Spring is here, and it’s time to go shopping.
After I shed my winter weight, I’m hitting the outlet and shopping malls.
At 5′ 9.5″ tall, finding clothes that fit me well is tough. Plus, my clothes, particularly pants, are pricier than those designed for shorter women.
Given the challenges – financial and emotional – many of us face when shopping for clothes, you’d think we’d take better care of them.
I’m the girl who’ll wear a holey shirt. Or throw on a pair of paint stained jeans. Or step out in a camisole that has a grease spot on it.
I’ll be the first to admit that my behavior is unacceptable for any self respecting adult. And it needs to stop today.
Knowing how to properly maintain our wardrobe is similar to knowing what to do with our money after we’ve earned it.
There’s only one problem. We don’t know how!
That said, ignorance is no excuse for dressing like a homeless person. So, I decided to educate myself on how to care for clothes.
This blog post is as much for the person who’s never learned basic home economics as it is for me.
Since the biggest mishaps happen around the laundering of clothes, that’s where we’re going to focus our energy.
Washing
- Try to wash everything in cold water. You’ll save money on your electric bill and extend the life and brilliance of your clothes.
- Lighten up on the laundry detergent, will ya? Using too much will leave a film on your clothes. Don’t blindly fill the cap to the brim without reading the directions on the bottle/box. Even then, you still may be able to cut back on laundry detergent.
- Stop over washing your clothes. You don’t need to wash them after every use. However, you should let clothes air out before putting them away. Please note: Not Dirty ≠ Clean. So, you still want to separate the clothes you’ve worn from your clean clothes.
- Don’t overload your washing machine. Fail to heed this advice, and you’ll lose twice: Once when there’s excessive wear on your clothes and again when you pull excessively worn, dirty clothes out of your washer.
- Make a habit of checking pockets before washing. You’ll find all kinds of stuff in there that can screw up your load: lip balm, tissue, money. Wait. Nope. Money is cool.
- Wash perspiration stains from fabrics as soon as possible after wearing. The longer you wait, the greater the likelihood it’ll permanently discolor the item.
- Inspect clothing and pretreat stains before washing. If you discover a stain after a wash, don’t dry the item, and don’t iron it. Treat the stain while it’s still wet.
- Use the Tide to Go Instant Stain Remover pen for mishaps that happen away from home. It’s effective and easily fits in your purse.
- Change out of your “good” clothes when you get home from work. (Yeah, this is the same advice your mother gave you when you arrived home from school.) If you’re going to cook, slip on something you don’t mind ruining. Or, if you have one, where an apron.
Drying
- If you hang dry clothes outside, turn them inside out to keep colors from fading.
- If you’re one of those people who ignores the “dry clean only” warning on garment tags, you should hand wash or machine wash these items on the “delicate/gentle” setting. Remember to use a mild soap and let air dry.
- Don’t use extra high heat to dry everything. Not only can the excess heat damage fabric, but it may also lead to shrinkage.
- Make sure clothes are completely dry before storing them in your closet or dresser drawer. Damp clothes can mildew and cause your other clothes to smell.
- Don’t use fabric softener on moisture wicking clothes, e.g., exercise apparel. It’ll cause the material to lose it’s “wicking” ability.
- Use the appropriate cycle on your washer and dryer.
Raise your hand if you don’t know what the cycles on your washer mean. *Throws hand in air*
To expand the useful life of your wardrobe, you should probably know what the different settings are for.
Washer/Dryer Settings
Regular: Use for moderately to heavily soiled cottons and linens.
Delicate: Use on delicate fabrics such as see through, e.g., lacy or sheer garments, or any other material that won’t hold up to vigorous washing. On this cycle, clothes are agitated and spun more slowly to imitate hand washing.
Permanent Press: As the name sort of suggests, this setting reduces the number of wrinkles in your clothing.
Air Fluff: Applies to dryer only. No heat is generated on this setting. Great for airing out clothes that are worn, but not yet ready for another wash. Forget about actually drying anything on this setting.
So there you have it – a few simple tips on how to care for your clothes.
What other helpful tips and tricks have you learned about caring for laundry?
Shawanda Greene is a free thinking, frugal gal whose only vices are boxed wine, lip balm and money grubbing. You can find more of Shawanda's musings at 
Perspiration stains are actually caused by the aluminum in anti-perspirants. I switched to a sodium based anti-perspirant (adidas makes a good one!) and noticed that I no longer get those stains on my clothes. No more yellow armpits!
Store bras hanging from an arm strap and NEVER fold one moulded cup inside out inside the other!
What? Folding one cup inside the other is the default. I had no idea. Thanks for the tip!
If you don’t hand wash bras or delicate underwear, use a garment bag to keep them from getting caught on other clothes and stretched out in the wash and spin cycles. Also, washing clothes right-side out gets the dirtiest part of the clothing (the outside) clean, but drying them inside out helps preserve color/pattern/graphics/etc.
I remember my bra clasps would get caught on other clothes in the wash. This would bend the snaps and render the bra unusable. It never occurred to me to use a garment bag. But I did eventually realize I should, at a minimum, hook my bras before throwing them in the washing machine. I ruined a lot of expensive bras before coming to this realization.
I started using vinegar instead of fabric softner. My clothes are soft,y towels are absorbant, and it also helps strip out scents from the detergent if you have sensitive skin.
Great tip. Vinegar is cheap and natural. Win/Win
My wife does the laundry, but I plan on handing over these tips! Anything to save money/clothes….although since she does the laundry, she might not appreciate me telling her how to do it!
Ha! Proceed with caution. She might recommend you do your own laundry since you now know so much.
These are good tips. Something I’ve read about but haven’t tried (yet) is putting your jeans in the freezer for a day – supposedly it keeps the color longer and gets rid of bacteria so you don’t have to wash them as often. Another thing I have learned through experience is try to buy the best quality clothing you can afford – I’ve purchased a lot of cheap clothing and it just ends up costing me more to replace it in the long run.
Hmm. Jeans in the freezer? It could work, but I’ll probably never know since there’s barely any room in my freezer for food.
I like to buy high quality clothing as well. It looks better and lasts longer…generally. But there’s this one store where I buy my jeans from that makes expensive, terrible quality clothing that fits me perfectly. I’ve bought several pairs of jeans from them that cost me $100. With the exception of one pair, they all got holes in them after a few wearings. Ironically, the name of this store is Madewell. Can you believe it?
I’m the type too that will wear things until the fall apart. I’m also tall – only 5’8″, but I hate that the long pants are too long and the regulars are too short or I can only wear flats. I’m so frustrated! They need an inbetween because I’m tired of getting my pants hemmed!
Noooo! You can wear heels. They’re too sexy to pass up. I’ll go all the way up to five inches. I just pretend I’m supermodel.
I am so bad with taking care of my clothes, this is exactly what I needed!
Glad it helped. I know I certainly needed this information.