Dry cleaning our clothes is a necessity for many and can be both costly and time consuming. Can we really dry clean our clothing at home?

You know that pile of sweaters in the corner of your closet? You know that they need attention and care, but you don’t really want to rush them to the cleaners. I know, it’s a hassle and one more errand to run.

In the hopes that I can some how avoid these dry cleaner errands and expense, I just had to try dry cleaning at home. I tried the Dryel At-Home Dry Cleaner Starter Kit. Here’s what happened when I used this kit to clean my clothing.

I purchased a few sweaters that need to be dry cleaned, but because I often dread going to the dry cleaners, they’ve been sitting in a pile waiting to be taken to the dry cleaners, sigh. So, you can imagine my excitement at the thought of discovering an easier method for cleaning delicate clothing.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS

Start with the included stain removing pen that disperses a small amount of cleaning liquid. The packaging instructs you to use the pen’s rubber tip like an eraser on the stain on your item.

The next step in the kit is to use the odor and wrinkle release spray. After using the pen and the spray, you drop up to five pieces of clothing in the provided reusable bag.

The kit comes with dryer sheets that feel like larger wet wipes. The purpose of the sheets is to create steam inside the bag once it’s zipped closed and placed in the dryer for up to 30 minutes. 

THE RESULTS?

Clothing had a fresh scent and appeared to be clean. I let my clothes stay in the dryer for about 20 minutes. The instructions stated to leave items in the dryer for 15-30 minutes.

Note: While the clothes smelled fresh and clean they came out of the dryer bag slightly wrinkled. 

CONCLUSION

Can we dry clean our clothes at home? The answer is absolutely, yes.The fact that the clothes came out slightly wrinkled isn’t a huge deal for our household, and I would definitely use this kit again. I don’t know if this kit would replace all dry cleaning for every household if the expectation is to not have any wrinkles.  but it can extend the time between dry cleaner visits and solve those last-minute dry-cleaning needs.  I’m happy to skip the hassle, expense and harsh chemicals of the dry cleaners when possible! 

Consumer Reports has some helpful tips to determine if you actually really do need to dry clean clothing when it’s labeled as dry clean only.

AFTER THOUGHTS & IDEAS

I just had an idea as I’m writing this post. We have an assortment of stuffed animals that my son will probably NEVER want to part with. The dry cleaning kit would be a perfect way to freshen them up.

I will update post when I try using Dryel on other items and share any tips and ideas.

 

**** UPDATE****

Hooray! I tried these dry cleaning bags on all of our stuffed animal friends. The results are we now have fresh cleaned furry friends. : )