15 stories when the laundry went wrong

Today, my husband got tired of fooling with one of the washing machines that was just not working properly and decided to take it apart, starting with the bottom panel. To his shock, this is what he found... Socks, underwear, a credit card… and that is just what was in the bottom of the machine. When he removed the water pump that removes the water from the machine, he found about $7.00 in change.

1. Sorting clothes by color is actually a controversial topic. Some people say “yes, always”, some people say “there are not enough hours in the day”. The idea behind separating your laundry is to prevent color transference. Basically, if you put some reds in with some whites, you might get a whole lot of unintentional pinks. In general, you’re going to wash colors in cold water, and whites in hot water. However, if you absolutely cannot separate your laundry, or refuse to with every fiber of your being, then you can go ahead and throw all that stuff in cold water and hope for the best.

2. Make sure you empty out your pockets. An ink pen busting open in the washing machine is not an ideal situation.

3. It is important to note when it comes to washing, that some fabrics require different treatment than other fabrics. In general, check the tag! The tag is your friend, it will tell you what to do.

4. To minimize shrinking, you can use the low-heat settings on your drier.

5. Check the lint trap before and after your clothes dry, it’s kind of gross to pull someone else’s fuzz out of the machine, but apparently, it’s a fire hazard, so you’re going to want to do that.