Latest news with #TheLaundryGuy
Buzz Feed
08-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Buzz Feed
If You Use Laundry Detergent Pods, You Might Want To Stop, And This Is Why
Laundry. Sigh. If we're not doing it, we need to do it, or we just finished doing it, or we're going to have to do it soon. You'd think that because we can't escape it, we'd have perfected it by now, but too many of us are doing it all wrong. That's what we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the co-hosts of HuffPost's 'Am I Doing It Wrong?' podcast — discovered when we recently chatted with Patric Richardson, aka The Laundry Evangelist. Richardson fell in love with cleaning clothes when he was just 2-and-a-half years old and is now the king of a laundry empire that includes sold-out laundry camps, a bestselling book, his own laundry products and an HGTV show, 'The Laundry Guy.' One of the most shocking things we learned during our chat? We're probably using the wrong kind of detergent and way too much of it, which could be hindering how clean our clothes get. 'I'm always going to use laundry soap ... It's soap that's made [specifically] for laundry and then it's grated or ground,' Richardson said. 'It's going to be the cleanest, most gentle [choice].' But it can be difficult to find, so, if it's not available, he recommends buying detergent made specifically for baby clothes, which is also going to be gentle. Just make sure you're not using pods. 'I don't care if [your laundry detergent] comes as powder or liquid, but I don't like pods because I don't like that you can't control the amount,' he said. 'You don't need a pod's worth of detergent ... I think you only need about two tablespoons of detergent [for a load], so a bottle of laundry detergent might last you a year because you only need a couple of tablespoons for your clothes to come out clean.' Richardson advised that a little detergent goes a long way, like salt. 'When you're cooking and the recipe says a half tablespoon of salt, and you put it in, it's delicious,' he said. 'But if you're like, 'I love salt,' and you put in a whole cup, it's ruined, it's not better. So that's how to think about detergent: a little bit is really good, because it does what it's supposed to do. If you add a whole lot more, you actually ruin it.' There's a scientific reason for this. Laundry detergent is made up of surfactants, which are compounds that lift dirt and stains from clothes. 'The dirt and germs come off the clothes and go into the water,' Richardson explained. 'They get trapped in the surfactant and then, when the rinse comes, the surfactant goes down the drain. If you use too much detergent, it can't rinse out, so the surfactant actually resettles back in your clothes, and all of the dirt resettles back into your clothes with it. So more detergent means your clothes are actually dirty.' We also discussed why he never uses bleach, his trick for destroying static electricity in the dryer using something most people keep in their pantry, and much more. After you've had a listen above or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to 'Am I Doing It Wrong?' so you don't miss a single episode, including our investigations of the ins and outs of tipping, how to score the best deals on airline tickets, how to apologize or vanquish your credit card debt, how to find love online or overcome anxiety, online shopping tips for taking care of your teeth, pooping like a pro and secrets to booking and staying in a hotel.
USA Today
31-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- USA Today
Spring cleaning hacks: The Laundry Guy has tips to make your home tidy with joy
Spring cleaning hacks: The Laundry Guy has tips to make your home tidy with joy Show Caption Hide Caption How to clean your home with body wash Let's put the viral hack of cleaning items with body wash to the test. Problem Solved Cleaning any home can be stressful, unpleasant and downright dirty. But to Patric Richardson, tidying up is a joy. And, with a little practice, he believes you, too, can embrace household chores with gusto. The author and television host of Discovery Channel's The Laundry Guy is out with a new book, House Love, that aims to infuse joy into the everyday tasks of maintaining a home. And if done correctly, Richardson has faith you'll fall in love with your home (and the people inside it) all over again. 'When I became mindful about cleaning my own space, I realized just how happy it made me feel,' Richardson says. 'It reminded me that I have this amazing house, with a partner that I adore in it.' Developing fondness in any relationship is (usually) not an overnight process. Richardson maintains it's the same with cleaning. To truly find the joy in tidying up, you'll want to focus on making it manageable. He recommends daily cleaning bursts of just 10 minutes. 'If you're buried under an avalanche of cleaning, you'll probably just stick your head in the sand,' Richardson says. 'But when you break it down into steps, it becomes manageable. And once it becomes manageable, it becomes pleasant. And from there, you've got a chance at discovering all the wonderful things that make your house a home.' Spring is a great time to brighten up life's most common chores. Here are Richardson's hacks to welcome the season with a spring in your step: Where should someone begin their spring cleaning journey? 'Set yourself up for success by starting in a single room. Your bedroom is a great place to start because that's where you unwind and that's where you reconnect. Once it looks great, you're going to want to move on to the next room. But I wouldn't tackle everything at once. Doing all the curtains in your house at once is overwhelming. You'll lose steam. Break it down. Allow each room to propel you into the next.' What laundry-related task is a must-do each spring? 'My favorite thing is to take everything out of the closet and give it a deep clean. Wipe down the walls of the closet and vacuum the floor — get into all those little corners. Use wax paper and rub it on the closet rod — it makes the clothes move so much more easily. This is also your chance to wash coats before they get put away for the year.' You're big on sustainable, chemical-free laundry products. What tools do you use to clean your home? 'That's one of the most exciting things I love sharing with people. Over the years I've found that the same, sustainable tools I use in the laundry room work just as well in other rooms of your home. I keep finding myself cleaning with a vinegar and water solution. I've also found myself turning to oxygen bleach. And, of course, I also love cleaning with vodka.' What are your top hacks to infuse joy into spring cleaning? 'Give yourself permission to enjoy the process. And above all, make it fun. Create a cleaning playlist. Get yourself a beverage. And buy a treat that you can enjoy once the cleaning is complete. Trust me, you'll never clean the living room faster if your favorite candy in the world is staring you down from across the room. And if you're having a really hard time getting started, make it social: Call a friend and tackle a room together (and be sure to return the favor).'
