Pages: 1 2  Next -- Posted by dreamweaver at 9:07 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 I know some people go to school without the first idea on how to do thier own laundry, since mom or dad had done it for them throughout high school and such. So here's a small tutorial on getting started. I know there may be various ways people do laundry, so this is just a basic way of doing them without any complications. *Make sure to check tags on clothing.  Some will say dry clean only, dry on low heat, wash in cold water only, etc.  Make sure you follow the directions or you will ruin your clothes. 1.  Sort your laundry into three piles; lights, darks, and reds/really darks (the red dye in the clothes sometimes gets off onto other clothes).  Sometimes, you may be able to just get away with two piles; lights and darks.  I usually put grays in the whites because I dont have very many, but use your own judgment. 2.  Treat stains if necessary.  Make sure you read directions before using!  I've heard so many bleach related incidents where people put too much bleach in thier clothes. I personally avoid bleach altogether and just use the bleach pen or a stain remover pen. 3.  Follow directions on the washer before you put any in.  Most washers in schools require that you pay, so make sure you have the right amount of money in quarters or however.  Even some new ones take cards, but that depends on your school.  So make sure you check it out before you do any laundry at all. 4.  Put a capful of laundry detergent into washer.  I recommend liquid detergent just because the powder will stain your clothes if you have to close the lid before you turn on the washer (the powder sticks to clothes and could fade the clothes). 5.  Put clothes into washer.  Make sure you do not stuff your clothes into washer or overfill.  Some washers have a thing in the middle that sticks up- use it as a guide to not go over the top of it.  If it doesn't have one, use your best guess.  Just make sure there's plenty of room for the clothes to move around in the water. 6.  Follow directions on the washer to turn it on.  For a normal load of laundry, just set it to "Normal" and medium heat.  Sometimes you will have to play around with the settings to make sure you get your clothes washed the way you want. 7.  Wait until it's done... 8.  Open the dryer up and take clothes out of washer and into dryer.  Throw in a fabric softener sheet (or two or three, but not the whole box) with them. 9.  Close door and follow directions on the dryer.  Just make sure the settings have medium heat.  Also, you might have to add more quarters into the machine to make sure your clothes are dry. 10.  Wait some more... go ahead and put another load in the washer if you have some. 11.  Fold your clothes and put away.   Hope this helps in a way. -- Posted by victim raven at 9:07 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 wow nice..i already knew how to do the laundry but im pretty sure that will help a lot of people -- Posted by jeg2315 at 9:10 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 Actually I'm living at home during college, so I don't really need to know yet, but always good info... -- Posted by BeAutiFuL EnVy at 9:15 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 umm.. its pretty self explaintory.. but ok! lol I mean it even gives you directions on the machine sometimes. -- Posted by Space Ace at 4:36 pm on Aug. 17, 2006 obviously designed for homebody schmucks who've never done a load of wash in their life. i'm sure people will find it useful though -- Posted by dreamweaver at 11:41 pm on Aug. 17, 2006 Now now... my best friend had no clue how to do her laundry because her mom would never let her do her own laundry.  There are people out there like that; more guys than girls. -- Posted by kingofclubs at 5:42 pm on Aug. 18, 2006 Bravo for starting this topic. I can't even start to tell you how many people get to college and have no idea how to do laundry. My first roommate didn't even know how to make his bed. His mom had to show him on move-in day. Yikes! -- Posted by dreamweaver at 7:00 pm on Aug. 18, 2006 Quote: from kingofclubs at 8:42 pm on Aug. 18, 2006 Bravo for starting this topic. I can't even start to tell you how many people get to college and have no idea how to do laundry. My first roommate didn't even know how to make his bed. His mom had to show him on move-in day. Yikes! Yeah, I know what you mean there.  My last bf was a sophomore this past year and I had to show him how to put a sheet on his bed.  It was sooo cute! But at the same time I felt bad for him. -- Posted by dunebug at 5:40 pm on Aug. 21, 2006 I should show this to my friend. ;-) It astounds me the number of people that are having their parents do their laundry that far. As soon as I turned 8 or 9 my dad showed me how to work the washing machine. I've been doing my own laundry ever since. I can't imagine my mum still doing it for me. My best friend was very much like that though. She didn't do her own laundry or even clean her room until she finally moved out and had her own child a year ago. It was insane. -- Posted by LinZ at 8:11 am on Aug. 27, 2006 I didn't know how to do my own laundry when I was leaving for college either. I actually looked on the internet for a tutorial for doing laundry as well as ironing. It's not that difficult - then again, I do not bother separate the colors (I wear mostly black, so there's really no point) and I toss everything in at once. Out of fear of shrinkage, I line-dry my clothes and stick towels and undergarments in the dryer. I also stopped ironing my clothes because my roommates stole my iron when they moved out. I just give my shirts a few good yanks until the wrinkles come out. I also do my laundry every three to four weeks. Here's a record I'm not too proud of: In the year I've been here, my sheets have never been washed. I know I should, but every time I want to, I have no money to put on my laundry card (which is the only way students can operate the washers and dryers). -- Posted by kingofclubs at 5:55 pm on Aug. 27, 2006 Quote: from LinZ at 11:11 am on Aug. 27, 2006 In the year I've been here, my sheets have never been washed. That is amazingly...gross (for lack of better words). -- Posted by Charolastra at 3:08 pm on Aug. 29, 2006 Quote: from dreamweaver at 9:07 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 4.  Put a capful of laundry detergent into washer.  I recommend liquid detergent just because the powder will stain your clothes if you have to close the lid before you turn on the washer (the powder sticks to clothes and could fade the clothes). Capfuls of liquid detergent are totally unnecessary. At the most, only 1/4ths full should be good. More, and you get things like soap remaining on your clothes. As for powder detergent, also 1/4 or 1/5 full in the cu should be good, lest you want to wate money on another rinse cycle to get the soap out of your clothes. -- Posted by Flow Morphia Slow at 10:00 am on Aug. 30, 2006 I never separate my clothes by colour, I just stick them all in and wash them at 40 degrees C for half an hour, which means they never get ruined.  I don't wash woollen stuff, handmade stuff or padded bras in the washing mashine, I wash them by hand. -- Posted by dreamweaver at 9:57 pm on Nov. 22, 2006 Quote: from charolastra at 6:08 pm on Aug. 29, 2006 Quote: from dreamweaver at 9:07 pm on Aug. 16, 2006 4.  Put a capful of laundry detergent into washer.  I recommend liquid detergent just because the powder will stain your clothes if you have to close the lid before you turn on the washer (the powder sticks to clothes and could fade the clothes).   Capfuls of liquid detergent are totally unnecessary. At the most, only 1/4ths full should be good. More, and you get things like soap remaining on your clothes. As for powder detergent, also 1/4 or 1/5 full in the cu should be good, lest you want to wate money on another rinse cycle to get the soap out of your clothes. Good point.  Just make sure you read the label on the container to make sure.  Personally, I've always put at the most a capful for a full load and I haven't had any problems with it at all. -- Posted by lowi at 5:11 pm on Dec. 15, 2006 what has this world come to? college kids that can't do laundry? lol. .  seriously though. -- Posted by BamaGurl15 at 8:54 am on Dec. 28, 2006 I don't really mind doing laundry, its not that hard -- Posted by kmalone at 6:14 pm on Mar. 14, 2007 Or just buy new clothes! Ha. -- Posted by customshammy at 11:18 am on June 25, 2007 i couldnt' agree more -- Posted by Majo at 7:29 am on Sep. 2, 2007 That reminds me...I still have to do my laundry. I tried to do it at school but couldn't. Here's another dilemma for ya -- 60 girls. 2 washers. 2 driers. -- Posted by WhateverDude at 9:12 pm on Sep. 30, 2007 What in the world? What kind of parents would do their kids laundry until they're 18???? I can understand until 10, maybe 12 the LATEST!!!! BUt after that its completley ridiculous, and ridiculous parents who don't realize their freaken kids will be helpless in the future if they keep doing everything for them!!! -- Posted by AngelaChase at 10:46 am on Oct. 19, 2007 I would also not dry clothes all the way in the dryer- I think it makes them wear out faster.  I dry mine about 75% of the way and then hang them on a small hanger that folds up under my bed when I'm not using it. -- Posted by StickySweet at 1:23 pm on Nov. 2, 2007 And if you're cheap like me, getting free samples to do your laundry can help save money. I recently used the new Pure Essentials samples from Tide and they are great. Here is the website: https://pureessentials.offerprocessingcenter.com/ -- Posted by JustTony at 3:53 pm on Mar. 14, 2008 wow, some people should have taken home ec in junior high lol, but yea definatly can do my own laundry, gotta do it until I get rich and have a latino house maid who I will pay highly and have fiestas with on weekends...lol -- Posted by sxybrnnjn at 1:07 am on Sep. 15, 2008 well the washers on my floor weren't working for like two days, so we were kinda freaking out... but here at NMU, laundry is free, so its cool, cause i know alot of places you have to pay for your laundry so that would suck.. seeing as i'm broke. -- Posted by Aleesha Marly at 5:56 am on Oct. 14, 2008 My laundry sink is really backed up... I got all of the water that was stuck in sink and poured Draino in there. The liquid didn't go down the drain and there's more water in the sink than before.What the heck is going on? What can I do..?Thanks..! -- Posted by Aleesha Marly at 11:59 pm on Oct. 14, 2008 Nothing...because I have plenty of time to do it myself and it's only a one bedroom apartment. If I can't keep THAT clean, then I have no hope.....To be fair to your question, though, assuming someone needed the help, you could probably say 20 bucks a week...I dunno, it really depends on all that would need to be done and the size of the apartment...... -- Posted by bornonmars75 at 4:28 pm on Nov. 6, 2008 if you are smart enough to get into college you should be able to do a load of wash -- Posted by austin s23 at 10:25 pm on Nov. 26, 2008 thanks ;) -- Posted by hheartstrongg at 8:33 pm on Dec. 3, 2008 this is awesome! i definitely didn't know how to do laundry my first time. my best friend had to show me one weekend, haha. -- Posted by RedNoir at 6:24 am on April 23, 2009 I've been doing laundry since I was a little girl. But I know this will help the rich/spoiled people, or the people who always have their mom do everything for them. Pages: 1 2  Next