drying

So, how many of you try to do the least amount of laundry loads as possible? How many of you mix your dark and white garments together? How many of you add a ton of laundry detergent? How many of you dry every single clothing item you own in the dryer, even delicate pieces? If you said yes to any of the questions above, you’re ruining your clothing! This is Washing & Drying 101 and some of my tricks to make sure your clothing lasts.

A huge part of keeping your clothing to last for multiple seasons is by how you wash and dry your pieces. Of course, the quality of the clothing has a lot to do with this, as well, but you can really help keep your pieces looking like they’re fresh out of the store after multiple washes – especially pieces from those fast fashion stores like Forever 21, H&M, ZARA and Shein.

Fun Fact: The highest quality of cotton comes from Egypt.

Let’s start with mixing your darks and whites together. Have you ever noticed how your white sweater no longer looks white after you wash it with your dark skinny jeans? Did you notice it actually has a gray/blue tint to it now and looks a little dull? This is because the dark ink in your denim bled onto your perfectly white sweater while it was tossing around in your washing machine for 45 minutes. My recommendation: just do two separate loads of whites and darks! Yes, this does take longer, but wouldn’t you want your white sweater to still be white after one wearing?

Be careful not to use too much detergent. Too much can damage the fabric fibers in your clothing resulting in discolored fabrics. Besides ruining the fabric fibers, too much detergent can also ruin your washing machine causing it to grow bacteria or even flood your house with bubbles!

Fun Fact: Did you know polyester could have potentially started out as plastic?

The majority of my clothing doesn’t make it into the dryer unless it’s an old Zeta t-shirt from college, pajama pants or underwear. I have a drying rack my mom bought me years ago that I use Every. Single. Sunday. Be careful – many fabrics will shrink in the dryer, and some fabrics just simply do not belong in the dryer at all. To be safe, go get yourself a $10 drying rack from Target and hang your garments to dry like they did in the olden days. Lay sweaters flat to dry and folded in your closet so they keep their shape. The drying rack will save you a bunch of money in the long run by not shrinking your clothes. Thanks, Mom! 🙂

Always follow what the tag on the inside of the garment says. If it reads ‘Dry Clean Only’ – NEVER put it in the washing machine. In college, I accidentally added one of my silk dry clean only tops in the washing machine – detergent and all – and the fabric came out all kinds of ruined. It was stiff and shrunk in strange places. There went that $150 blouse!

Fun Fact: Silk comes from an insect called a silkworm which grows large enough to spin silk.

Do you have washing and drying questions about a certain fabric? Let me help you! Shoot me a message on Instagram (shannon.n.jones), comment below or email me at shanjones25@yahoo.com.

Cheers,