Archive Category: 'Laundry'

• Caring For Vintage Quilts: Cleaning & Storage Tips: Here’s an article I found in a very old household notebook that I was lucky enough to come in possession of, it gives helpful information for cleaning and caring for old quilts. Caring For Vintage Quilts I have done research on laundering old quilts. Don’t dry clean a cotton quilt. Weight of the fluid may place more [...]
• Underarm & Deodorant Stains: Removal Tips: Deodorant & Antiperspirant Stains: Sponge stains with ammonia then rinse. If you’re cleaning clothing that contains wool or silk, first dilute the ammonia with water (50/50 ratio). Yellow Underarm Stains: Treat stains by gently rubbing a bar of laundry soap into the stain area. Spritz the spot with water first, then rub bar of soap into spot. Another method [...]
• Hanging Laundry To Dry Outdoors: Clothesline Tip Sheet: Hanging, done hit or miss, can be the most exhausting part of the wash-day procedure. Here are a few rules to follow which will make less stooping and straining: Don’t have the line so high that each piece calls for stretching. Before wheeling clothes out, put them in the basket in the order in which it is [...]
• Old-Time Stain Removal Tips: Timeless Wisdom: These tips were collected from vintage booklets dating from the 1930’s and 1940’s. The Timeless Wisdom collection is a regular feature on Tipnut where we take a look back at the methods used and advice given to tackle regular household tasks. These were the days when fancy gadgets and cleaning powders weren’t yet invented so [...]
• Quick Tips For Drying Laundry: If you’re in a rush for a load of laundry to dry–try tossing a clean, thick cotton towel in the dryer with the wet clothes. Because the towel is dry, it will absorb some of the moisture and clothes will dry faster. If it’s a large load of laundry, throw in two or three towels. If [...]
• Fresh Summery Scented Bedding Year Round: Tip Sheet: Winters are pretty cold here in Canada so windows are kept shut and clotheslines hang empty for months, but there are a few tricks us Northerners have that help us enjoy fresh, fragrant bedding year round (with no nasty chemicals or expensive laundry products). One of the things I miss most in winter is flinging open [...]
• Homemade Laundry Detergent FAQ: Two years ago (January, 2007) I published an extensive list of homemade laundry detergent recipes (see 10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes) and it’s been one of the most popular and commented on tips posted here. I’m proud to say it’s one of the most informative resources available on the net for making homemade detergent [...]
• Vintage Ironing Primer: Tip Sheet: Here’s a sweet old booklet I have from 1946 called “The Betty Crocker Ironing Primer”. I scooped many of the tips into one handy sheet and also included a few quaint pictures and notes. First Things Come First In doing a big ironing, begin with the fabrics needing low temperatures (rayons) and work up the dial to those [...]
• Laundry Stain Treatments: Tip Sheet: *Each point is a separate treatment, choose one method. Test a small hidden area first to make sure garment color or fibers won’t be damaged. Blood Stain Removal Apply hydrogen peroxide to the stain, cover with salt, then sit for several minutes. You should see the blood draw up from the garment. Remove salt once stain has [...]
• Laundry Stain Treatments: Methods & Guidelines: Fundamentals of Stain Removal Treat stain as soon as possible, a fresh stain is easier to remove. Test treatment on a hidden or unseen area of the clothing, test for color fastness before treating stain in a visible spot. Avoid hot water on the following stains: blood, egg and milk. Follow directions of commercial cleaners, be aware of any [...]
• Homemade Laundry Stain Pretreater Recipes: Frugal Laundry Soap – Pretreater Save pieces and leftover slivers of bar soaps and collect in a jar. Those little hotel soaps are ideal for this too (cut them down to small pieces). When jar is filled half way with soap chunks, add boiling water. Mix soap bits and water until soap is melted. Once cooled this will [...]
• 10 Laundry Boosters Using Vinegar: Color Brightener: Add 1/2 cup vinegar to a load of laundry (wash cycle). Color Protector: Soak new items in a straight solution of vinegar to protect dyes from running. Whiter Whites: Add 1 1/2 cups of vinegar to the rinse cycle to whiten clothes. Restore Whites: Fill a large stock pot half full with water and 1 cup [...]
• How To Clean An Iron: {Tips}: Is your steam iron acting a little sputtery and doing an inconsistent job when ironing? It’s probably just clogged with mineral and lime deposits, all it takes is a simple cleaning job to get it back to like-new shape. Here’s how to clean a clogged iron (plus a few more tips & goodies): How To Clean An Iron Fill [...]
• How To Make Wool Dryer Balls: Never buy fabric softener again with today’s feature from Good Mama: Make Your Own Wool Dryer Balls, how cool are these! The balls will cut your drying time yet leave clothes soft, fluffy and static free without the use of chemicals or dryer sheets. Based on the old “tennis ball in the dryer” trick, but [...]
• 50 Laundry & Mending Tips – A Collection Of Timeless Wisdom: The timeless tips are back! This next batch of tips is collected from magazines and books dating from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. I’ll be posting a collection once a week for the next few weeks. Many of the tips are still useful today, some I’ve included for a glimpse into the day-to-day homemaking life [...]
• How to Fold Anything: Today’s feature is from RealSimple with How to Fold Anything, you’ll find information on how to fold all sorts of clothing & household items. I’ve also included a neat video at the bottom explaining how to fold a t-shirt in 2 seconds. Here’s a list of what’s available from RealSimple (found via Unclutterer.com): How to Fold [...]
• Quick Tips For Laundry: Here are a few tips for laundry & ironing that were previously published on Tipnut as Quick Tips that have been moved to this single page. Before washing items with grass stains, try dabbing a generous amount of vinegar into the stain first. Launder as usual. This should help lift the stain right out. If you have [...]
• Tipnut Mailbag: How To Remove Chewing Gum From Clothing: Jane Dane from lavenderridgefarms.com sent in a great remedy she found to remove a wad of chewing gum that was hiding in a shirt pocket–not discovered until after the shirt was washed and dried (eek!)… How To Remove Chewing Gum From Clothing I found a really great solution that worked and was easy so I wanted to [...]
• Clothes Dryer Safety Tips: Have you ever wondered why clothes dryers are the cause of so many home fires? I know of two different families who lost everything in a house fire caused by a dryer (happened several years apart) and to me, that makes dryer fires not as uncommon or isolated as one might think. Here is some information [...]
• 10 Ink Stain Removers – Laundry Tips: Tips Before Starting: First place a clean cloth underneath the ink stain before applying any stain removal method. This helps prevent any ink from running through to the piece of garment underneath. Chances are the ink has gone through to the other side of the fabric, so after cleaning the top of the garment, make sure to [...]
• Homemade Herbal Lavender Dryer Bags: Fresh and fragrant laundry can be achieved chemical free with easy to make lavender dryer bags. Using lavender buds gives the benefit of a natural moth repellent, sleep aid and a natural antibacterial. Skip the fabric softener sheets, use 1/4 cup vinegar in your rinse cycle (for static cling help, up the amount to 1/2 cup [...]
• How To Remove Wax From Pants (and other items): I received an email yesterday asking if I had any tips on how to remove wax drippings from pants (there was a candle/hot wax spill). Here’s the info I replied with based on my notes, hope it helps anyone looking to remove wax from clothing (and will work on carpet spills too–just use ice instead of [...]
• How To Wash & Dry Woollen Garments: Here are a few tips collected plus two full sheets of instructions from vintage Beehive knitting pattern books that detail how to wash and dry wool clothing. The instructions are repeated a bit, but each set has some useful info that is unique. Washing Dissolve completely a little soap, flakes or powder, cold water soap or good detergent [...]
• Old Wash Day Recipe: Variations of this ‘recipe’ handed down from a grandmother to her granddaughter on her wedding day has circulated around the net for years. Snopes declares this was making rounds well before the internet as “xeroxlore”. Whether it truly written by a grandmother to her granddaughter we’ll probably never know. But it is quite charming [...]
• 5 Laundry Bloopers & Fixes: Wet Laundry Left In Washer Too Long: To get rid of the mildew smell, rewash the laundry with 1 cup of vinegar tossed in with the laundry detergent. If it’s a load of whites that can handle bleach, wash with bleach instead of vinegar. Red Item Washed With Whites = Pink Clothes: If you’ve washed a load of whites [...]