How many articles of clothing have you ruined in your closet due to color bleeding?  I can think of a couple times my laundry load came out pink.  Eek!  I figured when that happens you’re just out of luck.  However, my manager recently used Color Run Remover by Carbona and was able to save her favorite skirt from the trash bin.  The black dye had bled into the cream color of her skirt and it became unwearable.  She found this product in the grocery store and figured it was worth a shot.  Here’s her story:

“My favorite silk skirt from Ann Taylor was damaged while I was on a business trip.  One of my hair products leaked through my toiletry bag onto the black and ivory patterned skirt and caused the black to bleed into the ivory. The skirt was ruined but I couldn’t throw it away because it was my favorite.  So it hung damaged in my closet for 6 months until I found Color Run Remover on the Carbona rack at Wal-Mart.  I decided I’d give it a try.  I am VERY pleased to report that Color Run Remover fixed my skirt.“   LeAnne Williams - Director of Marketing WOOLITE® Dry Cleaner’s Secret®

Voila!  LeAnne’s skirt has been repaired!

Today we battle with two seemingly contrasting virtues when it comes to doing laundry—how to be energy efficient and time efficient while thoroughly cleaning our clothing.

The correct amount of clothing to throw in the washer for each load exists as a fine line between too-much-to-thoroughly-clean and not-quite-enough-to-conserve-energy (by cutting down the number of loads). The official “full load of laundry” is a combination of the right weight and a good mix.

Weigh it in:

Smaller capacity top loaders can handle about 6 lbs of dirty clothing to be full. Medium capacity top-loaders can take about 7-8 lbs. The largest capacity top-loaders can wash around 12-15 lbs. As we all know, front-loaders are the most energy efficient, and part of the reason is that they have the greatest capacity. They can hold as much as 18 lbs of clothing.

Weighing your dirty laundry is easy: Put the laundry in a basket and hop on a scale. Record that weight. Then, empty all of that laundry either into the washer or onto the floor and weigh yourself holding only the empty basket. The difference between the two weights is the weight of the load of dirty clothes.

Mix it up:

Oh, but that’s not all. Like in many aspects of life, diversity is the answer. A good load of laundry mixes a range of sizes of items. A good mix allows the load to move around inside of the washer, keeping the clothes fully washed, fully rinsed and undamaged.

Black clothes do not fade gracefully. After several washes, you may begin to notice that your black shirts have already lost their crisp color. Here are a few simple steps to keeping your black clothes black.

1). When buying black clothing, stick with high quality. Search for clothing that is acid or reactive dyed. Silk and fine cotton fabrics hold black dye well, as well as T-shirts made with lycra.

2). Wash new black clothing in a vinegar/water mixture for its first wash. This will help lock the color in. Also, some detergents exist that are specifically for washing black clothing.

3). Always wash your black clothing in cold water for only one cycle. If you are able to, having your black clothing professionally dry cleaned or cleaned with an at-home dry cleaning kit will always be your best bet.

4). You can always try dying your black clothing back to black, especially when it is an expensive item.