Understand Common Laundry Symbols

When you look at the care instructions on a clothing label, make sure you know what each symbol means. It’s important to follow the instructions for washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and dry cleaning.

Failing to follow these instructions could harm the colors in your clothes or wear down the fibers faster. Water temperatures and cycle information will be some of the most important settings to review before washing clothes.

Group articles of clothing with similar wash instructions together in loads. But as you do that, don’t forget to consider the colors of these garments to make sure they don’t bleed into one another.

Prepare Laundry Before Washing

Before placing your laundry in the washing machine, turn it all inside out. The majority of soil on clothes comes from your body. The inside of the garment is more likely to hold body oils so this method also helps your laundry get cleaner. This helps the articles hold their color better too.

You also need to check all the pockets before tossing the clothes in the washer. Kids like to collect the weirdest things and stuff them in their pockets. Empty everything out of the pockets to prevent damage to your clothes.

Encourage your family members to turn all their laundry inside out before placing it in the hamper. This will help you complete this task quicker.

Use Cold Water Whenever Possible

If you can’t find the care symbols on an article of clothing, it’s best to just wash it in cold water. This is one of our best washing clothes tips because it preserves the color and beauty of the fabric. Cold water will help your laundry stay colorfast, less wrinkled, and less shrinkage. This will reduce the amount of wear that your laundry shows even after many washes.

Plus, by using cold water, you’ll save money by reducing the energy cost with every load.

Most fabric types can be washed in cold water except for synthetic fabrics (such as spandex, nylon, polyester, and rayon). They are better washed with warm water. Also, cold water is not recommended for washing smelly or heavily soiled clothes.

Avoid Build-up on Your Clothes

If your clothes aren’t laundered according to your machine’s recommendations, you might end up with build-up. Build-up is often soil, detergent and fabric softener that remains on clean laundry.

It’s often due to overfilling a washing machine or using too much detergent or fabric softener. Here’s how to avoid this buildup.

• Review your washing machine’s manual to see how much detergent you should be using. Overuse can leave residue on your clothes.
• Run an extra rinse cycle to remove all detergent thoroughly.
• Don’t add detergent and fabric softener at the same time. Instead, add your fabric softener during the final rinse cycle.
• Avoid overfilling your washer. To ensure the washing machine can properly rinse and clean your clothes, you should only fill it ¾ full.

If you’re already experiencing this problem, follow these steps to remove build-up from your laundry.

Always Air Dry Your Clothes

There’s no doubt that a dryer provides outstanding convenience to your laundry routine. However, it really isn’t what’s best for your clothes. To ensure your clothes keep their shape and structure, air dry them.

Drying machines use heat to speed up the process. That heat can damage the fibers in your clothes causing them to shrink or lose their shape. This will age your clothes much more quickly than air-drying them. 

During the cold winter months, you can put the clothes in the dryer at the lowest heat setting first and hang dry them afterward.

Even for your child’s favorite shirt, these laundry tips will help keep their clothes looking like new for many wash cycles to come!

When the time does come for you to purchase new clothes for your children, visit Berri Kids Boutique for high-quality, budget-friendly apparel. You’ll get gently used and well-maintained clothes from brands you know and love at a fraction of the retail  price.