How do you do laundry?

Question

This may sound like a stupid question but I need to know how to do laundry. I am confused on which cycles to use. When do I put the washer on cold? When do I put the washer on hot? When do I put the washer on warm?? Someone please help me.

Answer 1

Your clothes all have labels that tell you what temperature setting the manufacturer recommends for that fabric. You want to read these because some fabrics may be handwash or dry clean only. Some are for the gentle cycle because the fabrics are more delicate. When you wash in cold water, you don't have to worry as much about your fabric dyes bleeding into your other clothes and there's less chance of your clothes shrinking than in warm/hot water.

This is generally how I do mine.....

I start the washer, then add liquid detergent. Do not add softner on top of the clothes, which can spot them, but add it to the appropriate slot for softner (usually in the center of the washer). I wash my towels in cold water so that I can wash them all at once. Don't use fabric softner with towels because that will make them water-proof and you want your towels so absorb water. My light clothes I normally wash warm and I wash my darks (and denims) on cold. My baby's clothes I wash warm or cold (depending on the label) on the gentle cycle, as recommended. I wash sheets on warm or hot.

I hope this helps some.

Answer 2

I generally wash every thing in warm or cold water, it saves energy, and it will preserve the color in your clothes. I only use hot water when I am doing ONLY whites with bleach.

There are a couple ways to do laundry:

1. just throw every thing in the wash with soap in cold water and hope for the best... you can do this if there aren't any new clothes that will bleed color into the other clothes...

2. separate the whites and colored clothes, wash the whites in hot water and the coloreds in cold.

3. read the lables...especially if the fabric is special like cashmere or 100% wool...You don't want a 200$ sweater coming out looking like something a chiuahah would wear.

4. Always empty your pockets... Sure its nice to find money in the drier, but more often than not its dried tissues or melted chapstick that you get.

5. ALWAYS ALWAYS empty the lint trap in the drier. It is a fire hazard other wise.

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 3

OK. first of all it's not a stupid question. Putting the wrong colors together and using bleach on the right clothes is very confusing to those of us who have never done it!
Put all of your whites together. That means sox, undies, sheets, towels.
These go into a hot load with soap and bleach, I use about a quarter of a cup of bleach. A little goes a long way and it makes the clothes smell really clean!
Put your colors together and they go into a warm load with just soap. I like Tide. You may have some fine fabrics or nice undies or bras to deal with and they go into a cold, gentle cycle with soap. Dry all of the above with Dryer sheets of your choice. I like Downy, but bounce is nice too. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Hot is for..
-white towels
-t-shirts, etc.
Cold is for..
-Darks:Jeans, sweatshirts, etc.
-Anything, especially the darks though.


Heavy duty is for
-Everything, but lingerie and fragile things like delicates

The Delicate speed is for
-Camisoles
-Anything you dont want stretched out.

Medium speed
-You really dont need to use this speed.

----Make sure when doing Laundry you always read the tag. If it says wash separately, DO NOT mix it with light colors. Another thing is, you can only use bleach with white clothes.. for example towels in the heavy duty cycle.

good luck!

Answer 5

I have about 6 hampers! I have 4 kids.

First off, I only buy white towels. I wash them in hot water with detergent and bleach. This kills bacteria, germs, etc.on the heavy regular cycle.

I wash all white clothes, undershirts, white underwear, white socks in hot water with det. and bleach on the heavy cycle.

Now, delicates like bras, colored underwear, lingerie, I wash on the delicate cycle in cold or warm water depending on the colorsI also use Dreft of ivory or woolite.

Jeans, colored clothes like shirts, etc are washed in warm water with detergent on permanent press cycle. with regular detergent.

I use fabric softening sheets for the dryer but never the towels since they don't absorb as well.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Separate the clothes into dark and light loads. Then separate into heavy laundry like towels or delicates like women's lingerie. The detergent box or bottle will tell you how much to use and the load is decided by how much you put itn. I use cold water for almost everything. It saves on electricity and is gentle. I don't use hot unless something is badly soiled.

Answer 7

I always leave the washer on warm/cold or warm/warm. I don't use hot because it will strink your clothes. I like warm/cold because it saves on the enegry bill compared to warm/warm. Good luck!!!

Answer 8

omg...how old are you??
but anyway....you put some clothes in (not too much or you will jam the machine) then put in some detergent....(at least up to the 2nd line)
To save money i suggest Tide Cold Wash....then you put the settings on cold water...
If you use regular detergent then you would usually put it on warm water....

Answer 9

Always wash your bedding and underwear in hot water. This to kill dust mites, and feces and other bed bugs. I wash my towels in hot water just in case there is any mold on them from being wet.

Answer 10

hot water for whites
warm water for colour
cold water for sweaters
cold water for dark clothes