The EDF Laundry Thread

[private joker]

I'm hoping it will be productive to start a thread on our least favorite chore. Something we all do and rarely discuss. I have some categories to talk about and some tips to offer, bit I'm also hoping people chime in with their own tips and ideas, since I don't think I'm getting the most out of my clothes-cleaning experience.

<ul type="square">[*]Jeans -- If you're washing designer jeans or nice ones you don't want to fade quickly, turn them inside out before you put them in the machine. The blue keeps a little longer. I wash mine in cold water and dry them on medium, permanent press-type cycles.
[*]Dress shirts -- For really good ones just get them dry cleaned. You won't have to worry about them shrinking or getting their color ruined with other clothes. For casual dress shirts, I stick with the cold water and often don't dry them at all; just hang them in the shower to dry, so they avoid shrinkage.
[*]Silk -- I could use some advice on this; I have a white silk tie that needs cleaning, and I'm afraid to do anything to it. Should I take it to the cleaners? I hate silk for the most part, both because it's cheesy and outdated, and because it's hard to clean. But this tie is badass.
[*]T-shirts -- Standard warm wash and regular dry, though I've noticed they shrink no matter what you do. I tend to not buy t-shirts that are too snug so that when they wash they won't get too small. Most of them are color-fast these days, so you can wash them with a variety of colors and not worry about running. If it runs, it was a cheap shirt.
[*] Detergent -- don't skimp on this! Generic-brand detergents suck at keeping color and can be rougher on the clothes. I prefer liquid to powder always, and I'm a Tide fan true and true. Every time I try something else, I end up going back to Tide. Anyone else have favorites?
[*] Tennis shoes -- Leather shoes can actually be thrown in the washing machine (laces out), but I don't do this. I use dish detergent and a brush, and just clean them off by hand. As for canvas shoes, I think they can be put in a machine too but I'm not sure. Any tips on cleaning canvas sneakers?
[*] Socks -- If you're not sacrificing one per month to the laundry gods, making uneven matches in your drawer, then you're doing something wrong.
[*] Machines -- If possible, get the water running first, then put the detergent in, then put the clothes in. Some machines won't run water with the lid open, in which case you have to put the detergent in first, then the clothes, then close the lid and start the cycle. If you put the detergent in last, on top of the clothes, it may wash unevenly because the liquid will sit on some of the clothes for a few moments before the water fills in.
[*] No matter what the Levi's commercials say, it's impossible to pick up chicks at the laundromat. Bring a book.[/list]

[cts]

washing my Ts in cold and drying on low heat seemed to solve my shrinking problems

[Slow Play Ray]

[ QUOTE ]
Jeans -- If you're washing designer jeans or nice ones you don't want to fade quickly, turn them inside out before you put them in the machine. The blue keeps a little longer. I wash mine in cold water and dry them on medium, permanent press-type cycles.

[/ QUOTE ]

i wish this were true. i go as long as humanly possible before washing new jeans, because it really only takes one wash, cold and inside-out or not, to make them stop looking like the way i bought them for looking like. this really frustrates me.

[ QUOTE ]
T-shirts -- Standard warm wash and regular dry, though I've noticed they shrink no matter what you do. I tend to not buy t-shirts that are too snug so that when they wash they won't get too small. Most of them are color-fast these days, so you can wash them with a variety of colors and not worry about running. If it runs, it was a cheap shirt.

[/ QUOTE ]

something i have learned is that if you line-dry your t-shirts the first few times you wash them, they sort of "set" in their current size and don't shrink (or at least not nearly as bad) when you start drying them after that. this is actually true for more than just t-shirts as well.

[ QUOTE ]
Silk -- I could use some advice on this; I have a white silk tie that needs cleaning, and I'm afraid to do anything to it. Should I take it to the cleaners? I hate silk for the most part, both because it's cheesy and outdated, and because it's hard to clean. But this tie is badass.

[/ QUOTE ]

definitely dry-clean.

[gobbomom]

I refuse to use bleach anymore after too many color accidents and its destructiveness on clothes, so I've used ammonia for quite a few years. It works just as well on most pretreated stains and my whites have stayed white.

[AZK]

Jeans - most of my jeans that fit perfectly and I truly love, only like 1 or 2 pairs (i just wear them all the time), i don't wash these. Basically never. Yeah turning them inside out, and delicate cold cycle and air dry works, but before I do that I have to spill something awful on them or get sprayed by a skunk before I put them in the wash. They are never the same once you wash them.

Linen - anyone have tips for this? Most garments say dry clean only? Is it really that bad if I hand wash this in cold water with woolite? I don't want to have to dry clean this everytime I wear it. Same goes for that really delicate soft cotton weave stuff that says dry clean only... what do you guys do with this?

I get free underwear/undershirts so I rarely worry about them shrinking, but yeah, cold cycle, low heat is the closest you are going to get, eventually they shrink though..

[guids]

I dry clean just about anything that I wear at night, and I only own sweats otherwise and t-shirts.

one tip I do have for whites, wash in cold/cold with detergent only, than hot/cold with bleach, it will get your whites blindingly white.

[7ontheline]

Personally, I never dry any of my jeans or t-shirts. I'm tall enough that I'm deathly afraid of any shrinkage of any of my favorite clothes.

[miajag]

Hand-washing linen or even machine washing in cold water on gentle cycle is fine. Let it air-dry though.

[ahnuld]

Meh, ive ruined linene before trying to clean it myself so from now I just always dry clean.

Im not a huge fan of normal washing dress shirts as I find it kills the collar. Maybe I should be using strach? What is starch anyways?

whats the best way tio hand wash things? In the bthtub&gt; What kind of detergent? Im really a newb with hand washing.

[SamIAm]

WRT tshirts, does it make any difference to turn them inside-out before washing? When I was a kid, my mother always did that to my shirts to protect the pattern. However, after many year of not bothering to do it myself, I haven't noticed any problem.