4. DRY

Gone are those romantic days when people would hang their freshly washed garments and linens on clotheslines to blow in the cool wind and be dried by the warm rays of the sun. If you don't have the patience, the space, or the environmental kindness to hang your clothes to dry, you're gonna need to learn how to use a dryer. We promise, it's not that hard. Here are our tips:

  1. Before drying, you must prepare the dryer. For optimum performance, clean the lint filter of your dryer before beginning your load. On a standard dryer, lint filters are found at the base of the door to the dryer. Just take the screen out, remove all the disgusting fuzz from it, and place the screen back in its place.

  2. As mentioned before, you may want to add fabric softener dryer sheets to your load before beginning the cycle.

  3. As you unload your clothes from the washer to the dryer, shake them out a bit to release any excess water and wrinkles.

  4. Inspect any stains that you attempted to remove before washing. The heat from the dryer will only set stains further so you may want to put a little elbow grease into removing the stain again.

  5. Don't overload the dryer. By shoving in all your clothes at once, the dryer process is greatly hindered and will require more money and time if you have filled the machine beyond capacity.

  6. Similar to the washing machine, a drying cycle depends upon the type of dryer you are using. Most cycles require 30 to 40 minutes for complete drying, although the effectiveness of your dryer largely determines the amount of time you'll need. You may want to set the dryer for 40 minutes and check how dry the garments are after 30 minutes of the cycle (heavier articles such as towels and jeans take longer).

  7. If you leave your clothes in the dryer for too long, they will shrink. So check the labels on your garments for drying instructions. Your clothes will also shrink if you put a relatively new item made of cotton in the dryer on a high setting.

  8. If you have any of those new "wrinkle-free" clothes, they need special drying care to maintain their wrinkle-free-ness. Remove them from the dryer while they are still damp (about 15 minutes before everything else is ready to come out) and put them on a hanger to dry.

  9. Often, it is best to hang delicates out to dry to avoid ruining the garment with the harsh heat of a dryer.