Next Wednesday is Halloween and you still haven’t thought of a costume to wear. Why not pull out last year’s? It’s quick, it’s free. So what if it’s covered in dry beer and chocolate smears; we’ve got some cleaning tips for you.

Washing your Halloween costume

Washing your costume is simple, since costumes are usually made of some synthetic material. Spot clean with carpet cleaner and hand treat stubborn stains with laundry soap before you machine-wash it. Turn it inside out and machine-wash on a cold, gentle setting. Use half the gentle detergent and liquid fabric softener that you would normally use. After cycle is complete, turn the costume inside out again (back to normal) and hang dry. Never use your dryer to dry a costume.

Washing your wig

To wash your wig, fill your sink or a bucket with cold water. Add any shampoo and agitate the water to make it soapy. Dip your wig in the soapy mixture while gently agitating and continue to do so depending on how soiled it was to begin with. Let the wig sit in the soapy mixture for several minutes before you drain the water. Thoroughly rinse the wig until there is no soap left. Hang it up to allow it to air dry. Once it is completely dry, shake the wig until it returns to form. A synthetic wig should preserve its shape after washing.

Winter is on its way, so it’s time to pull out the wool clothing and blankets. Want to freshen them up with a pre-season wash? Here are some wool-care instructions to keep in mind:

• The most important thing for any 100 percent wool clothing or blanket is to use cold water when you wash them. Make sure to use the low spin setting.
• To dry, gently wring them out or use your dryer’s delicate cycle. High heat will shrink woolen items, so air drying is your best option. If you’re air drying, lay the item flat or hang it from a door. Do not let it wrinkle.
• You can use special care laundry detergents, such as Zero, that will protect you garments from getting ruined by normal detergents.

Believe it or not, you should wash your washing machine every once in awhile. Think about it. About once a day, or a few times a week, your washing machine is loaded with dirty clothes. After awhile, dirty water, mineral and soap deposits begin to build up the same as they would in a bath tub. Build-up lowers your machine’s performance and can begin to wear away your clothes. Here’s how you keep your washing machine in tip-top shape:

1. Run a cycle of hot water with two cups of vinegar or lemon juice. This will loosen up any built up soap and grime.
2. Remove your bleach & liquid fabric softener receptacle and soak it in soap and water.
3. Clean the top or front rim (depending on whether you have a top-load or side-load washer) of your washer with vinegar.
4. Run the washer one more time with nothing but hot water to rinse out the vinegar or lemon juice.
5. During this wash cycle, check all of your washer’s hoses for leaks. Most manufacturers recommend changing the hoses once every five years.
6. Replace the bleach/fabric softener receptacle and polish the outside of the washer with vinegar.

Happy Monday, folks. Hope you had a smooth morning and an even smoother work day. For those of you who didn’t, hopefully today’s tip can help you in the future.

Removing Ink Stains

We turned to our friends at eHow.com to find the cure for one of the most common work-related stain incidents: The Ink Stain on the Work Shirt. Here’s what they say:

1. Dab the stain with a clean wet sponge until no ink is lifted from stain.
2. Allow the stain to air dry.
3. Spray the stain with hair spray.
4. Sandwich the stained fabric between two paper towels.
5. Blot the backside of the stained fabric, working the stain into the other paper towel until stain is lifted.
6. Apply laundry pre-treatment (stain remover).
7. Wash in warm water and allow to air dry.

Here’s a video from Expert Village that we found on YouTube.com. It’s a great step-by-step resource for washing laundry correctly; keeping your light clothes light, your dark clothes dark and your dry-clean-only’s undamaged.

Baseball season’s over (unless you’re a professional baseball player, in which case, welcome to Dry Cleaner’s Secret blog! We hope you find our information helpful and useful and that you keep us in mind when you’re handing out season tickets to your friends next season!). That was embarrassing. Anyways, here are a few things to keep in mind when washing your hat:

NEVER wash a hat in the washing machine. This will ruin the bill and destroy the shape of the hat.

NEVER throw a hat in the dryer. This will undoubtedly shrink the hat and damage the bill.

DO wash your baseball hat in the dishwasher. Of course, do not do this with a dirty load of dishes. Wash your hat on the top rack in a completely empty dishwasher. If you have a hat mold, place the hat in that while it’s in the dishwasher. This will help keep it’s shape. If you don’t have a mold you can place the hat over an upside-down bowl.

Most new hats are fairly water proof and therefore stand up to many stains. Before you wash your hat in the dishwasher, try wiping it clean with a damp rag.

Sometimes you’ll find orange or brown rust stains on your clothes caused by higher-than-normal iron content in your water supply. More important than having cleaner laundry, make sure to have your water supply checked—either your water pipes or your heater—to protect your health.

As for the stains on your clothing, you can try to avoid them by using a mechanical water softener with an iron filter. These devices are permanently installed in plumbing systems to replace calcium and magnesium with sodium. Another benefit is that they increase heating efficiency and lengthen the lifespan of clothes. Aside from this expensive option (such a device can cost you roughly $1400 + installation), use a non-chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach may cause the iron in the hard water to leave the rust stains.

Use less detergent.
Using too much laundry detergent makes your machine work harder and wears clothes out faster. A simple gauge to see if you are using too much laundry detergent; check the lint trap on your dryer. If you have a lot of lint with after drying a load, you may be using too much detergent. Use about half of the recommended amount of detergent and you should see a reduction in the amount of lint your in your dryer, and over time, a longer lifespan for your clothing.

Keep your colors bright with salt.
Hard water can dull your colored clothing and make them look old. If you have a hard water problem, add a pinch or two of table salt to the washer with your normal laundry detergent. Run the water first to dissolve the salt and detergent mixture before adding your clothes. Your colored clothes should become much brighter.

Use vinegar in place of fabric softener.
Using distilled white vinegar the same as you would liquid fabric softener and add it to your wash load. It’s a much more affordable alternative to fabric softeners and can reduce static cling while making your clothing softer. Adding vinegar to colored loads can also cut down on fading.

There are several reasons why clothing can take on a greyish color and never look completely clean. Here are some tips to keeping those clothes bright:

Reason #1: Too little detergent.

Solution: Sometimes those white clothes aren’t coming clean because of something as simple as not using enough laundry detergent. Read the instructions on your detergent bottle and use your own judgment: the more clothes you’re washing, the more detergent you have to use.

Reason #2: Wash water temperature is too low.

Solution: It’s important to use warm/hot water while washing white clothes. Do not forget to keep in mind the recommended temperature on the garment. Never exceed that.

Reason #3: The load is incorrectly sorted

Solution: Never wash heavily soiled clothing with lightly soiled clothing. Only wash like-garments because the amount of dirt on the clothing dictates how much detergent and which water temperature to use. The same goes for colors: always separate loads by colors: whites with whites, brights with brights and darks with darks.

Much to all of our surprise, there’s a laundry detergent that’s specially formulated to wash athletic gear with moisture wicking fabrics like Nike Dri-Fit, Under Armour, and Coolmax; Win High-Performance Sport Detergent. Not sold? Well, Michael Phelps and the gang use it, supposedly, so it must work, right? I don’t know… I’ve never had any problems with my conventional detergents. Maybe it’s because I haven’t experienced the bacteria slashing power that Win yields!

Give it a try then give us a yell. We’re curious.