Simplify Your Life Series: The Tao of Laundry

If you're looking to simplify a little bit of your life or achieve a major overhaul then join me for our ten part series as we work along side Country Living's Simple Country Wisdom: 501 Old-Fashioned Ideas to Simplify Your Life by Susan Waggoner.  I touch base on a few points in each chapter, expound upon them and share some of my own tips.  Grab your favorite cuppa and join along!  (Start at the beginning HERE.)

BEHIND THE SCENES

The Tao of Laundry

Laundry can be quite the hassle in our home.  With three adults and eight children we make a lot of laundry.  We all work together.  I sort and run loads.  I hang dry the items that need to be hung to dry.  My mom helps me hang and fold.  The kids also help fold and put away laundry. It can be kind of fun working together. If you don't quite love laundry day, here are some tips that will lighten your work load.

The Way We Wash  Liquid dish soap works well (and often better) than pretreatment sprays.  A lot of times I'll try that and if it doesn't do the trick then I'll call in the big dog.  I like Spray-n-Wash's spray with Resolve in it.  Hydrogen Peroxide works wonders on blood stains!  Even on the carpet.  Speaking of carpets...I have little ones who are good at getting Silly Putty on carpets and clothes.  Alcohol will dry it up so that you can crumble it up and get it out. If you've washed a stained garment, examine it before you toss it in the dryer.  The heat will set the stain in.  If the stain is there treat it again and wash.  Separate clothes by fabric type (and by color) before you wash.  Heavyweight jeans and silk blouses don't wash well together.  Add a quarter cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle for a wonderfully natural and inexpensive fabric softener and to also reduce lint.  We've been doing that for years. (And you'll be happy to know that the clothes don't smell like vinegar after drying.)  Turn silk screened shirts inside out to reduce wear and tear on the designs.

In the Dryer  Straighten out wadded up clothes before tossing them in.  Give it a few snaps even to prevent as many wrinkles.  Just as you should wash like fabrics together, you should dry like fabrics together also.  Drying two loads back to back is more efficient than drying them at different times because the dryer only needs to heat up once.  Clothes will fade less if you dry them inside out. Throw in a large fluffy towel to absorb extra moisture and reduce drying time when drying heavy items such as blue jeans, rugs, and blankets. Reduce static cling by removing items from the dryer before they are bone dry.

The author, Susan Waggoner, also gives wonderful tips on drying outside and ironing!  But I'll close with a few of her twelve good reasons to line dry.

*  Clothes last longer.  Those gobs of lint you pull out of the dryer filter are actually bits of your clothes, fluffed and shredded from continuous rubbing together.

*  Say goodbye to shrinkage and set-for-life stains.

*  Sunlight has a gentle, natural bleaching effect.

See my post on how we dry laundry HERE.

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Join me in the coming weeks as we unwrap the present that is our lives.  The next step in our series is enjoying our time in the kitchen.  Please share this series by placing the button in the side bar of your blog or share on Facebook by clicking the button at the very bottom of this post.

* photos courtesy of Country Living

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop.

Jill @ The Prairie Homestead

Kendra @ New Life on a Homestead

Kelly @ The Morris Tribe

and Amy @ Homestead Revival