You're on the run. You have a family to care for and most likely a job to do. You're active, involved and hardly ever home. So who's got time for laundry? But somehow clothes have to get clean, and you and your family have to look "put together," right? Take five minutes now and read how to save precious time and effort every day with these laundry "shortcuts," to real laundry issues, from Tide®.

Simplify for better results

Like you, some products can multitask, saving time and effort, without compromising results. Ask your friends and family what they use, look for combination products and try multi-dimensional products like these from The Tide Fabric Care Network:

• Help keep whites white and colors bright by using Tide with Bleach or Tide Liquid with Bleach Alternative.
• Get the Tide clean you expect with a touch of Downy® softness in one easy product — Tide with a touch of Downy.
• Downy Simple Pleasures™. Use it on your fabrics, feel it in your mood.

Take advantage of technology

Who has time to rub, scrub, pretreat and re-treat stains and wait to add laundry additives? Let the latest laundry tools, like these from Tide, help. All you have to do is keep them in a convenient place — and use them!

• Stubborn stain? Don't guess how to remove it and maybe treat it more than once. Consult the Tide Fabric Advisor, online 24 hours a day, for official Tide stain solutions using the products you already have on hand.
• No time to wait for the rinse cycle? Use a Downy Ball. Fill it and drop it in at the beginning of the wash cycle. It adds fabric softener at the right time so you can go do something else!

Plan ahead

Sometimes, thinking big upfront can save you multiple steps in the long run. The same goes for reorganizing the laundry room and other regular laundry "spaces."

• Make sure your laundry room and machines are in a convenient place in your house if space allows — preferably near bedrooms or with a direct laundry chute from the areas where most clothes are put on clean or taken off dirty.
• Add wire racks, shelves and cupboards in creative places, then organize and store in logical fashion for most efficient use of space and product.   
• Decide if a hamper system will work for your family. Then teach everyone to use it. Get the most out of the system by having different hampers for different colors and fabric types to reduce your sorting time.

Things you can do at home, office, gym or away...

Remember these shortcuts for best laundry outcomes and as preventatives for everyday laundry dilemmas. And if you know about something that works for you, share it with others!

• Act fast for best stain removal results. Check out tips from Tide for treating stains while you're on the go — and remember to take Tide to Go with you to help eliminate many fresh food and drink stains on the spot.
• Save energy and money while protecting fabrics and colors by washing in cold water and using specially formulated Tide Coldwater.
• To machine-dry a damp load faster, add a dry bath towel.
• To avoid unnecessary wrinkles, don't over-stuff the washer or dryer and remove clothes from the dryer right away.
• Use the Downy Wrinkle Releaser Spray-Tug-Smooth method instead of ironing.
• Use Dryel® in your dryer instead of taking clothes to the dry cleaners. It works in less than 30 minutes!
• Use fabric softener sheets, like Bounce®, in envelopes to help freshen stored clothing continuously.
• Use Febreze to freshen fabrics when you don’t have time to wash and dry items.

See? That didn't take long! Now use these shortcuts and any others you can to not only make the laundry process more efficient but to help you relax and enjoy the time you do spend at home!