How to Sort Laundry for Washing

One of the basic skills everyone needs, is the knowledge of how to sort laundry for washing. Even those of us who do multiple loads of laundry in a week, know the frustration of pulling our favorite white shirt from the washing machine and finding it has turned pink or blue.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Several laundry baskets, tubs or bags

1. Separate delicate clothing that needs to be handwashed from the clothing that can be washed in the machine. Put these items into a basket or tub and set aside.

2. Begin by sorting out all of the white clothes from those that are colored. Whites should always be washed by themselves to prevent the pink sock syndrome.

3. Sort bright colors next. Rich, vibrant brights should then be separated from pastels.

4. Go through the remaining basket of dark colored clothing to make sure that you haven’t missed anything that should be in a different pile.

Tips & Warnings

• Wash new clothes separately by color to set the dye and prevent bleeding.
• Don’t use regular bleach on colored laundry. This can leave you with faded or white blotched items. For heavy soil, always use color safe bleach.
• Read the care tags on laundry items before washing for the first time. These tags will tell you what type of detergent to use, water temperature and dryer instructions.
• It helps to have various clothes hampers available in different areas of the house for family members. Teach children young the importance of sorting clothes for the wash.
• If your washing machine has a delicate cycle, most items in the hand wash basket can be cleaned in the washer. Be sure to sort by color before doing this.