A Guide to the Perfect Washing Machine Setting for Various Clothing Types

Doing the laundry is a chore that few people actually want to do, but is a necessity up there with Ben Franklin's death and taxes. Until the stigma of wearing dirty clothing outside of France disappears into the history books, there will be an ongoing need for laundering your clothing. Doing the laundry is nothing to be terrified of if you acquaint yourself with the facts of the case. And the facts are these.

Cottons, linens and everything but permanent press and delicates
Washing your cotton and linen and everything but delicates and permanent press means using either warm or cold water for the prewash soaking. Use hot water for white clothing or that which is particularly dirty and use cold water for bright clothes, dark clothes and very lightly soiled clothing. The wash cycle should be set to regular and it should take only about 15 minutes for these types of clothes to complete the cycle. The water level needs to be adjusted according to the load size. Use just about any detergent when washing with hot water, but use a liquid or dissolved granular detergent if washing in cold water. Add either chlorine or a non-chlorine bleach. You can go with fabric softener if you desires.

Permanent Press and No-Iron Fabrics
Washing permanent press clothing and fabrics that don't require ironing means using hot water for whites and clothing that is heavily soiled and warm water for everything else. The rinse water should be cold and it should take only about 15 minutes to run the entire washing cycle. You can use nearly any detergent on the market for cleaning permanent press and no-iron fabrics.

Delicates
Delicates is a washing machine category of clothing that includes lingerie of the sexy type, sheer fabrics, lace, embroidered clothing and any items where you are recommended to wash by hand. Bright colors means washing in either warm or cold water. For two-speed washers, the time spent should be about 12 minutes. For all-fabric washers, go with a maximum of 10 minutes cleaning time. Using warm water means using any kind of detergent. If you wash your delicates in cold water, go with liquid or dissolved granular detergent. You can use chlorine on anything except spandex and you may decide to go with a fabric softener.

Wool
Washing machine-washable wool and hand-washable woolen means turning up the warm or cold water. For bets results, give your wool clothing just two minutes with the washer's agitator and then follow that up with a long soaking period. Use liquid or dissolved granular detergent. The key to washing wool really lies in the drying process. If the wool is machine dryable, stick it in the dryer with a regular cycle temperature. For all other wool clothing, allow it to air-dry.