TIPical Mary Ellen host Mary Ellen Pinkham gives viewers tips to prevent damage to clothing while doing laundry.
- Sort your lights and darks. All light colors, particularly colored and white synthetics, will pick up dark dyes.
- If you add chlorine bleach to the wash, the other items may fade or streak.
- Very dirty (oil-stained, muddy) clothes should be thrown together, while dirty spotted clothes need to presoak.
- Clothing marked "wash separately" with whites or differently colored clothes are done so because the color will probably run. Wash it with similar colors.
- Sweatshirts, chenille, and new towels deposit lint. Permanent press and corduroys attract lint.
- The best way to end up with a sparkling load of laundry is to treat all spills on clothes immediately after they occur. This is ideal, but not always realistic. So, at the very least, before you throw the clothes in the washer, pretreat any spots or soils in the fabric.
- To make the clothes that need special attention easier to spot, put a basket of brightly colored clothespins near the hamper. Make it a habit to snap one onto any wash item that is badly spotted or needs some kind of special care so it can get treated before it goes into the machine.
- Even better, keep a stain stick in the bedroom to treat immediately.
- Out of stain stick? Rub a moistened bar of plain uncolored and unscented soap on the stain before laundering.
- Look to see if repairs need to be done on any garments. It is a good idea to make sewing repairs before clothes are placed into the washer so as to avoid further damage.
To lessen the chance of clothing damage, button all buttons, zip up zippers, and fasten hooks so they don't get ripped or snag onto anything.- Be sure to add enough soap to the load, but don't overdo it. The most common mistake is adding to much soap. If you add too much, it is more likely that the soap will not be fully rinsed from the garments.
- If you have makeup stains, try sponging the area with denatured alcohol. Follow that treatment by applying a little diluted dishwashing liquid onto the stain. Rub into the fabric with your finger, then wash according to care instructions.
- One of the best ways to fight a stain is to soak the item in water and laundry detergent until the stain lifts.
- Add 1/2 cup lemon juice or vinegar mixture (equal parts) to wash or rinse cycle to deodorize and soften fabrics.
- Add 1/2 cup of borax to a load of laundry for whitening purposes. To whiten heavily soiled items, presoak in a mixture of 1/4 cup borax and two quarts hot water.
- For a zipper that sticks, rub a bar of soap over it to make it glide smoothly.
- Remove rust from clothing by applying lemon juice and salt on the stain. Set in the sun for a couple of hours.
- Remove scorch marks from ironing by putting a damp cloth on the item and running your iron over it.
