Dirty laundry, part deux

Hattie Kemp

Well, I’m still perched atop my soapbox airing my dirty laundry – hints, that is. I’ve already talked about stain removal, but there is so much more to dirty laundry in general. So here it is, dirty laundry: the sequel.

It was a hot, mid-July afternoon when I decided to venture out into the booming metropolis of Euless to do a few loads of laundry for my daughter Tracie, who was convalescing from emergency surgery.

It was 102 degrees in the shade that afternoon and by the time I got to the laundromat, I was already exhausted from trucking up and down the stairs from her two-story apartment to load my car.

This was my first close encounter with a laundromat in 31 years, and as I recall the cost in 1978 to wash a load was 50 cents and 10 cents to dry.
I was totally shocked to discover what today’s prices are. This place charged $1.75 to wash a small load, $3.25 for a large load and 25 cents for 10 minutes of drying time.

I’m glad to say I survived my laundry odyssey that day and even trekked back twice before I completed my stint as a nursemaid. There are several things I did to literally lighten my load when I went back to the laundromat. First, I bought at Wal-Mart collapsible laundry bags, the type you can twist and fold up. These are fabulous!!

Second, I bought the largest bottle and the smallest bottle of liquid detergent I could find. Get the type that is two or three times the strength of regular detergent because you don’t have to use as much. Why two sizes of bottles? Buy the larger bottle because it is almost always cheaper to buy a larger quantity of anything. Buy the smaller bottle to carry with you to the laundromat because it’s much lighter in weight. Just refill it from the larger bottle when needed, but don’t keep it filled all the way.

Do this same procedure for liquid fabric softener and OxiClean or whatever brand of stain remover you use. Last, don’t take the whole box of dryer sheets with you. Just take what you need in a zippered plastic bag.

I have used liquid detergent ever since I found out powdered detergent usually contains fillers, such as sawdust, which can damage fabrics due to friction during agitation.

I recommend powdered-detergent users to put it into a large zippered plastic bag with a measuring scoop to take with them or to put the exact amount for a load of laundry into individual zippered sandwich bags for easy dispensing.

The most important hint of all is to sort your laundry. Do not wash everything together as this makes your whites and lights dingy. You may be doing this because you don’t have enough whites or lights to wash separately or because of cost.

I suggest you and your friends or apartment/dorm mates pool your laundry to save money and the life of your clothes. Marking your clothes with a laundry pen in an inconspicuous place will aid in identifying your belongings.