Most Common Laundry Mistakes
Because it is a task that must be done, we make the mistake of choosing whatever laundry setting is the fastest and easiest. Unfortunately, making this choice can shrink, rip, and ruin your clothes.
Here are some of the most common laundry mistakes that are made and how to prevent them:
- Leaving your shirts buttoned in the wash. Contrary to what you’ve probably heard, it can be harmful to your shirts if you leave them buttoned in the wash. While the wash is tossing your clothes around it weakens the stitching, because it’s constantly being pulled on. This makes the buttons fall off much sooner. Especially for dress shirts, be sure to leave those unbuttoned.
- Overdrying your clothes. This one is pretty common. If you leave your clothes in the dryer for too long they will shrink due to the fabric getting hot. There may be a setting on your dryer that senses it and stops when your clothes are just dry enough. Although it feels warm and cozy, avoid over drying to protect your clothes.
- Not cleaning your dryer. In every dryer there is a vent of lint that needs to be removed. Not only does this help more hot air circulate so your clothes will dry faster, but it could prevent a fire. Having the fabric, dust, and skin cells having hot air blast through it for an hour is a fire waiting to happen.
- Over-scrubbing stains. When we get a stain on our favorite shirt, we have been told to grab detergent as soon as possible and to scrub the stain violently to get within the fabric fibers of the clothing. On the contrary, it is better to dab some detergent over the stain and surrounding area and wash it in a cold cycle as soon as possible to get the stain out.
- Leaving zippers unzipped. Similarly to leaving your shirts buttoned, leaving your zippers open is giving almost any piece of fabric a chance to grab onto the zipper, resulting in it ripping. This can happen in the wash or dry cycle. Be sure to never have unzipped zippers in with your fall sweaters!
- Sorting Incorrectly. While most are familiar with sorting laundry by lights and darks, we should also be separating materials as well. Washing your heavier materials such as sweaters, jeans, or towels with your nice dress shirts or slacks can result in them looking worn and dull. Heavier materials usually require the cycles to be tougher and longer while dress shirts are usually thin. Therefore, a gentler and shorter cycle is necessary.
- Overusing Detergent . It’s a logical thought to say that adding some extra detergent will help your clothes get extra clean. In reality, excess laundry detergent can cause extra suds to hold more dirt and bacteria, which prevents areas like collars from rinsing completely clean. If you would like to start adding more to get your clothes clean, add some more little by little.
If you’re tired of doing laundry, consider using our pickup and delivery service so that you never have to worry about laundry again! These are the tips we follow at both of our locations when you let us do your laundry for you! Or choose to stop by one of our locations. At Fluff & Fold, we offer a large number of modern machines and products that will have your clothes perfectly clean.
