Separating Clothes for Washing
Laundry involves several steps and for some people the most important one is the sorting of dirty clothes. There are a wide variety of ways to separate laundry. There is even the option of not sorting at all--just dump all the clothes into the washer and hope for the best. But if you want clean and fresh clothes there are some general suggestions to follow. Separating clothes for laundry is the best way to get clean clothes, to protect the colors of your clothes and to keep your clothes in good condition for longer. Everyone is different, so you have to create a system of sorting laundry that works best for your lifestyle. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Read the care instruction on the label of your clothes. This is the best way to know how to sort your laundry. Some items need cold water, others need to be washed separately or dry-cleaned. Following the care instruction will keep your garments looking almost new.
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Put all the whites together. One thing many people do is separate the white clothes from the colored clothes. The main reason for this is that colored clothes have a tendency to bleed or run, which can permanently stain the white clothes. If you want to use chlorine bleach to really get the clothes bright, you also need to separate the whites for the colors because bleach will fade colored clothes.
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Create a pile just for lights. These clothes are light in color and have patterns with a white background. It is recommended that people wash clothes of similar color together.
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Put all the bright colors together. Some people wash bright colors clothes with the dark clothes, while others have three separate groups--whites, brights and darks. Bright colored clothes are the yellows, reds, greens, cobalt blues and pinks that might bleed in the wash. To reduce the chances of this, use cold water for the wash cycle. You can also test a garment by soaking it in cold water in your bathroom sink or a bucket. If the water turns to the color of the garment it should be washed alone or with similar colors.
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Put the dark colors together. Some people feel that washing all dark clothes together is the best way to keep white or light-colored clothes from getting dingy. There are now detergents especially formulated to wash only dark colors.
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Make a pile of all the delicate clothes. Delicate fabrics are silks, satins, wools and similar fabrics. Other delicates include sweaters that can shrink in the wash. It is probably best to wash these clothes by hand or to have them dry-cleaned. Another option is to place these delicates in small laundry bags which are then put in the washer. The layer of the bag provides a degree of protection for the delicate garment.
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