How to Be a Better Laundress

Tired of pulling laundry out of the dryer and seeing that it's frayed or faded? Have you dyed your honey's tighty whities an embarrassing shade of pink? Don't worry, there's hope for you yet! You can still be an absolutely fabulous home laundress, when you use these tips.

• Button-up pants and shirts, close zippers, and turn garments inside out to reduce wear from laundering.
• Check for stains after washing and before drying, because drying sets the stains.
• Don't use hot water unless you're washing items you believe must be absolutely clean and disinfected. Hot water wears down fibers.

For the rest of the tips, read more.

• Don't bleach wool, silk, or garments with more than 5 percent spandex.
• White sheets made of cotton not treated for wrinkles look best longest.
• Inspect and pretreat stains and soils with liquid detergent. Use a bleach pen for pretreating stained white areas of garments with stripes or patterns.
• Always wash garments with like colors to avoid those pink-stained whites! However, if you're washing in cold water, your clothes' colors are much less likely to run.
• If you have a lot of loads, sort items into further subcategories, such as into heavy and light clothing.
• Avoid fabric softener, since it leaves a coating on clothes. Use dryer sheets instead. Or, for the lightest impact on your clothing, avoid the dryer altogether and hang your clothes.