Do you read the tags on your clothes to see how you’re supposed to wash them?

I do the first time I wash something. It’s more out of curiosity than out of necessity. I predict some clothing manufacturers are extra-careful with their care instructions so we don’t prematurely destroy our clothes.

My lack of attention to tag directions has lead to some laundry disasters. I had a white blouse that for some reason I washed with a burgundy curtain. My blouse came out a lovely peach color. Then there was the time a sweater of mine came out of the dryer small enough to fit my son’s teddy bear. That was the handiwork of my husband.

My favorite direction to ignore is “lay flat to dry”. I don’t put the clothes in the dryer. But I don’t lay them flat either. I just don’t have the space to perform such a task. I hang the wet shirt on a hanger, just like any other piece of clothing. It dries just fine, but the shirt gets those little bumps on the shoulders. A friend of mine likes to call those “hanger nipples”, probably because you see them mostly when it’s cold out from people wearing sweaters they were supposed to “lay flat to dry”.

I also ignore the “hand wash cold” instructions, as shown in my comic at right. I don’t believe I’ve hand washed a single piece of clothing ever. I’m a wife, mom of two young boys, and an elementary school teacher. If I’m wearing something delicate enough to require laundering by hand, it will probably be destroyed in my day-to-day activities anyway. So I put it in the washer as a test to see if it really is tough enough to be included in my wardrobe. Or maybe I’m just too lazy to hand wash it.

Whatever. It’s going in the washer either way. So there.