6 Laundry Hacks You Should Avoid

By Victoria Robertson on October 5, 2018

When it comes to doing laundry, we’ll all do just about anything to make our lives a little bit easier. And short of purchasing a robot that does your laundry for you, it’s really not easy to come up with laundry hacks that make your life easier.

So which hacks are worth looking into and which are a total waste of time? To help you weed out the useless tips, here are six laundry hacks to avoid when it comes to your laundry.

Photo Via: Pixabay.com

1. Vinegar

Yes, vinegar is useful for more than just coloring eggs around Easter. That being said, it’s not something that’s going to be too useful when it comes to your laundry. A popular myth is that vinegar will actually kill bacteria in your laundry and disinfect your clothes if added to your wash.

This is a myth. Vinegar does not kill bacteria, nor does it disinfect your clothing items. So before you go dumping a load of smelly vinegar into your laundry, think twice about what you’re using it for. Laundry detergent will kill the germs you need it to, there’s no reason to add vinegar in hopes it will do the same.

2. Salt

There are plenty of laundry hacks out there involving salt. That being said, many of these laundry hacks are not actually useful or true. For instance, some individuals believe that adding salt to your load of laundry will keep the colors brighter. Or better yet, some believe that adding salt to your load of laundry will prevent the colors from running into one another.

Unfortunately, neither of these hacks are true. Salt does next to nothing when added to your wash, so don’t expect it to prevent your red clothes from turning your white ones pink, because it’s not going to. And as far as brighter clothing goes? Sorry, but salt isn’t going to help you there, either.

3. Coffee

On the other side of things, there’s a laundry hack that involves coffee. That’s right; some individuals believe that adding coffee to their load of laundry will keep the colors dark. This myth has also been applied to tea, as individuals believe that it does the same.

Again, this is a myth. Don’t put coffee grounds or tea into your laundry assuming that it’s going to make your colors darker, because it’s not going to. It may stain your clothing items though, so definitely be careful of that!

4. Conditioner

Perhaps one of the least believable laundry hacks, some people believe that using conditioner can actually unshrink some of your shrunken clothes. While there is some science here to support the idea that you can unshrink something, your clothing items are not going to be saved by a bottle of conditioner.

So yes, this is another myth. When it comes to your favorite cotton tee, you’re better off hanging it dry, because if you put it through the dryer, it’s likely going to shrink and once that happens, there’s no saving it.

5. Lemon Juice

Another laundry hack that actually has some merit, some believe that adding a few drops of lemon juice to your laundry will remove the residue on your clothing. Now, this myth is partly accurate in that acid does cut built-up residue on clothing. That being said, there isn’t nearly enough acid in this case in order to do that.

In fact, it would take more than a full lemon to provide the amount of acid needed to remove all of that residue. So the few drops you’re adding to your wash? Simply making it smell a little like lemon.

6. Aspirin

Last, but not least, there are people that believe that adding aspirin to your wash will whiten your clothing items. This is, unfortunately, yet another myth. While some individuals may have used this hack before, they likely soaked their clothing in a water/aspirin bath prior to washing and found their clothes were whiter.

This is due to the water. Simply pre-soaking your clothing items in hot water prior to washing them can make them appear whiter. So, unfortunately, you’re wasting your aspirin if you’ve been using it, as it’s essentially doing nothing. If you want whiter clothing items, use bleach!

Again, doing laundry isn’t a fun task, nor is it one that anyone really enjoys. For this reason, we are all always interested in any laundry hacks to make the awful task a little bit easier. That being said, there are plenty of fake hacks out there that aren’t only going to waste your time, but that are also going to take up quite a bit of energy, resources, and money.

So avoid these six laundry hacks, as they don’t work, and be on the lookout for others like them. Only take on laundry hacks in which the science behind the hack is explained before you go ahead and waste your resources and time.

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