maggie's laundry tips

You guys, this may sound a bit boring, but my sister maggie has changed the way we do laundry around here, and I thought I would share her tips.

When maggie first moved in with us, I decided to be the absolute charm of a sister that I am and do some laundry for her.  When she saw the clean clothes in her room, she thanked me and then kindly asked me to never do her laundry again.  I was so offended! She explained that we just don't do laundry like she does. She began telling me the different laundry rules she follows, and I had never even heard them before! So I made her sit down with both david and I to list out her laundry guidelines:

1. Texture is more important that color. It is more important to keep all of your soft shirts together than to throw in your soft blue t-shirt with your jeans. Keep all of your jeans together, all of your towels together, and all of your soft clothing together. First, separate your laundry by texture; then, if the piles are still large, separate by colors.

2. Smaller loads are okay. Gone are the college days of stuffing all of your clothes into the washing machine to save on quarters. When david and I were first married, we did all of our laundry at a local Laundromat. We once stuffed the washer so full that some of the clothes didn’t even get wet. We had to pay for two more loads. Smaller loads allow all of the clothes to be completely submerged in water, soaped and cleaned.

3. Start the water, add soap and then add the clothes. Rather than pouring the soap on top of your clothes, start the water, pour in the soap, and let the water get a little soapy before throwing in your clothes. This allows all of the clothes to get submerged in water with an equal amount of soap for all the items.

4. Use fabric softener. This is an easy area to cut because of extra cost, but it is worth it. I have actually started making my own using this recipe, which has made it super affordable. I can smell and feel a difference when I use it.

5. Inside-out your dark-wash jeans. This helps your pants to keep that dark color instead of getting faded and washed out.

6. Shake pants out before putting it in the dryer. By giving each pair of pants a little shake out, it helps to avoid that wrinkled ball of clothes you can sometimes find in the dryer.

7. Use dryer sheets. Again, worth the extra cost. Just throw one or two sheets into the dryer with your clothes, and you will be able to tell a difference.

8. Keep zippered clothing with other zippers. Zippers have been known to put tiny little holes in a couple of my favorite shirts, and all because I didn’t separate my zippered pants and sweatshirts from everything else. Also, it helps to pull the zipper up so there is less metal to snag other clothing.

Hope this little list helps!