Of all the never-ending household tasks, laundry seems to be the biggest bugbear for most families. No sooner is the bottom of the laundry basket finally spotted than a quick trawl around the house reveals a whole new mountain of dirty clothes, towels, and goodness knows what else. (Is it just our washing machine that seems to meet a new dropped or stained cuddly toy each week?!)
I always heard that teenagers were notorious for several changes of clothes a day, but this multi-changing merry-go-round seems to start from the day your baby is born. From posseting to first experiments with food, through to uniquely stylish toddlers and preschoolers, ours have got through at least two or three changes a day for years, and it shows no sign of stopping.
After six years of practice we have got laundry down to a fine art here at Attachment Towers, and we do have a LOT of laundry to wash. For the five of us there has to be at least one load of laundry done each day, so we sort and pop in the machine each evening, then add detergent and press go as soon as we get up in the morning. Dependent on the cycle we use, this load may be ready to hang out before we leave the house, otherwise it’ll be hung out at lunchtime and then possibly a load of nappies or towels be put on, ready to hang out later.
Thinking we must know a thing or two about washing after all this time, Ecover have asked us to bring you some hints and tips to help you lighten the load and love your laundry too.
1. Clean Your Machine
You wouldn’t have a bath in a dirty tub or wash your dishes in a dirty bowl, so why wash your clothes in a dirty machine? A couple of times a year we pour a bottle of white vinegar into the detergent drawer and run your machine on a 90⁰C wash. This will clear out any yucky residues and have your machine functioning at its best. Remember to remove the detergent drawer and give the innards you can reach a thorough clean once a month or so too.
2. Stay on Schedule
Dependent on how much laundry you have to do, set a schedule that works for you. Some people do whites one day, colours another, and towels and bedding on other days. Or you could stick to a load a day like we do. Always try to run your machine on a full load or buy one that offers a half load cycle, although this is still not as efficient water and electricity-wise as running a full load.
3. Treat Stains Fast
If possible, treat stains immediately with Ecover Stain Remover, or you could try:
Even when stains aren’t obvious, use an effective detergent like Ecover’s Non-Bio Concentrated Laundry Liquid which tackles stains and ingrained dirt even at 30⁰C.
4. Gather Some Top Tips
Everyone has their favourite hacks and tips when it comes to laundry, here are our favourites:
5. Grab and Shake
Take your laundry out as soon as possible after the machine finishes (life permitting!) and give everything a good shake. We don’t use a tumble dryer for environmental reasons, but find that giving clothes, bedding and towels a good shake and hanging them out as straight and flat as possible gets them dry quickest and eases out most of the wrinkles. (Our iron hasn’t been used for two years!)
What are your top tips for keeping laundry under control?
I always heard that teenagers were notorious for several changes of clothes a day, but this multi-changing merry-go-round seems to start from the day your baby is born. From posseting to first experiments with food, through to uniquely stylish toddlers and preschoolers, ours have got through at least two or three changes a day for years, and it shows no sign of stopping.
After six years of practice we have got laundry down to a fine art here at Attachment Towers, and we do have a LOT of laundry to wash. For the five of us there has to be at least one load of laundry done each day, so we sort and pop in the machine each evening, then add detergent and press go as soon as we get up in the morning. Dependent on the cycle we use, this load may be ready to hang out before we leave the house, otherwise it’ll be hung out at lunchtime and then possibly a load of nappies or towels be put on, ready to hang out later.
Thinking we must know a thing or two about washing after all this time, Ecover have asked us to bring you some hints and tips to help you lighten the load and love your laundry too.
1. Clean Your Machine
You wouldn’t have a bath in a dirty tub or wash your dishes in a dirty bowl, so why wash your clothes in a dirty machine? A couple of times a year we pour a bottle of white vinegar into the detergent drawer and run your machine on a 90⁰C wash. This will clear out any yucky residues and have your machine functioning at its best. Remember to remove the detergent drawer and give the innards you can reach a thorough clean once a month or so too.
2. Stay on Schedule
Dependent on how much laundry you have to do, set a schedule that works for you. Some people do whites one day, colours another, and towels and bedding on other days. Or you could stick to a load a day like we do. Always try to run your machine on a full load or buy one that offers a half load cycle, although this is still not as efficient water and electricity-wise as running a full load.
3. Treat Stains Fast
If possible, treat stains immediately with Ecover Stain Remover, or you could try:
- shampoo on tough greasy stains
- hair spray on biro stains
- eucalyptus oil on tar stains
- a ball of white bread on lipstick (yep, seriously)
- soaking chocolate stains in milk
- lemon juice or a slice of lemon on berry stains
Even when stains aren’t obvious, use an effective detergent like Ecover’s Non-Bio Concentrated Laundry Liquid which tackles stains and ingrained dirt even at 30⁰C.
4. Gather Some Top Tips
Everyone has their favourite hacks and tips when it comes to laundry, here are our favourites:
- Brighten greying whites by adding half a cup of lemon juice to your wash.
- Soak fading black jeans in a bucket of black coffee before washing, the tannins act as a dye.
- Always do up the buttons on pillow slips and duvet covers so odd socks don’t creep into the corners.
- If t-shirts have built up stains or sour odour around the underarms, even after washing, make up a thick bicarbonate of soda paste and rub in before washing in non-bio detergent.
- Dry whites in the sunshine to brighten them and remove stains – works a treat on cloth nappies.
5. Grab and Shake
Take your laundry out as soon as possible after the machine finishes (life permitting!) and give everything a good shake. We don’t use a tumble dryer for environmental reasons, but find that giving clothes, bedding and towels a good shake and hanging them out as straight and flat as possible gets them dry quickest and eases out most of the wrinkles. (Our iron hasn’t been used for two years!)
What are your top tips for keeping laundry under control?
Post in association with Ecover