So, you ended up being in an awkward situation sitting for an important client meeting in casuals amidst all the suited up personnel’s in the conference room. And that’s because your spouse is out of town and there’s a pile of unwashed office wear clothes? Perhaps the nearby dry cleaner’s shop is closed too. Well, after a stern warning from your immediate boss, you wouldn’t really want to test his patience again. So then how about doing the laundry by yourself? No…Don’t go yet, trust me it’s as simple as playing games or driving a car! Here too, you just need to follow the rules (which can’t be broken). Betcha! Laundry will no longer be an annoying task for you. And hey, you could even surprise your better half by sharing the pic of your first attempt at doing laundry (wink wink!) Here’s what you need to do.
After a long day at work returning home to a pile of unattended unwashed clothes can be frustrating. At first, you would be tempted to toss the clothes inside the washing machine, add the detergent or liquid, close the lid and press the start button to wash. But, it’s highly recommended to first check and empty all pockets (because there’s nothing worse than discovering a wet and torn 100 rupees note from a freshly washed pant) and follow the CFD sorting technique. The CFD method is pretty simple to understand.
C stands for color. It’s a no brainier that deep colors like red, maroon, indigo are likely to bleed while washing. Hence, it’s essential you separate your dark indigo jeans or that red sweatshirt from your light colored trousers and shirts before tossing them in the machine.
Once you sorted the clothes according to colors, you then need to sort them according to the fabric type (F). For instance; separate heavy items like towels from light weight fabric materials like linen, also ensure to separate zipper jacket from your spouse’s favorite lace top and other knit or woolen clothes. This will prevent any damage to the clothes with finer fabrics and ensure even drying which means no damp smell.
Lastly, sort the clothes on the basis of the dirt (D) accumulated. If the clothes are smelling or the collar of your shirt has turned black due to sweat or you need to separate them from the rest. As you would require longer cycle to clean them as compared to the no-so soiled clothes. This will avert the chances excessive muck settling on the less mucky items during wash.
This may sound like a punishment for you. But with a sorted laundry your half work is done! Trust me, laundry will be much easier to do once sorted. You can do one or two loads per week For instance; on one day of the week you can wash only the whites and on the next perhaps only the colored clothes (or as you prefer).
If in case, you are left with smaller loads of laundry for instance; 2 pairs of dark cotton trousers and 2 cotton shirt, you can combine the loads into one. Which means, you could wash a pair of jeans with your dark color cotton pants or with towels.
If you don’t know, the capacity of a washing machine is measured in kilograms, a lot of the load taking depends on the weight limit of a washing machine’s drum and it’s directly linked with weight of the dry clothes that will go into the drum. While most manufacturers recommend to utilize only three quarters of the drum to get best cleaning results. That’s because, excessive clothes leaves very room for the clothes to tumble freely and could damage the machine too. Truth to be told, many people don’t even realize they are probably overloading the machine. Therefore, there’s a quick look at the approximate dry weight of typical every day items.
*the weight mentioned in grams are for estimate purpose only.
If you have a newer machine it might prompt you of any overloading issues as well as automatically sense the load. But, if you own an older machine (without any sensor), you may not even know if your machine is overloaded. So, here’s a simple trick that will help you check if you are burdening your machine or not.
- If you’re unable to close the lid of the machine, it means that your washing machine is overloaded.
- Place your hand in the centre of the washing machine’s drum. If you can easily bring it out your machine is not overloaded. Whereas, if you find it difficult to remove your hand out then it’s a sign that you washing machine is overloaded.
- Here are some other tricks:
- If the laundry exactly scoops in an armload then it’s a small load. It’s usually fills about one third of the machine.
- If your armload is full, then you can consider that the load is medium which could fill half of the machine.
- Whereas, you’ll clearly know you’re dealing with large load of laundry when you can’t hold up all the laundry in your armload. A large amount of load fills nearly three-fourth of the washing machine.
Aside from settings and sorting, for your clothes to look and feel fresh you need to add the right amount of detergent to your washing machine before starting the cycle. That’s because too much detergent can leave stains and traces of its residues on your clothes. What’s even worse is that your clothes could have a soapy or sticky feel. Similarly using too little detergent is also not advisable as it will not effective clean the mucky from your clothes.
Here’s how you can use Detergent:
- It is advisable that you read the instructions on the detergent packet to get the right amount of dosage for the load.
- The detergent packet comes with a scoop, which can be used to measure the correct amount of detergent.
- If you’ve have a top loader or a semi-automatic washing machine, you can directly put the scoop of detergent in the drum before putting in the clothes.
- For a front load washing machine, you need to add the detergent into the drawer/ dispenser
- Once you’ve added the detergent ensure it dissolves well in water, then toss your laundry in the machine and select the cycle to proceed further.
Similarly, as name suggest a fabric softener can make your clothes feel soft as well as infuse fresh fragrance. But before using the fabric softener, don’t forget to read the usage instruction given behind the fabric softener bottle. Using an appropriate measure of fabric softener will make your clothes look lively. But, if you happen to pour it more than the required amount fabric softener can weaken the fabric of your clothes.
- Fabric softener bottle comes with a small measuring cap.
- Pour the fabric softener into the cap as instructed.
- Next, pour the liquid carefully in the drawer/ dispenser of the machine
- It’s recommended to add the fabric softener in the last rinse cycle to ensure the clothes smell fragrant and soft
Whereas, if you want to whiten your white shirt that looks dull and get rid of some stains of curry or ink on it grab the packet of the bleach. Uh uhh…don’t pour the entire bleach liquid or powder into the machine. Here’s what you should know about bleach before using it. Typically there are two types of bleach: Chlorine bleach that should be used only for whites and oxygen bleach also known as all-fabric bleach that can be used on both white as well as on colored clothes.
- If you have chlorine bleach at home, add three-fourth cup chlorine bleach into the machine before water with your regular detergent, then add your load of white laundry.
- If you have oxygen bleach, add not more than one cup of liquid or half scoop of powder for normal stains and one scoop of powder for tough stains along with the regular detergent and wash the laundry.
Now after doing the sorting, loading the right amount of clothes in the machine, adding the detergent you finally press the start button! But what about the wash cycle? Which is the first and which is the last? You certainly will have these questions coming in your mind. So relax here’s a quick look at the three basic wash cycles and what should you look for while selecting the cycle.
During the wash cycle, the machine mixes the water and detergent or liquid. The clothes are soaked in this soapy solution after which in a top load machine you can notice the drum moving the load in alternating directions. Whereas, in a front load the entire drum rotates to provide the needed friction to clean the gunk from the clothes. The average wash cycle in top load washing machine is roughly between 30 -35 minutes. Whereas, in a front load is approximately around 60 minutes that because, the clothes in a top-load washer are constantly immersed and soaking in water. Front-load washers are not filled as deep, and therefore, the clothing is cycled in and out of the water. With less soaking time, it takes longer to get them clean.
After a good 15 – 3o minutes wash cycle, the rinse cycle uses spraying and spinning technique to force the soapy water out from the washing machine. (Here’s where you hear the strange noise). After a couple of cycles the clothes are finally rinsed in just plain water before they are spun dry.
Spinning is necessary for getting out the excess water from the clothes. At this stage, if you have an automatic machine you don’t have to worry about spin speed it will set the spin cycle speed as required. An average spin cycle varies between 800-1600 rpm and could last between 4- 15 minutes approx! The faster the spin speed the quicker the clothes are dried. If you wondering if the spin speed is the same for every machine then you wrong. Cause, the spinning speed varies for every machine. But, if you’re curious to know the spin cycle speed of your machine, look for it in your product manual it would be represented as ‘RPM’ or revolution per minute.
The key to clean laundry is appropriate wash and dry temperature settings. Select the water temperature suggested on the wash care label. If there isn’t anything mentioned worry not. Here’s what you need to know. A standard temperature is anywhere between 40 to 60 degrees. But fabrics such as wool, synthetics etc. are best washed at a lower temperatures anywhere around 20 to 30 degrees to reduce shrinkage and damage. Baby clothes, on the other hand, are best washed at higher temperatures to remove bacteria.
Like for instances; if you need to clean a dirty cloth hot water is more beneficial. It is also ideal to use hot water for all the whites, your personal wears, bed sheets etc. Whereas, if you want to wash synthetic or wash and wear (wrinkle free) fabrics it’s better to opt for warm water as washing them in hot water can affect the fabric. But when in doubt of setting the right temperature for washing always use cold water. It’s safe and won’t cause damage to any kind of fabric.
Also, if you have a separate dryer, keep in mind to use the right temperature even for drying your clothes. If you want to dry items like towels, quilts etc. go in for high heat temperature setting. Whereas for your every day wear, medium heat setting is a recommended option to ensure the fabric is not affected. And when it comes to beddings, gym clothes, jeans and other delicate fabrics, stick with the low heat temperature setting. If your machine comes with an air dryer option you can use it to dry your gym clothes and jeans! And yeah, don’t forget to remove the clothes after the drying process is complete.
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Water type
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Temperature
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Suitable for
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Hot water
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Must not exceed 60 degrees
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White cotton clothes, towels, beddings, clothes with oily stains or clothes that are heavily soiled
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Warm Water
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30-40 degrees
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synthetic or wash and wear (wrinkle free fabric)
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Cold water
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15- 20 degrees
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Dyed clothes, wool, silk and other delicate fabrics
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You’ve successfully managed to do your own laundry like a pro! Congrats! Wasn’t that easy peasy? So, the next time when your spouse is not in town and if you have important meetings lined up, you don’t have to end up wearing casuals and see your boss giving you stern looks. Hey, and you know what? You can in fact even share the load of the household chores with your wife by doing the laundry! Speaking of which, don’t forget to click your selfie with the first laundry you washed and shared it with your wifey. She would be delighted.
