When children are young, they take for granted some of the things that their parents do for them. It is not until they live on their own that they really appreciate all of these things. When children go off to college they take on many responsibilities. Along with many others, one responsibility that college students struggle to learn is how to do their own laundry. .
The first major step in the laundry process involves gathering all the materials needed. This includes the dirty laundry that needs to be washed. Quarters will be needed to pay for the time that the machines are used. Laundry detergent, preferably with bleach alternative, will be required to wash the clothes. Detergent with bleach alternative is a safe way to get the cleanest and brightest clothes without taking the chance of ruining them with pure bleach. Another item needed is fabric softener, which makes clothes feel soft and smell fresh. The last necessity is a laundry basket, which will be used to carry the clean laundry once it is done. .
The second step is to separate the clothing into piles according to their colors. The piles need to be washed and dried separately, so they do not bleed into other clothing. Dirty clothes can be divided into four piles: whites, lights, darks, and delicates. The white pile obviously includes white socks, underwear, and shirts. The light pile is comprised of pastel colors and white shirts that have colored prints. The dark pile includes anything colored, like dark socks, pants, shirts, and jeans. The delicate pile is for woolen sweaters and other delicate fabrics. Delicate clothes should be hand washed. In order to hand wash, fill a sink with warm water and Woolite, a delicate detergent. Soak the clothing, rinse it with warm water, and hang it out to dry. Separating the clothes is very important because if light colors and dark colors are mixed, the damage cannot be reversed in the next wash.