Six handy tips to make your clothes last longer

It only takes a second. That dark oily food stain on your blouse. That snag of your good sweater on the corner of a thorny plant. However, just because life gets in the way of good clothes, it doesn’t mean that they are ruined for good. Here are some great tips for fixing, upkeeping and life-proofing your clothes.

1. Use lemon and baking soda

Avoid expensive dry-cleaning bills! Remove unsightly underarm stains from shirts and blouses simply by scrubbing them with a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water. Pre-treating clothes with a paste made from 4 tablespoons baking soda and 1/4 cup warm water can help vanquish perspiration stains too.

2. Sort your laundry, by type rather than colour 

When you throw your clothes into a washer, they essentially dance with each other as they move around in the water. Would you want your sheer, nylon blouse dancing close to a jagged metal zipper? Probably not.

3. Close zippers

Be sure to close zippers before putting clothes in the wash. Open zippers are more likely to snag other fabrics during agitation.

4. Add salt

Salt helps preserve clothes really well, so add a pinch of salt to your wash cycles to keep colours from fading.

5. Freeze tights

Freeze brand new tights to prevent runs before they happen. Run them under water and squeeze out the excess. Put them in a plastic bag and into the freezer overnight. Let them come to room temperature and your tights should be more resistant to snags and rips.

6. Use vodka

Yes, that’s right! Vodka is a great way to get musty odours out of clothing.

– Fill a spray bottle with one part vodka and two parts water
– Give it a shake
– Take your clothing outside and lightly spray it
– Give it some time to dry and air out
– Turn heavy coats inside out and spray them on the inside too

Do you have any other tips to add? Do you feel the quality of clothing today is different to that when you were growing up?