How to Always Keep Your Clothes Looking Brand New

I think a lot of people have a tendency to throw away their old clothes not because the clothes are damaged or falling apart, but simply because they no longer look brand new. However, there's no reason to waste money by throwing out clothes just because they no longer look new. You can keep a piece of clothing looking new for years if you take proper care of it and know how to wash it the right way.

You really don't need to buy any fancy cleaners, equipment or detergents; you just need to know how to wash your clothes the right way. That's all it takes to keep clothes looking brand new for months and even years. In this article I will break down clothing into three categories (darks, whites, and colors) and teach you how to wash each kind properly.

Dark Clothes: Dark clothes are your black, navy blue, and dark brown clothes. Dark clothes start to look old because they get faded over time from normal use and washing, but washing fades them more than anything else. To preserve your dark clothes and keep them looking new, you just need to wash them on the right settings.

Set your washing machine to "cold/cold" and whatever the shortest wash cycle is. Hot water is what causes blacks to fade because it makes the ink bleed in the wash. So if you just wash your darks with cold water, for a short cycle, no ink will bleed during the washing process.

White Clothes: White clothes are obviously and white garments you own. These things like, dress shirts, socks, underwear and t-shirts. White clothes should be washed the opposite way you wash dark clothes. Set your washing machine to "hot/cold" or whatever the hottest setting is, and let them wash on the longest cycle.

The hot water and long wash cycle will break up any stains that got on your white clothes. You can also add a cap full of bleach to your white load to help preserve the whiteness and vibrancy they have when they're new.

Colored Clothes: Colored clothes are anything you own in between your whites and darks. In other words, anything with color, and they can actually be separated into two other categories (wash loads); bright colors, and dull colors. However, if you want to just wash all of your colors together in one load, it doesn't make a huge difference.

Colored clothes can be washed either on the "cold/cold" or "warm/warm" setting. "Cold/cold" will preserve the colors the best, but might not always get them as clean as you want them. However, colors can basically be treated the same as darks. Make sure you turn all your colored clothes inside-out before you wash them to help preserve the vibrancy of the colors on the outside of the clothes (the part people see when you wear them.