How to Use a Washing Machine

Washing machines are incredibly convenient and easy-to-use home appliances, but it does take some getting used to. If this is your first time owning a washing machine or doing your own laundry, don’t worry. You can easily learn how to operate your washing machine, find out which laundry soaps and fabric softeners are best for which fabrics, and prevent your clothes from staining or damaging white clothes.

Table of Contents

Separate fabrics

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Check clothing labels and special instructions on the washing machine. Most clothes are machine washable, but you’ll still need to check the label on the garment for instructions. Some fabrics may shrink if washed in warm or hot water. Some are erasable, others are not. Some fabrics are not machine washable, such as some silks or other lightweight materials. You should always carefully check clothing labels.

Separate items labeled “hand wash only” or “dry clean only”.
Most shirts have a product care label on the left side of the shirt or inside the collar.
Trousers often have an instruction label on the inside of the back.

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Separate clothes by “color”. Color on clothes, especially new clothes, will often fade during washing. Color can spread to other items and ruin the whole load. Sorting clothes by “color” usually means sorting by fabric hue. The most basic way to sort clothes is to separate them by dark and light shades and wash them separately. You can even further categorize them by color.

Dark colors include colors like black, dark blue, dark red, and deep purple.
Light colors include pastel colors like white, pink, yellow, blue, light green, and lilac.
Dark jeans or denim are especially prone to fading and should be washed separately.

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Sort clothes by fabric thickness. As an alternative to sorting, or for a more thorough sorting, you can protect your clothes from wear and tear in the washing machine by separating thick fabrics from thin fabrics. Most washing machines operate by spinning and turning the clothes inside the drum, and thick coarse fabrics can damage delicate fabrics. In addition, the setting mode and temperature when washing light clothes will also be different from those of thick and heavy clothes.

Delicate materials such as underwear, socks and washable silks need to be washed separately. ^{[1] X Research Source}
Heavy fabrics include thick cotton pants, towels, jackets, or sweaters.
If you only sort clothes by material, you can save a lot of energy and money, instead of having to wash multiple batches by color.

Place lightweight fabrics in a mesh bag. Instead of washing delicate items separately, you can put them in a mesh bag to protect them from wear and tear. Mesh bags used in washing machines come in many sizes, but generally can only be used for one or a few fabrics. You can wash these items with your regular wash.

Mesh bags cannot prevent color from staining clothes, so you need to wash items of the same color in one load. Light-weight fabrics usually don’t bleed and can be washed with light-colored clothes.

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Separate soiled clothes. Some stains require special treatment before being put in the washing machine. The most common stains that require pre-treatment are grease stains.

Avoid washing or drying clothes with stains in the machine. Some stains may stick to heat and will be more difficult to remove.

Washing machine settings

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Select the appropriate washing mode. The wash cycle consists of two main speeds: one for kneading or turning the clothes with the water, and the other for wringing the water out of the clothes. ^{[2] X Research Source} Depending on the clothes to be washed, you need to choose the right washing mode for the type of fabric in order to get maximum cleaning while still protecting the clothes.

Normal Cycle: This is a fast/fast cycle – kneading clothes and spinning at a fast speed. This mode works to clean very dirty or sweaty clothes and is also the most commonly used. Strong fabrics such as cotton, linen, denim, towels and bed linen are generally suitable for the normal wash cycle.
Anti-Wrinkle Wash (Permanent or Perm Press): This is a fast/slow operation cycle. Clothes need to be kneaded quickly to clean but spin (spin) slowly to prevent wrinkles. This mode is recommended for synthetic fabrics such as rayons, knits, ppyesters, and acetates (artificial silk). Synthetic fibers often get ruffled on the fabric, and a slow spin will help prevent this.
Delicate Cycle: This is a slow/slow operation cycle that reduces kneading speed and prevents wear and tear. However, the degree of clean washing will decrease due to the slow speed of turning clothes. This mode is most suitable for washing specific or special fabrics such as underwear, clothes with glitter, lace, loose fabrics or delicate items such as leather socks.
Special cycles: More modern models of washing machines have special cycles that clean, steam, or are said to protect white clothes and remove stains. You should read the washing machine’s manual for a better explanation of the function of the special wash cycle.

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Temperature setting. In theory, the hotter the water, the cleaner the clothes. Hot water has a better cleaning effect and kills bacteria, dissolves detergent more evenly and removes dirt accumulated on clothes, so clothes will be whiter and cleaner. However, in some cases, hot water can cause fabric to shrink, discolor and adhere to stains, and can be costly due to higher electricity consumption. ^{[3] X Research Source} So choose the water temperature that’s right for your fabric, but also for your conditions, for best results.

Use cold water on a gentle cycle to wash delicate fabrics, items that fade easily, or clothes that aren’t too dirty.
Use warm water in the anti-wrinkle wash, dark colors and moderately soiled batches.
Use hot water to wash towels and kitchen towels, bed linens, tough fabrics, or extremely soiled clothes.
Using cold water is the most energy efficient way to wash clothes. Almost 90% of the energy is used in the hot wash cycle to heat the water. ^{[4] X Research Source} This is also the gentlest way to wash.
In some models of washing machines, the water temperature is pre-set according to the selected washing mode. For example, a normal wash cycle mostly uses water with a temperature of about 30 °C or 40 °C.

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Pour laundry soap and other products such as fabric softener into the washing machine. It is important to read your washing machine’s manual to know which soap is suitable for your washing machine and the soap dispenser in the machine. Most washing machines today can use powdered soap as well as water soap and other cleaning agents such as bleach.

Front-loading models typically have drawers for dispensing soap and other compartments for fabric softener and/or bleach. The washing machine automatically dispenses soap and fabric softener at the right time.
Top load models need to pour soap directly into the drum before the wash cycle starts. It’s best to add soap before you put your clothes in the tub so that the concentrated soap doesn’t stain or damage your clothes. In some cases, you can put water in the washing machine so that the soap is dissolved before you put the clothes in.
The amount of soap to use depends on the soap brand and washing machine type, so you should check the information on the soap packaging and look for the washing machine manual to see the right amount of soap.

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Put the clothes in the washing machine. It’s pretty simple – you just throw the clothes in the drum, but be careful not to overdo it. You need to leave room for the clothes to move and clean yourself. Some washing machines also have low, medium or high load options and can adjust the water level depending on the washing mode according to the weight of the clothes.

The low washing volume fills about 1/3 of the drum.
The average washing load fills about 1/2 of the drum.
A large load of laundry fills about 3/4 of the drum.

Turn on the washing machine. Well, that’s it, now all you need to do is press the button, and the clothes will be washed! But remember to close the lid of the washing machine!

Advice

Some washing machines require you to set a time for the wash cycle. Many washing machines will do this automatically, but sometimes you have to do it manually. You should set the washing time to about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how dirty the clothes are.
You can add fabric softener to the drum during the rinse cycle.

Warning

Check your pockets before you put them in the washing machine. There may be matches, batteries or other flammable materials.

Steps

Separate fabrics

Washing machine settings

Advice

Warning

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