Recently, I was astonished to hear my friend’s simply laundry technique. She throws everything in her washing machine at once, regardless of color, and does it all together. I admit that this technique is tempting, since you can just do laundry as soon as needed and not have a pile up. The washer can be filled to the brim, no matter if you only have a handful of whites, so you probably save money, too. With more frequent laundry sessions, you can reduce your wardrobe as well.
I admit that I am not quite as brave as my friend. While I do wash most things on cold (except for sheets, towels and whites), I can’t imagine throwing everything together. I am afraid that the colors will bleed into each other. I’ve seen this happen on single garments that incorporate both light and dark colors. This can happen even when hand washing a garment. This is one of the reasons that you won’t often see light colors, such as white or yellow in true Amish-made quilts.
There are products that promise to grab the color out of the wash so it doesn’t deposit on the clothes, but I haven’t tried any of these products.
If you do want to try washing everything at once, you might want to treat your clothing first to prevent the colors from bleeding. Here is a homemade recipe that will help those dyes and colors remain colorfast. Not only will it prevent the colors from bleeding into your other garments, but it will also keep the colors from fading.
Get a bucket or utility sink and dissolve one cup of salt in enough water to cover your items. Swoosh the clothing around in the salt water to make sure that it permeates the fabric. Allow the items to sit for at least 24 hours. Then, rinse the clothing and launder it as usual. As far as I know, you only have to do this technique once to make the garments colorfast.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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