People who are responsible for doing the family laundry know that producing good smelling and really clean clothes with all bright colors intact can be a science. Here are some tips:

Sort the Other Laundry According to the Care Labels
First, take out the laundry that can only be hand washed. Then, sort them according to whites as above, then pastels, then bright colors, then dark colors. Sort again according to their care labels. This advice is particularly helpful to men who have never bothered to look at a tag before.

Sort and Wash Whites Properly
Whites should be sorted from even the palest pastels. This includes light grays. Then, they should be treated with a stain remover, especially around the collar and armpits. They should then be put in a washtub, soaked in hot water with a dab of laundry detergent and left to soak for an hour. After that, they should be put in the washing machine and washed at the hottest temperature. Ideally, they should be line dried outside.

Turn Dark Clothes Inside Out
This will help them keep their colors longer. Also, make sure that all pockets are emptied, zippers zipped and buttons buttoned.

Add Soap, Then Add Clothes
The load of laundry will have a more distributed share of the laundry detergent if it’s at the bottom. This is better for two reasons: 1) the water comes from the bottom of the machine up. So if the soap is at the top, that’s the last thing to be consumed in the wash. 2) The soap gets trapped in the clothes that it falls on and can’t do it’s proper job. Laundry detergent was meant to combine with a bunch of water.

The Right Washing Machines
Another tip for cleaner and better smelling clothes involves the type of washing machine that’s used. Front load washers tend to be more energy efficient because they use less money. They tumble and swirl clothes in a drum while top loaders use an agitator. Top loaders can also use as much as three times the water as a front loader though there are some that use less water than the traditional top loader.

Front loaders also need to use high efficiency detergent. Regular detergents will cause them to overflow and can even cancel their warranty. One type of washer get clothes as clean as the other though some people complain that front loaders can have an unpleasant odor. You have to clean a front loader often with vinegar to eliminate the foul odors you experience.

Buying a washer depends on factors like the size of the family and the size of the space for a laundry center. The average amount of water used by a washing machine made before 1999 is 40 gallons, but washing machines that are eligible for the Department of Energy’s Energy Star rating use about 20 gallons. If you have any other questions, McIver’s Appliance Sales & Service Ltd  will surely be able to help.

Hang Dry Your Laundry
Though it takes much more time, this is the best way to go with clothing. Your clothes self-remove wrinkles when they are hung, they escape the brutality of a dryer, and retain their color longer.

Earnest Parenting: help for parents who have to do laundry.