How to keep clothes clean during a water shortage

Water shortages are no joke! Keeping your clothes clean when water is in short supply is an issue that many people in the Western Cape may be faced with very soon.

Try these innovative ideas that will have your clothes looking and smelling as fresh as a daisy, without wasting water.

Put your jeans in the freezer

Sounds strange, but this will kill bacteria and smells – ensuring your jeans are germ-free. In addition, this prevents shrinking or fading of our favourite denim. In fact, many people who aren’t going through water shortages swear by this method!

Wear, wear and wear again

Not all clothes need to be washed after each wear. Jeans, jackets and knits can be worn more than once – especially if you’re clean and haven’t worked up a sweat. The same goes for bras. If need be, consider spraying a little fabric refresher on your clothes.

Air things out

Hang your clothes in fresh air to remove smells in your clothes. As an added bonus, sunlight will also help to lighten stains.

Keep clothes clean with vodka

Mix a bottle of cheap vodka with a little water in a 3:1 ratio. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle and spray over dirty clothes. The vodka will kill bacteria and remove smells from your clothes.

Spot treat stains

Sometimes a stain may just appear on one area of clothing. In that case, you can simply wash the area the stain appears on instead of putting the whole thing in the wash.

Beat oil stains with baby powder

If the stain is from an oil-based food, first wipe up the residue with a baby wipe (very gentle on fabric). Then blot the area with some baby powder. Wait 45 minutes and dust off. The baby powder will soak up the oil and the stain.

Wait if you must use water

Only do full loads of laundry in your washing machine. This will allow you to maximise the amount of water the machine needs to work. If you’re currently using a top loader, consider getting a front loader – they use almost five times less water!

Alternatively, hand-wash instead and then re-use the water to flush your toilet.

Brought to you by All4Women

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