My laundry room essentials

Earlier today I showed you how we spruced up our laundry room. I love the new laundry organizers and I can honestly say it makes an unpleasant task a little better. I’m not a great laundress (you won’t catch me measuring my wool sweaters so I can properly block them after handwashing a la Martha Stewart) but there are two things I couldn’t live without in the laundry room.

The first is my felted wool dryer balls. I love these things. Originally I got them because I wanted to find an alternative to chemical-laden dryer sheets. I have sensitive skin so I have to be careful about laundry detergents and I just don’t like to use harsh chemicals if I can avoid it. I also had other hopes for the dryer balls. With two huge dogs and a cat around, there is a lot of pet fur in our house. And I was starting to get totally disgusted when clothing would come out of the dryer with more dog hair on it than it went into the laundry with. But I noticed that if a wool sock got in the dryer with it, most of the hair collected on the sock. I was hoping the balls would do the same thing.

For the most part, they do. I just pull all the little hair balls off them. They also make the laundry fluffy by beating it into submission and they make it smell good too. You can buy them pre-scented, but when the scent wears off, I just put a few dabs of essential oil on a few of them and stick them in a plastic bag for a day or so and then they are good to go for a few weeks to a month.

I have had people ask me if they are noisy and they can be. I don’t think I’d use them if my dryer was next to my bedroom, but they aren’t nearly as noisy as when you put tennis balls in the dryer with a comforter or something and the more stuff you have in the dryer, the less you hear them.

They do have a tendency to find their way into the far corners of fitted bedsheets, but I find them eventually. I have about 10 or so that just live in the dryer all the time. And they come in cool (color-fast) colors so they are sort of fun too.

The other thing I really love is the drying rack . I wanted something that would mount to the wall (well technically the door of the closets in the basement) and be able to be put away when not in use (which never happens). This rack just folds flat when you don’t need it and pulls out when you do. I also love the stainless clips I have (I can’t find them at The Container Store now, but these are similar). One clip will hold a pair of wet jeans with no problem. For the things I don’t want to clip on, like sweaters, I just fold them over the bars.

What are your laundry room necessities?

I’m not getting any kickbacks or anything for this post. I just really happen to like the products I mentioned and wanted to share them with you.