The best ways to do your laundry, according to an expert on the chore
How to have your laundry come out perfect
How to have your laundry come out perfect
It's something we do every week — for some of us, every day. The average American family washes about 300 loads of laundry per year.
When it comes to laundry, Patric Richardson, "The Laundry Evangelist," is a whisperer of sorts. He got his first toy washing machine for Christmas at 3 years old, and created Mona Williams, a natural cleaning store at Mall of America
He's even starred in a Discovery+ show to share his laundry expertise.
"The biggest question I get is how much detergent," he said.
He believes most of us are overdoing it.
"I'm a fan of soap, much less common product. For soap, use one tablespoon for a full load of laundry. If you are going to use commercial laundry from the store, it's two tablespoons. That's all," Richardson said. "People love to ask about dingy white. It's because they are using too much detergent. Because the detergent is holding all the dirt from the washing machine, and it has nowhere to go, so it settles back into your clothes. So more soap does not yield cleaner results."
As for the the temperature, Richardson suggests warm water.
"I never use cold because we live in Minnesota and our water is too cold. I always use warm because its warm enough to activtate the detergent but its not hot enough to do any damage," Richardson said.
No matter the color he says, "I use warm for everything."
As for germs, he says its OK to wash bath towels with kitchen towels.
"They are gonna come clean, you don't have to worry," Richardson said.
Nor does he worry about dryer sheets.
"No, we never need dryer sheets, never ever ever. The coat, the fabric, they make it harder to remove stains," Richardson said.
He suggests removing the dread.
"You absolutely can have fun when you do laundry," Richardson said. "You should hang a disco ball in your laundry room. You should get some candy and crank up some music and get a decent light."
Richardson also advises people to skip fabric softener, saying if you use less detergent, your clothes will be soft enough. As for washing your bed sheets, he suggests once a week.
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