- Separate the lights from the darks. If a piece of clothing is light with dark designs, keep it with the lights. The same for dark clothes with light designs.
- Check the tags. Some clothes will only be suitable for handwashing or dry cleaning. Set these clothes aside.
- Choose the water temperature. A cooler wash is usually most for most everyday items and hotter washes for things like towels.
- Set the time. Most washing machines will do this automatically but if you need to it manually then between an hour and an hour and a half is good, depending on how dirty your clothes are!
- Put the clothes in the washing machine.
- Check your washing machine’s manual to see what type of detergent you should use. Some machines need high efficiency detergent, which is liquid, and others need normal detergent, which is powder. The detergent can either go on top of the clothes or in the little drawer at the top of the washing machine. Check the instructions on the detergent to know how much to use.
- Turn it on and relax!
This video will help you get started with doing your own laundry.
There’s also some information here to help you understand the tags on the inside of your clothes tell you about how they should be washed.