- Items that are white or light-colored should be sorted into their own pile. Keeping whites separate from the rest of the bunch is a good practice because this ensures darker colors will not bleed and turn a white shirt grey or pink. It also allows you to enhance the whites with a dash of bleach if desired, without worrying about bleaching out colorful clothing. Shirts, undergarments and socks are some of the most common whites, but you can place some whites, such as undergarments, towels or socks, in another category better suited for the material, not the color.
- Any item that should not be placed in the dryer needs to be washed on a gentle cycle or should not be machine-washed at all. However, if you're going to put them in the machine anyway, place them in the delicates pile. These include pantyhose, swimsuits, most dresses, ornate shirts, leggings or other items with a lot of stretchy or thin materials. Delicates need to be handled with care, which usually means a delicate cycle and even a milder detergent than the other loads receive. Sort through the delicates once the load is washed to retrieve anything that should be drying on a rack and not in a dryer.
- Big, bulky and incredibly dirty items should also get their own loads. These include throw rugs, socks, maintenance work uniforms and towels, which like to give off a lot of lint and wreck the rest of your load. Before sorting anything into the bulky or filthy pile, make sure you don't mind if it were to get dingy or knocked around from the other items that are also in that load. These items often need a heavy-duty wash cycle and a stronger dose of detergent than a regular load. They might also need to be pared down for drying as not all may fit in the dryer at once. If something is incredibly filthy, like clothes soaked with mud and paint, or bulky, like an outdoor picnic blanket, wash those items on their own.
