When you were new to washing clothes, what's some of the worst mistakes you've made?

Question

I put way too much bleach in once, the clothes ended up shredded, once I put a red sweater that bled with some whites, what a mess.

Answer 1

I learned on my mothers old fashioned wringer washer. I was always slightly distracted and would get my arm caught in the stupid thing. I would squeal and mom would come and put it on reverse to get me out. (I am only 43, my mom liked the wringer, I wish she would have kept it!)

Answer 2

I washed an off-white wool sweater in the machine, but forgot to check the settings, especially the water temperature. It washed in hot water and shrank to child-sized. That's the worst mistake Iever made. Other mistakes were simply puttting in too much detergetn for the load size.

Answer 3

I washed a brand new red blouse with other clothes and it gave them all a pink cast to them. Some were even other color clothes, but it still turned them another color.
Any time you have a new clothing item that is not white, wash it alone the first time so it won't bleed on other clothes.
Also, my ex used to wash our colors with bleach. I finally figured out what the tiny little white dots were on the clothing when I caught him. He was trying to get them cleaner he said. If you want colors to be bold and bright, wash them with all fabric bleach, like Clorox 2 (I believe it's the name of one of them).

Answer 4

I had jeans that bled all over my other clothing once. But more often I mixed a delicate item in with some other things I was washing when I was in a hurry- and ended up ruining it.

Answer 5

Washing a wool sweater on the gentle cycle....so far so good, but then accidentally throwing the sweater in the dryer. Needless to say, it looked like a baby sweater after I took it out.

Answer 6

Forgetting to check my husbands shirt pockets one day, I threw everything in and washed. He had left an ink pen in his pocket. Had to throw almost everything away.

About 10 years ago (when my son was 17) he decided to wash his bed pillows. That was OK, except not all five at once. The washer kept filling, and filling and filling. When we went to the kitchen, water was 1" deep, there to the utility room. One thing about it....we had sparkling clean floors!!

Answer 7

I forgot to check pockets & when the washer stopped, I had little bits of paper or kleenex all over the clothes. Then, I'd have to put them back through a rinse cycle. Grrrrrr

Answer 8

Washing delicate cycle clothing on the regular cycle and also washing dark colors with hot water instead of cold. The hot water makes the color fade more than cold.

Answer 9

I'm actually really lucky - the worst thing I've done is left a tissue in my pockets! I just ran the clothes through another rinse cycle to remove it.

Answer 10

I washed a pack of juicy fruit chewing gum with my clothes on HOT .... then tossed it all in the drier.... I had pieces of gum stuck all over my clothes and in the drier... I had to clean the drier fast.... because it was the land ladies... and she had just bought the new machines.... Ended up tossing half of the clothes....