Things You'll Need:
- Laundry pre-treatment
- Powder or liquid detergent
- Bleach
- Fabric softener
- Dryer sheets
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Step 1
The first step to take when preparing to wash laundry is to pre-treat stains. Stains should be pre-treated at least a day or two prior to washing your clothes. This helps to fight the stain and if successful completely remove it. Shout is an excellent spray pre-treatment, there are also other alternatives that come in a pen form. Saturate the stain with the pre-treatment and let it sit until you are ready to wash your laundry.
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Step 2
The next step to laundry success is sorting your clothes. Separate whites from darks, and wash delicates such as lingerie by themselves. If you mix color clothes with white clothes the dyes from the color clothes will ruin your whites. If you do not wash your delicates alone you run the risk of damaging them.
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Step 3
Wash color clothes in cold or warm water. Using hot water will fade your clothes. Fill the detergent and fabric softener dispensers with product and let them dispense during the wash cycle. Adding detergent and fabric softener directly onto your laundry can cause stains and spotting. Do not add bleach to color clothes, this will ruin your clothes by staining them. Wash delicates in cold or warm water. You can purchase a special gentle cleaner such as Woolite for these items.
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Step 4
Wash whites in hot water. Add detergent and bleach to the wash. Using hot water and bleach on white clothes helps to remove noticeable dirt and brightens your whites.
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Step 5
The final step in washing laundry is to dry each load. After each washing cycle completes place the entire load in the dryer. Dryer sheets are optional. If you use fabric softener in the wash, you do not need to use dryer sheets. Dryer sheets are fabric softener in a sheet form. The choice is yours.
