Student accommodation: Top 5 tips when doing laundry at university

Avoid buying new clothes or digging stuff out of the laundry basket and follow this easy guide

(slgckgc/Flickr/Creative Commons)

Students heading off to university can look forward to leading an independent life very soon. No family monitoring your every move, checking up on where you are, and nobody telling you pick up after yourself are just some of the benefits to be had.

However, there’s one big task students will have to face alone: laundry. A survey undertaken last academic year by detergent brand, Muvo, found students going to great length to avoid doing the washing, resorting to measures including: turning underwear inside out, digging clothes back out of the washing basket, buying new clothes instead, and using the ‘sniff’ method to check freshness.

Don’t be one of those students. Please.

So, to help all you young people out there conquer the not-so-difficult task of doing laundry, detergent brand ACE Gentle has kindly put together a list of its top five tips:

1) Read the labels to prevent disasters

Check the care instructions on the garment’s label – this will explain what temperature and cycle to wash clothes on and whether they can be tumble-dried.

2) Separate clothes

Avoid the cliché of turning white clothes pink by separating out loads into categories, for example: whites, brights, darks, and delicates – don’t be tempted to throw everything in together. New clothes, such as jeans, might bleed dye into the wash so keep them separate for the first few washes.

3) Pre-treat stubborn stains

Getting stuck into university life is an important part of the experience, so it’s inevitable that clothing will get stained with things such as beer, ketchup, and mud. These types of tricky stains can be removed if dealt with promptly and properly.

4) Keep clothes looking good for longer

Adding a detergent booster to every wash will help keep whites whiter and colours brighter for longer. Turn clothes inside out – jeans lose less dye and wool items are less likely to go bobbly when washed inside out.

5) Dry laundry properly

Use the tumble dry function if available, but be aware that certain items may be too delicate to tumble-dry and wool can shrink in the dryer. Alternatively, hang clean clothes up immediately and allow them to dry and air adequately, ideally on a clothes line.