Storing Clothes
If you live in a climate where there is more than one season, you should store off-season clothing carefully to avoid damage from insects, mildew, and mold. Be sure to wash and dry all garments before storing and never store clothes in plastic bags or airtight containers. Rattan trunks, well-ventilated closets, and vented garment bags are perfect for storing clothing, as they allow air to circulate and the clothing to breathe. Even in a dry area, consider using a chemical desiccant such as calcium chloride or silica gel to absorb moisture and prevent mildew. You can also reduce dampness in closets by tying pieces of chalk together and hanging them from a support post or from the ceiling.
Here are a few other tips to ensure the safety of stored clothes:
-
Remember Clean, Cool, Dark, and Dry. Your storage area must be all four of these in order to protect your clothing.
-
Protect clothing from wood acid by lining dresser drawers with an acid-free shelf paper or fabric.
-
When adding mothballs to a clothes storage area, place them in an old sock so they don’t touch the garments.
-
Don’t hang silk, rayon, or knit items that can become misshapen by long-term hanging. Instead fold and stack in a clothes storage container with the lightest items on top and heaviest on the bottom.
-
Leather and suede should be stored in a closet that is cool and well ventilated. Supple leather garments should be laid flat and padded well with white tissue.
-
Linen garments should be rolled for storage. If you feel you must fold them, be sure to refold often to avoid permanently creasing the fabric fibers.
-
Garments made of metallic fabric should be rolled with tissue paper separating each layer.
-
Fur being stored long-term is best kept in professional cold storage.
Featured Videos
How to Iron a Button-down Shirt
Tips & Tricks
Many stains are more likely to be removed entirely if soaked in cold water before it has had time to set.
If in doubt, test your color garment for colorfastness – apply warm water to an inconspicuous part (inside of the hem, for instance), then press this part with a warm iron between two pieces of white cloth.
To protect your favorite garments, try turning them inside out before washing.
Use a partitioned laundry basket to sort your laundry as you remove it.
Overloading your washing machine could mean that your clothes don’t properly get clean.
White streaks of powder left behind on your clothes due to undissolved detergent are usually caused by overloading your machine, and can be removed with an additional rinse cycle.
Washing much smaller loads on non-cotton cycles to give more freedom of movement in the drum and result in better cleaning.
Using too little detergent can cause whites to become dingy as there are insufficient ingredients to hold soils in the water so they don’t redeposit on the garments.
Overdosing in a soft-water area can lead to “oversudsing” which, in extreme cases, can mean suds come out of the machine.
Always check the fabric care label for the manufacturer’s washing recommendations.
Some dyes will bleed even in very cold water, so always sort your washing into light colors, dark colors, whites, and delicates.
To compensate for washing at lower temperatures, try using a Cotton (most agitation) or Synthetic cycle, if the garment care label allows. There are also detergents specially designed to work in cold water.
Whenever possible, dry your clothes outside on a line; you could see significant energy savings.
Make sure to close all zippers, fasteners, and hooks to prevent and reduce abrasion of fabric and consider placing delicate items into mesh laundry bags.
To pre-treat stains, apply undiluted laundry detergent directly onto stained areas. For best results, allow product to sit on stain for a few minutes, scrub product into stain, then wash.
When adding chlorine bleach, always use the bleach dispenser on your washer to ensure that it is added at the right time in the wash cycle. If your machine does not have a dispenser, add chlorine bleach at the end of the wash cycle.
Check garment care labels for recommended wash temperature.
For all HE washers, make sure to use a low-sudsing HE detergent.
Use the right amount of detergent. Follow package directions carefully. For heavily soiled and/or large loads, use more detergent.
If you do not have a detergent dispenser on your machine, add the detergent while the washer fills with water, ensure the detergent has dissolved, then add the clothes.
Keep your washing machine free of residues by running a monthly wash cycle with Tide Washing Machine Cleaner.
