Most people have had the experience of removing their laundry from the washer or dryer to see red clothes that were formerly white or a sweater that looks two sizes smaller. This happens when you don't sort the laundry and just throw everything in together. For the best results, you need to separate your clothes according to color, fabric type, washing instructions, and weight. It may sound complicated, but it's quite simple after you do it a time or two. It helps to have separate laundry baskets or hampers for sorting purposes.
Criteria for Sorting Laundry
Ignoring the labels on your clothes could result in ruining them beyond repair. Start the sorting process by placing anything labeled hand wash, dry clean only, or wash separately into their own pile. Next, separate any clothes that don't fall into these categories by color. One pile should contain light colors such as white, white prints, pastels, and light grays. The other should have darker colors, including black, brown, navy, dark navy, red, and gray.
Now it's time to separate your laundry piles by type, such as towels, beddings, undergarments, or clothes. For dark colors, be sure to separate jeans and t-shirts from more lightweight items like dress shirts and blouses. You should keep dark blankets and towels apart from clothes since they produce a lot of lint that can show up on the things you wear.
Heavily Soiled Clothes
Ground-in oil, dirt, blood, or grease can be challenging to remove. You don't want to put clothes with these stains in with other clothes since they could stain them as well. Washing a few heavily soiled items together ensures a better outcome, including preventing the transfer of smells to other clothes.