Everyone has been there, you’re at a dinner party and someone spills red wine on your tablecloth, your clothes are covered in dirt after a day in the garden or your kids come home from soccer practice covered in grass stains. Don’t let these laundry stains ruin your favorite clothes by following this helpful laundry stain removal guide to keep your clothes and other fabrics fresh and clean. Pro Tip: For all stains make sure the stain is removed from the affected area before running the clothing through the dryer to avoid setting the stain. Blood Stains: It’s best to treat blood stains right away but all is not lost if you not able to treat until the blood has dried. If the blood stain is fresh soak the clothes in cold water for at least 30 minutes. After the soak apply hydrogen peroxide to the affected area and wash with hot water. If the blood has dried take an old toothbrush and brush off the excess blood, then soak the clothing in a mix of cool water and detergent for at least 30 minutes but you can let it soak overnight if you want. After the soak pretreat the…

Although doing laundry is a necessity it can be harmful on the environment emitting toxic chemicals from fabric softeners and dryer sheets, not to mention a time consuming task the majority of people don’t look forward to doing. Regardless of the laundry machine in your home or apartment you can follow a handful of steps to helping create a green laundry room. Only wash full loads: Not only will this help reduce the amount of laundry you’ll have to do on a weekly basis but it also saves water, energy usage and money. The recommended load size for most top load washing machines is 3/4 of the drum. Use cold water: Although some specific fabrics need to be washed with warm or hot water the vast majority of clothes can be washed using cold water. Nearly 90 percent of energy used during the laundry process is due to heating water, according to Energy Star. Keep the water cold and enjoy fresh, clean clothes and big money savings. Use dryer balls: What are dryer balls, you ask? Basically they are balls of wool that separate clothes allowing hot air to circulate more freely and evenly. This helps shorten dryer time and…

Using advanced monitoring tools OPL managers have a better understanding of the actual cost associated with an in-house laundry operation and help reduce water consumption and energy usage all while increasing production. New technology tools can be found on all commercial laundry machines from manufacturers like Electrolux, Wascomat, Primus, UniMac, Maytag and Speed Queen and include: Advanced controls and programmed cycles Bluetooth connectivity Environmentally friendly controls Real-time monitoring Real-Time Monitoring Tools OPL managers can receive daily, weekly, monthly and real-time usage reports on individual machines or the entire laundry room to analyze machines or identify bottlenecks. Reported metrics include: Types of cycles used Cycle times Number of fills Average water temperature Idle time These insights help OPL managers measure overall cost per pound of laundry to set production standards per shift by analyzing the amount of loads processed. Plus, knowing if employees are using the correct cycles for each machine help identify areas to reduce water consumption and energy usage – this is also extremely helpful if your specific industry or linens wash have unique wash/dry requirements. Diving deeper into these metrics and OPL managers can identify bottlenecks in the laundry operations by seeing if linens are sitting for extended…