Washing your clothes is as important as doing your regular activities to keep yourselves clean and healthy. This is an important activity which needs to be performed on frequent basis as you can’t engage yourself in purchasing new clothes every now and then. It is an important skill which is expected to be learnt skillfully and proficiently. Unable to learn how to wash your clothes perfectly will not only result in unhealthy outcomes or effects but also in some cases it will prove to be expensive if by any chance washing goes wrong. So read the steps given below to learn how to wash your clothes.
Complexity Level: Basic
Time Required: 20-30 minutes
Resources Required:
- Clothes
- Water
- Soap or Detergent
- Bleach
- Washing Machine
- Bucket
- Dryer
Instructions:
1. Sort your clothes into piles: Once you have collected all your dirty clothes at one place, sorting them will be your first step in washing your clothes. The most important step in separating clothes is to sort by colors and into 4 distinctive piles – white, light, dark and delicate. Mixing of dark clothes with light colored ones or white clothes with dark ones can result in poor consequences.
2. Set the water temperature: The second step consists of identifying the water temperature in which the clothes can be washed. Usually, clothes can be washed using hot, warm or cold water. Different types of water temperatures are needed for washing different types of clothes. For e.g., in general, people use warm water or cold water for washing dark colored clothes or light ones. Usually, hot water is used for washing white clothes.
3. Fill water and add detergent: Start filling water in the washing machine and add water or detergent in that. Start putting your first lot of clothes in soapy water. Just keep informed about any special thing/item that needs to be added such as bleach or softener.
4. It’s time for using dryer: Once the washing/rinsing is done, the next step is to put your clothes in dryer. You specifically need to take care of those clothes which cannot be dried in dryer. So, better not put those clothes in dryer. Every cloth comes with a special tag notifying whether it is machine washable or hand washable or it can go through dryer or it should be left lying or hanging for drying.
5. Set the dryer temperature: Now, it’s the time to set the dryer temperature and check the lint trap. You should carefully set the dryer temperature as setting it for too cold or too hot will lead to unpleasant results. For instance, if the set temperature is too cold, it may cause fire or if it is set too hot, the clothes might get shrunk.
6. Let the clothes dry: Once you have set the temperature, turn the dryer on. In earlier dryers, only the specified time limit could be set but now-a-days you can even set the dryer to a certain moisture level within the clothes. Setting the dryer to a specified moisture level will in turn reduce the time to dry clothes. Once the clothes are dried, remove the clothes from the dryer and put them away.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How to wash infant clothes?
Infant clothing requires intensive and careful cleaning to avoid skin allergies or irritation. First and foremost, you need to check the cleaning instructions written on the label of infant’s dress. Use dye-free, scent-free and extra-gentle detergent for washing infant’s clothes. Also, remember to wash new infant’s clothes before making your kid wear them. Stains on clothes like baby food stains, diaper marks etc should be treated by pouring enzyme liquid detergent over the stains and keep them till overnight. Next day, wash the clothes with the same liquid.
2. How to wash snowboard clothes?
The snowboard clothes like jackets and pants are quite large clothing, so better not over-stuff or overload the washing machine. You may opt to wash one at a time. Regular detergents or powders should be avoided. You should use non-detergent cleaning solvent which is specifically made for such waterproof garments. The water temperature should be warm and use a low tumble setting on your dryer.
Quick Tips:
- Try not leaving your clothes in your washer for more than 24 hours as they will get musty and moldy.
- Wash clothes on a low temperature or preferably wash by hand if you are unsure about the cloth fabric. Don’t dry or spin the cloth.
- Dark clothes to be washed in cold water for retaining the original color and to prevent shrinkage.
- For woolen clothes, hand wash or machine wash in cold water but drying in dryer should be avoided.
- For silk clothes, wash small stains or spots at home.
Things To Watch Out For:
- Separate clothes into white, light, dark and delicate. Mixing red clothes with white ones may result in pink clothes after washing.
- Always check the labels of your clothes for information on washing/drying.
- Dark clothes should always be washed inside out.
- Avoid putting bleach on anything that is not white.
