5 Common Laundry Mistakes
Laundry is something we’ve all (hopefully) been doing our whole lives. Part of being a functional, happy adult is making sure the laundry is taken care of, after all. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complex than some people give it credit for. Mistakes are more common than you might realize, and they can cost you your favorite dress… Or even get you sick. Though these potential mistakes are numerous and common, they can be avoided easily. In this article, we’ll go over some of the most common mistakes people make with laundry… And what to do instead.
By the time you finish reading, you’ll know how to keep your clothes in the best shape they can be.
Over-Scrubbing Your Clothes
It’s natural to start scrubbing and rubbing your clothes with water as soon as they get stained. It seems to make sense. If you get mud in, scrub hard to get it all out! Problem solved, right? Unfortunately, this winds up doing working stains into the fabric rather than lifting stains out. What’s worse, it can damage delicate fabric. Instead, what you should do is gently dab up as much of the stain as you can. Next, please put it in a wash cycle before the stain can set.
Ignoring Permanent Press Settings
If you don’t iron your clothes, it’s important to know that they don’t have to be wrinkly. Wrinkles develop due to high heat and heat retention that dry the fabric and bond the starches. Thus, a medium heat cycle that prevents moisture retention and allows the clothes to cool can reduce wrinkles. In fact, this has been proven. That’s why the permanent press feature is there. A permanent press gives your delicate clothes a medium heat dry and allows them to cool down. This will leave you with wrinkle-free clothes, ready to iron.
Using Too Much Detergent
A lot of people assume that more soap means cleaner clothes. Again – This seems like a natural idea! Unfortunately, it will wind up having the opposite of the intended effect. What winds up happening is that the soap creates more suds – More bubbles. These adhere to clothing and the bacteria and dirt they’re holding. What’s worse is the suds don’t wash out completely. They can cling to areas like collars or straps. Instead, you should use a small amount of detergent to start. Next time you wash, use a little more if it doesn’t get clean. You never want to overdo it, no matter how nice it might smell.
Leaving Things Fastened
Whether it’s buttons or zippers, you want to make sure there are no points of tension on your clothes. When you put them in the wash, they go through a rigorous process of getting twisted, scrubbed, pushed around, soaked… And in the dryer, this can worsen with gravity thrown into the mix. So unzip everything, and undo every button before you wash. It prevents damage to your clothes.
Laundry Mistakes – Not Doing It!
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to let laundry lay around. This should almost go without saying, but… No matter how clean you keep your floors, your feet track bacteria. These can be minor things like bacillus or more dangerous things like staphylococcus. Your floor also “breathes” bacteria, and microscopic things living on the floor expel gasses. These gasses can lead to a musky smell in your clothes… And it can even attract bedbugs. The oils and bacteria that leave your body and continue to live in your clothes create a space that bed bugs love to occupy.
But we get it – Laundry can be time-consuming. If you’re swamped with chores, give a professional cleaning service a try. The pros at Chosen Sani-Fresh Maids know you have more important things to do. So let us take care of the clean-up and ease some of the burdens. You can visit our website to learn more.
