Laundry.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Thu May 12, 2005 8:33 am

Are there any domestic gods or goddesses around?

I am at a loss when presented with the laundry aisle of my area Wal-Mart. There's a bunch of precleaning shit, there's liquid and powder detergents, there's water softeners, there's liquid and sheets of fabric softener... When should I use bleach? When should I use color-safe bleach? What's a good all-purpose detergent to buy? Does price much matter insofar as quality goes? What should I use e.g. Spray n' Wash for? Does that Febreze fabric refresher stuff do anything notable? Is fabric softener necessary or advisable or disadvisable (I've heard it can adversely affect clothing)?

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu May 12, 2005 8:57 am

Here's what I know about clothes cleaning products:

You are a young dude. Don't buy powdered detergent, even if it's all on sale and shit, because you won't be patient enough to make sure it all dissolves, and you will end up with soap all on your clean clothes. Use liquid detergent.

Fabric softener sheets are voodoo. Some people swear by them, and others (like me) find that they leave oil stains on their clothing that never come out. For me, it happens whether I have put the sheet in purposely, or whether it's a sheet that someone else left in the dryer from a previous load.

Put real bleach in your white load, but not like every load (the actual frequency of bleach usage will probably vary depending on how often you do a load of whites). Start the laundry with no clothes in it. Put in your soap, and put in your bleach. Then put in your clothes. If you fuck up and forget to put the bleach in first, then find where the water is coming in, and kind of pour it into that stream, to prevent having to pour direct bleach directly on your clothes.

king_arthur · Post by **king_arthur** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:00 am

If you go to maytag.com, ideas and advice, laundry...

there are a bunch of articles that may be helpful. "Identifying Common Stains" is particularly popular among college students...

Charles

Post by **Lunkhead** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:46 am

Liquid detergent is the way to go. Go to a health food store and pick up some "natural" liquid detergent if you can. It works just as well, costs only a tiny bit more, and won't put as many chemicals into the water supply. [I live in Berkeley so I'm obliged by law to make these comments.]

From what I can tell, women seem to really appreciate it when your clothes smell nice and when your shirts are soft, two things dryer sheets can make happen. I think I've experienced the dryer sheet stains that Erik mentioned, though, so watch out for those.

Post by jb » Thu May 12, 2005 9:57 am

Wash your blacks with Palmolive instead of regular laundry detergent. I'm not sure why, but my ex-girlfriend told me to do that, and she is a total laundry freak.

Also, drying things in the dryer makes anything that is prone to shrink do so. Just so you know. If you don't want it to shrink, don't stick it in the dryer, and that will help minimize shrinkage.

Remove things from the dryer immediately in order to prevent wrinkling.

Don't leave laundry in the washer for days-- it will start to mildew and will stink and you'll have to wash it over again.

Wash whites in hot, everything else in cold. I'm not fancy enough to really know what's safe to wash in warm. Actually, if I'm washing colored clothing that has already been washed many times, I'll wash it in warm-- on the assumption that if the colors were going to run they would have done so already.

Clean your lint trap every load, or your dryer will start to whine at you.

I only use Tide. Everything else I have tried has been a weak substitute for Tide. There's a reason it costs a lot more than the other detergents.

ken · Post by **ken** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:58 am

Tips:

If you can, start the washing machine empty. Add your detergent and wait for it to dissolve before adding your clothes.

Separate your colors and whites. Do two separate loads.

I've never used bleach, and these days I don't own enough whites to do two loads, so be careful. You can throw them all together, but not with that brand new red shirt you bought. Wash it a few times before throwing it in with whites.

Make sure your clothes are dry when you take them out of the dryer.

Fold quickly.

Ken

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:03 am

Buy more clothes.

Get married.

Tell spouse you will do your own laundry.

Watch as they do it for you anyway.

Keep repeating "I really will do my own laundry."

Keep buying more clothes.

Six years later when spouse complains about you not doing laundry, remind them that you said you would do your own, but that by the time you ran out of clean stuff (keep buying more clothes) she did it for you.

Keep buying more clothes and promising to do it yourself.

Clothes will be clean, wrinkle free, readily available and potentially stylish... although I seem to miss that particular component.

Buy more clothes.

VERY IMPORTANT TIP:***

buy more clothes for spouse too.

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:40 pm

This thread reminds me of those "Organized Living" messageboards my Mum goes on...

I think Leaf's idea is the best so far for you, marcus.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:48 pm

Bjam wrote:This thread reminds me of those "Organized Living" messageboards my Mum goes on...

I think Leaf's idea is the best so far for you, marcus.

Somebody wants me to propose to them...

Bjam · Post by **Bjam** » Thu May 12, 2005 2:08 pm

mkilly wrote:
Bjam wrote:This thread reminds me of those "Organized Living" messageboards my Mum goes on...

I think Leaf's idea is the best so far for you, marcus.
Somebody wants me to propose to them...

I'm personally waiting for Hugh Jackman, people will have to get in line behind him. Hollywood movie stars will do my laundry, right?

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Thu May 12, 2005 2:53 pm

Bjam wrote:Hollywood movie stars will do my laundry, right?

Sigourney Weaver never did mine. Threw her boney ass out.

Currently buying more clothes.

Lunkhead wrote:From what I can tell, women seem to really appreciate it when your clothes smell nice and when your shirts are soft

Guys like this, too.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:38 pm

sparks's guide to laundry:

Clothes need to be cleaned at least once a month, depending on the size of your rotation. If you use more than two pairs of jeans and five or six shirts, you can make it two months without a problem.

Underwear and socks may require a special trip every two or three weeks in addition to this regular cleaning.

Jeans are just like jackets. You don't ever really have to clean them unless there is something gross on them or they smell. This works for guys, not girls, smelly old things that they are.

If your shirts get smelly, you can just not wear them for a while. Eventually they will air out and you will totally not know the difference. Same goes for underwear (boxers only), but not socks--socks get stiff after a while. If you can't wash your socks for some reason, just rinse them a bit, and let them dry--they'll be good as new. Shirts can also be treated at the underarms with clear deodorant stick for some long while in lieu of washing.

Bleach may be used on white clothes when there is something really scary about them (i.e. you left them in a plastic bag when they were wet and they got moldy). You can bleach your socks if they turn weird colors, I guess, but that's a bit on the anal-retentive side.

erik · Post by **erik** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:51 pm

Everyone should have at least 31 pairs of underwear and 31 pairs of socks.

Really.

Kamakura · Post by **Kamakura** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:54 pm

erikb wrote:Start the laundry with no clothes in it. Put in your soap, and put in your bleach. Then put in your clothes.

This is NOT good advice if you use a front loading washing machine

Kapitano · Post by **Kapitano** » Thu May 12, 2005 8:36 pm

erikb wrote:31 pairs of socks.

Socks come in pairs?

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Thu May 12, 2005 9:02 pm

erikb wrote:Everyone should have at least 31 pairs of underwear and 31 pairs of socks.

Really.

Totally true. And if you have a thirteen year old son who is as tall as you... or any other person who lives in the same house and wears the same size clothes, and throws them in the same basket... pick a colour and stick to it. For socks and underwear.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:04 pm

Oops, I should be more inclusive and say that -people- may find your soft, nice smelling clothes to be an attractive thing about you.

Also, I agree with the sock/underwear recommendations. Those are definitely the limiting factors. Everything else you can wear a couple times between washes, barring any spills/etc.

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Fri May 13, 2005 12:11 am

This is not quite what you're asking, but in the neighborhood... Always have more than one pair of day-to-day footwear, especially if you wear sneakers! Wearing the same pair of sneakers every day will turn your socks into mustard gas factories. Get two pairs and rotate. Your sneakers and socks won't wear out as quickly, either.

As far as laundry, the best tip I can give you is when in doubt, cold-cold, permanent press. Also in addition to dividing your lights and darks, it might be useful to further separate the heavy stuff like jeans and sweaters which take longer to dry. But that depends on what's in your wardrobe. It's always a bummer when you have one damp pair of jeans in the midst of a load of warm fluffy tee shirts.

jack · Post by **jack** » Fri May 13, 2005 12:37 am

in front loaders, after unloading your wash, make sure to give the thing a final visual spin (look inside) with the door open to catch any socks that get stuck in the corners or on top.

the black hole of socks explained.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Fri May 13, 2005 12:12 pm

Purchase your clothes according to 1) How they mix and match with the rest of your clothes; 2) same tonal colors (so you can just schelpp it all into a triple loader at the 'mat and not have to think about it).

And yes, at some point you become a professional and have to wear the uncreased clothes without the defunct software company logos/broken up band names on them. I've got five words for you... dry cleaner, pressed, no starch.

Or, when they start to feel flabby, light starch, but only once in a while.

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Sat May 14, 2005 4:50 pm

that whole thing about not doing your whites and colors together is a load of horse shit. i always mix the two and never have my whites changed color.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sat May 14, 2005 4:57 pm

You're obviously not washing hot enough .....