Some Common Laundry Mistakes
1. Separate very dirty or muddy clothes apart from lightly soiled pieces, and heavy or abrasive fabrics like denim from more delicate ones.
2. Believe it or not, there’s a right and wrong way to load the washing machine. For best detergent distribution (read: cleaner clothes), place laundry in first, then add water, and lastly add soap. However, if you’re using bleach, add water first, then clothes, and then soap.
3. If you have time to air dry, do it. it’s gentler on delicate items and helps stretchy clothing, like yoga pants, to keep their shape. Whenever you do tumble-dry, don’t overload the dryer, or over-dry fabrics. Then fold or hang them immediately to prevent wrinkles.
4. Losing socks? Try placing socks in the washer first, then adding everything else. This makes them less likely to attach to other garments, which often causes them to go missing.
5. Loose zippers can snag delicate clothing, as well as scratch the doors of front-loading washers. Make sure they’re all the way up before you toss in the machine. Also, unclipped bras can pull fabrics or damage the drum if they fly around loose. Invest in lingerie bags or an old pillowcase as a solution.
6. Washing a button-down shirt with the buttons fastened can damage the buttons and rip the buttonholes.
7. The best way to treat a stain is to gently dab it, working from the outside in. And, of course, the earlier you treat it, the more likely it is to go away.