Interesting Household Tips - The Laundry

Here are some helpful ideas for your laundry room.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place a pin in the seam of slacks and the static is gone. I haven't tried this yet, but hope this works.

Fabric Softeners
They help reduce static cling, minimize wrinkling as well as soften your clothes.

Lint
To remove lint from your dark blouses, skirts or shirts use Scotch, masking or adhesive tape. Rub tape lightly over the article and the lint will rub off; this works great when you don't have an actual lint brush.

Laundry Bags
Clean your laundry bags. If you use a cloth bag for dirty clothes, be sure to launder it frequently to keep it odorless.

Stains
Candle Wax
Harden the wax by applying ice or placing the item in the freezer. Try t scrape off as much of the frozen wax as possible, then put in the washer in the hottest water recommended for that fabric. You may have to repeat this process until all the color from the wax is gone. You should not dry the item until the wax color is completely removed.

Blood
Rinse it in cool water. Rinse and repeat until the blood has rinsed out as much as possible and then put it in the washer.

Ink- Ballpoint
Apply a stain remover or try rubbing alcohol. Rub on your detergent and wash it in the hottest water recommended for that fabric. Repeat if necessary.

Ink- Felt Pen
These stains are extremely hard to remove. Try to apply a stain remover and then rub in your detergent. Rinse it out. Repeat this process as necessary. Wash in hot water.

Perspiration, Deodorants
If a stain has caused a color change on your clothes, try to restore it to its natural color by using ammonia on fresh stains or vinegar on old stains. You should not use ammonia or vinegar with liquid bleach. Wash these items in hot water.

Grass
Apply a stain remover and rub it in to the grass stain. Let it sit for 5 - 10 minutes. Wash in hot water with your detergent.

Makeup
Apply a stain remover and gently rub it into the stain; let sit for 5 minutes. Then wash with your detergent in hot water.

Ketchup, Gravy or Tomato Sauces
Presoak items in detergent in either warm or hot water. If an oily stain remains, use a stain remover and then wash again.

Crayons
Place the stained surface down on a pad of paper towels, spray with WD-40, and let stand for a few minutes. Turn the fabric over and spray the other side. Apply liquid dishwashing detergent and work it into the stained area. Replace towels as they absorb the stain. Wash the item in hot water with a laundry detergent and bleach for about 12 minutes (use "heavy soiled" setting if there is no minute timer on your machine), and rinse in warm (not hot) water.

Washing Tips

• Hot water cleans better than cold.
• Cold water is fine for rinsing.
• For extremely soiled items, more detergent might be needed.
• Avoid overloading the machine.
• Set the water level high enough so that items have plenty of room to circulate and rinse properly. This will ensure that the dirt and the detergent goes down the drain and not back on your clothes.

Drying Tips

• To make sure stains are gone, air-dry stained clothes first.
• Dryer heat can permanently set some stains.
• If stains remain, treat and wash again.
• Avoid overloading the dryer.
• Clothes take longer to dry and will wrinkle more if there is an excessive amount of clothes.
• Don't over dry clothes - over drying can increase wrinkles and shrinkage.
• Remove stretch items from the dryer when just barely dry.
• Air-dry plastic items (i.e., bibs, aprons, etc.) because heat can cause rubber to deteriorate and plastic to harden.
• Remove clothes as soon as they're dry - this will prevent wrinkles.

Try these out and let me know if it helped.

Marlin