The Top 10 Ways to Ruin Your Clothes
Doing laundry is most likely not your favorite chore. Sometimes you may want to just throw it all into the wash quickly and toss it all in the dryer together after the spin cycle. However, doing so, you risk ruining your clothing over time. Before you do your next load of laundry, read our top ten ways to ruin your clothing.
#10. Rub spills into your garment instead of blotting: When you first spill something on your garment, resist the urge to wipe it off. Instead, Blot gently — never rub; and don’t ever blot with hot water.
#9. Let stains sit overnight: The sooner you act on spills and potential stains the better. Once they are “set in” to the fabric, it will be difficult to lift them entirely out of the fibers.
#8. Don’t empty your pockets before you put your items in the wash: Pockets with pens, lipstick and coins can leave laundry streaked, stained or torn. If you are sending your clothes to us, rest assured we check all your pockets and place any objects found in a plastic bag for you – change and all.
#7. Don’t follow the instructions on your laundry detergent for the proper amount or measure. Just guess: Detergents contain ingredients that remove and keep the soil in the wash water. If too little detergent is used, the quantity of these ingredients in the wash water will be too small, resulting in laundry that may not be as white or as bright as it should be. Using too much is wasteful and may result in insufficient rinsing, leaving detergent residues on fabrics.
#6. Over dry your clothes in the dryer: The dryer is what does most damage to clothes causing shrinkage, warping elastic, and the tumbling action is very rough. The best way to dry your clothes is to put all garments (except line-dried dedicates) in the dryer at low temperature. If laundry is not dried in a single low-temperature drying cycle, line dry the rest, or lay them out on a drying rack. ALWAYS clean out the lint trap after every cycle!
#5. Don’t wear an apron when cooking: Wearing an apron is functional and designed to keep your clothes clean. Oil, grease, sauce – you name it – can splatter your clothing and be difficult to stain remove. It’s best to protect your garments from the start rather than risk staining them.
#4. Don’t use hosiery bags for your delicate items: Hosiery bags are not just to protect nylons. Place your other soft washable items that could snag or stretch as they tumble along side your other garments in a hosiery bag to protect them too. Made of durable nylon mesh, items inside still get clean while preventing snags or tears from the buttons, clasps and zippers that may be on other items in the wash.
#3. Store your off season items in plastic or a damp space: This will encourage mildew or mold to grow and this cannot be removed. The mildew and mold may spread to surrounding clothing and they all will smell bad.
#2. Don’t read care labels. Wash all items exactly the same: Many, many times we’ve stressed to read the care label on your clothing. Not caring for garments in the way the manufacturer suggests is a sure fire way to ruin your clothes.
#1. Don’t bring your clothes to Classic Cleaners: Okay, we had to say it. We are experts in how to carefully wash and dry everything in your wardrobe. Classic Cleaners is one of the most technologically advanced dry cleaning and laundry companies in the Midwest. We employ individuals who excel in stain removal, alterations, best practices, technology and service.
