The Right Way To Wash Your Clothes
You own multiple items of clothing. They come in different colors and are made with different materials. So how do you wash them all?
The solution, we can tell you right off the bat, is to not cram them into a single machine, dump a bunch of detergent in and turn the knob to hot.
Sure, this method will remove foul odors, but it will also make your clothes look dingy and not last as long. So, what do? Here's a few guidelines from around the web.1
Have thoughts or a question about laundry? Share it in today's Dialog.
Before You Even Touch A Washing Machine
Yes, You Should Separate Your Clothes
We understand, doing your laundry is a major bummer. And the idea of sorting your stinky, soiled garments between colors and brights is an even bigger bummer. But you're an adult now. You have to do these things. Here's Cheryl Mendelson, author of Laundry: The Home Comforts Book Of Caring For Clothes And Linens, explaining the importance of separating your clothes in the New York Times:
Keeping like-colored clothing together maintains its brightness, Ms. Mendelson said. She recommends separating clothes into five categories: whites; lights and almost-whites (yellows and whites with prints); brights (reds, oranges and light blues); darks (purples and blues); and blacks and browns.
Decoding Your Clothes' Washing Instructions Tags
First off, print or save this handy chart to your phone.
Now, on your piece of clothing there is a tag with a handful of shapes : A bucket of water, a square, a triangle, an iron and maybe a circle.
The bucket of water indicates how you should wash your clothes, the square designates how they should be dried, the triangle represents bleach use and the iron is for, uh, ironing.
In general the more dots each shape has, the higher temperature you should use, and the more lines underneath the shape means you should wash it on a more gentle cycle. So: a water bucket with three dots and two lines means you should wash it with hot water on the gentle cycle.
Let's take a look at a sample tag:
Pull up your chart. What do you see? From the top-left going clockwise: Machine wash warm, on permanent press; use only color-safe bleach; tumble dry, permanent press on low heat; iron with medium heat.
If you own a piece of clothing that has a circle, just take it to the dry cleaners.
Cold Water Is Just Fine, Though
Granted, going through every single piece of clothing and decoding the laundry car tags can be a literal chore. When in doubt, using cold water won't damage your clothes and is less wasteful:
A recent estimate from Consumer Reports suggests that using a cold-water detergent and setting your machine to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to 75 degrees Fahrenheit) can save you at least $60 annually in utilities.
Second, cold water can make your clothes last longer. Heat can break down dyes in the clothes and cause shrinkage. Thus, by washing clothes in cold water, colors last longer and clothes retain their size and shape.
What To Do With Stains
If you are reading this with stained shirt in hand, it may be too late. The key to fighting stains is acting quick, before the offending liquid manages to fully set itself within the fibers. As with most things we defer to Martha:
If you stain a washable garment, the golden rule is: Act quickly. For a liquid, gently blot up any excess with a white cloth, working from the outside in, so you don't spread the stain; do not press hard or rub. Sprinkle an oily stain with cornstarch. If it's a dollop of something, like ketchup, scoop off any excess. Dab the area with cool water, which will lighten most spots and remove others altogether.
Pick The Right Detergent
There's plenty to consider when it comes to soap. There's form-factor — liquid, powder and pods — and feature-set — optical brighteners, color-safe bleach and high efficiency detergents.
First, it's helpful to know just how soap actually works. Here, CNET offers an exhaustive explanation:
When you put a small amount of detergent in water, these two parts of the detergent molecules argue. The benzosulfate bit is happy to swim about loosely bonding with water, while the dodecane chain hates water. If these molecules bump into something they feel better about (such as, say a bit of fat from milk on your shirt), they reach a compromise, with the dodecyl chain attaching to the fat, and the benzosulfate chain happily hanging out with the water. As things slosh about, the bit of fat will attract the dodecyl chain of more detergent molecules, covering it. The benzosulfate bit is still trying to hang onto the water, though. Eventually, the two reach a compromise by creating a small globe around the bit of fat or oil, which then floats off the shirt into the water.
[CNET]
And what about color-safe bleach? Consumer Reports is pretty clear:
Color-safe bleach is useful if you need to whiten or lighten up an item that cannot be bleached with chlorine bleach, that has a stain that's out of the ordinary on it (you spilled red wine, fruit juice, blood, or something colored), or that has been run though the wash but a stain did not come out.
Taking all of this into consideration The Sweethome extensively tested a wide variety of detergents. Their pick? Tide Plus Bleach Alternative HE Liquid. Not the most cleverly-named but it's good stuff. Here's why:
In our tests, it was simply the best at getting out nine different stains in both cold and warm water. Its price, roughly 36 cents per load, is in the middle among the detergents we tested, but if clean is queen for you, that's not too much to pay.
And if you have the time, their detergent review is well worth the read — you'll know more about detergents than a normal person should. Which is good! You should always know more than the average citizen.
And What About Fabric Softener?
Truthfully, it's a bonus. If you want your cottony garments nice a soft, sure, it does the trick. But it's an extra expense and if used with the wrong fabrics, could ruin them. According to Good Housekeeping, the residue that fabric softener leaves on clothes is no good for things that need to absorb moisture, like sportswear and towels.
Congrats, Your Clothes Are Clean. Now Dry Them
Ideally, once your clothes are washed, you would have a large clothesline to hang them out amongst a verdant, lavender-strewn field. Not all of us have this luxury. For most of us, we must resort to the drying machine. Again, read the labels on your clothing. There are some things, like sportswear, that should always be hung out to dry.
The first, and probably most common mistake, is to just heap your ball of wet laundry into the dryer. Better Homes And Gardens recommends otherwise:
Give just-washed clothes a glance and a shake. Glance at them to see if the washing machine did its part in removing stains. If stains remain, take another shot at treating them. If a stained garment goes into the dryer, the stain will likely become permanent. Shake out garments or linens before putting them in the dryer to remove hidden items (such as socks), help items dry faster, and help reduce wrinkles.
The second mistake is to just crank your machine to high heat. About.com explains why that's a bad idea:
Vary the heat level. Not everything should be dried on HOT. It may seem that that's the quickest, best way. But excessively high heat contributes to shrinkage and damage to clothes from overdrying.
[About]
Once your clothes are dry, please try and fold them immediately. You just spent all that time and effort to clean them, you should try and preserve that crispness! Not sure how to fold a fitted sheet or your nice dress shirt? No worries. Real Simple will teach you how to fold anything. Just don't fold on doing laundry! Ha. No reason this can't be fun.
Looking for more tips on how to be an adult? Check out our previous editions. And for more stuff from Digg, check out our Originals archive.
