How to Wash Your Clothes: A Beginners Guide to Laundry

Washing can sometimes feel like a war between you and your clothes. But as long as you keep it simple, washing day doesn’t have to come between you. With big brands like Bold, Daz and Lenor lining our shelves, we’ve come to know a few things about laundry.

Here are some basic tips for beginners (and even experienced hands) to help make washing easier.

Divide & Conquer

Separating your laundry is the vital first step to getting wonderfully clean clothes. Keeping colours away from whites, and delicates in a separate load to cottons is absolutely vital. Ensuring victory over your mountain of stinking laundry depends on separation!

You will need a separate load for whites/lights and a separate load for colours/dark garments. You also need to think about the fabric. Heavy cotton towels need different cycles to the delicate fibres in bras and lingerie.

B&M Top Tip: the only time you should mix the two is on a cold wash, when none of your clothes are new. Brand new, colourful t-shirts are likely to run, whereas the colour will already be worn on older clothes.

Read the Label

It might sound obvious, but you have the perfect guide to washing your clothes stitched into each and every item of clothing – so use it!

This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to trawl through every single item before every wash (although it’s a good idea to check the label when you buy something new). Over time you’ll come to know your clothes better and you’ll know instantaneously what kind of cycle is needed for a particular fabric.

Economically Viable

Always wait till you’ve got enough for a full load. Check your washing machine’s recommended max load (it will vary between machines) and wait till you have enough in the hamper to justify a wash. This will save you time, energy and money by avoiding more washes than you need.

If you really can’t leave the house without your best dress or shirt, and only have half a load’s worth of washing, make sure you adjust the washing machine’s setting. Most machines will have a half load or eco setting which uses less water.

Choose Your Detergent

There are lots of different kinds of laundry detergents: powders, liquids, pods, capsules. Whichever one you decide is best for you, it’s important to read your detergent's instructions carefully; at least upon first purchase.

Too much detergent and you could be left with unusual marks all over your clothes. Too little, and it won't be enough to get them clean!

Why not try a pod or capsule, like Daz White & Colour Pods? You can use them in both loads and as long as you know the optimum load size for one pod, all you need to do it chuck it in and let it spin.

The 'Softly Softly' Approach

While not strictly an essential, fabric conditioners tend to be a major player in the laundry game. It will just give you that extra layer of softness, especially on cotton-heavy garments and towels.

At B&M we have a huge range of fabric softeners, including 2-in-1 formulations like Bold. With a touch of Lenor in each detergent or capsule, there’s no need to buy an extra bottle of conditioner.

Have an expert laundry tip of your own? Why not share it with the B&M community on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram?