Top 10 Laundry Lessons
Is the dry cleaners taking you to the cleaners? Well learn to do your own laundry…properly. Here’s our list of the Top 10 Laundry Lessons.
Sorting
Mixing things up puts a spark in any relationship, but when it comes to laundry, the key is to keep things sorted.
Separate colours: Purchase 4 or 5 large plastic clothes hampers. Label them, jeans, whites, darks, towels and delicates. Label them to match your laundry once it’s separated.
Empty pockets: Regardless of where your money has been, Queen Victoria doesn’t need to be laundered. Turn those pockets inside out, you might even find some spare change for a special post-laundry treat!
Remove accessories: Belts and pins look great on your clothes but they’re not washer or dryer friendly. They could get damaged while being laundered or damage the rest of the load.
Read labels for special care: The care tags tell you whether an item can be machine washed and at what temperature. Synthetics (polyester) and natural fibers (cotton) are two friends who just don’t get along. Keep different fabrics separated, or that friendship is going to look pilled, and that’s never pleasant.
Removing Stains
Reclaim your laundry by acting quickly on stains.
- Always check the label for care instructions.
- Test stain removal methods on a hidden seam or other inconspicuous spot. You want to check to see if it’s colorfast before applying a treatment to a noticeable area of the clothing. Do not use if the color changes.
- Use a stain removing producer that contains a degreaser on stains that contain grease.
- Oxygen Bleach will remove most stains. Use an eyedropper to absorb the bleach and then apply to the stain and use a toothbrush to scrub the area.
- Then wash the item thoroughly to remove stain residue as well as the product residue.
- Be patient. Stain removal can take time. Sometimes repeat treatments may be required. Be sure to thoroughly check the garment before drying to determine if a repeat treatment is necessary. Drying will cause a stain to set.
General Wash
Do not overload your washer. Your clothes need room to circulate freely; otherwise the detergent will not be distributed evenly and your load will not get a thorough cleaning or rinsing. Permanent press and synthetics, like sweaters, should have fewer items per load in order to limit the amount of wrinkling.
Water Temperature: All colored fabrics should be washed in cold water unless otherwise stated on the care label. Cold water works just fine and uses less energy.
Odd things you can put in the wash: Slippers, oven mitts, sleeping bags and running shoes are all ok to put in the washing machine.
Sleeping bags: pre-treat and pre-soak your sleeping bag to save energy in the wash. Only wash your sleeping bag at the end of the season. Tossing in a tennis ball keeps the down evenly distributed.
Running shoes: as long as they’re not made of leather, wash them with cold water. Remember to remove the laces. You can put them in the dryer on low temperature but the best way to make sure your shoes keep their shape is to air dry them on a shoe rack.
Dry Cleaning
Dry cleaning cleans clothes without the use of water – that’s a strange idea! A special cleaning fluid is used to immerse and clean the garments, and is called “dry” cleaning because no water is used in the process.
Sometimes there’ll be items that aren’t recommended for the wash. Taking these clothes to the dry cleaners is one of your options. The garments at the cleaners are first tagged and inspected for stains. After the stains have been pre-treated, the dry cleaning begins and the clothing is checked for linger stains before being folded and pressed into packages.
The chemicals used in the dry cleaning process can be unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly so a good alternative is to ‘wet clean’ your clothes instead. This is a process used by professional cleaning companies that uses water instead of chemicals to clean your valuable garments. Anything that can be dry cleaned can be wet cleaned, even your beautiful silk blouse and wool suit jacket.
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Bleaching
We recommend Oxygen Bleach instead of Chlorine Bleach because Chlorine bleach can deteriorate fabrics and remove the colour but Oxygen Bleach is colour and fabric safe. Laundry detergents that contain bleach also work well.
Using bleach in your washing machine
Start the washing machine fill cycle. Add the recommended amount of bleach to the water if you do not have a specific bleach reservoir. Add the detergent and then add the clothes.
Alternative
Try hanging laundry out on the line in the sunshine. Tanning may be bad for your skin, but it’s great for clothes. Sunlight’s ultraviolet rays actually change chemical bonds in fabrics to keep clothes fresh.
Delicates
Hand washing is a great way to help protect your clothes from damage caused by the agitator in a washing machine. Here’s how:
- Fill a basin with whatever temperature is recommended on the care label
- add the recommended amount of fine-washables detergent
- swirl your hand in the water to mix, then add your garment and let it soak for about 20 minutes
- work the suds through the garment but do not rub
- rinse the garment 2-3 times
- lay item on a clean towel, rolling up the towel and pressing the roll to squeeze out the excess water
- unroll the towel and place the garment flat on a dry towel or drying rack to air-dry
- to speed up the drying process, turn the item over after a while and place it on another dry towel.
Machine Maintenance
Remove Lint
Clean the dryer’s lint filter after each use. A clogged filter will restrict air flow, and your dryer will use more energy to get the clothes dry.
Wash the Washer
Some high-efficiency washers are designed to use low water and airtight seals which is great for saving energy but results in an accumulation of dirt and detergent resides which can lead to mould and mildew.
To solve or prevent this problem, you need to wash your washer about once a month. We don’t recommend using bleach because although it may temporarily reduce odour, it doesn’t get rid of the residue that causes the odour. Instead, we recommend a product called Affresh, which uses oxygenating action to lift the residues from the surface of the washer, allowing them to be rinsed away.
To use it you remove the clothing from the washer tub, add one Power Puck tablet to the washer tub and run the washer on the “normal” cycle or “clean wash” cycle, selecting the hot water option. When the cycle is complete, wipe out the washer if any residue remains.
You can get Affresh at Wal-Mart, Loblaw’s, Zellers, and Safeway.
Reshaping a Sweater
Sweaters should reshaped and dry flat on a drying rack towel in order to maintain its shape while air drying. Be sure to turn the item over during drying, to save drying time and circulate air evenly.
When reshaping, lay the item on a towel and using your hands, place the material in its original structure by moving it around either making it smaller in areas that look stretched or pulling on areas that look like they’ve shrunk. Pay special attention to ribbing on cuffs and collars.
Ironing
Iron those worry wrinkles away. Pristine clothing is achievable with these easy steps:
- Check the care label. It will tell you if the item can be ironed and at what setting.
- Fill the iron with water and set the iron on the appropriate setting.
- Plug in the iron and wait for it to heat up. Remember to set the iron upright and be careful not to touch the metal faceplate.
- Turn your clothes inside out (the side that touches the iron is the same side that touches your body). Cotton and silky Rayons are an exception, make sure these clothes are right side out (the side that touches the iron is the outside of the clothing).
- Spray starch (optional)
- Begin ironing. Remember to always keep your iron moving to distribute the heat. Once you iron a section, move the garment away from you. If you move it towards you, it may wrinkle.
How to make your own Starch: “Crisp” clothes can be obtained using your own starch spray. Dissolve one tablespoon of cornstarch in two cups of water. Put this solution into a clean spray bottle and lightly mist the fabric right before you iron on that spot.
Steaming: Stubborn wrinkles can be removed by spraying a bit of water on it. Hold the iron just above the garment so that the steam thoroughly penetrates the fabric, then smooth it along the ribs with your palm. Moist clothes are easier to iron, but keep your hands away from the steam!
Folding
Sure, you don’t work in retail, but there’s no reason why your clothes should look great on display in your closet. Here’s how the pros do it:
- Lay the shirt out flat with the back facing you. Make sure you’re folding on a flat surface.
- Lay a clipboard with the top clip portion sticking out over the neck of the shirt. (you can also use a kitchen chopping board)
- Make a fold by bringing the arm and shoulder towards the centre. Use the side of the clipboard to make the fold straight.
- Fold the arm of the shirt back towards the side of the shirt, crease the arm until it lays parallel to the side of the shirt.
- Repeat the above steps with the other arm so that both sides are identical
- Take the bottom of the shirt and fold it up over the folded arms. Press down and crease all edges to make the shirt as flat as possible.
- Flip the shirt over with the clipboard still inside.
- Pull the clipboard out of the shirt from the top and voila — perfectly folded, flat shirt.
Folded clothes can be stacked and stored in a drawer. T-shirts, sweaters, and knits are best kept folded because they tend to stretch when hung.
