How to ace your laundry – from detergent dosing to drying, follow our tips for a successful wash day.
- Check pockets: Empty all pants, shirt, jacket and coat pockets before washing. Check for items such as handkerchiefs, pens, used tissues, gum and more.
- Close zippers: You don’t want the small zipper teeth getting caught and damaging other items.
- Got a full load? You should only load the machine as fully as the selected program allows. Otherwise, clothes may be subject to excessive wear and tear and may not come out sufficiently clean. When in doubt, you should be able to fit the width of your splayed hand between the top of the load and the top of the drum. But when washing wool or other delicate items, the drum should ideally only be half full. In all events, follow your garment and washing machine manufacturers’ load instructions.
Sort your laundry by ...
Type of fabric: Robust fabrics can damage sensitive fabrics by rubbing. Ideally, they should be washed separately.
Color: this helps prevent colors from running.
Degree of soiling: The dirtier the laundry, the more detergent you may need. Always make sure to check the instructions on the detergent packaging.
Washing temperature: Clothes that are washed in water that is too hot may shrink. Clothes that are washed in water that is too cold may not be properly cleaned. Always check the care label on your garment.
Pro Tip: To save yourself the hassle of sorting the laundry, use a laundry basket with different compartments. That way you can pre-sort your laundry by color, textile and temperature, and you can easily see when you have enough for a full load.
Only with the right amount of detergent will your laundry really get clean. But the “right amount” depends on a number of factors, such as, •the degree of soiling your clothes, and the load quantity. A dosage table can usually be found on your detergent packaging to properly guide the amount to use.
- Prewashing is only necessary if the laundry is very dirty, e.g. outside workwear.
- Select the main wash cycle and wash temperature depending on the type of fabric and degree of soiling. For this information, check the care labels on the clothes.
- Different washing programs have different spin cycles. For delicate items, you should reduce the spin speed or cancel the spin cycle all together.
Take the clothes out of the washing machine as soon as possible after washing. This prevents unpleasant odors and excessive creasing for an easier time at the ironing board.
- Get rid of wrinkles without an iron: hang clothes with light creasing on a hanger, moisten them and then leave them to dry. Alternatively, you can leave wrinkled clothing to dry overnight in damp bathroom air. This will reduce wrinkles or even eliminate them completely.
- Save on ironing: the smoother damp clothes are when you hang them to dry, the less ironing they'll need. Hang weights on button strips and seams to ensure the fabric stays smooth while drying.
- Clothes slipping off the hanger? Wrap rubber bands around the hanger ends. Even silk blouses will stay in place.
- Mesh laundry bag: delicate items can be protected from wear and tear if you wash them in a mesh laundry bag.
Follow these tips and your laundry will come out clean fresh and smooth.
Happy washing, from Team Clean.