Activities

3 clever laundry hacks every parent should try

These genius tricks will almost take the drudgery out of doing the wash. (Hey, we said almost.)

By Amy Valm January 9, 2017

illustration of a shirt with a grease stain

Illustration: Sarah Rafter

When you have kids, you have laundry—lots of it. We can’t make it fun, but we can offer up few laundry hacks to make it a bit less ugh.

1. Why can’t they ever use napkins?! Get rid of your kid’s grease stains by rubbing white chalk over the mark. Leave overnight, then launder. Magic!

Illustration: Sarah Rafter

2. Your kid’s favourite blankey in in the dryer—but it’s 10 minutes past bedtime. Speed up drying time by throwing in a dry towel to absorb the moisture from wet clothes.

illustration of toddler socks in a mesh bag

Illustration: Sarah Rafter

3. Keep tiny toddler socks together by washing and drying them in a mesh lingerie bag. You can often find these at the dollar store.

A version of this article appeared in our January 2017 issue with the headline “How to make laundry day way less annoying,” p. 38.