Cotton towels feel the softest and perform as they should when the fibers can breathe. The buildup of residue from fabric softeners and dryer sheets, along with age and heat damage, can cause towels to become scratchy and less absorbent than when you first bought them.

There’s a hack, however, that makes even the dullest towels feel plush and brand-new again.

How To Get Your Towels Supersoft Again

Follow these simple steps to spruce up your towels in the washing machine.

Step 1: Load your washing machine with the towels that need refreshing. It doesn’t matter if they’re clean or dirty since softening is the ultimate goal. Avoid laundering the towels with other items or overloading your washing machine; the towels should have enough room to tumble freely during the cycle.

Step 2: Add laundry detergent as you normally would. Use the recommended amount, as adding too much can cause towels to stiffen. Never use a detergent containing bleach, as its reaction to vinegar produces dangerous chlorine gas.

Step 3: Add half a cup of baking soda directly into the rinse cycle. Baking soda helps to loosen fibers and remove grime, including old soap and mineral deposits.

Step 4: Instead of fabric softener, pour in half a cup of white vinegar. Vinegar naturally softens fabrics by removing residue buildup that makes towels feel rigid.

Step 5: Run the load with warm or hot water.

Step 6: When the cycle is complete, dry the towels on low to medium heat.

Other Tricks for Softening Your Towels

• Shake out wet towels before loading them into the dryer. This helps loosen the fibers while speeding up drying time.

• Throw in dryer balls or clean tennis balls to help fluff the towels during the drying cycle.

• Regularly clean your washing machine to remove detergent and fabric softener residue that can attach to the fabric and cause mold or mildew growth. 

• If you live in a region with hard water, use liquid detergent instead of powder because the minerals can prevent the powder from dissolving and lower its effectiveness.

Say Goodbye to Smudges

We’re sure you’re wondering how olive oil can possibly remove fingerprints and smudges from stainless steel. You might think its thick consistency would worsen smudging, but it turns out, olive oil acts as a protective layer that keeps moisture away. Not to mention, it leaves stainless steel looking spotless and shiny. 

To remove streaks on stainless steel with olive oil, you first need to wipe down the surface with a cleaner. You can use a mixture of water and dish soap, a kitchen cleaner, an all-purpose cleaner, or something specifically made for stainless steel. After the surface is clean, apply a few drops of olive oil to a microfiber cloth. Spread a thin, even layer of oil on the appliance, buffing it out until fingerprints, smudges, and streaks are nowhere to be seen. 

Laundry Tip: Wash microfiber cloths separately from other items, as they are lint magnets. Use a mild, fragrance-free detergent, avoiding fabric softener, which can damage the fibers. Wash in cool or warm water on a gentle cycle. While air-drying is recommended to preserve the cloths’ absorbency, you can dry them on a low-heat or no-heat setting. Olive oil-soiled microfiber cloths should be air-dried or tumble-dried with no heat to prevent potential fires.

What Not To Do

Good news for your bank account: Using a large amount of olive oil won’t improve the results. The key to this hack is applying only a light coat to the stainless steel.

You can use this hack on major stainless steel appliances, such as refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers, but don’t forget the little things. You can also use olive oil to remove smudges on small kitchen appliances and other stainless steel surfaces, including hardware, faucets, cookware, and more.

Freshen Up Your Spaces

Dryer sheets come in all kinds of refreshing scents that make your clothes smell amazing. Luckily, you can harness those same scents to freshen up other areas of your home, from shoes in your entryway to trash cans in your kitchen, according to TikTok creator @genuinecleaning.

Have a stinky pair of ballet flats or work boots? Stuff a few dryer sheets in your shoes and let them sit overnight to get rid of unpleasant odors. For a whiff of fragrance — not rotting food — stash some dryer sheets at the bottom of your kitchen trash can, underneath the trash bag. You can also toss a dryer sheet or two under couch cushions for a subtle boost of freshness. Lastly, you can put dryer sheets in your dresser to keep your drawers and clothes smelling fragrant.

Remove Deodorant Stains

We’ve all dealt with those dreaded deodorant stains when putting on clothes. The white marks are especially irritating when you’re on your way out and don’t have time to change. While you could whip up a DIY cleaning solution using hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, or baking soda, you can also turn to a dryer sheet in a pinch. Simply rub the dryer sheet over the stain, and the mildly abrasive texture will lift it away.

Clean Burnt Pans

Last, but not least, you can use dryer sheets to easily clean cookware with baked-on food. Cover the stain with dryer sheets, leaving them folded up for maximum effect, and squirt some dish soap on them. Boil water in a kettle or on the stovetop and pour it over the dryer sheets to saturate them completely. Let the dish soak this way for about an hour. When the timer goes off, give the pan a good rinse, using a scrub brush to remove any stubborn residue. The baked-on food should melt away effortlessly, leaving your pan as good as new.

Why Baking Soda Is Bad for Your Vacuum

When using baking soda to clean a carpet, you typically vacuum the area, sprinkle on some baking soda, let it sit for a while, then vacuum it up. Sounds easy, right? Well, here’s the thing — while baking soda is a multipurpose ingredient that can be used in all sorts of DIY home cleaners, it’s not suitable for carpets or vacuums. Baking soda is made of fine particles that can get embedded in the carpet fibers (potentially requiring professional cleaning). It can also damage your vacuum by getting into the motor and clogging the machine, rendering it unusable.

In a YouTube video from Performance Reviews, a vacuum was tested against three cups of baking soda. By the second cup, the vacuum’s performance took a hit. And by the third cup, the suction was less effective and baking soda started coming out of the vacuum and filter. The moral of the story? Baking soda and vacuums don’t mix.

What To Do Instead

So, how do you freshen up carpet without ruining your vacuum? Using a steam cleaner is a fantastic option for both disinfecting and removing stubborn stains. For a DIY cleaning solution, you can use 1/4 teaspoon dish soap (make sure it’s the clear kind) and 1 cup of room temperature water to remove stains on a carpet. Another option is to buy cleaning products specifically made to clean carpets, like OxiClean or Folex.