Aug 18, 2020. Anyone raising teenagers knows that teaching them to do house chores regularly needs a little bit of patience. And it’s worth the effort. Don’t worry about the rolling eyes, the pout or the excuses. Just share this article with your teenage son or daughter. It’s another basic life skill they will absolutely need and appreciate, when they move out on their own.
Here’s how to do the laundry in 7 simple steps:
You only have to do this once for each item of clothes and then you’ll know for next time. Check to see what is OK for a washing machine, the dryer, what needs to be handwashed or only dry-cleaned.
Think about a favourite T-shirt – do you want the red love heart on your white T-shirt colouring the rest of the T-shirt so that it becomes a lovely but unwanted hue of pink? No? Then sorting is an essential step.
If you put dark colours with whites, your whites will start to look a little grey and your lighter coloured clothes will begin to look dull. Whites go with whites, darks with darks. What about in-between? Ideally light coloured clothes should be washed separately the first time. Then they can be washed with the whites.
Also sort clothes into delicates, jeans, bedding, cottons and synthetics. Read the label and work out what can be put together. At a Star Laundromat, you can have two washing machines going at the same time for two separate loads.
Really important! Tissues can disintegrate and mess up the whole load of washing and then you’ll be wearing speckled black tees for weeks!
Load the sorted clothes into the washing machine. Set the right temperature after you’ve checked the label – cold, warm or hot. The detergent will automatically be added depending on the load so no need to worry about that.
Check the label to make sure the fabric can handle a dryer. Some clothing items need to be hung to air dry, or dried flat (such as knits). Bedding, towels, shirts, jeans and other cottons can normally be placed in a dryer.
This step will save you lots of time. If you leave your laundry crumpled in the basket, you’ll be running around later trying to find the iron to make it look wearable. But if you fold immediately, you’ll be able to wear it as is without an iron.
The two golden rules about removing stains are:
Read more about how to remove the 7 most common stains to save your clothes from being thrown into the discard pile!
Our clothes and bedding are a haven for dust mites and bug debris. Did you know there are 16 species of fungi that live in our pillows and your doona contains on average 20,000 dust mites? Learn how often to wash your clothes to keep them clean and looking good for the long term.
And, don’t make these common laundry mistakes. Learning some laundry basics will save you time, money and frustration. These simple tips will keep you looking good in your tees and jeans whenever you head out.
Our laundromats have state of the art machines, are efficient and gentle on your clothes and bedding.
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