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Two week cycle:
If you aim to wash your clothes every two weeks, you will have less loads to wash and spend less money and time at the laundry. Who really wants to spend hours and hours with a pile of clothes? With two to three loads to do, you can finish your laundry quick. The best ways to wash your clothes is when they have less dirt on them.
Color Separation:
It's pretty obvious, right? You would be surprised at to how many people don't put their clothes in different piles. The main colors to look out for in clothes washing are red, blue, black, white, and green. Every other color just revolves around these five main colors. Whites are mainly socks, underwear, t-shirts, pillowcases, and towels. If you have socks that have stripes on them, thats fine. If you put anything in the whites, it has to be mainly white. (For those of you with floral patterns on white pillow cases.)
Cream colored clothing and towels are fine as well. But be careful as to now deep a color the cream is. If it is close to white, fine. If you are unsure, place it beside a light brown article of clothing. If it is closer to that, don't put it in the whites. For dark clothing, place dark colors, reds, and dark blues together. For mediums, putting green in the pile is fine, as long as it's not a bright green. These are all keys to long lasting clothes.
Soap and bleach:
For a full load, a cap and a half should the trick. If they are really soiled however, use two caps. If you have the concentrated soap, use less. Whites usually get one cap because it is less material. Clothing with color is heavier because of the pigments in the threads. White has little pigment. so it is much lighter. Using bleach is recommended because it takes out tough stains and gets your whites cleaner.
I buy a bar of soap that is made for washing clothes and shave of bits and pieces and add it to my laundry soap. This boosts the power of the soap for clothes washing. This works to get my clothes cleaner, smell better and look brighter. Fabric softener is not required for all loads. Use it for blankets, towels, and bedsheets.
Loads:
When you load the washer, it's best not to cram it so full that your clothes barely fit in. This will cause you to have an unbalanced load and your clothes will not wash right. If you load your washer to 80 to 90 percent capacity, this leaves plenty of space for soap and water to move around in. It needs this little bit of breathing room so it can also rinse properly.
Instead of washing towels, sheets and blankets all in one load, try to color separate the towels and sheets with the other loads. Blankets can wash in their own load. Look for articles of clothing that dry really quick. By making them air dry, you save space for the rest of your clothes to dry quicker.
Drying:
Whites dry the fastest, while darks takes the longest to dry. If you have a load of clothes that have a lot of heavy articles to dry, it is best to split it in two. A large load of heavy or dark clothing will take a long time to dry. Dryer sheets are a must when drying clothes. They take away the static that builds up, and makes your clothes smell even better.
Folding:
Right after drying, throw the underwear in a pile. Since these are your undergarments, there is no need to fold them. Put the socks in one pile and match them up last. You will save a lot of time this way. Fold pants and dresses first, since these are the easiest to do. Then fold shirts. Now you can get to the socks, and by this time the towels and bedsheets should be finished by now. If you fold your clothes this way, you save at least 30% of your time. Ideas by Gecko Joe.
