Washing clothes is not one of Tip Diva’s favorite chores, but it’s a necessary evil - she doesn’t want to stink or look dirty! But over 20 years, she has learned some simple ways to optimize washing and keeping garments looking their best: 

• Pay Attention To Labels - There is a reason why those labels are there - so your brand new wool sweater doesn’t wind up fitting your Cabbage Patch Doll. These labels cover the soup-to-nuts care of your clothes, including washing, drying and ironing. The label might just contain three words - “Dry Clean Only.” But whatever the tag says, make sure to follow directions, as doing so will keep your clothes in the best possible condition.
• Pre-Treat Stains - Pretreating takes out stains that ordinary washing will not. There are different types of stain removal tools, including pens like Tide To Go (Tip Diva’s personal favorite), detergents and bars of soap. Follow directions carefully, or you might end up with spots on colorfast clothing.
• Separate By Color - Tip Diva hopes that you are not one of the poor saps who has washed your favorite once-white blouse with a brand-new red shirt or turned your black pants brown by accidently putting bleach in your color clothes. There’s a reason why you wash clothes with like colors. Different washing methods and water tempature will affect how your clothes look.
• Keep Track Of Socks - As you load the washing machine, count the number of socks - and make sure they’re paired - as you put them in. This reduces the chance of the phantom lost sock. Some people even like to pin the socks together.
• Keep Like Clothes Together - Like colors, keeping like clothes together leads to more effective washing. T-shirts with t-shirts, delicates with delicates, and towels with towels. Sometimes, this isn’t possible, but if you can, do it.
• Make Sure The Washing Machine Is Balanced - Have you ever had a “dancing” washing machine that makes a racket or shimmies across the floor? Well, the reason it’s doing that is because the clothes are not balanced in the washing drum. This happens most often when you have a mix of heavy items, like jeans or towels, in with lighter clothes. If your machine becomes unbalanced, shift the clothes around, or remove the heavier items for a separate washing.
• Split Drying - If you have lighter clothes with heavier clothes in the same load, split the drying. This will assure more even drying and a faster dry cycle.
• Pay Attention To Drying - Clothes can either be tumble dried, laid flat or hung dry. Make sure you follow these, as it will help your clothes retain their optimum state.
• Fold Immediately - The quicker you fold, the less wrinkles you have. It’s that simple.
• Store Bedsheets In Pillowcases - Instead of having your linen closet all askew, keep all your bedsheet sets together by folding the fitted sheet, flat sheet and extra pillow cases inside one of the set’s pillowcases.

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