Step 1: Sort your clothes. Sort the clothes by colors. Once you have a week or two weeks' worth of clothes, sort them as follows: whites, light colors, dark colors, and delicates. Dark colors include garments such as jeans, dark socks, dark colored t-shirts, and dark-colored underwear. Whites are, obviously, all-white clothes, but also white t-shirts with silk-screened images. Light color garments is a good catch-all category. This includes striped white garments and pastel colors. Delicates are items that would probably best be washed by hand or dry cleaned, such as sweaters, woolens, blouses or skirts, dress shirts or linens. Don't wash anything that labeled "Dry Clean Only" in a washing machine. If you'd like to avoid dry-cleaning for financial and environmental reasons, check out some of the gentle detergents like Woolite, which is made for dry-clean items.

Step2. Wash special clothes by hand.

Wash reds or any new, colored garments by themselves for the first time. They can bleed and stain the other clothes in the same wash. Or you can simply dip them in almost-hot water in a sink to see if they bleed. If they don't, they're probably safe to wash with other garments.

Step 3. Pre-treat stubborn stains.

If there's an especially stubborn stain, pre-treat it. Rub a small amount of liquid detergent into the stain. Or use one of the many sprays or liquid stain treatments.

Step 4: Wash the remaining clothes.

Most washing machines have dials that turn clockwise only. Generally, push in the dial, turn to proper setting, and pull out to activate.
Put the soap in first. Each detergent is different, although you should generally use no more than a half a coffee cup of powdered detergent per full load, or a third of a coffee cup of liquid detergent. Too much detergent can cause overflow problems, or clump up in the folds of your clothes and not wash out properly. Read the directions on the box to determine how much detergent to use. Most manufacturers include a scoop for powdered detergents and a measured cap for liquid detergent.


Evenly distribute the clothes. The weight of the laundry should be evenly balanced around the inside cylinder. This will prevent the inside cylinder from spinning off its track during the wash, and ensure even and fair washing among the clothes.


Set the water temperature: Keep in mind that machines vary and read any special notices that may be listed. There are two temperatures indicated, one for the wash cycle and one for the rinse cycle.

Whites - Hot/Cold

Light Colors - Warm/Cold

Dark Colors - Warm/Cold or Cold/Cold

Delicates - Cold/Cold


Set the machine-wash cycle:

Whites - Regular

Light Colors - Regular or Permanent Press

Dark Colors - Regular or Permanent Press

Delicates - Delicate

Some say follow the soap with water, some say with laundry. May the great debate continue. If there are instructions printed on the inside lid of your washing machine, you may want to follow them.

Step 5: Dry your clothes.

If you're cash-strapped, environmentally conscious or just want to minimize your time in laundromats, dry your clothes on a clothesline or on a folding, wooden, clothes-drying rack. Both are available at hardware stores and will save you a lot of money over the long-term. Otherwise, head for the dryer.
For some reason, most dryer dials turn both ways--as opposed to most washing machines, which have dials that turn clockwise only. Generally, push the dryer dials in to turn to the setting, and pull them out to activate. There's often an extra button on the dryer which starts the process. If you open the door to check how well the clothes are being dried, hit the bottom again to start.


Important! Remove the lint from the lint trap before each load. A full lint trap sharply lowers the effeciency of your dryer and often results in very unhappy (read: damp) clothes.


Drying times depend on the effectiveness of the individual dryer. An older machine could take up to twice as long to dry the same set of clothes. Settings on the dryer are similar to the washer. Dryers also an additional setting whereby you can time your drying cycle. This is generally best done at 40 minutes for a full load to start. If you come back and the clothes need more time, try it 20 minutes at a time. If you dry your clothes for too long, they can shrink. It also wears and tears on them a bit, too.


Jeans and towels take the longest to dry. If faced with a large load, one option is to pull out the easily-dried items (underwear, etc.) when finished early in the load to allow more heat for the others.

Step 6: Fold your shirt.

Find a flat, open space to fold your clothes. A bed, or a clean table or floor are all good spots. Put each folded garment out of the way in a clean space as you finish with each piece.
It's best to fold items when they are still warm. Lie the garment on a flat surface and smooth out the wrinkles. If smoothed when warm, they'll stay that way.


Shirts: Hold the shirt by its shoulders. Flap up and down once or twice so it hangs straight. Lay it face-down on the folding surface and smooth out any folds. You can do an extra neat job by pulling gently on the side seams to smooth out the back.


Now start folding. Fold the shirt lengthwise along the line of the outer edge of the collar or neck band. Smooth the sleeve out, using your fingers to pull at the seam, making it slightly taut.


Fold the other side over. Fold it lengthwise, along the line of the outer edge of the collar. Repeat the sleeve-smoother technique.


Fold the shirt in half. Take the bottom edge of the shirt with both hands and fold it up to the collar. You're done--onto the next one!

Step 7: Fold your pants.

As with shirts, the secret to flat, neatly folded pants lies in lining up the seams and hems of the pants.
Hold pants by the waist and flap up and down several times to smooth out large folds. Lay down on folding surface so that the seams from each pant leg are parallel.


Pull gently on those seams until they're slightly taut.


Now you have two options. If you stack your pants in a shelf or drawer, fold your pants in thirds as shown in the diagram. Hanging the pants on a hangar requires only a single fold in the middle of the pants.



Congratulations! You have acquired the skills (well, some of them, at least) to re-enter the world in cleanliness and in style.