How I Care for My Clothes: Tips and Tricks
How I take care of my clothes. I have over the years learned a lot of little secrets and tricks that do make clothes look fresh and extend their life. Of particular interest to me is the way I take care of my white clothes, since I know that this is a point of weakness to many.
I will first discuss my clothes washing routine. Then I will tell how I keep them, and lastly, how I keep them in good condition as long as possible. The sections contain much useful information.
In case you like to read, I suggest getting a cup of tea, finding a comfortable place, and reading it. I would love to tell you about these little daily habits of mine, and I hope you happen upon something that you can use in your own wardrobe.
How I Wash My Clothes
In the case of laundry therefore, I just have one laundry basket, so I tend to wait till it reaches about half way of being full and then I consider planning to do a wash. Then after I have sorted them into colors, I normally match my cottons and synthetic blends. The reason behind this is to ensure that I am not making that many single washes and I always make sure to choose the option of mix on the machine. It is personal preference with me. You would have your way and keep your cottons apart of your cotton blends. You may do so, but it is simply something I do and the mix setting on my machine is mighty fine.
In case however it is made of wool mixture, then I will put it in a gentle cycle. And I use 30 degrees washing, and I have been doing it for a long time, and it has worked quite well too. When something has a more stubborn stain or is actually very dirty, then I will increase it to 40 but it is in such a rare case. You never know and so always consider the fabric tag too.
Pre-Treatments for Stains
Now I will discuss the pre-treatments which I do before washing. This is so with any deep-stained clothes that you possess and these are only some of the things that I do, which have worked with me on every occasion. So I am quite a clumsy person. I am more likely to spill something hence I have experience in this field.
And so whenever I spill anything I always go and spot clean it with cold water. Hot water should never be used as this will actually fix the stain. So I usually simply put a small portion of detergent or cold water and soap and take this off as fast as I can. However, when it is a harder stain or a stain that I have overlooked, then I would put baking powder into a paste and then place it on the stain and leave it there five minutes before putting it in the wash. This is a life savior to me and it is natural also.
How I Wash My Whites
I'm now going to talk in depth about how I wash my whites, darks, and delicates. "How do I keep my whites bright?" And you can find these ingredients in your cupboards, and they are white vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. So again, what I use on stains I do use for my whites as well.
Baking Soda
So I'm going to start with baking soda, and this is one of the best ways to whiten and freshen your fabrics. So for stains, like I said before, make a paste of around two to four tablespoons of baking soda with enough water to make a paste. So if you just scrub the mixture into the stain and let it sit for five, ten minutes—I'll show you a little demonstration here—then you can pop it in the wash and wash it as usual.
Or if you need an added boost of whitening, say your white t-shirts are going a bit dull, then you can add half a cup of baking soda to your usual laundry detergent. Another great thing about baking soda is that it will soften your clothes, so it's a really great natural alternative to a softener.
White Vinegar
So the next product that I've also been using as well is distilled white vinegar, and you can use this in the same way you would use baking soda. So I use one cup of vinegar in with my laundry detergent, and it does smell a little bit when you get the laundry out, but once it's dried, you can't smell it at all. So just bear that in mind.
Removing Yellow Underarm Stains
Another question is how to remove yellow underarm stains from your t-shirt, and this is where distilled vinegar will be your best friend. So I've done some research recently because I wanted to know myself why this happened, and it's actually the aluminum in antiperspirant deodorants that can cause this staining. So switching to a natural deodorant will help this.
So I do actually use a natural deodorant and I switched about a month ago. It's the Glossier one and it's amazing. It smells incredible l. But if you do have any stains that you need to fix, then I'd suggest using a spray bottle to spritz white vinegar on the area just so that it's evenly distributed, and then let it sit for an hour before washing.
Lemon Juice
Now onto the nicest-smelling ingredient, and that is lemons. So lemons are natural whiteners and brighteners, plus they add a clean scent to your laundry. So just like the vinegar and baking soda, you can add half a cup of lemon juice in with your regular laundry detergent for a clean and gentle whitening boost. You can also repeat this process I did earlier by using lemons instead if you really dislike the smell of vinegar. Vinegar just has a slightly higher pH than lemons, so apparently it works better.
How I Wash Darks
Now I'm going to go on to darks. And when it comes to dark clothing, I always make sure I wash them inside out and on a cold wash. As I said earlier, I always wash at 30 anyway, so this goes for all my clothing, but especially with darks. If you do use a dryer for drying your dark clothes, then make sure they're on a very low heat because this will prevent fading.
Mixed Washing
And finally, for mixed washing, I basically do the same as how I wash my whites and darks. Always make sure it's on a 30 wash. I usually try and pair lights and darks together, so I'll do like the grays and navies together, then I'll do like the beiges and camels together, and make sure everything separate.
Wool and Cashmere
Now onto wool and cashmere. And as beautiful as these fabrics are, they can be a real pain to wash, so I try to avoid this at all costs. So I usually reach for the steamer to remove any odor-causing bacteria. .
Some things really do need to be washed, though, and I actually got around to washing my cream cashmere jumper, so I'll share how I did the process. And I know how washing can be tedious, so for me, this is always a Sunday job when I've got a little bit of time. Hence why I've been putting it off for so long—just didn't have chance.
So I always wash my jumpers in the bathtub. This is just personal preference for me. I just find it's a lot easier to manage. So I fill the tub with water just enough to submerge the jumper, and then add half a cup of my delicates laundry detergent or you can use baby shampoo as well, like I said earlier. So I submerge the jumper into the water and focus on gently cleaning the neckline and underarms. And then after about five minutes or so, I then drain the tub and rinse with cold water.
After washing it, I squeeze the excess water out like this. I never wring it or twist as this can cause the jumper to misshape or stretch. I then get a clean towel and lay the jumper flat on the floor and reshape it whilst it's wet. This just ensures that when it dries, it dries in the correct shape. Sometimes there's certain jumpers—they can go in a bit slightly at the hem, so just gently pull that back out. And then you can start rolling it up, and I just press gently on it with my hands to squeeze any excess water out.
So once I've squeezed all the water out, I then leave it flat on my airer. Never hang any cashmere when it's wet because this will stretch and misshape the garment completely. Once it's fully dry, I usually give it a steam to get rid of any creases and to fluff it up a little bit, and it honestly smells amazing. It feels fresh and it's worth the process.
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Clothing Maintenance
The next one I want to discuss is clothing maintenance, and I will start with the first point, which is to minimize the amount of cleaning you are doing on your clothes. Therefore, excessive laundry may make your clothes get very worn and old. Thus I attempt to cleanse myself as seldom as I can unless there is a real necessity. I particularly attempt to wash denim, jumpers, blazer, and coats as minimal as possible since these products do not essentially require washing that frequently.
As I just said above, what I do myself is that I steam and this one is by Steamery and I like it. And this assists in eliminating smell-inducing bacteria and germs, and then I spray the cloth with my clothing fresher.
I always wear a t-shirt under my jumpers to avoid them smelling. As such I would have a heavier one that I use during the autumn-winter seasons and a lighter one during the spring seasons. Through this, you will not be required to wash your more delicate ones as often. And to be more exact, I do not wash my jumpers very often, only when they look dirty or a bit sweaty.
Storage
So now I will proceed to storage. And I also ensure that the natural mix is more than 50 percent when purchasing my pieces just to be sure that they are of good quality and the pieces will last longer. As an illustration, I have a tendency to grab linen, cotton, Tencel, lyocell, wool, and cashmere.
So when I come home after a day of work or after a day of shooting, it is really tempting to simply toss the clothes behind the back of my chair or simply leave them in my suitcase. However, I have been really strict with myself and I always ensure that all the hang or fold back in place and that the jumpers are folded up in a manner that can make sure they do not come back into shape.
I do not ever have any of my jumpers hung anymore. I used to hang my cotton blend ones, however, since they are a tad more stiff, but it is still not good to hang them as you get that misshape in the shoulders. And all my jumpers now are folded.
I adore the Marie Kondo folding technique as well, since it is a vertical way of folding and it allows one to see everything, besides it is space-saving. In this manner, I am able to store more t-shirts in the drawers.
Hangers
So back to hangers and I like to wear these velvet ones. They do not allow any slipping and pulling and they are also very kind to your garment. I do like to make my clothes breathe. This way it will not cause any harm either should fibers be rubbing against each other, and it will also simply aid in making things a lot easier to locate.
So since the velvet hangers are also very slim, they are actually very helpful in space and you can fit a lot in without making the space to be very crammed.