It happened this past weekend: I was putting a load of colors into the washer when I noticed that sweater. It’d been sitting beside the hamper for the last three weeks at least, not being a candidate for home washing, but most obnoxiously requiring dry cleaning.

But what a chore is that? And all that trouble for one sweater?

(I think I must have been conducting some kind of experiment with myself to see how long I’d hold out before I decided, “To hell with it,” and threw it in the machine like the rest of clothes-peasants.)

Image credit: Photography by Lena C. Emery, Fashion editor/ styling by Agata Belcen for The Gentlewoman

That was that.

I hurled open my computer, mind made up to throw the sweater into the wash before I’d even finished typing “Can you machine wash…” into google. I’ve become a rebellious misbeliever of laundry care tags in my old age it seems, or maybe that’s just my issue with authority figures in general.

I figured if it couldn’t integrate into my Simplified life, then I was probably better off without it.

In the midst of researching the advice I hardly cared to know that I became aware of a crucial detail in the world of clothing care tags, which I had previously been wholly unaware of.

(You all are brilliant, and so you likely already know this. But for me, it was a small revelation.)

There it was, straight from the fingers of Martha: there’s a difference between “DRY CLEAN” and “DRY CLEAN ONLY.” There is? You mean that’s not a grammatical, stylistic choice, but an actually important detail??

Image credit: via Package Stash

You mean to tell me “dry clean” is merely a suggestion, a route one might choose among many, including, say, throwing it into the washer without feeling guilty, lazy or careless?

Yup.

“If a garment can be washed or dry cleaned, manufacturers need only list one method. To prevent mishaps, they’ll usually print “Dry Clean.” These items can typically be hand washed. “Dry Clean Only,” however, means exactly that.” So says Martha.

I grabbed for the sweater.

I held my breath.

I unfurled the crumpled tag.

There they were, the two magic words that every clothes-wearer dreams of one day reading: Dry Clean.

I slammed the lid of my laptop down and pitched that sweater into the washer faster than you can say “Why is laundry detergent so expensive?”

And when it came out on the other side, it looked like it had just returned from the dry cleaners.

The moral of this story is: if excursions to the dry cleaners are your idea of mild torture, you might want to give your care tags another peek.

Image credit: unknown

(P.S. Note: not all garments that can be cleaned by methods other than the dry cleaners can be put in the washing machine, technically. Many things still require persnickety hand washing. Also, plenty of people maintain that you can hand and even machine wash garments that dictate “dry clean only,” including wool and cashmere, for the record.)

(P.P.S. Don’t anybody leave any comments about the time they tried to wash something at home and it shrunk and blah blah blah. Today is about laundry victory and learning through experience, people!)

(P.P.P.S. Did everybody else already know this?? And if so, why have you left me in the dark for all these years??)