On Laundry

January 2, 2005

Someone called me this afternoon and suggested I do a “On Laundry” blog entry. Sounded interesting. Here it is:

Sunday is usually my laundry day. I usually do it at the last minute and go to bed late. Today however, I was reminded to do it early and get it done.

Most people do laundry wrong. They will mix in clothes that shouldn’t be together and ruin a lot of clothes quickly. I mean seriously, clothes are expensive. I remember when you could get a really good cotton t-shirt for 4 bucks. Now you can’t find one with any style to it for under 15(!)

One thing I consciously do when I shop for clothes is pay attention to the material they’re made out of. Basically put, if it’s not made out of something I can easily wash and not worry about – I won’t buy it. Also – if the article of clothing in question requires “special” cleaning, forget it. I won’t buy that either. The last thing I need to do is spend (read: waste) my time cleaning one piece of clothing at a time.

I separate my laundry into three categories: lights, darks and jeans. And we all know what happens when you don’t separate the lights and darks; you get little fuzzies all over your darker clothes. Mix jeans in with the lights and you suffer the same fate.

Ironing is something I also can’t stand. Currently (and hopefully forever) I have the luxury of getting my clothes out of the dryer right when the cycle completes. When you do this you don’t have to iron – or at least I don’t with the current clothes I have. Most clothes when hot will not wrinkle. However I will iron when I have to go to some special function, like a job interview for example. That is what I call “worthy” ironing.

Fabric softener sheets (a.k.a. dryer sheets) are also something I swear by. I don’t use them for softer fabric out of the dryer. I use them because it kills all the static electricity on the clothes when the dryer is done with its cycle. Unfortunately I have run into the problem of running out of dryer sheets.. which sucks. Everything sticks to everything. Blah. Oh, small tip: It does matter what brand of dryer sheet you buy. Bounce sheets are the best. Generic brands rip apart in the dryer. Nasty.

I have just finished my 2nd load (darks) and will move on to the jeans and then I’m done. Hallelujah. (grin)