A wardrobe can be really expensive. Protect your investment by taking care of your clothes using these tips. You can avoid fading, shrinking, napping and even dry cleaning if you properly take care of your clothing.
Vinegar can be your best friend in the laundry room. White vinegar works great on brightening colors, preventing yellowing of fine lace or silk, and removing many stains. Vinegar can even help remove gum, mildew and grass stains. Keeping a spray bottle filled halfway with white vinegar and the other half water can be helpful for pre-treating stains. Add a half cup of vinegar just before the rinse cycle to help remove detergent residues from your clothing. It acts like a natural fabric softener, making clothes fluffy and static free.
Nothing is worse than opening to dryer only to discover that your beautiful new red shirt has stained everything pink. To avoid the dreaded color run, wash red items with dark clothing. Wash them in cold water and use a laundry detergent that says something like, “safe for colors”, “color care”, or “inhibits dye transfer” on the label. Some detergents are even made for dark fabrics and help the dye set in. Use the delicate cycle the first time so that red or dark items are not squeezed tightly against other fabrics.
If a tag says to dry clean only, then you probably should follow that advice. But, if the fabric is safe to steam, you may be able to avoid dry cleaning until the end of the season when you are ready to store the garment. Put some vodka in a spritz bottle and spray areas that might start to smell. Your body can leave bacteria on your clothing and vodka safely kills the germs that cause the odor. You can let the garment air dry or use a clothes steamer to further freshen up the clothing. Steaming causes less damage than ironing and can be used on many fine fabrics.
Use a lint brush to get lint and pet hair off of suits, jackets and shirts. Use an adhesive lint roller if the fabric is more delicate. A lint brush can sometimes make a fabric appear fuzzy, which is great for certain things, like flannel, but you may want to use a lint roller for more delicate items.
Synthetic materials can actually melt at high temperatures. You should put your dryer on a “normal” setting or even low to avoid shrinkage and permanent wrinkling. Garment racksin the laundry room are great for hanging synthetics to dry. If you accidentally shrink a sweater made of wool and/or cotton based yarn, you can get it back to its normal size by soaking it in warm water mixed with shampoo. The shampoo loosens and softens yarns, allowing you to gently pull the sweater back to its original shape and size.
About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.