Try these Laundry Room Lifehacks in Other Rooms

By Melanie Dingeldey

 

It doesn't matter how clean we are, sometimes things in our homes just get stale or stinky. But have no fear. The freshness of clean laundry can also help you around your home in ways you probably didn’t expect!

 

Fabric softener and dryer sheets are no longer just for the wash. Try these six tips to bring that clean laundry freshness to the rest of your home.

 

1. Stinky Bed?

A great way to freshen up your bed is to place dryer sheets on your mattress and cover them with a fitted sheet. Or, if you use a mattress pad, place in-wash scent boosters (such as Downy Unstopable) on your mattress, and then place your mattress pad over them. My preference is for in-wash scent boosters because they have a strong scent that can last over two weeks.

 

 

2. Closet Smells Like Feet?

If you’re like me and hoard shoes, your closet may start to acquire a bit of an “eau de feet” odor.

 

Well, I’ve found a solution. At the end of a long day, take your shoes off and place a dryer sheet in each one to prevent your footwear from creating an unpleasant odor in your closet. Now both your closet and your feet can smell fresher!

 

 

3. Vacuum Stank?

Ever turn on your vacuum and get hit with hot air carrying a funky odor? No, you don’t have to buy a new vacuum. The solution to this problem is simple: Use fabric softener! Most vacuums have filters that should be cleaned regularly. After cleaning your vacuum’s filter, simply spray fabric softener on it before you put the filter back in your vacuum. Now that blast of hot air from your vacuum will smell like a summer breeze — not a garbage can!

 

 

4. Clothes Smell Like Mildew?

If you store your summer clothes in your basement during the winter, once June rolls around and you take your warm-weather clothes out of storage to wear again, you may find that your summer duds have acquired an unpleasant mildewy scent during their winter break. Even if you clean all your summer clothes before storing them, they may still pick up a bad odor during the winter months and need to be washed a second time before you can wear them again. That’s just silly. Let’s end this silliness! Next time you pack your summer clothes away, place a dryer sheet in between each article of clothing. They’ll still smell like fresh laundry when you unpack them a few months later!

 

 

5. Stinky Furnace?

Speaking of winter, your home’s HVAC system can acquire an unpleasant odor just like your vacuum cleaner can. Only it’s even worse this time because smelly air is being circulated through your whole house! Here’s how to fix it: Replace your furnace’s filter with a new one (which you should do about once a month anyway). But before your put in a fresh filter, yup! Spray it down with fabric softener! Now your furnace will spread the scent of fresh laundry throughout your home instead of stale winter smells!

 

 

6. Smelly Trash?

Garbage cans can acquire a truly rank odor over time, but there’s an easy fix. Simply line the bottom of your trash can with dryer sheets before you put a new bag in. If your garbage can still stinks a little, you can give the dryer sheets a boost by putting them in the dryer for just a few minutes to warm them up. Their pleasant aroma will be stronger after they take a few spins in your dryer, and now they can overpower stubborn trash odors.

 

 

Bonus Laundry Product Hacks!

Although we covered a lot here, there’s still a ton of other ways you can use laundry products outside the laundry room. You can slip a dryer sheet in between your sofa cushions to freshen it up or just secret some dryer sheets away any place in your home that could use an odor upgrade.

 

Now that you know these tips, it’s easy to bring that laundry room freshness to any room of your house!

 

Images used with permission, courtesy of Melanie Dingeldey