The 10 most common laundry and clothes care mistakes

1- Using too much detergent in the machine: most people think ‘dirtier clothes, more detergent’. That’s a mistake: the more product you use, the greater the risk of staining the fabric. Ideally, check your washing machine’s manual, as every appliance has its own limit. When clothes are very dirty, the right approach is to give them a pre-wash – with detergent and cold water – before putting them in the machine. Or, of course, wash them at A Minha Lavandaria and avoid the problem altogether: all our machines dose the detergent automatically.

2- Leaving clothes to soak overnight: soaking should last an hour at most. Leave them any longer and they risk reabsorbing the very dirt you were trying to remove.

3- Drying clothes in direct sunlight: the sun burns and weakens the fibres, stiffens the fabric and can even make clothes shrink.

4- Washing woollens with washing powder: it shrinks and stiffens the fabric. Wash them with a neutral detergent instead.

5- Wringing out knitwear and hanging it on the washing line: this pulls the garments out of shape. Instead, squeeze out the excess water and then use a towel to absorb the remaining moisture. Finally, lay the garment flat on a drying rack in a cool, well-ventilated place.

6- Not sorting clothes by colour: this step really matters, because mixing light and dark items in the same wash leads to stains. Sort them by colour into whites, lights, mid-tones and darks.

7- Misusing bleach and whiteners: never apply them to dirty laundry or to coloured items. They also shouldn’t be left to work for too long – 15 to 20 minutes at most.

8- Storing clothes in plastic bags: this is a bad idea, because the bags trap moisture and encourage mould and mildew. Store your clothes in non-woven fabric bags instead: they let the garments ‘breathe’ and protect them from dust and light.

9- Ironing dirty clothes: the high temperature of the iron sets the dirt and stains, so they can never be removed.

10- Not protecting clothes from the iron: every garment should be protected with a cotton cloth or a Teflon iron shoe (a cover that fits onto the iron). That’s because the soleplate gets very hot and scorches the fibres, leaving the fabric looking dull.