These laundry habits are hard to break, but you should do so as soon as possible if you want your clothes and washing machine to last longer.
These laundry habits are hard to break, but you should do so as soon as possible if you want your clothes and washing machine to last longer.
Washing has become a breeze thanks to washing machines. Today's detergents are pre-measured, contain more effective cleaning enzymes, and are better for the environment. Washing machines are also larger, gentler on clothes, and can be programmed for almost any fabric type and load. What's more, automatic dryers make it easier to hang clothes outside in the winter, offering cycle options for every fabric type and even a sanitizing function.
With all these innovations, it's no surprise that some of the laundry "rules" we learned years ago are ready to be replaced. Here are some outdated laundry habits that are damaging your clothes and your washing machine that you should ditch right now.
Monday is "Laundry Day"
'Laundry on Monday, iron on Tuesday, mend on Wednesday, turn on Thursday, clean on Friday, and bake on Saturday' is the mantra most young women learned years ago. Forget this schedule and ditch the outdated notion of doing all your laundry on one day, as it can leave you overwhelmed.
Invest in several laundry baskets and teach family members to sort dirty clothes by color and fabric. Put a load in the washing machine before work and transfer it to the dryer at the end of the day. Add another load to wash before bed and hang to dry in the morning. Fold and put away each clean load so clothes don't pile up!
Use hot water for cleaner clothes
In the old days, clothes were boiled in large pots of hot water over a fire to clean them. These clothes were usually made of heavy cotton or linen that could withstand high temperatures. Today's synthetic fabrics, silks, and finely woven natural cottons will not withstand repeated washing in hot water. Furthermore, hot water can cause dark clothes to fade. With advances in the cleaning power of powerful detergents, cold or warm water is all you need to remove most stains and dirt.
Add detergent for cleaner clothes
Adding detergent to each load may seem like a solution to cleaner clothes, but it can actually make the problem worse. Using too much detergent leaves residue on fabrics, traps dirt and odors, and makes clothes stiff and rough. One of the worst laundry habits is to add detergent to the washing machine and pour it over dirty clothes or add a handful of detergent tablets. High-efficiency front-load and top-load washing machines only need one tablet, or about two teaspoons, per full load.
Clean clothes are fragrant.
While you may like the smell of detergent left on your clothes after washing, that doesn't mean they're clean. Clean clothes don't smell like grease, sweat, or food. Strongly scented detergents often mask these smells, but they come back as our body heat releases them from the fabric. Try washing your clothes with unscented detergent to see if your clothes get clean.
Never change the washing modes
You set the washer and dryer controls and never change them.
You'll save money and get better laundry results if you take the time to reset the load, cycle, water temperature, and dryer settings for each load. Consider the load size, soil level, and fabric type each time you load your washer or dryer.
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