|
Are you a college student on your own for the first time? Just moved into your first residence away from your parents? Or are you a bachelor responsible for your laundry for the first time in years? Here are some helpful tips to insure that your whites stay white and not pink!
I suggest that you do laundry once a week, on the same day and at the same time. This way it becomes a routine and will keep you from putting it off and creating a mountain of dirty clothes.
1. Sort. Before you can actually start washing the clothes you must first sort the dirty laundry into two piles, light and dark. If you have to leave your house or apartment to do the wash, put the light clothing into one pillowcase and the dark into another. Be vigilant about sorting; especially if you cannot decide if an item is light enough to go with the lights. If you have doubts, put that item into the dark pile or, if you have several such items, make a separate pile for them. Mixing lights and darks leads to the notorious pink sock syndrome, for socks that were once snowy white. Each pile represents one wash load.
2. Pre-treat. Examine clothing for stains such as spaghetti sauce or grease. Pre-treat by using a pre-treatment stick, an enzymatic pre-wash such as Shout, or if using liquid detergent enough liquid out of the bottle to thoroughly saturate the stain. Rub the pre-treatment into the cloth and let it set a few minutes or follow the directions on the product label. Do not rinse out the pre-treatment.
3. Load. Place the load of laundry into the washing machine. DO NOT OVERFILL. Overloading the machine will cause the clothes to be incompletely cleaned and will cause problems in the spin cycle. It may even damage the machine and cause it to stop in the middle of the wash cycle, necessitating removal and hand wringing of the clothing. In general, laundry needs to move freely around the agitator and in the wash tub to get properly cleaned.
4. Fill. Be sure to use cold water when washing colors, especially those that may have a tendency to run or slightly fade. You may use warm or hot water for lights and whites. If in doubt, always use a cooler water temperature. Most laundry detergents work equally well in warm and cold water. Many machines have a water level indicator to match the size of the load being washed. It is better to use a bit more water than is necessary than not enough. Some washing machines have a wash time duration indicator. In general, dirtier loads should be washed longer that others. Use your judgement here.
5. Add detergent. Follow the directions on the detergent package to determine the appropriate amount of for your load. It is advisable to let the tub fill up and begin to agitate before adding the detergent. This is especially true if you use powdered detergent because you want to be sure that the soap completely dissolves.
6. Add liquid fabric softeners and/or all color bleach. Use of these products is a personal preference. All color bleaches can help to perk up colors and make whites whiter. Regular bleach should only be used in loads that contain no other colors than white. Some caution should be practiced with using regular bleach as too much of it may breakdown cloth fibers and damage fabrics. Liquid fabric softeners will make the dried clothing softer and reduce static cling. Some washers have built in dispensers for these products or you can follow the directions on the box or bottle. Some brands of liquid fabric softeners offer a "laundry ball", which you fill with softener and throw into the tub at the same time you put in the detergent.
7. Drying. As each load finishes, remove the clothing from the washer and deposit it in the dryer. You will get better drying results and drying time will be quicker if you shake each piece out before you put it into the dryer. Dryers have a larger capacity than washers do, so you can put about 1 ½ loads of wet laundry into one dryer load. If you did not add fabric softener in the wash cycle, you may want to include a fabric softener sheet in the dryer load. Before drying each load, remove any lint from the lint screen. This is important to avoid fire hazards. Generally, you can either use a timed dry setting or a setting that detects the amount of moisture left in your clothes and shuts off the dryer when the correct dryness is reached. Most dryers will ring a buzzer when the load is dry or time is up. Pay attention to this so that you can promptly remove clothing and either fold or hang it immediately. This will keep it from wrinkling and can dramatically reduce the amount of clothing that will need ironing.
By following these easy steps, you can have beautiful clothing week after week. Taking just a bit more time to do laundry right the first time and every time will help you to present yourself as a person who cares about your appearance.
| 
