Washing clothes is one of the basic life skills that everyone should learn. Despite it being a common household chore, a lot of people still have a hard time with it. So it’s a good practice to start learning at a young age.

Doing the laundry seems easy but there’s a lot of things going on. It starts with care labels, treating stains, and technique. Be able to take good care of your clothes by washing them the right way!

Care Labels

You can see washing labels or care labels on the clothes tags. You must take a look at the labels to know how to clean and maintain your clothes. Following it will result in your garments lasting longer.

Washing Labels

Washing labels are displayed as a bucket or tub with water. When you see a plain bucket filled with water that means the clothing is machine washable. You’ll see numbers or dot/s inside the bucket when clothes are machine washable.

One dot or 30° means that you wash it with cold water. Two dots or 40° tells you to use warm water. Three dots or 60° means wash hot is required.

For some fabrics, you’ll see a bucket with a line or two below it. One line means synthetic cycle while two means gentle wash cycle. These are cycle options you should set your washing machine.

When you see a hand along with the bucket symbol, you should handwash it. A garment with a crossed bucket symbol on its tag shouldn’t be washed. And if you see a symbol that looks like a candy wrapper with an X on it, it means you shouldn’t wring it.

Bleaching Labels

Bleach is usually used to make your white shirts brighter or to remove stains. But, take note of bleaching labels; it’s the triangular symbols. A plain triangle means bleaching is allowed. A crossed one means you shouldn’t. If you see a triangle with lines inside, use non-chlorine bleach.

Drying Labels

Drying labels are represented by circles and squares. A circle means you can tumble dry at any temperature. When you see a dot inside the circle, it must be in a low heat setting; three dots means high heat. 

A line below a dryer symbol indicates permanent press setting and two lines means delicate/gentle. A square with three lines implies drip drying. A flat line inside would mean flat drying and a drooping line means to hang it.

Ironing Labels

You’ll see an iron with one to three dots inside depicting the best temperature to iron (cool to hot). Don’t iron it when you see a crossed-out symbol. Steaming is not allowed when you see a crossed-out parallel line on the bottom of the iron symbol.

Dry-Cleaning Labels

A circle also means that it could be dry cleaned. When you see letters inside the circle, those are for the dry cleaners.

Treating Stains

You’ll encounter tough stains that won’t be gone simply by washing it. You can use different household items to remove and treat stains.

Vinegar

You can use vinegar to remove tomato, crayon, vomit, grass, and coffee stains to name a few. You usually just soak stained clothes with mixed parts of vinegar and water. Be careful with using vinegar in laundry. Check the measurements and details about the stains you’re trying to treat.

Baking Soda

Using baking soda in laundry doesn’t just remove stains, it also helps get rid of bad odor. Sometimes baking soda is mixed with vinegar. You can also just mix it with water to create a paste. It’s used for wine, sweat, tea, and old stains.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen Peroxide is highly known to remove blood stains. This is a good trick especially when girls get their undergarments stained on their period.

Dishwashing Soap

Dishwashing soap is known to cut grease for dishes but you can also use it on your clothes. Oil-based stains like makeup stains can be removed with dishwashing soap. Just rub some soap on it and let it sit for a while before washing it. 

Tips

Separate Clothes Before Washing

Separate the light and dark-colored ones. You should also separate different fabrics like denim, cotton, and delicates.

Don’t Put Detergent Directly on Clothes

It’s better to mix detergent into the water than putting it on clothes. Putting it on clothes can cause stains and damage the fabric. Mixing it into the water will also make sure that the soap is distributed to the whole load.

Zip and Button

Don’t forget to close zippers and buttons. Closing zippers would avoid damaging other clothes with it. Buttoning up your blouses, shirts, sleeves, and collar will protect it when spun in the washer.

Do a Bleed Test

A bleed test will help you know if your new clothes protect your other garments. By soaking new clothes alone in a tub, you’d see if the dye bleeds.

You can wash your clothes with the right handling and care. Check the labels and be mindful of how you do your laundry. Don’t be afraid of stains because you can remove them. Happy washing!