Wash It - Home-Ec 101

How to Solve the Soaking Problem with a Front Load Washer

how to solve the soaking problem with front loading washers

How to use a product like Smelly Washer with a front loading washer that drains instead of soaking.

Why Do My Black T-Shirts Get Red Patches

Dear Home-Ec 101, Why do my black shirts come out of the laundry with red/reddish patches? Signed, Spotty in Spartanburg Heather says: Laundry mysteries are always fun. Not too long ago we had an issue where one of my children’s s t-shirts were always ripping under one of the arms. We checked the inside of …

Clothes can get clean with just the basic soap and water, but good laundry supplies make doing the wash much easier. There are many detergents, softeners, and accessories and we’d like to help you figure out which ones work the best for you. Following are articles answering reader’s questions and sharing tips that we have …

Stains in clothes make me mentally debate how much I like the article of clothing and if I want to work on getting the stain out or just get rid of the clothing. Am I the only one that does that? My children only stain their most-favorite-ever clothing items and ask me to get it …

Whether the smell is good or bad, material can just soak up odors, and hold on to them for a long time. If it smells good – no problem. If it stinks, we might have to give up that shirt that we’ve loved for a long time; or only wear it when we have a …

We can’t throw everything in the washing machine willy-nilly. We try to consider how to clean an item and check the tags of clothes before buying them, but sometimes the item is just too pretty or useful to pass up, and we end up with something that needs special care. Following are some articles with information on …

It seems like anybody should be able to do laundry. Throw in some soap with some clothes and let the washer do it’s work. Theoretically that’s all you have to do. However, you can make your clothes -and your washing machine- last longer and look better by knowing a few more things about laundry basics. …

Dear Home Ec 101, Do you know how to reduce lint in the laundry? My husband just started a new job that has him wearing dress slacks—like Dockers—and dress shirts instead of the jeans and t-shirts he’s always worn. Even though I wash and dry them separately (to avoid any ironing!) they still come out …

Dear Home-Ec 101, It seems lately my whites or mostly whites have been coming out dingy and faded. I don’t want to use bleach on them because a lot of them have colored sections as well. What can I do to keep the whites sparkling without taking effecting the rest of the color on these …

Hi Home-Ec101,I have been following your site for a while and am super excited about how well the chore chart is helping around my place; it has made a huge difference! Anyway, I have an odd question, I have an older car that was in storage for about three years, and in that time the …