Tips for Laundering Your Clothes Correctly

Learning to do your own laundry is a right of passage nearly all of us have had to or will have to learn at some point. While Mom or Dad likely completed this chore for the family when you were younger, eventually you will be the one doing the laundry, either for yourself or for your own family. Laundry can be a daunting task, because if you don’t follow certain rules, you could find your favorite items of clothing ruined. Here are some good rules of thumb to follow when doing the laundry.

Check Labels

When looking for guidance on laundering a certain article of clothing, its label is the first place you should check. The label will tell you whether you should wash the item in cold water, warm water, tumble dry, line dry, lay flat to dry, or dry clean only. Follow label instructions to ensure your clothing stays in the best possible shape throughout washes.

Separate by Color

Separate your laundry into piles: whites, lights, darks, and delicates. You can combine whites and lights to save on loads of laundry, but never combine whites and lights with darks, otherwise you may experience the colors of the darks bleeding onto your whites and lights.

Spot Treat

Spot treating stains is your best chance at a clean removal. When spot treating, gently dab the stain with detergent—don’t rub! Rubbing a stain will only result in the stain spreading and becoming more deeply ingrained in the fibers. And remember: the earlier you treat the stain, the more likely it is to go away.

Bleach Wisely

If you want to bleach your whites, make sure you’re doing a load of onlywhites. No lights, and no patterned whites. If your washing machine has a bleach dispenser, pour in bleach to the fill line and run the wash as usual. Easy! If your machine doesn’t have a bleach dispenser, just add ½ cup of chlorine bleach to your wash water after adding the detergent but beforeadding your clothes. You should add your clothing after the wash cycle begins. For maximum cleaning and stain removal, use the hot water setting.

Load the Right Way

• For top-load machines: Pour in detergent first, before adding clothes and filling with water. This allows the detergent to properly disintegrate into the wash water.
• For front-load machines: Only use detergents and fabric softeners that are compatible with front-loaders. Add liquid detergent before loading clothes and filling with water. Pour to the fill line of the detergent receptacle, or use the recommended detergent amount. Handle the fabric-softener compartment and bleach dispenser in the same manner.

For any clothing that requires dry cleaning only, bring them to Central Discount Cleaners! We provide general dry cleaning services for all standard garments, ranging from button down shirts to dress pants, jeans, and formal wear. We also provide shirt laundry service! This service covers all types of men’s button down dress shirts. Our cleaners work with materials such as cotton, polyester, wool, and blended fabrics. We will wash the shirt regularly using a gentle laundry soap, followed by pressing the shirts, folding them, and putting them on hangers. We offer quick turnaround times and our customers are always our #1 priority. Contact us today!