I know most people hate doing laundry, but I think it goes so much farther than the norm for me. I am a laundry nazi. Maybe that isn't the best description word, but I am crazy about how laundry is done. Seriously, ask Adam. The only person I have ever let do my laundry and not had an anxiety attack about is my mother. This could be because I inherited a lot of my laundry hang-ups (pun intended) from her, but then took it to the next level. I sort everything buy color, not like the normal lights, darks, whites. Literally by color. Pinks and reds, blues, greens, yellows, etc all get their own load. Then within the color families I have sub groups for temperatures. Not all of my whites can get washed on hot, and some of my colors need to be washed in hot to make sure the germs get effectively killed off. All my towels are white because I always wash towels on the hottest water possible (again a germ issue) and if they weren't white then they will fade or discolor. Can't have that. Socks have to go in with the towels, I don't want feet germs in anything but the hottest water possible; plus socks are rougher than most fabrics and I don't want fuzzy clothes. Sorting clothes is almost a nerve wracking thing for me. What if something doesn't make it into the pile and *gasp* has to wait for the next time I wash that color? I know, ridiculous. I make my own laundry soap. My mother got me to do this and I realized that A it works just as well and B is WAY cheaper than the stuff you buy in the store. Go
here for a recipe. I usually double the washing soda when I make it. Once I actually get my laundry into the machine I am very particular about the settings the machine is on. Every load MUST be double rinsed. Have you ever done a load of laundry, left it in the machine for an hour too long and had it smell sour? That is usually because of soap left in your clothes. It sounds crazy I know, but it is true. A second rinse helps eliminate this. Something else that helps is adding a half of a cup of vinegar to the last rinse cycle or in your fabric softener dispenser if you have one. Yes, that's right, I said vinegar. Plain white vinegar. It cuts any remaining soap that might not have been rinsed out completely. It is cheap, and no your clothes will not smell like vinegar. Honest, try it. I do cheat a little though. I LOVE the smells of Downy's newest simple pleasures line, so I add half of a regular dosage with the vinegar. After the washer is complete I have to carefully go through my entire load to make sure there isn't something in there that I really should be hanging or laying flat to dry. 99% of the time I dry on low-towels are the exception, the heat softens them and makes them so much fluffier. Low heat keeps the color from fading, plus you are less likely to have wrinkles set into your clothing because you don't have a huge temperature drop when the dryer stops. Unless of course you have nothing better to do than stand around waiting for the dryer to stop. I cannot take things out of the dryer unless I am going to immediately hang them up or fold them. I hate wrinkled clothes. I don't mind ironing things that usually get ironed, IE dress shirts or cotton skirts, but you shouldn't have to iron a t shirt because it lived in a laundry basket for two days before you bothered to rescue it. Why bother to do the load if you aren't going to fold or hang it? You are no farther ahead than when it was in the laundry basket dirty. The washing is the easiest part of the process. Plus, it is way easier to iron when you are smoothing out little wrinkles from a dress shirt than when you practically have to soak a piece of clothing in order to get out deep set wrinkles. Now in the event that you need to get some wrinkles out of clothing that you don't want to iron or have to throw back in the dryer, spray a little wrinkle releaser. Downy sells some, which is crazy spendy, or you can make your own. Very cheap and works almost the same. Combine 3 cups water, 1 cup vinegar and 1 cap, about half full, of a WHITE downy. I stress the white because you don't want little blue spots on your clothes, well at least I don't. I like the pure essentials aloe and white lilac but there are several other options including one that is scent and dye free. However, since 1/4 of this mixture is vinegar, you really want a Downy with a strong scent to cover that up. Pour it into a spray bottle, shake well, and viola! Much cheaper than the $3.50 they charge for a bottle. This stuff is great, no need to iron, just spray it on (a little goes a long way), tug a little to smooth out the wrinkles, give it a few minutes to dry and you are ready to go. Try it out, tell me what you think. Is it a good as the Downy version? I will save the details of how OCD I am about folding and hanging for another day.
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