STORING CLOTHES

Photo: Sometimes the clothes just have to be thrown into the washing machine.

Before we delve into the world of cleanliness and hygiene I wanted to tell you about another form of tiding, I suppose it could be called “Cleaning the Green”. We thought we would walk up the road and collect the rubbish that seems to accumulate around the bottom of the hedgerows on either side of the road near the Clean and Green-testing centre.


Our carrier bag full soon turned into a dustbin liner bag full. We are at least two kilometres from the town but we managed to collect loads of packaging from fast food takeaways, presumably thrown out of cars as they pass by. Empty packets of crisps, pop bottles, both plastic and glass, and the cans of pop that are always present. At one time we used to think that these big soft drink companies used to pay people to throw the cans in hedgerows as a form of subliminal advertising. This isn’t the case though. People don’t need paying; they distribute the cans around the countryside for free. There maybe up to 13 spoons full of sugar in the contents of the can, some contain quite large quantities of caffeine too, this gives people the energy to throw the cans in every hedgerow and drainage channel in the country. It’s not much to complain about in the grand scale of things, but maybe if people channelled this hyperactivity into picking up rubbish instead of dropping it, we would all feel the benefit, we could get them scraping up chewing gum too. We would certainly get a few more points for the tidy towns competition next year!

STORING CLOTHES.

This brings us nicely to this week’s topic, from tidy towns to tidy gowns. Or the art of looking after your clothes.


If clothes are stored well after wearing it may reduce the need for washing or dry cleaning, both of which can use chemicals, which are bad for the environment.


(Of course if you venture to the pub and have cigarette smoke get into the material of your clothing, there’s not much you can do but throw it in a washer.)

Here are a few ideas to help cut down on damage to clothing whist in storage:

- Air suits outside or in an unoccupied room after wearing. Put them on well padded hangers, this will stop the shoulders from stretching, making it look like you’ve still got the hanger down the back of the jacket when you are wearing it.


- Make sure cotton is properly dry after washing to prevent mildew in storage. A spell in the hot press works wonders.


- Wrap white cottons and linens in blue tissue to stop yellowing and store away from strong light.
- Rinse synthetic fabrics in cool water to prevent creases. Let pleated fabrics drip dry into shape before folding them for storage.


- Keep silk in a cool, dry and dark place- strong light will fade the colour.


- Never store suede and leather in plastic bags. Always store somewhere cool and well ventilated.


- Finally, don’t crowd clothing hung in the wardrobe-leave spaces between the hangers so the clothes can breath and stay free from creases.



Household.