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your machine doesn't do this, it is worth the effort to set a timer to remind yourself to go turn off the machine while it is agitating. Don't forget to set the timer to go turn it back on. Letting your laundry soak gives the water and detergent time to settle in and work.

5) Wash most items right side out.
The dirt is on the outside of your laundry, so it is important to turn the laundry right side out to get it clean. Also, balled up socks and pant legs will not get clean, this isn't a magic machine.

The exceptions to the right side out rule however, are dark cloths that you want to keep dark, and items with iron-ons or other embellishments. These come out much better when washed inside out, giving them a layer of material to protect the color and embellishments.

6) Dry on low heat for most items.
The dryer is where most of our laundry takes its real beating. High heat breaks down the stretchiness of fabric, making it brittle. It also promotes fading, and thread deterioration at the edges of clothes, along with that awful balling up effect some fabrics can have.

If your dryer has a "cool down" setting, use it. During a cool down setting, the dryer continues to tumble the cloths while the machine cools down, instead of leaving them sitting in a hot machine. This will make folding easy, leave you with much less static cling, and eliminate much of the need for ironing. Who doesn't like that?

These are the basic tips for most laundry loads.

Now for the Power Load: The Whites.

The white load isn't just for whites anymore. Several years ago, if your favorite green tee made it into the white load, it was toast. You wouldn't dream of putting your blue jeans in with bleach. Well, now your "white" load can be your most efficient load of laundry. Treat it well, and this load will do your heavy work without you even lifting a finger.

With most cloths being colorfast today, you can wash most items in with the whites, without causing any damage. Because of this, any item that can be washed regularly, regardless of color, can be tossed into this load and treated as a white, removing most stains. One thing to consider, however, is that heavily soiled items can make a muddy mess in the water, leaving your whites not so white.

Making your white load work for you requires some unusual ingredients. Before putting in the laundry, add 1/2 cup bleach, one scoop of OxiClean, the normal amount of laundry detergent and the magic ingredients is 1/3 cup automatic dish washing detergent. In recent years, automatic dish washing detergent has been formulated to get even extremely dirty dishes clean, and it can do the same for your laundry.

Wash white loads in hot water. Once the washer has filled, and you have added the laundry, let the machine agitate a couple of minutes, and then turn it off to soak. Use a kitchen timer to remind you to turn it off, or you can forget and run it through and probably have to start at the beginning. Let the load soak for at least 2 hours, or over night. After the soak, it is best to reset to let the load agitate its full length of time and run through from the beginning. Most machines will allow you to do this without emptying the water, so you waste nothing in resetting.

When you have finished you should be surprised to see that, without any extra effort on your part, most common stains are completely gone. Grass stains, blood, cool aid. You and your kids are now free to get messy and quit worrying about the laundry stains.

Learn more about this author, R. R. Rader.
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