Thursday Thirteen--Norma's Laundry Tips

Recently the Wall Street Journal had an article on home laundry. It seems 78% of households do approximately 9 loads of laundry a week, and 1,100 washloads are started every second! Wow! The first 5 tips on this list came from the article; the other 8 are mine, from over 50 years of doing my own laundry mistakes.

1. Don't use too much detergent. Read the directions.
2. Sort by color.
3. Close all zippers and hooks.
4. Pretreat stains. [I use green handsoap--works great on fast food synthetic uniforms.]
5. Don't stuff the washer.
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6. If you are retired, a couple, or live alone, have at least 2 weeks of underwear; launder less often.
7. Always, always check pockets for tissue. You might even find money, but dollar bills don't disintegrate and Kleenex does.
8. First and second floor laundry space is nice until something (roots in the drain 50 ft. from the house or too much soap) causes an overflow. Everything that backs up ends up in the living room. Trust me on this one. If you're slab on grade, you have no choice. Just get a root service out once in awhile.
9. Keep a suspended rod from the ceiling over head for hanging some items right out of the dryer. I use the brackets and dowel rod from kitchen cafe curtains we no longer use.
10. If your pet uses the laundry room (kitty litter), be careful about scented products. Their little noses are much more sensitive than ours.
11. Clean your lint trap after every use.
12. Pay attention to your warranty. Appliances produced in the 21st century are junk. Especially Maytag.
13. In addition to sorting by color, I sort by fabric. I don't put synthetics in the dryer unless they are a blend with cotton for shaping. Some time ago I read a laundry page that said oxygen bleach works better in cold water. It really works!