- Things you wish your mother had told you
- Your Basic Toolkit
- How to Clean and Tidy Your Room
- How to Clean a Toilet
- How to Clean a Sink or Bath
- How to Wash Dishes in a Shared Kitchen
- How to Make Your Bed
- How To Sort your Clothes Ready For Washing
- How to Wash Your Clothes
- How to Clean a Floor
- Guestbook
- good food bad food
- Help! I hate vegetables!
- Falling in love with Mr Potato
- Meat sauce
- Cooking for a Crowd
How To Sort Your Clothes Ready For Washing
First of all, a word about how often you need to wash clothes. Sometimes it's obvious that something needs washing, for instance if you spill curry down your t shirt. But we often wash clothes to keep them smelling fresh, rather than because they are actually dirty. Socks, for example, are rarely dirty in the sense that they are muddy or visibly dirty. But just sniff a pair of sweaty socks! They need washing to make them smell nice again.
The sniff test.
This is used by mothers the world over. A sensitive nose can smell socks, pants and shirts that may look clean but actually can be quite offensive. So try to cultivate your sense of smell as well as sight to determine if your clothes need a wash.
As a general rule, socks and pants need to be changed every day. Jeans will probably be OK for up to a week (even if they look clean, try sniffing the crotch!) but your mum might wash them more often. T Shirts and anything directly next to your skin will probably need changing every few days (underneath the armpit is the place to sniff here!) Jumpers will last several days.
Of course, it also depends on how often you have a shower, how sweaty you are, whether it's the middle of a hot summer or a cold winter and whether you have been playing football or not.
So you need to combine common sense and a sense of smell to decide when to put your clothes in the dirty wash basket.
The sniff test.
This is used by mothers the world over. A sensitive nose can smell socks, pants and shirts that may look clean but actually can be quite offensive. So try to cultivate your sense of smell as well as sight to determine if your clothes need a wash.
As a general rule, socks and pants need to be changed every day. Jeans will probably be OK for up to a week (even if they look clean, try sniffing the crotch!) but your mum might wash them more often. T Shirts and anything directly next to your skin will probably need changing every few days (underneath the armpit is the place to sniff here!) Jumpers will last several days.
Of course, it also depends on how often you have a shower, how sweaty you are, whether it's the middle of a hot summer or a cold winter and whether you have been playing football or not.
So you need to combine common sense and a sense of smell to decide when to put your clothes in the dirty wash basket.
Different types of cheap bags and baskets suitable for your dirty clothes.
This is what you need:
A pile of dirty clothes
A laundry bag/basket
This is what you do:
1 Go through the pockets of all your clothes and remove tissues, coins, banknotes etc. Tissues make an awful mess of your washing, and you will cry if you accidentally destroy any banknotes.
2 Undo buttons on blouses and shirts and remove belts. Leather and plastic belts are not washable so leave them out.
3 Sort your washing into 2 piles, dark and light colours. Remember to add your tea towels every time you wash and don't forget your bedclothes and towels when necessary.
4 Now go through the 2 piles of clothes and read the washing instruction labels.All clothes will have a washing label which tells you the temperature to wash the item. Usually it will be 40C (warm) and that's the temperature you will normally wash clothes. Some items ie towels may indicate that you can wash them at 60C (hot). That is a maximum temperature so 40C is fine for them too.
5 Remove handwash and dry clean items.
Posh silky frocks and some woollens may have a handwash symbol like this:
If you find any of these, don't risk washing them in a launderette and never put them in a tumble dryer. Your domestic washer at home will probably be able to deal with them as it may have a suitable programme, but launderette washers don't have this facility. More notes on handwashing later.
Some items, especially coats and jackets with linings are not washable at all and will need dry cleaning. You will see a symbol like this:
All this may seem complicated and difficult at first but don't despair! It gets easier with practise and soon you will be able to sort your clothes very quickly.
So you should have 2 piles of clothes, light colours (pants,light coloured t shirts and socks,white bed sheets etc) and dark colours (jeans, dark t shirts and socks, sweatshirts, towels etc) You may have a 3rd pile with a couple of handwash items or a jacket for dry cleaning. Forget about the 3rd pile for now.
6 Sort for tumble drying instructions.
Sorry! You're not quite done yet! Not all clothes can be put into a tumble dryer so you need to check those washing labels again.
Look for this symbol:
It means you can tumble dry the garment. The number of dots signifies the temperature. One dot means warm, two dots means hotter. But don't worry about the details now. You just want to know - tumble dry or not? This symbol means you can't put the item in the dryer:
Clothes manufacturers tend to play safe and put a DO NOT TUMBLE DRY warning even when it's probably OK. Sometimes even jeans and t shirts will have a non tumble dryable symbol. If someone else at home has been washing them for you, the best thing is to check with them. If they have tumble dried them before, you can do it again.
Wool can shrink, and so can some stretchy fabrics, leggings for example. Delicate fabrics like silk can be spoilt by tumble drying, so you will have to make a note of those particular items if they have a machine wash label but are not tumble dryable. Bras will lose their elasticity more quickly if you tumble dry them, but you might decide to sacrifice this for the convenience of putting them in the dryer.
So now you should have 2 piles of clothes, light colours and dark, and you should have made a note of those items that you will have to remember not to put in the tumble dryer.
You are all set now for that big outing to the launderette! And you can read about how to manage that on another page.
How To Wash Your Clothes.
But just a word or two about that (hopefully) small pile of handwash and dry cleanable items.
Hand Washing Clothes and Dry Cleaning.
Wool can shrink, and so can some stretchy fabrics, leggings for example. Delicate fabrics like silk can be spoilt by tumble drying, so you will have to make a note of those particular items if they have a machine wash label but are not tumble dryable. Bras will lose their elasticity more quickly if you tumble dry them, but you might decide to sacrifice this for the convenience of putting them in the dryer.
So now you should have 2 piles of clothes, light colours and dark, and you should have made a note of those items that you will have to remember not to put in the tumble dryer.
You are all set now for that big outing to the launderette! And you can read about how to manage that on another page.
How To Wash Your Clothes.
But just a word or two about that (hopefully) small pile of handwash and dry cleanable items.
Hand Washing Clothes and Dry Cleaning.