How To Wash Laundry

Many people have unfortunate experiences when they first learn how to wash laundry. A pink load of laundry from a red item left behind or having a tough stain become set in is not uncommon. Washing laundry isn't hard once you get the hang of it, however.

1. Sort the dirty laundry out. Put all white items, such as socks, underwear and shirts in one pile. Colored clothes go in another pile, and if you have anything that's wool or hand wash only,make sure it goes in it's own pile to be hand washed or taken to the dry cleaners and never makes it into the washing machine.
2. Check laundry over for any tough stains, and rub a pre-treating laundry detergent stick over the area. If the material isn't too delicate, you can also just pour a little regular laundry detergent over the area and use a scrubbing brush to work on the stain.
3. Colored laundry can all be washed together. The inside of the cap on the detergent usually has several lines. For big laundry loads, fill to the top line, otherwise use one of the lower ones. For a front loading washer, pour detergent into the designated compartment on the front of washer. For top loaders, begin filling the washer with water and pour the detergent into the stream of water. Unless a specific item of clothing has a tag that states differently, you can use the warm/cold water setting on your washer for doing laundry.
4. Whites should all be washed together in a separate load of laundry than the colored clothes. Using bleach when washing white clothes will help keep white clothes bright and get rid of germs. For a top loading washer, use no more than one cup of bleach per load, for a front loader, no more than a 1/2 cup. When using a top loader, pour the bleach into the water as the washing machine is filling, then add detergent. Front loaders will have a compartment for bleach. Never put bleach directly on clothes, as this can ruin them, and don't use more bleach than recommended, as the clothes may irritate skin when worn.
5. Select the appropriate setting on the washer, such as heavily soiled, lightly soiled, etc. Then push start and your clothes will be clean in 30 to 45 minutes.
6. When wash cycle is complete, some machines will just stop, while others will buzz to let you know. It's now time to dry your clothes. You can use clothespins to hang laundry from a clothesline if desired, or dry laundry in the dryer. Check the labels on clothes to make sure it's okay to dry in the dryer, and transfer clothes. Put a dryer sheet on top of wet clothes to reduce static, make clothes soft and give them a nice smell.
7. Set dryer for the desired time. Usually an hour will be enough. Remove clothes from dryer and fold while they're still warm to avoid wrinkles.

Learning how to wash laundry isn't hard, it just takes a bit of practice. Just remember to sort laundry and check clothing labels so clothes don't get ruined.