Laundry
Everything (and more!) you ever wanted to know.
Vamp Angela sent us a terrific article a while back that helps breaks laundry down. Here are some tips from it and other articles, plus experience:
Sorting:
Read the clothes labels to determine how to sort them. In general, I have a load of whites to wash cold, a load of colors to wash cold, a load of colors to wash warm, towels, and sheets.
Why is this important? Clothes last longer--the fabric and colors--when they are washed according to the manufacturer's settings. In general, cold washing is best for delicate clothes, and many manufacturers (like Old Navy, J.Crew, the GAP, etc) now recommend their basics like t-shirts get washed in cold water to extend their life and keep them from shrinking. It's important to separate out whites from colors to keep the colors from bleeding, however slightly, onto whites, causing the whites to look dingy.
Pretreating:
While sorting your clothes, check for any stains. These should be treated with a stain remover before being washed. This is also the best opportunity to treat under-arm stains.
Why is this important? Pretreating stains allows for cleaning agents to start breaking up the stain before you even start the washing machine. Always check after the wash cycle to see if the stain is gone; if it is, dry the article of clothing normally. If the stain is still there, treat and wash it again before putting it in the dryer, as the heat will set the stain, making it nearly impossible to get out.
Setting the machine:
Every washing machine is different, so it s important to understand what you need to adjust. Most machines require you to set the temperature--hot, warm, or cold. Depending on the type of machine you have, this also affects the type of wash cycle and how long the clothes are agitated while submerged in water. Cold water washes are more gentle than hot ones. You may also need to set the water level, which should reflect how large of a laundry load you're doing. All clothes should be submerged in water. Once your settings are in place, start the water and add the detergent before you add the clothes.
Why is this important? The right settings prevent clothes from shrinking, bleeding, and fading. It's important to dissolve the detergent before washing the clothes to minimize detergent residue buildup on the clothes.
Drying:
Check your clothes' labels to see what can go in the dryer and at what setting. Any delicates washed in a mesh bag should be air dried, as should anything with spandex or Lycra. Always clean the lint filter before putting your clothes in the dryer, and use one dryer sheet per load. Dryer sheets should not be used with towels as they (and fabric softeners) cause silicone buildups on the individual terry fibers, ultimately leading the towels to be less absorbent.
Why is this important? Proper dryer settings, like proper washer settings, ensure the lifespans of your clothes, sheets, and towels are as long as possible. Over drying can cause clothes to shrink and fabrics to weaken.
Shout Color Catcher:
Keep your reds, whites, and blues separate when washing with this great product from Shout. Vamp Alison writes, “The sheet ‘catches’ the dye that comes off new clothes and would otherwise turn other clothes pink or blue. It may not catch everything but it sure helps. Also if you pull clothes out of the washer and they are dyed from another piece of clothing, I have put them back in the washer and thrown a color catcher sheet in and run it through again. It will take some of the color out of the dyed piece if you do it before you put it in the dryer though. They are amazing. After you take them out of the washer you can see the sheet is pink or blue and how much it actually caught.”
Downy Wrinkle Release:
Vamp Kara just introduced me to a wonderful secret, which falls under the same category as Tide to Go, which is to say it’s not something currently hiding in your pantry, but is something you want on your side: Downy Wrinkle Release. She sprayed it on a dress that had been folded in my suitcase overnight right before I got in the shower, and my dress was ready to wear by the time I got out.
Concentrated detergent:
Concentrated detergents are better for the environment. Hundreds of millions of gallons of water are wasted to dilute laundry detergents yearly, before they even reach your washing machine. Also, look for the plastic bottles with smooth curves—the closer the shape is to a sphere, the less plastic it uses, as my engineer sister told me.
Salt:
Salt is great for treating a lot of stains before you do the laundry. First, treat the stain with your usual pre-wash stain remover right away; then apply salt on top of the stain remover. You can do this again before you wash it if it's a particularly big stain. This takes out most red wine stains, as well as blood). I've heard salt can help grass stains, too, but I haven't personally tried that.
Lint Control:
The trick I've learned for cleaning our lint filters and any others for the quick, in-between cycles cleaning, is to use a used dryer sheet to clean it out. The dryer sheet picks up all of the lint easily. So when I can open the dryer door and hold my clothes back inside, I then look for the dryer sheet that was in that load to clean out all the lint before taking my clothes out.
Salad Spinner:
Vamp Robin sent this great tip: a salad spinner is of course great when it comes time to dry your lettuce, but it's also great in drying a cashmere sweater or other delicates. Anything that's hand-wash only can be put in a salad spinner and spun dry. After the initial water has been spun out, remove the garment and lay it flat to dry. This will help it keep its shape and is better for the material than ringing it dry. It's cheaper and faster than dry cleaning, and your garment will be ready to wear the next day!
Ironing:
Make the most of your ironing! To improve your ironing when using a high setting (like for cotton), don’t set your iron upright while you adjust the fabric. The steam builds when the iron is face down and the iron stays hot, allowing it to smooth out wrinkles faster and more thoroughly. Of course only do this when adjusting the fabric isn’t going to take more than a few seconds—otherwise you may end up burning your ironing pad. This works especially well on pillowcases, table cloths, cloth napkins, etc.
