The Laundry Room

Because I know you are curious, here are a few of my favorite laundry-related things.

Pine-Sol 🌲

Yes, the stuff found in the cleaning supplies aisle is a great addition to the laundry. It works especially well on synthetics. To use, I fill the fabric softener^[1] tray to the line with Pine-Sol. My clothes do not come out smelling like pine trees. They just smell clean. It also comes in some other scents, but I haven’t tried them yet. I always use only original Pine-Sol, because its active ingredient is glycolic acid, which has a relatively small molecule size—which I guess means it gets into all the nooks and crannies better. The other Pine-Sol varieties use citric acid in their formulations. Citric acid is okay, but not as good as glycolic acid.

Unfortunately, the Clorox company recently changed the formulation of original Pine-Sol to also use citric acid. It still seems to work well and I haven’t had any problems yet so I guess I’ll stick with it. But I can tell the difference. And now maybe I’ll try the other flavors.

Dryer Balls ⚪️

I used to use dryer sheets to minimize static cling, but these reusable wool dryer balls work better and are better for the environment. I’m told you can add a few drops of essential oil if you want your clothes to smell nice, but I don’t do this.

My daughter is a dog lover, so I bought her a pack playful pups laundry balls, which have little dog faces sewn onto them.

Air Dry

Want to keep your socks feeling like new? Don’t let the heat of the dryer get anywhere near them. I always only air dry my socks and anything else made of 100% synthetic fibers. Keeps everything nice and like-new.

Front Load Washer

Years ago we got a front-load washing machine. I think someone told us they work better than top loaders, but I’m not sure any more. Ours is an LG machine and it works great. It never goes out of balance and it sings a little song when the cycle is finished. It seems weird to use a top loader now.