One of the hardest parts about moving away from your parents is figuring out how to get laundry done after it’s been done for you for so many years. And honestly, a lot of us end up forgetting about it until we realize we don’t have any more clean underwear.
But if you follow these guidelines, you’ll have fresh, wrinkle-free clothes all the time!
1. Schedule a laundry date with yourself.
If you schedule a day every week to do all of your laundry, you’ll never run out. If you use a shared laundry room or have to visit a laundromat, it might be wise to drop by a few times during the week to learn the patterns. It’s almost guaranteed that Saturday and Sunday are the busiest days, but if you aren’t much of a partier, late on Friday or Saturday nights might be the time for you. If you’re sharing with roommates, coordinate with them to make sure the machines will be available. If you have your own washer and dryer, Saturday is a good day to do it, that way you have clothes for the whole week, and don’t have to worry about procrastinating until 10 o’clock on Sunday night.
2. Be one with your supplies.
If the smell of your laundry detergent doesn’t get you excited to wash your clothes, or worse, you’re allergic, that’s a good way to make you not want to do laundry ever again. But with a fresh scent to look forward to, you’ll pull your clothes out of the dryer the second it stops. You might want to ask your parents about any allergies you could have to certain detergents, or just use a hypoallergenic laundry detergent from the start. It’s a waste of money to buy cheap detergent, learn your allergic, and have to splurge on the hypoallergenic stuff anyway.
3. De-wrinkle!
But don’t reach for the iron yet! If you leave your clothes in the dryer for too long and then find yourself ironing every piece of clothing you own, or just wearing it wrinkly, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Pull your clothes out of the dryer as soon as they’re done, fold or hang them, and see that maybe only one or two pieces actually needs ironing. Alternatively, if ironing is too scary, invest in a wrinkle release spray, like this one. These also leave your clothes with a fresh scent.
4. Keep your colors bright.
This one is pretty basic. Keep your whites separate from other colors, wash everything with cold water, and your colors are safe! On some dryers, the cold water option will say “Bright Colors” or something similar. Plus, you’re saving electricity this way!
5. Clean bed sheets > Everything
Here are the rules: wash your sheets every 2 weeks, spot clean comforter as needed and then every 12 weeks or so, and throw your pillowcases in as often as your do laundry, same for towels (you can do all of this way more if you like). If you wash your pillowcases as often as your do other laundry, you lessen the spread of bacteria on your face, which for most people means an improvement in skin (LESS ACNE, GUYS).
6. Bras do not belong in the dryer.
If you follow none of the tips in this list, please follow this one. You know that bras are not cheap, so why do you keep putting them in the dryer? At best, you should be washing your bras by hand and drying them naturally. At worst, separate them when you’re taking them out of the washer, and hang them to dry. Putting them in the dyer is a no-no for about a million reasons. Putting your bra in the dryer is like throwing away $50.
7. Split up the duties.
If you live with roommates, or your SO, collaborate on some of the duties. If you and your roommate only have a half a load each, do it together! It’ll save water and time waiting on the machine. You can put on some music and fold together, especially if you both hate doing it. If you live with your SO, you can divide some of the work evenly between the two of you.