Laundry 101 because it turns out we all need a refresher

With the average family doing about eight laundry loads each week, you’d think we would have become clothes cleaning experts by now. It turns out however that many of us are still doing laundry wrong or, at least, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Here are our favorite facts, tips and did-you-knows about washing and drying right:

• Always stop and empty jean and other pant pockets coins aren’t that big a deal but dealing with decomposed tissues later are a big pain.
• Cold for colors, warm for whites, and hot for towels which is the best way to disinfect them.
• Don’t pour detergent, bleach or pods directly on your clothes. For top-loading washers, first, add and dissolve the cleaning agent as water fills the machine, then add clothes. For front-loaders, use the detergent tray. For either machine, don’t overfill your washer three-quarters full is full enough.
• Remove lint from the lint tray after every dryer use it’ll help your machine dry more quickly, save energy and reduce clogging of the air vent.
• Try to fold your clothes as they come out of the dryer rather than from a basket later it’ll save you time and your clothes will end up less wrinkled.
• In a rush to dry? Throw in a dry towel into the dryer with your wet clothes the towel absorbs a lot of moisture and your laundry will dry more quickly.
• If you’ve left your clothes in the dryer after the cycle is over and they’re all wrinkled, toss in a wet towel and turn on your dryer again for 15 minutes. Presto, no wrinkles!
• Put any items with Velcro in a mesh laundry bag before washing together with other clothes. Velcro can catch and damage fine knit fabrics.
• Even though the average family does about 8 laundry loads a week, laundry accounts for less than a quarter of your indoor water use. What’s the biggest water guzzler? Flushing the toilet at 41% — but we’ll save that for another blog post.
• For front-loading wash machines, clean out the rubber gasket. Detergent, lint and water will accumulate and result in a slimy, mildew residue that will stain the items in the wash. Here is to clean it.
• Finally, teach your kids how to do laundry while they’re still young it’s a great habit and it’ll save you grief later when you visit their dorm room or apartment once they move out.

What are your foolproof laundry dos and don’ts? We’d love to hear them so please share in the Shop Talk Blog community forum!

Did you know: Wash Disney World

It would take you doing laundry every day for 44 years to wash and dry as much as Walt Disney World does every day. The theme park washes 285,000 pounds daily. (Source)