Keeping Your Clothes Like New

It's always a little bittersweet to finally part with a piece of clothing, whether it's stained, colorless, the fabric has lost its luster or it's gained a few holes along the way. Sometimes you're ready for it to go, but sometimes  there are pieces you have to repeatedly replace like socks and underwear or that favorite rock concert t-shirt that you just can't seem to let go of. You don't need fancy detergents or dry-cleaning to keep your clothes perfect. Here are a few tips to extending the life of the clothes you have, and saving a few bucks while you do it!

Fading Away
Nothing makes a piece of clothing look old like faded color. To prevent fading, wash colors on cold, avoid hanging colored pieces in the sun to dry, turn pieces inside-out during washing (especially jeans) and consider adding 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of white vinegar to your wash cycle to preserve the color. If the color has already faded, you can add new life to your clothes by dyeing similar colors. Black clothing is great place to start. You can find affordable fabric dye online or in most grocery stores in the laundry aisle.

Hard Fabric
Everyone knows the unpleasant feeling of a scratchy towel or crusty socks. For thicker fabrics, be especially sure that you're not overloading your washer with too much detergent. You can run the washer on a rinse cycle with towels, socks or sweaters and if it looks sudsy, you're using too much. Another good prevention technique is to avoid overloading the washer to begin with. Keep lighter weight clothing and heavier fabrics in separate loads, and don't put more than 5 pairs of jeans or towels in one load. Only loading the washer 3/4 full and not packing in or pushing down the clothes are good rules to remember. Make sure socks are completely unrolled when you throw them in the wash. To soften your clothes, add a big scoop of baking soda to the wash water. Using hot water for sweaty clothes like socks and workout gear and purchasing natural fabrics like cotton, bamboo or hemp help keep things softer too.

Threadbare or Stretched Out Fabric
Hot air is great for fluffing up towels and sweaters and making your clothing feel soft, but most clothing can take a beating if they're heated for too long. Try to line-dry or lay flat your more delicate clothing, anything with elastic or spandex blends and thinner fabrics like shirts. Elastic does not mesh well with heat, so be especially careful with socks, sportswear and underwear. Check the dryer periodically when drying and take out the clothes immediately when they no longer feel damp. Smaller loads, line drying before using the dryer for fluffing or splitting up large loads into smaller ones all insure less exposure to heat and a longer life for fabric and color.

Dingy Colors
In time, lighter and brighter colored clothing can get dingy, grayish or pinkish. For whites, soak in hydrogen peroxide or an oxygenated detergent overnight. Many colored fabrics can also withstand oxygenated detergent, however be sure to test an inconspicuous spot first or use an oxygenated detergent formulated for colors. Always separate your colors into like colors when washing. It can be a pain, but it's worth it.  Wash new clothing items the first few times separately or by hand to avoid the new dye mixing with your older clothes. Did a red shirt sneak in to your load of whites? The minute you notice your clothes have encountered color bleed, take out the offending odd-colored piece of clothing and re-wash the load with oxygenated detergent or bleach. If you let the clothes dry first, chances are the color will set and there's no turning back.

Follow these tips and your clothes will stay with you for years to come! Until next time, keep it clean!

Give Your Room a Weekend Makeover

Whatever room in the house you're looking to give a lift, nothing makes a bigger statement than color. It's also the cheapest and easiest way to make everything look new, different and fresh. Depending on the paint, size of the room and what you'd like to paint, you can expect to budget anywhere from $75 to $200.

Choose Your Palette
Art and Furniture
This could arguably be the most difficult part of the process. A great place to start with most people is with what you already have. Check out your existing furniture. Is your furniture more traditional or modern? Do you have art hanging on the walls? What colors are in the art? What color are your floors? Is the room you want to update well-lit and open, or dark and small? If your furniture is more traditional, look at a traditional painting with colors you like for ideas, like a John Singer Sargent or Da Vinci. For bright and modern, check out more contemporary art like Kandinsky or even pop art like Warhol.

Just Color
Conversely, you could just think about color alone. Do you gravitate towards earthy, neutral colors or do you like bright and bold? Remember that certain colors can change the feel of a room. If you want a room to feel smaller and more cozy, you may want to choose a dark but soothing color like a warm brown. If you want a bold pop of color but don't want to feel overwhelmed, try painting a single accent wall, or a small room like a bathroom or pantry. Bold colors also work great as accents in rooms where there isn't a lot of wall space to paint, like kitchens.

Compare, Complement and Contrast
It's very helpful to use a color wheel to decide what colors you're going to use. If you want to get really fancy, check out a book or search online for "color theory" for ideas. Try to look for the base color in any neutral color, and use the color wheel to see what complements it. If you are painting the walls grey, but it's a bluish gray, you may want to include colors that are also bluish in your furnishings, like painting a side table an interesting shade of blue, or having a mirrored surface on a table or lamp. You can also pick the color opposite your chosen color on the color wheel to make a visually interesting statement. The color opposite blue on the color wheel is orange, so maybe you could move some terra cotta pots into the room to bring in warmth.

Prepare to Paint
Check out the square footage of the room or piece of furniture to gauge how much paint you need. A single master bedroom will probably need 2 gallons of paint, where a small table probably will only need a quart. If you're staining furniture, remember that a little goes a long way. Ask a person working at the hardware store if you're in doubt. Remember you can always get more later if you need it.


You also need to think about the surface you're painting. In places with lots of moisture, like bathrooms and kitchens, you'll want a glossier surface that won't soak up the water. If the surface you're painting is already glossy or shiny, you'll need to sand the surface, use acetone or mineral spirits to remove the shine, or use a paint-on primer so the paint will have something to stick to. If there are holes or dents in the wall, this is a good time to spackle over them. Be sure to lay down fabric tarps or rags over anything you don't want paint on. Taping off areas you don't want paint is helpful, but you can't always rely on the tape to give you straight lines. Even if you choose to tape off a spot, be careful and use the tape only as a fail-safe against drips or smudges. Painting directly on the tape will often assure that you have blotches or runs on the edges.

Stand back and enjoy!
Allow a few hours for the paint to cure before removing tape and tarps, then clean up and enjoy your work! New paint can update a place, obliterate smudges and stains and make everything feel brand new.

Until next time, keep it clean!