The Simple Laundry Pod Hack That'll Make Your Clothes Cleaner

Have you ever washed a load of laundry with a detergent pod only to remove the clothes and find them streaked with detergent? Or, perhaps you've opened your washer after a load and found that the pod left a sticky residue on the inside of your appliance. For those with front-loading washers, the pod could get stuck in the door seal as well. All of these problems mean that the pod didn't fully dissolve, leaving your clothes dirty. If any of these scenarios have ever happened to you, you've probably done some research and may have found that you were using laundry pods all wrong. Maybe you discovered that you should use warm or hot water and put the pod in before your clothes at the back of the drum. However, if you've tried these remedies and your laundry pod still isn't dissolving, try this: put it in a mesh laundry bag before throwing it into the appliance with your dirty laundry.

This trick is believed to work for a couple of reasons. First, the mesh rubs up against the laundry pod during the wash cycle, creating more friction that causes it to dissolve better and fully clean your clothes. The mesh bag also keeps the pod from getting stuck in small areas like the door seal. However, while this may be a worthwhile hack to try, keep in mind that we found this trick on social media, not from experts. 

If you don't already have a mesh bag, you can purchase one on Amazon. The three-pack of Small Honeycomb Lingerie Bags with zipper enclosures from MDSXO for $7 is a solid choice. If you don't want to spend any money, another option is to use a sock instead. However, only use a sock you don't want to wear anymore, like one that's missing its mate. A nylon stocking you no longer wear could also work as well.

To try out this trick, put your laundry detergent pods into either the mesh bag or the sock, then zip up the bag or tie a knot in the sock. When determining how much laundry detergent you need per load, consider the size of the pile of clothes and how concentrated the pod is — a medium load typically only requires one pod. Next, throw the mesh bag or sock into the washing machine, then add in your clothes. To help the pod dissolve even more, try putting it in warm or hot water beforehand. Start up the appliance like normal, and once it's done, remove the mesh bag or sock. If there's any detergent residue inside, you can rinse it out in the sink and let it air dry.