Some tips to help you through your first experience at doing your own laundry.

Read the care label on your clothing to see if they can be washed or if they have to be dry cleaned. You cannot wash clothes that need to be dry cleaned in the washer. Some matierials they use now will literally fall apart in the washer.

If you have a new peice of clothing and you are not sure about the color fading or bleeding onto other clothes, then wash it separately and add a 1/2 of table salt to the wash water. That will block the color and prevent it from bleeding in later washings.

It is best if when you get a stain to put the stain remover on before it goes into the dirty laundry.  This gives it time to work out the stain in your garment.

3. Separate your laundry by color. If you have underwear and t-shirts put those in the White Pile along with anything else that can be bleached.

Put all light colors that cannot be bleached into another pile. Darks consist of darker clothes and the colors red, dark green, Dark blue, Jeans and the like.

Bed linen and towels in a separate pile

Load your whites in the washer first. If using commercial machines, follow the instruction on the machine or ask an attendant for help. Most times the instructions will be located on the front or the top of the machine.

If using commercial machines you can do more than one lad at a time depending on how many peple are there at the same time that you are.

If you are doing this on a home machine then follow those instructions that came with your machine..

When the washer stops the final spin cycle take out the clothes and load them into the dryer. If you didn't add Fabric Softener to the washer in the place allotted for it then add ONE sheet of fabric softener to the dryer.

During the cycle open the door and check on the shirts. Don't let them fully dry. Take them out and immediately hang them on a hangar. You may save some money and later ironing this way.

There is a better, more economical way of drying your laundry. Hand them on a line and let Mother Nature dry them. If you live in an apartment or you don't have the space or your neighborhood regulations don't allow clotheslines. Don't fret, You CAN have a clothesline. Check out my Laundry Tips to see how you can have a clothesline to dry your clothes and save on a dryer.

Hang shirts from the bottom side seams. Men's underwear from the top sides and ladies undies from the crotch. Socks are to be hing at the toe. Sheets, bedspreads and comforters can be folded in half and hung on the line. Towels will need to be put at the farthest corners of the line because they hang down so far. Same goes for long sleeved shirts.

There is no better smell then clothes that have been dried outside. For some reason they don't pick up any foul smells in the air----only clean smells.

Maybe the Sun God has something to do with this! LOL

It is easiest to fold the laundry while you are standing at the line. This way you can sort it as to who and where they go and what gets put away first. Then all you have to do it put them away in the order you folded them and alot less time consuming this way too.

To Iron a Shirt:

Place the shirt with the back on the top of the ironing board, the colar at the end of the ironing board..  Let the sleeves hang down the sides of the ironing board.  Iron this area and the collar down too at the top.

Now place the fromt side withthe buttons on the ironing board and iron the side seams to the button area making sure the flap under the buttons is flat.  Do not iron on to of the uttons but go around them with your iron.  Buttoms are made of plastice these days and the heat from the iron wil melt them.

Now position the front side that has the button hole in it.  Prees this as you would the side with the buttons on it and make sure everything is flat and in it's proper place.

Place the sleeves on the ironing board with the seam at the bottom and the sleeve folded in half.  Press this to the top of the sleeve.  Hold up the shoulder slightly so that you do not press wrrinkles in the pleated area of the shoulder.

Now press the collar flat and then go back and press it as it you were wearing it.

Hang on a Clothes Hanger.