Read the Label

Out of step again, I am.

In the old days when I bought clothes - which must have been years ago from the way things have changed - tags had washing instructions on them. Machine wash warm, tumble dry low, that sort of thing.

The last few new items I have purchased don't have those instructions. I hunted everywhere. I peered through my progressive lenses until my eyes crossed, but I couldn't find the washing instructions.

Then tonight - moments ago, really, when I came home with some new clothes and once again couldn't find washing instructions - I realized that the labels had funky little symbols on them. Aha!

But I had no clue what the symbols meant.

Thank heavens for the Internet. I found this site here that offers a guide to common household laundering and dry cleaning symbols. It is three pages long! How am I supposed to know all of this?

Now I know why some of my clothes weren't doing as well as I'd expected. I have been washing them wrong. Because I didn't know what the instructions were! I had no idea that line of triangles and squiggly lines actually meant something.

So how long has this been going on, anyway, and where have I been?