How to Maintain Your Clothes as New (Expert Tips)

Do you know How to Maintain your clothes properly? 

Have you ever spoiled your favorite shirt by not maintaining it properly? Most of us have done this once in our lives.

And what’s going to be next? Buying new clothes by spending dollars. 

It’s easy to get caught up by new clothes, but keeping your favorite clothes in good shape for the long run is not that easy. In this blog post, I’m going to share;

• Steps to maintain your clothes as new
• Tips for washing your clothes properly
• Smart storage guidance

And a lot more. This guide will be your go-to resource on how to keep your clothes fresh and new. Without any delay, let’s get started!

How to Maintain Your Clothes

You don’t have to be exhausted to maintain your clothes. 

Once you understand your clothes based on the fabrics, and colors, you can easily take care of it.

Here are some ways to take care of clothes. From sorting clothes out to storing them properly, you’ll find everything in the guide.

• Read the Clothes Label and Act
• Sort your Clothes Before washing
• Treat Strains Before washing
• Wash your Clothes Properly and Carefully
• Reduce the Frequency of Washing Clothes
• Be careful while Ironing your Clothes
• Avoid Overloading your Washing Machine
• Hang your clothes or Fold and Store Them
• Wash your Footwear with a Brush and Properly Store them on the Rack

Read the care label and act

Each cloth needs to be taken care of based on the care label. Always, read the care label in the behind-the-neck area of your clothes.

It’ll show how exactly you need to take care of your clothes.

Probably every cloth has a care label, and you can see different symbols like the symbol of a bucket filled with water, a triangle shape, an iron box shape, a line inside a square, and a circle symbol.

And if you extract every symbol, you’ll see different types of symbols. Let’s take it all in common and analyze what is meant by every symbol in the care label.

• The Bucket filled with water symbol lets you know how you need to wash the clothes.
• The triangle-shaped symbol means you can bleach the cloth. And a triangle crossed means you should not bleach.
• The iron box symbol means that the clothes are safe to iron and the crossed iron box symbol indicates it’s not safe to iron the clothes.
• A circle inside a square symbol means tumble drying (safe to use a dryer machine) and the circle inside a square crossed symbol indicates that it is not safe for tumble drying.
• A circle symbol indicates the clothes are safe for dry cleaning and the circle crossed means the clothes are not safe for dry cleaning.

Sort your clothes before wash

Before you start washing your clothes, separate them by color and fabric.

It might be tempting to put all your clothes in the washer to wash at once, but it’s probably not going to end well.

Each one needs to be taken care of based on the colors and fabrics.

• Sort your colored clothes into 4 to put laundry; white, light-toned colors, medium-toned colors, and dark-toned colors.
• Never mix white clothes with any other colors, it’ll ruin the whites.
• Also, separate the most dirty clothes from the least dirty clothes.
• Consider fabrics, and separate loose knits, and delicates from regular washing. Wash knits and delicates on a gentle cycle.
• Mix large and small clothes, like socks, with pants for better washing results.

According to the source of laundry basics, wash towels, fuzzy shirts, and fuzzy robes separately to avoid lint transfer.

Treat strains before washing

Take care of stains right away to prevent them from drying and becoming harder to remove, as immediate attention helps to protect your clothes from permanent strain.

• To effectively remove stains from your clothes, it is important to identify the type of stain and treat it accordingly before laundering. Watch this YouTube Video.
• Pretreat the strain before it gets dried. Use liquid detergent, prewash stain remover, or paste made from detergent with little water.
• Always use a sponge and dip the strain area. Don’t rub, the strain will spread.

Clothes washing tips

Keeping your clothes clean and fresh requires more than just tossing them in the washing machine.

Proper care not only extends the life span but also ensures they look their best.

Whether you’ve no idea of taking care of your clothes while washing or are an intermediate, these tips will help you.

• Check the clothes pockets: Always check your pockets before tossing in the washing machine. You might have money or some important papers in your pocket, take them before you get frustrated.
• Look out for water temperature: When washing clothes, it is generally advisable to use cold water. This is because cold water is suitable for almost all types of clothes, including delicate fabrics and dark colors, as it helps to prevent fading. On the other hand, hot water is more appropriate for removing stains and sanitizing clothes. To ensure the best results, it is always important to check the care label for the recommended water temperature.
• Consider your detergent: When choosing a detergent, it’s important to consider factors such as fabric type and color. Avoid using detergents containing harsh chemicals.
• Laundry T-shirts: T-shirts are versatile and easy to clean. To avoid shrinking, wash them in cold water.
• Laundry Jeans: For better results, always wash your jeans inside out with cold water and air dry them by hanging them.
• Air-dry delicates: To maintain the shape and elasticity of delicates, consider air-drying them. Lay sweaters flat, hang dresses, and avoid wringing out clothes, as excessive twisting can damage fibers.
• Clean your washing machine: Yes, don’t forget to clean your washing machine. It’s important to periodically clean your washing machine to prevent mold, mildew, and odors. To keep your machine functioning at its best, run an empty cycle with hot water and a cup of vinegar or baking soda.

Frequency of washing your clothes

The less you wash your clothes, the more it’ll increase their life span. You should never wash your clothes after each time you wear it. So, how often do you need to wash your clothes? 

• T-shirt and Tank tops – Wash every 2-3 times you it.
• Sweaters: every 3–5 times of wearing it.
• Shirts: After wearing them twice
• Underwear and socks: after every time wearing it.
• Blazers and Suits – After every 2-3 times wear, it should be dry cleaned.
• Workout clothes – After every time wearing them, they probably smell bad because of sweat.
• Sweatpants – After every 1 or 2 times wearing it. If it smells, wash it after the first time wearing it.
• Denim Jeans – You can wear them for 3-5 times before washing it.

You can follow this. But there are other factors you should consider like how much you sweat, where you live, and other factors.

What you should do with the clothes before wearing them next time? Make your clothes inside out and anchor them, let it air dry.

Be careful while ironing your clothes

Ironing your clothes is necessary to get rid of wrinkles.

But you have to be super careful while ironing. Because there wasn’t any common temperature that would go for all fabrics.

• Check the cloth care label to ensure whether it’s safe to iron or not.
• Make sure the iron box is clean before ironing the clothes.
• Use the right settings to iron the fabrics.

If you have no idea how to iron your clothes; 

• Start with the collars and cuffs, unbutton them, and iron both sides effectively.
• Then move on to iron the sleeves. Lay down one sleeve flat on the table and start ironing from the shoulders to the cuffs. Repeat the same process to the next sleeve.
• Lay down the back of the shirt on the table and iron it from top to bottom.
• Iron the front of the shirt, and pay attention to the buttons. Use the point of the iron box to iron the smaller areas.
• Iron pants start with the waistband and then move down one leg at a time.

Always remember and be careful, while ironing.

Make sure the shirt is in the right position to iron. Look out for the stitches to properly position the shirt to avoid inappropriate ironing.

Avoid overloading the washing machine

Do not overload your washing machine.

It’ll take too long to wash your clothes and won’t wash properly. Give your clothes some space in the washing machine to move freely.

• This ensures proper cleaning of your clothes
• And prevent them from wrinkles

When in doubt, split large loads into two and load them separately.

Hang your clothes or fold and store them

Properly storing your clothes is much needed to avoid damage. It’s about preventing clothes from shaping, avoiding wrinkles, and optimizing the storage space.

• Use the right hanger: Instead of a plastic or thin hanger, use a thick wooden hanger to hang your heavy clothes like jeans, blazers, suits, jackets, and shirts. Use padded hangers to hang lighter clothes like delicate clothing items.
• Hang similar items together: Always hang similar items together to easily find what you’re looking for. This not only makes it easier but also gives an organized wardrobe.

You can try storing your clothes (Only for specific clothes) like sweaters, towels, delicates (innerwear), bulky clothing, and general clothing items in a plastic box.

Make sure your clothes are clean and smell good before storing them.

Washing and storing of footwear

How to clean your shoes and store them properly? That’s the question you ask. 

Taking good care of shoes is most important to increase their lifespan. More than clothes, you need to extra good care of cleaning and storing your shoes.

• Clean your shoes using the brush: To clean your shoes, use a soft brush to remove dirt. Use warm water and a small amount of mild washing liquid. Before starting cleaning, remove the lace and insole of the shoe.
• Air dry your shoes: Before drying your shoes, remove any excess water and let them air dry. Avoid drying your shoes directly in the sun to prevent color fading and cracking.
• Use shoe racks: Properly shoe your shoes in the shoe rack. A shoe rack makes it much easier to organize and store your shoes properly.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)