If you want to be prepared for clothing emergencies or just be a more well informed person in general, read on to learn useful clothing life hacks that will save you time and money!
Imagine traveling for work alone, you’re in a fun little Italian restaurant enjoying your pasta al Pomodoro under the shade of a huge umbrella over your head. You take a sip from your glass of wine and the gorgeous waiter walks past. He looks at you and you make eye contact but he clumsily bumps into your table spilling all that red sauce from your plate on your blouse! As you jerked backwards, you spilled the wine on your hand and now you have a blot of wine stain on your pants too!
1. Remove Wrinkles With Ice Cubes
You’re on the weekend and your friends are hanging out but you’re stuck at home because you have yet to iron your work clothes. Don’t miss out on the fun! Throw your clothes into the dryer and add a handful of ice cubes into the dryer. Leave them in the dryer for 15 minutes and as the ice melts, the vapor that comes out of them straightens the clothes out!
2. Remove Food Stains With Baby Powder And Soap
Got a little clumsy and stained your favorite white shirt with curry? Don’t fret, we’ve all been there. Do not wash it with water or soap. Pour a generous amount of baby powder on the stain, add soap and mix with your finger on the area of the stain. Then rinse with warm water and voila! Your shirt’s good as new!
Read Also: 30 Cleaning Hacks You’ll Wish You’d Known Sooner
3. Use Soap Or Vaseline To Fix Your Stuck Zipper
This is so simple yet it works like magic! You have probably been in situations where you put something cute on but your zipper just won’t cooperate. Of course you wouldn’t want to walk out with your fly open. What you can do is take a bar of soap and rub it on the teeth of the zipper. Then try zipping it up again!
Unstick a zipper with a bar of soap. You need to hold the fabric taut and rub the soap along the teeth of the zipper. Then, just pull it up and down and see how smoothly it moves every time. This whole process can be used on Vaseline too.
4. Use A Razor To Remove Pilling
Sweaters and cotton are very prone to pilling. Pills are a pain and they make your clothes look old and worn. This method is quite common but for those who are hearing this for the first time, you use your razor to shave the pills off the surface of your fabric. Be gentle or you’ll end up with a torn sweater.
5.Get Rid Of Make-Up Stains With Shaving Cream
The dress you’re holding fits you just right and you love it. It’s the last one in store but it has an obvious foundation stain on the collar! Go ask for a discount for that dress and try this trick at home!
Spray some shaving cream onto the stain, let it be for around 10 minutes and remove the cream carefully with a dry clean tissue. Put the stain under cool room temperature running water then wash it in the washing machine.
6. Armpit Stain Removal
Nobody likes armpit stains especially on whites. You don’t want them there but you want to keep wearing that shirt. Try these tricks out to remove armpit stains:
Squeeze some lemon juice and take an equal amount of water to mix. Then pour it on the armpit stain and rub it in. Wash the shirt.
Are you a baker? Try removing armpit stains with baking soda. Take 2 tablespoons of baking soda and mix it with some water until you have a concentrated paste. Smear it all over the stain and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then put the shit in the washing machine.
7. Freeze The Germs Off Your Smelly Jeans
If your jeans still smell bad after a wash, you can throw them into a plastic bag and chuck them into the freezer. According to Levi Strauss, you can freeze your jeans to kill the germs that give out the bad odor. However, the new CEO of Levi’s said it doesn’t work but he has never washed his jeans from the day he got them which was around 10 years ago. To each their own I guess.
8. Freeze Your Jeans To Remove Gum
If you have kids or if you’re just being a little clumsy, it is possible that you run into a situation where you accidentally get gum on your pants. Try to endure the disgust till you get home. Then take your pants off and put it in the freezer. After a day, you can try scraping the frozen gum and it will come right off.
9. Use A Permanent Marker To Cover Up Bleach Stains
If you ever need to handle bleach, you should always wear old and worn clothes. However, if you do get bleach on a shirt you like, you can try covering the lightened blot with a permanent marker. Of course, pick a marker that is the same color as your shirt and test it out on paper before colouring it on the fabric. If all fails, you can learn to tie dye and give that shirt a new life!
10. Iron Your Shirt Collar With A Hair Straightener
A hair straightener may be a girl’s best friend but friends are shareable. If your happens to have a hair straightener, you can always use it to straighten your wrinkly collar! Collars are generally easy to iron but if you already have the shirt on, you can just whip the straightener out and bam! You’re ready to go to work! Beware of the temperature settings though, make sure it is at the right temperature for the fabric you have on,
11.Use Water To Expand Your Shoes
Bought your shoes online and they’re too small? Put a plastic bag into the shoe and fill it up with water. Put the shoe in your freezer and let it do its magic. Water expands when it freezes, so when you remove your shoes from the freezer the next day, get ready to be amazed!
12. Wine Stain Removal
If you spilled wine on what you’re wearing, quickly run over to the kitchen and get your salt shaker. Sprinkle a very generous amount of salt covering the area of the stain and let it sit for an hour. Later you can brush the salt off and put it in the washing machine.
13. Try Jeans On With Your Neck
Even brands of jeans have a different sizing standard. If you’re lucky, you’ll pick the right size at an instant. For most cases, you’ll need to try a few on to get a pair with the right size. This trick will help you save a ton of time when you shop for jeans. Take the Jeans shopping is the most time-consuming, soul-destroying experience ever, so instead of trying jeans on see if the waistline will fit around your neck. If it does, chances are they’ll fit your waist.
14. Use Heat To Stretch Out Shoes
Similar to the trick above using water to expand your shoes, you can try putting on a few layers of thick socks and wear the shoe. Next, use a hairdryer and set it to the highest temperature setting. Then blow dry your shoes and the heat from the hairdryer will slowly stretch it out. If it is still too small after blow drying, try it a few more times till it is the size you are comfortable with.
15. Use an Adhesive Tape to Fix Clothes in Urgent Times
If you need a quick fix for a casual trip to the grocery store, you can try using duct tape or hot glue gun to attach two surfaces on each other. It will definitely not work if this is your idea of a permanent solution. If you’re in need of an urgent quick fix and not attending wedding dinners or the Met Gala, this is an idea.
16. Replacing Your Shoe Polish With Moisturizer
Ideally, you wouldn’t want to be in a position to spread your expensive moisturizer on your shoes. Nevertheless, you’ll never know when you may need to add this to your list of clothing life hacks. Take a small amount of moisturizer and rub it on the surface you want to polish. Now you have smooth and polished shoes ready to go!
17. Simple Paper Clip Bra Trick
When you wear those racerback tank tops, you’ll probably want to hide the straps of your bra. If you don’t like strapless bras, this trick is for you! Take a paper clip or safety pin and join the section of your bra that is behind your shoulder blades! Now you get the best of both worlds.
