Are you tired of wrinkled clothes? There seem to be 101 ways to go wrong with laundry, including sorting, folding, load size, and settings. However, taking it step by step without cutting corners can improve the efficiency of your laundry appliances, and you’ll have perfectly smooth and clean garments to show for the effort.

While much of the attention focuses on ensuring fabrics don’t shrink, snag, or fade in the laundry, a few common laundry mistakes can also cause damage to your garments in the form of wrinkles that even the most qualified irons have a tough go at pressing out. If you’ve noticed more creases, lines, and untidy-looking laundry, help is on the way. We’re delving into laundry mistakes that could be making your clothes wrinkly.

1. Using a Dirty Washing Machine

Taking care of your washing machine extends its life and can help save your clothes. Without proper care, the drum can accumulate detergent residue, dirt, and mold, which can interfere with the machine’s functionality. This creates pockets of friction that cause garments to bunch or twist, resulting in wrinkles that wouldn’t be there otherwise.

To avoid this scenario, stay on top of your washing machine cleaning schedule. Whether you have a front-loading or top-loading machine, be prepared to give it a deep clean every month for the best results for your laundry and the health of the appliance. 

2. Not Using the Right Products

Of all the wrinkle-reducing tactics you can use for your next laundry load, adding a capful of fabric softener might be the easiest one yet. While not all fabrics are ideal for the formula’s conditioning benefits, fabric softener, when used appropriately, works to relax fibers and thus decrease wrinkles. It can also decrease wrinkle-causing static and make your clothes easier to iron should you need to take that step. Just remember not to overdo it. Follow the product’s instructions for how much to use with each load to ensure your clothes stay in top shape.

3. Overloading Your Washer

When you overload the washing machine or dryer, you don’t give your clothes enough room to freely move around, causing a greater opportunity for garments to wad up and wrinkle during the wash or dry cycles. The tight quarters can also reduce the efficiency of the wash cycle as clothes aren’t able to move around as they should in order to properly disperse water and cleaning agents. And we’d be remiss not to mention that overloading your appliance is bad for your machine’s health in general as it can loosen the bearings and cause undue stress to the mechanics.

4. Not Sorting Items Properly

Sorting your laundry properly isn’t only about colors—it’s also about fabric. Grouping delicate fabrics with heavy items or friction-causing fibers like those of towels can increase wrinkles. Pairing these items together can also mean sacrificing one laundry setting for the benefit of the other, as they often have different garment care requirements. All of which can affect the materials, leading to wrinkles, damage, and more. For best results, sort laundry according to material type (towels in one load, delicates in another, paying attention to care instructions) and color.

5. Putting Clothes in Your Dryer That Are Too Wet

If you overload your washing machine or the spin cycle doesn’t function properly, you might be tempted to dump sopping wet clothes in the dryer and let the dryer do the dirty work. Unfortunately, this plan can mean a wrinkly mess by the time those garments are finally clean. The reason for this will be evident almost immediately upon starting the dry cycle. You’ll see the clothes bunch up due to their increased weight. This causes them to dry unevenly and wrinkle and crease throughout the process. To avoid this scenario, run another spin cycle before adding your load to the dryer if you feel it is too wet.

6. Letting Your Clothes Sit

Whether you’re hang-drying your clothes, adding them to the dryer, or pulling them from the dryer to fold, quick action is key. Letting your clothes sit after the cycle is complete (whether washing or drying) can result in wrinkles, even if you managed to do everything else to perfection. Don’t neglect this last task, as it can be the final step in assuring your smoothest garments—oftentimes with no ironing required.