How to do laundry with machine (1)

Doing laundry with a machine can be overwhelming the first few times, especially if you never had to do laundry before college. Don’t worry; once you get the hang of it, washing your clothes will be a breeze!

1. Get a laundry bag or basket. You don’t want to have to carry your dirty laundry in your arms all the way to the laundry room. Look for a bag or basket with handles or straps so it’s easy to carry. If you have a lot of clothes, get something big enough to hold all your laundry in.
2. Separate your darks from your lights. Don’t wash your light-colored clothes in the same load as your dark-colored clothes or the colors might transfer. Make one pile with your white clothes, one pile of clothes in light colors like grey and beige, and another pile with all of your dark clothes.
3. Grab laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. Fabric softener and dryer sheets are optional, but you’ll need laundry detergent to get your clothes clean.Treat any heavy stains with stain remover before washing.
4. Fill the laundry machine so it’s two-thirds of the way full. Don’t overfill it or your laundry won’t wash properly. Fill the machine with a load of your lights or darks. Wash your towels and bedding separately.                                      
5. Add laundry detergent to the machine. If you have liquid detergent, look for a slot on top of the machine that says “detergent.” If there isn’t one, pour your detergent directly into the machine with your laundry. Refer to the lines on the inside of the cap to see how much detergent you should use. You’ll need less liquid detergent for smaller loads. If you’re using a gel detergent pod, throw 1 pod directly into the machine with your clothes.
6. Choose cold water if you don’t want your clothes to shrink or fade. There should be a dial or button on the machine you can use to select the water temperature setting. If you’re washing whites, towels, or bedding, you may want to use hot water. Hot water will clean your clothes better than cold water, but it can be more damaging.If you’re not sure, go with cold water. Cold water is less likely to damage or alter your clothes.
7. Set a timer for when your laundry will be done. That way you’ll know right when your laundry is ready. If you don’t have something to set a timer with, check the time and calculate what time you’ll need to be back to change out your laundry.                                                       

To be continued