Laundry Lessons

The following is a humorous look at lessons I've learned from my parents and from my first experiences with doing laundry on my own.

• Don't wash those new dark blue jeans or new brightly colored shirts with whites. Let's just say that I have had a load of underwear, sock, and bras color accessorised to blue jeans before. Also, there was that one time my dad returned a previously white sports bra to me pink.
• Unless you want new doll or baby clothing, pants and shirts made of spandex and sweaters do not go in the dryer. I've had a couple of sweaters that had previously fit, but after shrinking in the dryer, have had to be passed on.
• A violently vibrating washing machine during the spin cycle doesn't just consitute an amusement ride, but also means the load is unbalanced and needs to be adjusted.
• The difference in how men and women do laundry. Men typically sort their laundry for wash by 3 categories: dark, greys, and white, often unrelated items being tossed in together. Women, on the other hand, sort by 5 categories: whites, bright colors, dark colors, delicates, and linens and/or temperature.