one.
9. Reduce your ironing time by hanging shirts and dresses on their hangers on the line. You can even integrate an internal hanging space into your laundry design.
10. Get your laundry in order. Save yourself the stress of trying to locate every wash, softener and soap by investing in effective laundry storage.
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