Homekeeping 101 ~ A Laundry Primer

If you are just starting out keeping a home and doing laundry, or if you need a refresher course, herSpring is surely around the corner (surely!) and this primer will help you get ready for hanging clothes out side to dry, especially if you’ve never done that before.e are some tips for making Mount Washmore disappear quickly.

Start by sorting through your laundry and putting it in piles according to color and washing instructions. Your piles should consist of:

Darks: like jeans and other dark colored fabric, dark sheets, shirts

Brights: like children’s clothing and flowered or print fabric

Lights: like light blue oxford shirts, khaki pants

Whites: like underclothes and t-shirts

Towels and wash cloths: You may want to wash white towels and wash clothes separately from colored ones so that you can add bleach to the whites.

Laundry that is especially soiled or stained needs special treatment. Treat stains with a commercial stain remover or use a paste made of laundry powder and water, or use a liquid detergent. I prefer to use a bar of Fels Naptha wet and rubbed on stains before laundering.

Read labels on commercial stain treatments carefully, some cannot be left on for more than 5 minutes without causing bleaching.

Soaking is also a good way to get stains out. Rub a detergent or stain remover onto the stain, then immerse the clothing into a pan of tepid water. If the article is sturdy and will not fade, you may want to use warm or hot water. Allow the article to sit in the water a while and then rub the stain gently with your fingers, if it has not been removed, allow it to sit longer. When the stain is gone, rinse the article well or add it to the regular wash.

Everything can be washed in cold water of course, but you may choose to use warm water for most loads. I like to use hot water for towels. Hot water must be at least 130º F in order to kill germs and viruses, so if your water temperature isn’t set that high, using hot water is ineffective. Another way to sanitize laundry is to use a germ-killing additive such as Lysol concentrate.

Before adding clothes to the wash, check and empty pockets. Check to see if repairs need to be made. Holes, tears or runs can become worse if left to go through the wash. make repairs first, then launder.

Start the water in the washer, add the detergent or soap and then add clothing. This will allow the water better access to the detergent and allow it to begin working faster.

If your washer has a gentle cycle, be sure to utilize it for light-weight fabrics or when indicated by laundering labels.

When adding clothes to the dryer, give each article a sharp shake to help remove wrinkles. Don’t overload the dryer. Check the dryer’s vent for lint frequently. Clothing doesn’t have to be dried completely in the dryer, in fact, most fabric looks better and lasts longer if it is simply tossed in a cool air cycle and then hung up to finish drying.

While one load of laundry is going, you can gather up hangers and clothes pins. Some clothing needs to be hung to dry. All clothing that is usually hung up should be hung immediately as it comes out of the dryer.

Folding clothes as they come out of the dryer is preferred to allowing the clothing to sit and develop wrinkles. If you have children they can be a big help with folding clothes. My children have had a hard time learning how to fold clothes but we’ve persevered and they get better every year. Even if you cannot fold the clothes immediately when they come out of the dryer, you can prevent some wrinkles by shaking out each article and folding it over one time before laying it in a basket.

Clothes dried on a line or outside are not as soft as clothes dried in the dryer. Towels are usually rough and a little scratchy when dried outside. Some people really like this but if you had rather your towels be soft, use the dryer. To soften line-dried towels a little bit you can do this:

Add about 1 cup white vinegar or a commercial fabric softener to the rinse water.

Shake out the towel firmly before hanging.  Or, air-dry the towels a little in the dryer before hanging outside.

It will be time to hang clothes on the line before you know it.  You may already be having good weather, so now is the time to start hanging out laundry if you aren’t doing it already.

Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years about hanging out clothes.

1. Shake out and partially fold clothes when they come out of the washer, place them in a basket to take to the line.  these actions make is easier and more efficient to hang clothes outside.
2. Giving towels a hard snap before hanging them will relax the fibers a bit and make them less rough when they dry.
3. Go ahead and fold up wet sheets as small as you want to before hanging them on the line. The wind will blow through them and dry them and they won’t take up so much room on the line.
4. Consider getting a wooden or stainless steel drying rack for small items like socks. These racks can be set outside in the sun to dry, in the tub or somewhere else inside.  They fold up and can be put out of the way when you’re finished with it.

Drying clothes outside has a lot of benefits. The wonderful aroma of line dried clothes is priceless. The homely beauty of clothes on the line is peaceful and satisfying. And the savings on the electric bill are super!