One of the first things I had to tackle on my own as a newly minted adult, was doing my laundry. I was lucky enough – or unlucky, depending on how you look at it – to have a mom who preferred to do all of my family’s laundry herself. So needless to say on the first Sunday morning after I got to college, I was not entirely prepared or knowledgeable on how to wash my clothes.

Sure, I could have just thrown everything in the machine, thrown in some detergent, and hoped for the best, but at the very least my mom told me to not wash my whites and my colors together. Now, if that is your preferred method, that’s great, but laundry can look like it is that simple until you do a load and realize you have about half a dozen different kinds of fabrics, colors, and care requirements. A white cotton undershirt, a pair of black jeans, a silk blouse, a pair of leggings and a red towel may all look like just clothes, but shouldn’t be washed the same way.

Pre-Wash

The first thing you want to do is read the care label on any unfamiliar or expensive garments.
It may tell you things like:

• Machine vs. Hand wash
• Cold vs. Warm vs. Hot water temp
• Use Permanent Press or the Gentle cycle
• Do not wash, Do not bleach
• Tumble Dry or dry low vs. Line dry or Lay flat to dry
• Dry Clean only
• Do not Iron

Now while certain types of clothing will probably survive if you don’t follow the care label exactly, repeatedly washing them incorrectly can cause them to wear out of become damaged much sooner.

Check Your Pockets

Before you put anything in the washer, check every pocket. This can become one of the more important habits to get into when getting ready to do laundry. A tiny tissue can explode into hundreds of little pieces of paper fragments. A pen can stain your entire load. Coins can damage your washing machine or get caught in the drain system. Other forgotten objects can damage your washing machine.

Close Your Zippers, Fasten Your Closures, and Turn Some Clothes Inside Out

This can include hooks, some buttons, Velcro, snaps, and buckles. You don’t need to button every button on a shirt however. Leave a couple undone to reduce stress on the fabric around buttonholes. The general rule is to prevent anything from snagging other clothes.

Turning clothes inside out can also protect the outside fabric and make them last longer. This can be useful for:

• Dark Clothing
• Graphic T-Shirts
• Printed Garmets
• Jeans
• Embroidered Garments
• Anything pronr to pilling (formation of little fuzzy balls of tangled fibers)

Turning clothing inside out can help reduce visible fading and wear on prints or other exterior finishes.

Check for Stains

You paid good money for your clothes, so you don’t want them getting stained up. Pay attention from head to toe:

• Collars
• Underarms
• Cuffs
• Front of the shirt
• Around pockets
• Knees
• ANYWHERE on children’s clothes

Treat any stains before they go in the washer. Your washer can seem like a magic box that will clean everything, but it’s only great at general cleaning.

Sort your laundry

Last step before washing is to sort your laundry. Again if you are a person that just wants to throw everything in at once, more power to you. I have done it myself a time or two. At a minimum separate into these catagoies:

• Whites
• Dark Colors : Black – Navy – Dark gray, brown, green
• Bright Colors: Red – Orange – Yellow – Bright Blue – Purple – Pink
• Light Colors: Pale Blue – Light Pink – Beige – Light Gray – Pastels
• Delicates – Silk – Lace – Fine Wool – Cashmere
• Towels – Keep separate because their weight and texture can cause extra wear

Now that we’ve got everything sorted, it’s time to tackle all those buttons and settings on the washing machine. We’ll learn what they all mean in the next post.