Laundry Detergent
Doing the laundry is one of those very basic chores that you do around the house. But there is some skill to it that you will refine the longer you do it. Some say that the men in the family cannot become adept at doing the laundry. But even the man in the family can learn how to work with laundry detergent to load up a washer with laundry and get the job done.
If you find yourself having to do the laundry and it isn’t a job that often falls to you, don’t panic. You can do it if you just take it one-step at a time. First take some time and inspect the washer and the dryer and get to know them. They are not complicated machines but there are settings for different kinds of laundry and how big the loads will be and the temperature of the water you want to wash your clothing in.
Laundry detergent is also not difficult to figure out. If you find several kinds of detergent, for the most part avoid any that say "with bleach" on the box. Bleach will take the color out of your clothing so use the most down to earth detergent you can find without any additives or special treatments or smells. If you have to go to the store to get some, follow that same formula to get a detergent that can be used with pretty much any load of laundry.
When you open the laundry detergent box up, there will be scoop inside. The implication is pretty clear. You put one scoop of detergent in with the load of clothing you wish to wash. If you think that looks like a lot, put half a scoop in. You don’t need very much detergent. Do not put two in or you will have a suds overflow like happens on situation comedies on television.
Don’t be concerned about whether you should put the detergent in before you put in the cloths you are going to wash or after. In reality it doesn’t matter that much. Separate the clothing you are going to wash into stacks of cloths so you wash the stacks in different runs through the washer. As a rule wash like things together. So wash underwear with underwear, shirts together and towels and pants together. But again, this is not a hard and fast rule and if a pair of socks gets in with your shirts, nothing bad will happen. If you suspect you should not wash something that looks delicate or that has a color you don't trust like red, don’t wash it in this load. Only wash your stuff. Don't tackle women's clothing. You don’t need that kind of challenge.
You can experiment with how much clothing to put in but don’t pack it in there tight because the clothes have to move around to wash. Add your soap and start the washer. A safe temperature for about all loads is medium. But if you want to get specific, go with hot water for soiled items like underwear and dishtowels and cold water for permanent press items. Find the setting for the kind of cloths you are washing, close the top and hit the button. The washer will take care of the rest. Use your same ingenuity to learn to operate the dryer and you are all set. Congratulations. You now know how to wash you won clothes. More or less.