15 Fresh Tips To Keep Your Old Clothes Looking New
When you keep your clothes in tip-top shape, you can look your best and save money. Taking care of your clothes means enjoying them longer instead of wasting money replacing old, worn-out items. You can keep your old clothes looking new with just a few easy habits.
Laundering clothes properly, storing them correctly and treating stains quickly all help extend your clothing's lifespan. Following the garment's care instructions is essential, but so is knowing how to hang your clothes and, to quote Kenny Rogers, "Know when to fold them."
To maximize the life of your clothes and keep them looking new, follow these 15 easy steps.
1. Don't Ignore Garment Care Labels
Different fabrics call for different types of care, which you can typically find on a tag inside the garment. The label will usually specify if and how you can wash or dry the item or if it is dry clean only. So, in other words, don't wash dry clean only items, don't toss things in the dryer that say hang dry, etc.
2. Use The Right Detergent
Check your detergent and ensure it's the right kind for your machine. For example, if you have a high-efficiency (HE) washer, specific detergents are compatible with HE washing machines. Also, you'll notice that one of our later tips is to wash in cold water as much as possible.
When you wash in cold water, a liquid detergent typically works better as powders won't always fully dissolve. Make sure to read the detergent labeling carefully and use the correct amount of detergent for the clothing you're washing.
3. Hang Clothing Correctly With The Proper Hangers
Keeping your clothes looking fresh isn't all about how you clean them but also how you store them. If you hang items, make sure you use wooden, felt, or plastic clothes hangers. Wire hangers are a nightmare on clothes.
4. Avoid Giving Your Sweaters Wings
It's great to hang dress pants, skirts, blazers, jackets, blouses, dresses, and coats. But sweaters and certain delicate items are best folded. When you hang a sweater, the hanger edges tend to push out your sweater's shoulders, giving it unsightly wings. If you don't have a lot of space for folded items, try this trick for hanging a sweater without giving you weird shoulder bumps.
5. Know How To Remove Stains
Nowadays, thanks to Google, you can look up how to remove pretty much any stain. Or even better, you can check out our handy stain removal tips here. It's best to treat stains as soon as possible and always use cold water. Most importantly, avoid drying the item until you're sure the stain is completely gone.
6. Give Your Clothes Room To Breathe
Whether folding or hanging your clothes, don't cram them all into a drawer or your closet. If they're all bunched up on top of each other, they're going to get wrinkled, wear down, and look a mess. Leave some breathing room for your clothes, no matter how you store them.
7. Keep Moths Away
Protect woolens and other insect-attracting fabrics from moths by hanging cedar blocks in your closet, putting cedar balls in your drawer, or storing special items in garment containers like this one.
It's also a good idea to use a clothing brush to regularly brush your woolens to eliminate unseen bug larvae. Brushing is also a great way to remove pet hair and dirt from fabrics like suede, cashmere, and velvet.
8. Avoid The Dryer Unless It's Necessary
Yes, if you have a laundry room, it's pretty much a given that you have a dryer. And you're going to need to use your dryer for a lot of items. However, the tumbling and heat of the dryer can make fabric rough over time and wear it down. So unless absolutely necessary, line dry clothing unless the care instructions specifically say to lay the item flat to dry.
9. Wash Clothes Inside Out
Here's a straightforward tip to keep clothes looking new. Turn your clothes inside out before you toss them in the washing machine.
10. Avoid Chlorine Bleach
Bleach has its place in the cleaning world, but it's best to avoid putting it on your clothes or including it in your wash cycle. Over time, bleach can wear through fabrics and eat away at fibers, not to mention it can accidentally get on other clothing and wash out the color.
11. Wash Clothes In Cold Water Whenever Possible
Washing your clothes in cold water can help them last longer. Your clothes won't fade as quickly, and fibers won't shrink. Check your washing machine; it likely has cold and cool water settings.
12. Invest In Mesh Laundry Bags
You might not think you need those little mesh laundry bags, but they come in handy for delicate items. They're also convenient for washing bras and other articles with clips and straps to keep them from snagging or twisting around other items.
13. Let Your Clothes Rest
Everyone has an outfit or a pair of jeans they adore, but try to avoid wearing your clothes multiple times in a row without giving them a break. Rotate your clothing to give your clothes time to reshape, air out, and breathe.
14. Don't Assume You Have To Wash Everything After You Wear It Once
Sure, you'll probably want to wash your underwear and socks after wearing them one time. But do you really need to wear short jeans if you just threw them on to run to the grocery store? Or if all you did was go out to eat and catch a movie, do you really need to toss that sweater in the wash? Instead, wash clothes when they are dirty, stained, or stinky.
15. Start With Good Quality Clothing
Of course, starting with a high-quality product and taking good care of it always helps it look better and last longer. Invest in higher-quality blazers, outerwear, pants, skirts, and dresses. You can go a little less expensive on T-shirts, socks, underwear, basic tops, and the things that you'll probably wash and replace more often anyway.
Follow these tips to keep your clothes looking new, and you will be wearing a great outfit and a big smile. It's also essential to make sure you use a reputable laundromat whenever you're not doing your laundry at home. Lakeshore Laundry has everything you need to handle your heaviest of loads.
