More about washing made easy
When is your washing machine full?
How much can you cram into a washing machine? Well, more than you might think. The efficiency of washers today is measured with a full drum, and the clothes do get clean. An average wash weighs around 3 kg, and most machines can handle 6 kg. Running a half empty machine is a waste of energy. Fill the washer according to the program’s recommendations: there’s a maximum weight specified in the user manual.
Rough guide to weights of common items
Choosing the right detergent
There are plenty of brands of laundry detergent on the market. Which one you choose is generally a matter of taste. If you’re sensitive to perfumes or have sensitive skin and want to make absolutely sure all the detergent is rinsed out, set the washer to do an extra rinse.
Powder or liquid?
It doesn’t matter, so long as you use a detergent with bleach for whites, one without bleach for colors, and one without enzymes for wool and silk.
Caring for our environment
Today, many laundry detergents have eco-labelling. It’s not necessary to use bleach for every load of whites, as bleach causes wear to fabrics and damage to the environment. Every other wash is quite sufficient. Other things you can do are always wash full loads, and don’t wash at unnecessarily high temperatures.
How much detergent?
Using the right amount of detergent is more important than you might think. Too much will not make your laundry cleaner. On the contrary, detergent will remain in the fabric, which can irritate the skin and cause allergies. Too little detergent and your clothes might not get clean. First and foremost, read the recommended dose on the pack. It tells you how much to use, and where to put the powder/liquid (directly in the drum or in the machine’s detergent dispenser). Adjust up or down based on what you are washing, how heavily soiled the clothes are, and your local water hardness.
Water hardness
The hardness of water is a measure of the amount of calcium and magnesium ions it contains. The fewer ions, the softer the water. Soft water doesn’t require as much detergent. Water hardness varies depending on where you live. Check with your local water company to find out the water hardness in your area.
- Soft water: 0 – 6 ° dH
- Moderately hard water: 7–13 ° dH
- Hard water: 14 – 20 ° dH
Do I need to use fabric softener?
The purpose of fabric softener is to make your washing softer and reduce static electricity. So it’s a good idea to use it for synthetics.
Hand wash without getting your hands wet
Some garments are marked with the hand wash symbol. It means they should be washed and dried gently at low temperatures. This used to mean washing the garment by hand, squeezing it out gently and drying it flat. Today though, many washing machines are so advanced that they have hand-wash programmes that are actually kinder to your clothes than if you washed them by hand. Washing, rinsing, and spinning are all done very gently with the right amount of water and at the right temperature. Allowing you to do something else with your time!
Tips and tricks
- Wash bags – inexpensive insurance! Do you have a good washing machine? And pretty lingerie you treasure? Then get yourself a wash bag or two. A wash bag is a little nylon net bag with a zipper to put your underwire bras, silk boxers, lacy panties, nylon pantyhose or that slinky nightdress in. It’s also a good idea to put clothing with hook and loop fasteners like Velcro® in wash bags so the fasteners don’t catch on other garments. The bag protects the garment as it tumbles in the washer, and also protects the drum should an underwire or other potentially damaging item come adrift during the wash.
- Keep your bling. Glittering sequins, shiny beads and other decorations are not uncommon on garments today. If you don't want to be fishing these out of the pin trap after every wash, you should wash these garments with extra care. Use a wash bag to start with, and make sure you select a gentle wash program. Give the garment room to move in the drum – don’t fill it more than half full.
- Reduce pilling. Don’t dry synthetic fabrics with other fabrics if possible, as they tend to attract lint, resulting in ugly pilling.
- Steam your clothes. Hang your garments in your bathroom while you take a shower or bath. The warm steam will smooth out creases without your needing to lift a finger!
- Start with the coolest. Begin your ironing with the garments that require the lowest temperature first. Because your iron heats up faster than it can cool down!
