Raleigh Laundry | Coin Laundry Raleigh NC

June 30, 2014
by Laundry Expert
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Is Liquid Laundry Detergent Better than Powder?

Coin Laundry Raleigh NC: The Pros and Cons of Liquid Laundry Detergent

Welcome back! In our last post, we went over the pros and cons of powder detergent and today, we are going to do the same for liquid detergent. It’s important to use the best laundry detergent for your washer, so that you can hopefully cut down on energy and water usage in your home. Below, rodalenews.com offers the pros and cons of liquid detergent.

Coin Laundry Raleigh NC | Liquids

Pros: Liquids dissolve better in both cold and warm water, so you don’t have to worry about having residue left on your clothes.

Cons: It takes water to make liquids liquid. In fact, standard, non-concentrated detergents contain as much as 80 percent water. It’s a waste of both water and energy to truck diluted detergents around the country when your washing machine does an efficient job of turning powders into liquids with the water that comes from your local supply. Also, according to a recent analysis by Consumer Reports, those liquid laundry caps can lead to serious overdosing, costing you money and making a mess in your machine. They found that measurement lines are rarely marked clearly and it’s hard to figure out how much is the appropriate amount for a small, medium, or large load of clothes.

Laundry is a tricky thing that takes time and effort to perfect, particularly when you’re not sure what type of detergent to use. In our next post, our Raleigh Laundromat will go over which detergent we feel works best, no matter what your laundry situation is.

If you’re having a hard time keeping up with all the extra laundry this summer, be sure to take advantage of Laundry Express! We offer coin laundry in Raleigh NC, as well as a wash dry fold service and more! Contact us for more information!

June 23, 2014
by Laundry Expert
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Is Powder Detergent Better Than Liquid?

Raleigh Laundromat: Powder or Liquid?

Most average Americans do about two and a half loads of laundry per week. If there happens to be more than one person living in the household, that doubles, triples, and so on. That is a great deal of laundry that must be done!

Believe it or not, most households use about 22% of their total water usage on laundry alone. Even more, using the wrong type of laundry detergent could cause you to waste water unnecessarily. Diluted liquids or extra rinse cycles to remove powder residue from clothes are just a few things that can cause you to use more water.

Today, our Raleigh Laundromat is going to take some time to go over the ins and outs of powder laundry detergent so that you can make the best decision for your home, and save as much water as possible!

Raleigh Laundromat | Powder Detergent

Pros: Ingredients like bleaching agents and surfactants (the actual cleaning substance) are more constant in powders than liquids. Therefore, they have a longer shelf life than liquids, as well. You can buy powders in bulk—and cut down on excess packaging and money when they’re on sale. There’s no worry that the detergent will become less potent over time. Cons: Use too much, and you’re left with cakey white powder all over your clothes. This usually requires extra rinse cycles, and of course, more water. Warm water can help dissolve the powder better, but it also uses more energy to wash with warm, rather than cold water.

Laundry is a tricky thing that takes time and effort to perfect. This is especially true when you’re not sure what type of detergent to use. In our next post, our Raleigh Laundromat will go over the pros and cons of liquid laundry detergent and finally in our third post we’ll offer suggestions that we feel work best, no matter what your laundry situation is.

If you’re having a hard time keeping up with all the extra laundry this summer be sure to take advantage of Laundry Express! We offer coin laundry in Raleigh, as well as a wash dry fold service and more! Contact us for more information!

June 10, 2014
by Laundry Expert
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Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Wash Dry Fold Raleigh NC: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Are you interested in being as eco-friendly as possible at home? If so, you might want to think about making your own laundry detergent. Yes, it’s actually possible to make your own laundry detergent using household ingredients you probably already have!

Below, you’ll find a step-by-step, DIY laundry detergent recipe that works great for fighting stains, brightening whites, and overall laundry washing.

Wash Dry Fold Raleigh NC | Ingredients:

4 Cups – tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup – Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
5 gallon bucket
Extra water

Instructions:

Grate the bar of soap and add to a saucepan on the stove, with the 4 cups of water.
Stir mixture continually, over medium-low heat, until the soap dissolves completely.
Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water.
Add melted soap and water mixture while it’s still hot, then add washing soda and Borax.
Stir well until all of the powder is dissolved completely.
Fill the bucket to top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover and let the entire mixture sit in the bucket overnight. The mixture will thicken.
Stir well, then fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap.
Fill the rest of way with water. Shake well before each use. The mixture will thicken each time it sits for a long period of time.

This homemade laundry detergent will make 10 gallons. The end product is concentrated so it must be mixed with water before putting it in your washer. You can also add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons once the soap has cooled.

Usage:

Top Load – 5/8 cups per load
Front Load – ¼ cup per load

Wash Dry Fold Raleigh NC | Homemade Laundry Detergent

Laundry Express loves sharing laundry tips and how-tos with you! In addition to our laundry tips, we also offer extensive laundry services for all your needs. Our wash dry fold in Raleigh NC will launder your sheets, comforters, pet linens, and more! For a further look at all the services we offer, visit our services page.

June 5, 2014
by Laundry Expert
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Line-Drying Tips!

Welcome back! Our wash dry fold in Raleigh NC is back with tips on how to line-dry your summer laundry outdoors! Instead of spending all your time cooped up in the house this summer, try hanging your clothes out to dry!

Once you have a line, you’ll need some clothespins to hold your wash on it. Buy the sturdiest ones you can find—in my experience, the cheap ones lose their grip in even the lightest breeze and fall apart easily. Keep your pins in a portable bag or other container that you can hang on the line while pinning up your laundry.

Wash Dry Fold Raleigh NC | Line Drying Tips!

Store the bag inside when not in service; if your pins are left outside, they will get dirty and may stain your wash. Also, they won’t last as long. You can make a very serviceable clothespin container out of a stiff plastic milk or water jug: Cut off the bottom of the handle to make a hanging hook and cut away some of the jug’s top for easy access to your clothespins inside.

If you want to speed up the drying process, you can run your laundry through an extra spin cycle in your washer. Once your laundry’s been spun, grab your clothespins and tote your wash out to the line. Give each item a good snap to minimize wrinkles and attach it firmly to the line with the pins. Try to gently stretch collars, the strips down the front of buttoned shirts, and seams that are prone to shrinking, pulling them to their normal lengths, before hanging them. Be careful not to overstretch.

Fold the top edge of each item of clothing over the clothesline and clip the fold to the line. Clothing dries fastest if it’s hung in a single layer, with nothing folded in half over itself. If space is limited, you can scrunch things closer together; it will just all take a little longer to dry. Hang small, thin items like dress socks together in pairs to save on pins and space and overlap the corners of larger items so one pin can hold both. On windy days, use extra clips to make sure everything’s especially secure.

For more line-drying tips, be sure to visit back with our wash dry fold in Raleigh NC, soon!

June 1, 2014
by Laundry Expert
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Line-Dry Your Summer Laundry!

Fluff and Fold Raleigh NC: Line-Drying Tips!

Summer is the perfect time to pick up the habit of line-drying your clothing for an Eco-friendly, rustic way to get clothing fresh and dried without the power of a traditional dryer.

Hanging your laundry out to dry instead of firing up your dryer reduces your electric or gas bill, lowers carbon emissions, helps your clothing and linens last longer by eliminating some wear and tear on the fabric (saving you even more money), is a great excuse to get outside, and gives your fabrics that natural, fresh outdoor smell (no need to use chemical fragrances that attempt to mimic it.) Even if you don’t hang every wash load, each time you do, you save yourself money and help protect the environment.

Fluff and Fold Raleigh NC | Line-Dry Your Laundry!

There are all sorts of drying line setups, but all you really need is a length of clean, strong rope that you can tie between two trees or poles. Having a tightening mechanism of some sort is a good idea, as every type of line may stretch over time. You can buy tighteners at a hardware or home improvement store; they attach to the line and make it easy to take up any slack without having to untie and retie the rope.

Be sure you hang your line high enough so that your heavy, washed items won’t brush the ground. Pick a site where no one will run into the drying laundry and also consider how far you will need to carry your laundry. Avoid putting your line under trees that drip sap or where birds tend to perch. If you are short on space, you can buy a retractable clothesline, which attaches to a wall and lets you extend the line when needed, or an umbrella-style clothesline, which is like a patio umbrella but has clotheslines in place of umbrella fabric.

For clothes-line drying tips for your summer laundry, visit back with us on our next post! Our Fluff and Fold in Raleigh NC will offer a few ways to cut costs on your power bill and get your clothes smelling fresh with help from the summer heat!