3 Mistakes You're Probably Making in Your Laundry Loads

In theory, laundry should be one of the easiest household chores—after you’ve decoded all those laundry care symbols on the labels, of course. Then it’s just sort, wash with your detergent of choice, and dry accordingly.

But in practice, things can easily go wrong—and sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what even happened.

Since the best way to avoid making a mistake is to know the risks and plan accordingly, we turned to an expert to ask: what are the biggest laundry mistakes people make when it comes to washing, drying, and sorting their loads?

Here’s what we learned, as well as advice on how to fix them.

The Spruce Home / Dera Burreson

According to Jonathon Reckles, vice president of marketing for CD One Price Cleaners, one major mistake his team sees is using certain household cleaners as stain removers. Yes, sadly, this includes both club soda and everyone’s favorite: white vinegar.

“Club soda does not help fight stains,” Reckles says. “In fact, the sugar in the club soda will do more harm than good. It may cause color loss on the fabric during the cleaning process due to oxidation.”

This is also true of white vinegar, which Reckles says can also pull color and, even worse, eat away at certain fabrics. 

While Reckles says to skip the white vinegar and club soda, there are other secret laundry weapons in your arsenal that you might be overlooking: WD-40 and cream of tartar.

WD-40 works wonders to break down grease stains by getting deep into the fabric to loosen the oil molecules, he explains. 

Cream of tartar is also great for stain removal, but for white fabrics only. When combined with acid such as lemon juice, the cream of tartar will lower the PH of the liquid, and simultaneously turn into a