By: Joe McGauley
Credit: iStock/monkeybusinessimages
Like death and taxes, doing laundry is one of life's more unpleasant inevitabilities. And while it's easy to pay someone else to do it all, you owe it to your grown-ass self to learn how to do it right on your own.
With that in mind, here are some things you may not realize you're doing wrong on laundry day. Step one: lay off the detergent, dude.
Credit: Flickr/Celeste Lindell
1. You're sorting wrong
You probably already know to separate darks and whites, but it's more complicated than that. Don't mix towels in with synthetic clothing (especially stretchy workout garb), because you may end up with serious pilling. Same goes for washing fleece jackets with anything else.
2. Don't wash after every wear
Unless you constantly sweat or smell particularly rank, washing most things after a single wear is totally unnecessary. Overwashing wears out your clothes faster. Instead, simply spritz them with a homemade linen spray and rejoice in less frequent laundry days.
Credit: Flickr/Mike Mozart
3. You're using way too much detergent
You might think that more soap means a more powerful clean. False. In fact, using a lot of detergent will actually leave your clothes dirtier because it produces excess suds that collect dirt and trap it in areas that won't rinse clean. If you're used to measuring out half a cap per load, cut that in half.
4. Don't put fabric softeners in with towels
It actually reduces their absorbency when wet, which defeats the entire purpose of a bath towel. And don't bother tossing towels in with wicking active wear either, since that prevents them from absorbing moisture too.
Credit: Flickr/Bonnaf
5. Wash comforters and pillows twice
For down comforters and pillows, you'll want to take them to a laundromat's high-capacity machine and wash them twice. The reason being that the feathers' denseness causes some detergent to get trapped, so a second rinse cycle will assure everything's cleared out. Lastly, toss them in the dryer with a clean tennis ball; it'll fluff and redistribute the feathers while also reducing drying time.
6. Never wash a bathing suit
Even though they're designed to sit in water, you shouldn't wash your bathing suits in a washing machine, since the wash will damage the fabric (particularly if it contains spandex). The trick is to wash them by hand in cold water with mild soap. Don't even think about tossing them in the dryer.
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