Learn Me : Washing clothes and dishes

This forum rocks. I don't even own a track car and I learn more on this forum than anywhere else. I was wondering if you folks had tips on how to improve my clothes and dish washing techniques.

The Issue:

CLOTHES: Always come out wrinkled and not soft. I use a Tide liquid detergent and I do not overfill. I always use the cold wash in an effort to save electricity and i hear its better for not washing out colors. Basically I iron my clothes every morning before work because they are always wrinkled. I need suggestions on how to get my clothes to feel softer/ require less ironing. What kind of detergent do you prefer?

DISHES: I pretty much handwash everything because the dishwasher adds water stains to everything.

I think both issues are related to my water quality and I know there are additives /fabric softeners that can help me but those can get pricey. I was wondering if there was a more GRM method of fixing this. Thanks!

Clothes: Let your girlfriend/wife/fling of the week see you try to fold clothes. Make it look like you kind of know what you're doing, but are really bad at it. She'll sit there trying not to say anything, biting her tongue, and finally after the third shirt just jump up off the couch and say "you're doing it wrong, just give it to me".

Worked for me, although it might help that my girlfriend worked in extremely high-end retail folding clothes all through high school and college.

It does surprise me the questions that come up here but even more surprise is the quality of the answers.

Wife bitches about wrinkled clothes all the time. Her solution is to fold or hang the clothes as soon as the dryer is done. Then she bitches about how I fold clothes. Then I remind her, SHE could be doing it and she pipes down.

MIL washes all the dishes here. If you don't at least rinse the dishes off, you will have a plugged drain in no time flat. So, if I have to rinse before washing, might as well washed them in the first place.

Oh, do you use dryer sheets plus fabric softener?

Ranger50 wrote: Her solution is to fold or hang the clothes as soon as the dryer is done.

This.

It's a pet peeve of mine. I wear dress shirts every day for work, so when they go in the wash, I yank them out of the dryer as soon as it buzzes and hang them up on hangers right there in the basement.

They may need some minor touch up for ironing, but much less prep then if they sit in the dryer till cool or in a laundry basket piled up.

Don't dry your shirts until they're cooked to a crisp - pull them out before they're totally dry and put them on hangars.

stuart in mn wrote: Don't dry your shirts until they're cooked to a crisp - pull them out before they're totally dry and put them on hangars.

This plus dryer sheets and you should be good to go.

+1 for the pulling stuff out of the dryer before they're dry and hang stuff up. I found liquid fabric softener in the washer helped tremendously for wrinkles. My area has super hard water, too.

I googled diy liquid fabric softener and found that some people use straight vinegar. Hmmm, might have to try that one.

Not sure on the dishes and spots; haven't figured that out myself!

I actually just get my shirts laundered. I get about 3-4 wearings out of them unless I spill something or it is ridiculously hot. Since I have to get my slacks dry cleaned anyways, I'm already there--I figure it is worth the $0.33 a day to have it done by a professional.

I'll note that I only do this with my button ups. Polos just get thrown in the wash and half dried, then hung up. Sometimes I might need to touch them up with the iron. I haven't been working a whole year yet, but if my projections are correct, it should be in the neighborhood of $60-$80 a year. Not bad for the aggrevation it saves me.

We just got a new washer and dryer. My first question was "Do you have one that folds and hangs the dried clothes?" Alas, not yet.

stuart in mn wrote: Don't dry your shirts until they're cooked to a crisp - pull them out before they're totally dry and put them on hangars.

If you're ambitious, the best time to iron them is when they're fresh out of the dryer and still a little damp. They'll iron easily, and the heat of the iron will dry them the rest of the way.

I'm not usually this ambitious.

If your dishwasher has a compartment inside the door for a liquid sheeting agent like Jet Dry, use it. If it doesn't, they make little cake-in-a-basket versions to hang in the top rack. The liquid stuff will make a huge difference.

I can attest to the Jet Dry (or equivalent) making a huge difference in the water stain area. Also open the dishwasher after it's done to let the dishes air out; it evaporates the last bit of moisture quickly. You are using the heated dry cycle, right? If not that would also cause water stains, big time.

And washing them by hand may seem cheaper but it's a false economy. The amount of energy and water you use washing them by hand far outstrips the amount a modern dishwasher uses. My dishwasher is EPA rated to cost $25/year using an electric water heater and running the dishwasher every day. I have gas and run it less than once a day. Washing by hand you use wayyyy more water and gas/electric!

dculberson wrote: And washing them by hand may seem cheaper but it's a false economy. The amount of energy and water you use washing them by hand far outstrips the amount a modern dishwasher uses. My dishwasher is EPA rated to cost $25/year using an electric water heater and running the dishwasher every day. I have gas and run it less than once a day. Washing by hand you use wayyyy more water and gas/electric!

Not to mention that the dishes don't get as clean.

Get a W.I.F.E.

You know Wash, Iron, berkeley, Excreta.

Other than that, I got nothing. At 44 I really don't care if the shirt is wrinkled or the dishes have water spots.

For the dishes, vinegar in the "rinse aid" compartment does the job just as well as Jet Dry and the like.

I also agree with the advice to pull clothes out of the dryer and hang/fold them still a bit damp. Folding/ironing is my absolute least favorite household chore, so I do what I can to minimize the labor. To that end, I also stopped folding my boxers and socks. Dump 'em in a drawer and forget about it - it doesn't matter at all if they're wrinkled, and finding matching socks might take an extra five seconds every morning.

1) Water spots on dishes never killed anybody.

2) Get so good at your job that you can wear whatever the berkeley you want to work. For example, I haven't worn socks since Saturday.

The first real fight I had with Jane was about folding clothes. 22 years ago. Haven't folded clothes since.

I hear the trick to making dishwashers work today is to put the phosphate back in, with some real trisodium phosphate from the paint isle. Not the substitute junk, plain old TSP.

mtn wrote: Clothes: Let your girlfriend/wife/fling of the week see you try to fold clothes. Make it look like you kind of know what you're doing, but are really bad at it. She'll sit there trying not to say anything, biting her tongue, and finally after the third shirt just jump up off the couch and say "you're doing it wrong, just give it to me". Worked for me, although it might help that my girlfriend worked in extremely high-end retail folding clothes all through high school and college.

this

I've done my own laundry since I was in middle school. I don't think my g/f did laundry until she left home for college and I don't think her mother ever taught her, so I can't stand how she washes clothes. Another reason why we live in seperate houses...

+whatever on hanging shirts as soon as they come out of the dryer. That usually does the trick for me... when I remember to.

A rinse agent in the dishwasher seems to work well for me since getting a new one. Living alone, I don't generate many dirty dishes (a top rack full of coffee cups and a few plates and bowls below), but the machine does much better than I could by hand. Faster too. Especially when I turn it on before going to bed and wake up to clean dishes.

In reply to akamcfly:

For a while, I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt to work at a business that required business casual at all times. I'd walk around barefoot after the cleaning crew came through. I'd also go sit out on the smoke dock with all of the smokers as they went on break so they didn't have to go out there alone at night. For every day I went in, I got maybe an hour or so of actual work done. I miss the job, but not the BS.

I've got nothing on clothes. I'm the clothes and dishes guy. I hand wash the dishes because our house has no dishwasher. Clothes are maintained "neatly" in a clean pile in a spare bedroom. If you want your clothes folded, fold them yourself. I'm the only one in the house that can get white shirts truly white.

RossD wrote: I googled diy liquid fabric softener and found that some people use straight vinegar. Hmmm, might have to try that one.

I bet your clothes would come out smelling like cat pee.