As mothers, laundry is one of the household chores that is done often and may sound easier than it really is. Turns out that it is more than just tossing the clothes in the laundry machine and removing them when they are clean!
Laundry requires proper preparation, detergent use, and a wash method to keep fabrics in optimal condition. If you are not careful with your laundry practices, it might damage your clothes and what is more baffling is that not all laundry mistakes have an easy fix; some are even irreversible.
First-time moms or not, even a bachelor makes laundry mistakes. It’s rare to find someone who has never experienced a laundry mishap.
Which Mistake Do You Experience Most?
Laundry mistakes are costly, a waste of time, and potentially damaging to your washing machine. This article does not give you a solution and lets you be complacent in making these mistakes repeatedly. Instead, it helps you solve your laundry mistake and remind you to prevent making the same mistakes after (plus a few laundry hacks you should know!)
- Washing laundry in one day.
Do you spend your Saturday washing, drying, and putting away laundry? It becomes a handful, isn’t it? Sometimes you might want to find laundry near me. Doing your week-worth of laundry in one day can be a little tiring than expected.
For example, wash the dark-colored clothes on Monday, light-colored ones on Tuesday, delicates on Wednesday, and work outfits on Saturday. This is only an example. Create a schedule that works best for you. Having a laundry schedule will give you a minimal amount of clothes to fold.
Moreover, it prevents you from having uneven or excess wash loads. Keep your clothes clean by loading enough clothes inside the washer.
- Uneven wash loads.
After going out on walks with your dog or cycling outdoors, do you immediately throw your dirty clothes inside the washing machine and cross your fingers that everything will go well. Putting everything without sorting your laundry will lead to several mistakes.
Putting too much or a lesser load is not suitable for your washing machine. It has to be enough to ensure that it will not potentially damage your machine.
Moreover, it’s always necessary to check the clothes’ wash labels and sort them by color, fabric type, and dirtiness. If you don’t, your laundry load is prone to color bleed, partly cleaned clothes, and tears.
Thus, always sort your laundry before placing them inside the laundry washer. You also have to take note of how much laundry weight your washer can accommodate.
- Too much laundry detergent.
It’s a myth. You might think that using too much laundry will superbly clean your dirty clothes. But that’s one of the common laundry mistakes.
When you use too much laundry detergent, it will create extra soap suds that becomes difficult to rinse. It will result in leaving sticky residues that will attract more bacteria, dirt, and dust.
You should pay attention to the line measurement in the measuring cup and use the laundry size’s recommended amount.
- Scrubbing stains aggressively.
Scrubbing stains aggressively is not the way to remove stubborn stains, and it will only cause the stain to spread. Instead of scrubbing, pre-treat the stains as soon as possible with the natural ingredients available around you.
Blot the stain and gently dab it from the outside to safely remove it. The earlier you pretreat a stain, the better. If you wait for laundry day to remove the stain, it may be more challenging to remove them.
You can check some tips on how to remove the stains without harming your clothes safely.
- Holes in Clothes
Zippers and metal embellishments on your clothes are the culprits for these holes in clothes. These metals and zippers can snag other fabrics in the laundry washer. You have to take time in zipping up all zippers before placing them inside the washer. Moreover, do not forget to zip or close the metal embellishments on your bras; they also cause holes in clothes.
Unlike zippers, if your garments have buttons, leave them unbuttoned. It will protect them against tears in the buttonholes and protect the button threads from pulls inside the wash.
- Washing Clothes with “Dry-Clean” Label
This isn’t necessarily a mistake. You can hand wash and air-dry some garments with a “dry-clean” wash label. It includes those made from natural fibers, such as linen and most silks. If you take the risk of washing these types of fabric, you have to check for colorfastness. You may check the color fastness with a damp cotton swab and mild detergent on the hidden seam of your clothes. If the dye comes off, then you shouldn’t proceed with what you’re thinking.
If not, you can wash the garment in soapy water once or twice, but you have to rinse and extract the moisture out from it immediately. However, if you are dealing with garments made of suede, leather, silk, or with embellishments and structured pieces, you have to bring them to the nearest dry cleaning expert.
- Disregarding the washing machine’s condition.
If you misuse your washing machine, then expect that its condition will backfire.
A front-load washing machine is known for trapping moisture and bacteria around its door resulting in molds and unpleasant smells. Always remind yourself to leave the door open after each wash cycle to dry the area. Close the door when the washer drum and rubber gasket on the door feel completely dry.
Other than that, you have to clean your washing machine regularly. Your machine needs to be washed and cleaned occasionally. Grime, lint, hard-water deposits, residue, and molds build up inside the washer over time. Lints should be removed from the lint screen or filter as these are serious fire hazards. Use washing machine tablets to really get to the grime you can’t see or can’t wash off on the surface.
Modern washers have a self-clean cycle feature to help you clean your washing machine easily. If it doesn’t, you can run a cycle of hot water with vinegar. Moreover, scrub the rubber gasket and lid of the washer to remove any moisture or bacteria around. Lastly, detach the hose from the back of the dryer and clear out any buildup.
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