Don't Take Me to the Cleaners...

Did you do chores for an allowance growing up? One of my chores was laundry. And I was good at Laundry...Even coming home from college, it was not me asking mom to do my laundry, Mom asked me to do it.

So some pointers on the laundry. (and this post is because Beau wanted to do some laundry, his fishing gear, that he left rotting in the back of his truck for almost a week, but that's another point entirely, so he'd have clean fishing stuff for this weekend).

So he, and most men/people, know to do things like check the pockets for chap stick or paper towels, treating a fresh stain works better than an old dried up stain, etc. But here are my tips for the expert.

Keep a stain stick or spray by all the spots you take off and pile up clothes. its so easy to treat any stains if you do it as you remove your clothing. Sort by colors and textures. The longer you let your laundry pile up, the more likely you are able to do a dark load of jeans only. or a load of whites, or a load of just undies that needs to be on delicate.
Never wash towels with other clothes. They lint too much and it creates havoc on the laundry. Turn the water on, add the detergent and booster, like oxyclean or tide release or borax, then start adding clothes. Make sure to zip up all zippers, (or else the teeth can tear other things) fasten the buttons, especially on pants or items to keep their shape. straighten the pants out like you are about to hang them up and lay them in the dryer, both legs together, around the drum. Never let one pant leg be on one side of the middle drum, with the crotch up against the drum. this will stretch and maybe even tear the pants. same goes for shirts. put delicate knits or items that may stretch out in mesh bags, etc.

Dryer, use the medium heat setting (never use full heat unless its a load of only towels or sheets or something) for 30 minutes. if there is anything that says lay flat to dry, i usually put it in for 10 minutes. only 10 minutes.(bras and bathing suits are the only exception) you can even foulproof this part by setting the dryer to only 10 minutes. pull those hang to dry items out, and the wrinkles have disappeared. continue to dry for another 20 minutes. check the clothes for doneness, clean the lint filter and switch to air dry for another 15 minutes or until dry. the last 10 minutes is when clothes can shrink, so i hate using more than a little heat. the little bit of heat in there will keep if you then only medium heat for 10 minutes and air dry the rest for the remainder of the loads you do.

It will save you from sewing the crotch of the pants back together, like i am doing now.