How to Separate Your Laundry

Ever curious what load to put a black and white shirt in? Or that the tag says delicate cycle but does it really mean that? Read on and you will learn the basics of separating laundry so you will never have a load full of pink clothes again because of a sock!

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Laundry Machine
• Dirty Clothes
• A space to sort, like a floor or a table

1. Put all your clothes in one big pile
2. First take all of your white clothes to one side. This include striped things as long as the stripes are a light or pastel color, if they are bright keep them in the main pile. You will wash these in warm water and can add bleach if all of the clothes are completely white.
3. Then take your darks to another side. This includes jeans, sweats, and all other clothes that do not need to be washed with care. This pile will be washed in cold water.
4. Then take your brights. This would be yellows, greens, oranges, bright blues, etc. These should be washed on their own the first couple times to avoid bleeding. If your reds have been washed a few times they can be put in this load, but do so with care. Wash this in cold water.
5. Next take your reds and bright pinks and make this another load. Wash this in cold water.
6. What is left should be your delicates. These can be put all in one load unless a color is at risk for bleeding. Wash them on the delicate cycle in cold water.

Tips & Warnings

• When in doubt about an article of clothing, put it in the brights or darks in cold water.
• If you have expensive jeans they stay looking new longer if they are washed rarely, and you can keep them from getting worn by hang drying them for the majority of the time, and only place them in the dryer for the last 10 minutes to keep them from being stiff.
• Watch out for clothes that have a colored graphic. If the graphic is a bright color that can easliy bleed on other clothes.