Oct 26, 2011 3:48 AM GMT
I try to simplify the household laundry without sacrificing quality. I have a few basic separations:
-Whites
-Colored shirts, underwear & socks (I separate the underwear & socks from the shirts if there's a lot to do)
-Jeans & Trousers (I separate denim from khakis & dress slacks if needed)
-Bedding
-Towels & Washcloths
I wash whites in warm water, colored clothes & pants in cold water, bedding & towels in hot water. I add bleach to the bedding and whites.
Some tips: Use a scoop of oxygen cleaner with every load. The generics use the same ingredients as Oxyclean, so buy generic and save money. It has to be dissolved in hot water before dumping the solution into the wash if you're washing in cold water (I keep an old jar & lid for this purpose). Don't use fabric softener on towels, because it will inhibit their soaking ability. They're soft enough as it is.
It's been my experience that the temperature of the wash cycle is more critical to preventing clothes shrinkage than the drying cycle. The colder the water, the less your clothes will shrink (but the less clean they get, too). Luckily, neither of us get particularly dirty, so it's not much of a problem.
Also, watch the amount of detergent you use, particularly if you use an ultra-concentrated detergent. The manufacturers put the same size caps on the concentrated detergents as they do the regular ones in an effort to get you to use too much. We tend to use way too much detergent when we do laundry; it doesn't take much. If your clothes start to feel "gunky," it's usually detergent build-up. On your next cycle, wash your clothes with three squirts of Dawn dish soap instead, and it will strip the detergents off your clothes. Just be sure not to use too much, or your machine will suds over.
-Whites
-Colored shirts, underwear & socks (I separate the underwear & socks from the shirts if there's a lot to do)
-Jeans & Trousers (I separate denim from khakis & dress slacks if needed)
-Bedding
-Towels & Washcloths
I wash whites in warm water, colored clothes & pants in cold water, bedding & towels in hot water. I add bleach to the bedding and whites.
Some tips: Use a scoop of oxygen cleaner with every load. The generics use the same ingredients as Oxyclean, so buy generic and save money. It has to be dissolved in hot water before dumping the solution into the wash if you're washing in cold water (I keep an old jar & lid for this purpose). Don't use fabric softener on towels, because it will inhibit their soaking ability. They're soft enough as it is.
It's been my experience that the temperature of the wash cycle is more critical to preventing clothes shrinkage than the drying cycle. The colder the water, the less your clothes will shrink (but the less clean they get, too). Luckily, neither of us get particularly dirty, so it's not much of a problem.
Also, watch the amount of detergent you use, particularly if you use an ultra-concentrated detergent. The manufacturers put the same size caps on the concentrated detergents as they do the regular ones in an effort to get you to use too much. We tend to use way too much detergent when we do laundry; it doesn't take much. If your clothes start to feel "gunky," it's usually detergent build-up. On your next cycle, wash your clothes with three squirts of Dawn dish soap instead, and it will strip the detergents off your clothes. Just be sure not to use too much, or your machine will suds over.
