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– Hi, I’m Carolyn Forte, Executive Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Care and Cleaning Lab where we test all kinds of cleaning appliances and products and share our best tips and cleaning advice. Today I’m gonna be answering some common questions about your washing machine and sharing some insider tips. This is “Good To Know.” So the first question we have here is, how often should I be cleaning my washing machine? And we recommend doing it about once a month. It’s really important to keep the appliance that’s keeping your clothes clean, clean. Most of today’s new machines have a tub clean cycle, so all you need to do is select that. It’ll select the proper water temperature, the proper amount of water, and you’re gonna add a commercial washing machine cleaner, a powder or a tablet or something that you buy. But you also wanna do other things between that, like clean off any spills, bleach spills, fabric softener spills. You wanna dry off the gasket if you have a front load washer and the door, so mold and mildew don’t grow there. And every once in a while pop out the dispenser. Give that a good scrub to remove any residues that may be lurking there. Next, are there any at-home remedies that will clean my washing machine? There’s lots of DIY tips out there that I tend to recommend that people stay away from. Wiping the inside of the washing machine with baking soda, using vinegar. Those things aren’t really as effective as they should be and can actually make more of a mess for you to clean up afterwards. So it shouldn’t be so much of a chore to clean your washing machine. Next question, which is better, or a top loader or a front loader? And the answer is, they both clean really well. In our Good Housekeeping Cleaning Lab tests, we’ve gotten great performance from both. So which you choose is first a matter of personal preference. Some people like front loaders, others don’t like bending. Some people like top loaders, others don’t like reaching inside. So there are pros and cons to each type of machine. Generally we do get a little bit better cleaning maybe from a front loader. So if you’ve got lots of sports uniforms or heavily soiled clothes, a front loader could give you a little bit better cleaning performance. But overall, no matter which model and which style you choose, you should be able to get great results. Which washing machine settings should I use for a normal load of clothes? Today’s washing machines have lots of cycles and settings and options. Default for most loads is probably normal or the colors, those are pretty routine and will take care of most loads. But don’t overlook lots of extra cycles that you might wanna consider. Hand wash is a great one, bulky bedding is a great one. Whitest whites or a high temperature wash if you’ve got particularly soiled clothes. Active wear is another popular one today. So what these cycles do is adjust the agitation of the machine, they adjust the water temperatures that go in, they adjust the length of the cycle to better accommodate the care for those items. How do I avoid getting a bad smell in my washing machine, even if it’s clean? The best thing you can do after you’re finished your loads for the day, make sure your machine airs and dries out. So that means either leaving the lid open or leaving the door open, leaving the dispensers open. Of course, if you have small children and pets that are running around, you wanna make sure that you lock those controls. If that’s not enough, it may be necessary for you to actually wipe down the door. Mostly it’s front loaders where the water puddles and pools in the door gasket. So it might be worthwhile to just keep a cloth handy there, wipe that gasket out, remove any excess moisture because that’s really where mold can grow and musty odors can develop. Next, should I be using liquid detergent or the single dose packets? It’s really a matter of personal preference whether you use the single dose packets or whether you go with a liquid or a powder. Most important thing to do is find a brand that works for you, that delivers on the promises that it makes, takes care of the laundry problems that you need to solve, whether it’s odors, color protection, stains, whatever. Once you find that brand, choose the form that works best for you, is most convenient and fits within your budget. Is fabric softener really necessary? Fabric softener is great because like conditioner for your hair, it conditions the fabrics in your clothing. So it makes the fibers smooth, it makes them lay down flat so they’re less scratchy and they feel softer. Is it something you need to use in every load? Probably not. And if you do use fabric softener, you wanna make sure that you use it correctly. Make sure that you measure, don’t add too much. It can build up and leave a wax or filmy coating on clothes that you ultimately may have to remove later on down the road. You also wanna be careful of the types of garments you’re washing with fabric softener. So you don’t wanna use the fabric softener on anything that’s flame resistant. Children’s sleepwear, for example. Is it really necessary for me to separate my dark and light clothing? Yes it is. It’s really important. If you don’t want your whites to be gray and dingy, it’s always best to wash whites and light colors separately. Now, when you wash things in cold water, they are less likely to fade and bleed. But certainly whenever you wash something for the first time, if you’ve never washed it before, always wash it separately. You could do a little drop test on it with water to see if it bleeds or any color runs off. But separating, as much of a chore as it is, is always a good idea. Next question. Which items should I wash with cold water versus warm water? Now, cold water washing has gotten better, it definitely saves energy, and as detergents’ formulations have been improved, they’re working better in cold water too. So for the most part, you can pretty much do most of your loads in cold water. Now having said that, there are certain things that should be washed in warm, really heavily soiled clothes, things that have dirt buildup, and then maybe sports uniforms you might need to wash in a little bit warmer water, certain stains, greasy stains come out better in warm water. So assess your laundry load, assess the types of garments that you’re washing and how they need to be cleaned. And if you are choosing to use cold water to save energy, which is great, make sure you’re using a really great detergent that’s formulated to clean well in cold. Will hot water shrink my clothes? Hot water can cause some shrinkage. So you’re gonna wanna reserve that for the sturdier things. You’re not gonna wanna wash your delicates on hot water. Hot water’s also better for allergen removal. So if you’ve got somebody and you’re cleaning their bedding or you’re cleaning any garments that they’ve worn while they’ve been sick, hot water really is a good alternative for that. How often should I be washing certain items of clothing? Jeans is the biggest topic of debate for sure. You don’t need to wash your jeans every time, but you do need to wash them. I mean, some people say you should never wash them, and that’s not something we subscribe to. If you wore them just for a short period of time, they probably don’t need to be washed. But if you wore them all day or you’ve got stains on them, you sweated in them. Those are the things that you should think about when deciding how often items should be washed. A myth that we’ve been busting for many years is, can I just put my jeans in the freezer and get them clean? And the answer is absolutely not. Like freezing does for your food, it slows down the growth of bacteria, but it doesn’t kill bacteria. Absolute myth. Jeans should not go in the freezer. They need to be washed. Things like jackets or outerwear can withstand less washing than maybe some things that are worn closer to your body and on your skin. Keep in mind that before you’re storing something away for the season, it’s always best to store it clean. Next question, will washing too large a load ruin my washing machine? It may if you do that a lot. It’s gonna put strain on the motor, strain on various other parts of the machine. But the biggest problem with that is that your clothes are not circulating. Clothes need to circulate in that pool of water and detergent in order to get cleaned as best as they can. The tighter it is packed in there, the more it’s gonna rub against each other, and that can be abrasive to fabrics and fibers as well. So the idea is that you wanna make sure your loads tumble freely, get enough water and detergent exposed to the fabrics. Full load can reach the top, but as long as you can put your hand in the top and still have a little room for movement, you’re good to go. What clothing items should I air dry? Always best, as we say with anything, to follow the care labels. But it’s best to keep things that are mostly spandex or elastane outta the dryer. Bathing suits, bras and underwear that’s got a lot of elastic in it. The heat can damage it. Even low heat is not great for elastic, so wash them in the machine for sure, but also make sure that you then air dry them. Be aware of fibers. Rayon tends to shrink in the dryer, so all rayon are mostly made of rayon, that call for air drying. So make sure you follow that as well. Rayon can shrink and you don’t want that to happen. What do those little symbols on my clothing care tags mean? The international symbols on care tags can be confusing, but they’re there for instructions on how to care for a garment. So if you see a little wash tub, that’s generally how to wash it. It can be machine wash or if you see a hand inserted in it, it means it’s hand washable. Triangular symbol is referencing bleach. So if you see a big X through a triangle, it means do not bleach. Lines through it mean that maybe you can use oxygen bleach but not chlorine bleach. If you see a little towel that looks twisted with a big X through it, that means do not ring. So ringing can damage that fabric. Instead, you wanna squeeze out the water. And with the iron, it looks pretty much self-explanatory. One dot means low temperature, low heat, two means medium and three means high. The circle indicates dry cleaning. So if you see a circle with a big X through it, that means you should not dry clean this item. If you see circles with letters inside, that’ll indicate what types of dry cleaning solvents are safe. So your dry cleaner probably knows that. And then there’s a square. The square indicates drying. If you see a square with vertical lines, that means something should be drip dry. It’s got a little curved, a semicircle in it that looks like a clothes line, then you can hang dry it. But the best thing to do to keep these symbols and their little associated dots and dashes straight, is to download or print out a cheat sheet. Keep it handy. That way no matter what symbol comes up on your care tag, you’ll have something to reference to. Thanks for watching and please head to GoodHousekeeping.com for more washing machine and laundry tips. (jazzy music)