Washing your clothes is something you will have to do at some point in your life, since you can’t purchase new clothes to wear everyday. Here’s how to wash your clothes so that you don’t ruin them and end up shrunken or strangely colored clothing!

Instructions:

1 )Sort your clothes. The first step in washing your clothes is to sort them. These should be done by colors: dark, light and white. Getting something dark in the light or white pile can result in you having a pink shirt or grey pants.

2 )Determine what water temperature you need. Clothes can be washed using hot, warm or cold water. Generally most people use warm or cold when washing darks or lights. Hot is used when washing whites.

3 )Turn on water and add soap. Put in your clothes and make sure to add anything special you might need such as bleach or a ball filled with fabric softener for the rinse cycle.

4 )Once the washing machine has finished it is time to move the clothes to the dryer. You need to make sure you take out anything that can’t be dried in the dryer. Clothing that can’t go through the dryer will have a special notation on their tag to dry by lying out or hanging.

5 )Set the dryer temperature and check the lint trap. Having it to full could cause a fire, while too hot of a temperature can shrink clothes that should be dried on low.

6 )Turn the dryer on and allow it to run for the specified period of time. Newer dryers can be set to a certain moisture level within the clothes, thus reducing the amount of time needed to dry most clothes. You can utilize this option if it is available on your dryer.

7 )Finally you should remove your clothes from the dryer and put them away. Clothes that require you to hang them up should be removed about ten minutes before the dryer is finished to ensure they don’t wrinkle.