Everyone wants to look good but does not want the hustle that comes with maintaining the look. This is very evident with the piles of laundry that most people keep before deciding on washing them. You would think with the laundry machines people would have developed a slight love for the activity but clearly this is not the case. More often than not, people just throw their clothes in the laundry machine without necessarily sorting them. This has over the past led to damage of items of clothing that could have been avoided.
In this article we will look at just how to better take care of your clothes.
Be Careful During Ironing
Clothes that are specially tailored need to be ironed as opposed to steaming.
Some of the benefits of ironing clothes are that:
- It gives you crisp lines in your clothes
- Removes shrinkage from clothes
- It keeps your clothes looking fresher.
- Can kill germs
In order to be rid of creases, what ironing does to your clothes is, it uses heat to loosen fabric fibers and flatten them. There is always the unfortunate event that this heat will damage the clothes by burning them. Therefore it is always important to use the correct heat level for the exact type of fabric you are ironing.
Always Choose Quality
Nothing lasts forever; this is true but anything of high quality lasts way much longer than normal. The only hindrance to acquisition of quality clothes is the cost since nothing good comes easy. It obviously makes no sense to buy an obnoxiously priced item of clothing just because it has been said that quality is expensive, but you can find quality clothing within reasonably priced range. The price will be higher than normal but a bit affordable. When one is looking to create a wardrobe for day to day use, you would rather buy two high quality suits that will last for a long time and then add on some few cheaper buys that will need to be replaced in a few months’ time.
Be Attentive To Laundering
Most clothes come with a tag on how to care for them. Sadly nobody ever takes the time to read that tag and accord the due care required to the clothes in their possession. This leads to unnecessary damage to clothes that could have been avoided. When doing laundry, most people always sort the clothes by color. While this is also a way to wash clothes, it is more prudent to sort them by fabric. It keeps your delicate fabrics from the tough and rough ones like jeans and minimizes the damage. It is also good to avoid the dryer whenever possible. Putting clothes in the dryer has been known to weaken fabrics as opposed to air drying them. Do not add detergent directly onto clothes as the chemicals weaken clothes and also detergent distribution will be uneven and this will leave your clothes not well cleaned in some areas.
Know Your Fabrics
Most fabrics are basically easy to take care of but there are those few ones that require special attention and care. Fabrics such as silk, cashmere and denim require special care right from washing to drying. For example cashmere and silk need to be hand washed and not machine dried. Following these guidelines during washing will go a long way to ensure that your clothes last long.
When taking care of your clothes, including learning basic repairs is important. The occasional button will pop out, the hems will come off and this is all part of owning clothes. You can have them repaired at a fee by a tailor but why spend money unnecessarily when you are looking to save?
At the end, one of the must-have appliances in any home today is the washing machine, and thankfully, the market has something for everyone, including people who live in smaller apartments that might need mini washing machines. After all is said and done, taking care of your clothes is something that should be done without hesitation especially in these tough economic times where saving every penny is important.