The laundromat card
Free. Lives on your phone. Works off the symbol on the tag and whatever words are on the panel in front of you. Nothing to print, nothing to stick.
Save or print opens your phone's own print window; choose Save as PDF to keep it. To keep this page one tap away: iPhone, Share, then Add to Home Screen; Android, the three-dot menu, then Add to Home screen. Own a laundromat or a laundry room? Spanish and English on one card, your name and a scan code per machine are on the laundry-rooms licence page.
LAUNDROMAT
Any panel, any visit
- Step 1: Read the tag. Find the tub symbol.A number in the tub is the hottest water allowed. A hand means hand wash.
- Step 2: Pick the water: Cold unless the tag allows warm and it is towels or sheets.Only one knob? Leave it; most single-knob machines are cold-normal.
- Step 3: Pick the cycle: Normal for most things, Delicate if the tag shows a bar under the tub.Perm Press is a gentler Normal.
- Step 4: Soap: one pod, liquid to the first line, or one scoop of the vending powder.Laundromat machines are big; do not double it.
- Step 5: Dryer: Low for most, Medium for towels; 35 to 45 minutes.A square with a circle and a dot: dryer OK. A crossed-out square: hang it.
NEVER IN THE DRYER
- Never: Anything still stained
- Never: Wool
- Never: Anything with a crossed-out square
Did it work? Still damp? Ten more minutes on the same heat, never High.
Our house · any machinecaretaglab.com
The symbols, decoded
Tub with 30 or 40Cold or warm wash. Higher number, hotter water allowed.
Tub with a handHand wash, or the Delicate cycle in a mesh bag.
Tub with one barGentle: Delicate or Perm Press.
Square with a circleTumble dry OK. One dot low, two dots medium.
Crossed-out squareDo not tumble dry. Hang it.
Triangle crossed outNo bleach.
Shrank it anyway?
Wool or cotton that shrank in the dryer: soak 20 minutes in lukewarm water with a spoon of hair conditioner, gently stretch to shape, lay flat to dry. It will not come all the way back, but most of it will.