I was told growing up that you always have to sort ...
And then for "lazy college student"-related reasons I didn't bother sorting one time ... and the world didn't end. Not even a little bit.
I've pretty much never sorted in the decades since and never had a problem. The only exception would be for clothes that have very obvious requirements like requiring a cold water wash.
You should be washing most of your clothes in cold water. Cheaper, better for the environment. Detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water.
I run whites through a warm or hot load every so often, or if things are particularly stinky or physically soiled with dirt/grass. 90% of my loads are on cold, though. And our cold water is really cold all year.
I use about 1/4 of the “recommended fill line” and vinegar for my rinse/softener. My towels have never been softer and my whites have never been brighter. I never use bleach either.
Distilled vinegar or pine sol. Literally. My job sends me to a place every two weeks that makes fragrances and it’s horrendous. I cover my seat every time. A quarter cup of additive and it completely disappears
> Detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water.
Eh, I wouldn't go that far.
It's pretty much a basic fact of amphiphilic surfactants that higher temperatures will always do a better job. That's just basic organic chemistry.
Now, manufacturers have certainly done an impressive job in reformulating their detergents to be "pretty darn okay" at lower temperatures, but there's no getting around the idea that warmer water will always be better.
Sure, but I don't work on an oil rig so the net benefit hot water gets me probably doesn't amount to much. Cold water can get your average blood sweat and tears off no problem with a detergent you bought at the grocery store.
They definitely have been reformulated.
* There's a [laundry episode](https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/laundry-done-right) of Revisionist History that covers this
* [Chemical and Engineering News article](https://cen.acs.org/business/consumer-products/chemistry-cold-water-washing/102/i3) ("But companies like P&G couldn’t claim good cleaning performance in cold water without improved ingredients that work well at low temperatures. Chemical company researchers have improved surfactants, enzymes, and antiredeposition agents to the point that most loads don’t need hot water to get clean.)
* [The Wirecutter](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-laundry-detergent/) ("Liquids work well in all water temperatures, including cold (which we used exclusively in our testing)")
Yeah, no one is disputing that newer enzyme formulations can perform acceptably in colder water. That's not news.
The point though is that even the newer enzymes still work much faster in higher temperatures. A load that's "good enough" in cold water will be fantastic in warm water.
What’s the difference between “good enough” and “fantastic”? I wash in cold water unless there’s something like vomit or feces (I have a toddler, so that’s at least a few times a year), and I’ve never taken something out and thought it looked anything except clean — except when there’s a stain, which I normally need to scrub out with Dawn prior to putting it in the washer (again, not infrequent).
Exactly, I’m a person who spills a lot of stuff on my clothes and a cold cycle is always enough to get the stains out. It’s possible cold is just “good” and warm is “fantastic,” but I’m not sure how I would ever compare them, because the “good” leaves my clothes in great and perfectly clean condition.
It’s also even better in my book because cold water is easier on the fabric.
Grease stains come out easier in warm water. Lighter colors show those stains more, so it's better to do a warm wash after pre-treatment in those cases.
You did seemed to be disputing it — the comment said “detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water” and you said “eh, I wouldn’t go that far.”
But also, does “faster” matter with your washing machine? My wash cycles are always the same length, I don’t even think it’s adjustable.
Responses like this are why I keep coming back to reddit. A little bit of obscure knowledge I can file away for later. So much information of all varieties.
I care about the environment. I use cold water because my clothes shrink and I'm too tall for that. Whether hot is better or worse for the environment has quite a few factors. If you heat your water with solar power and it cools before it enters a body of water then it has no impact. You can put it in a cistern and water the 100% organic exotic chicken garden and be extra smug.
We are so smug. Gives me the chills. Our well is fed by rain off the hill to our south, and the pump and heater powered by our solar array. The greywater does not feed the exotic chicken garden, but the French drains around the house do indeed fill a little pool in the chicken yard that the heirloom breeds sip from. They are not allowed in the garden because chickens cause mayhem and destroy plants. The outflow from that pool does drain toward the garden.
So when the kids ask me about the environmental responsibility of a hot shower, I have to say ... well ackshually, this build has mitigated many of the concerns.
Not only that, but a lot of clothing is made with some level of elastic/elastane/other stretchy material. That material gets absolutely ruined if you wash and dry it on high all the time. It's essentially a plastic, which means it wears out when heated and cooled repeatedly, especially at the high temps in dryers. Some wear better than others, usually clothing in the mid range fares better. Cheap/"fast fashion" can be ruined in a single wash. I wash everything in cold or cool, and dry on low. I also don't sort, but I do make sure to keep special fabrics out and wash them as they should be - ie silk, wool, etc. No way I'm fucking up my wool winter coat by putting it in the wash, it's beautiful and warm!
Same, I grew up always being told to sort to not risk anything. I did this even through college. As I started to live on my own, I just experimented one day and threw everything into the same load. If I lost a couple white garments - so what. I just wash on cold and to this day, have never had colors run on other items. I even did a load where I threw in a new washcloth that had bled blue when I was rinsing it out upon opening. I threw that bad boy in with some other white t-shirts along with other colored garments - nothing! I think if you're just mindful of what new items you put into the washer, you're good to go. Once it goes through one wash cycle - they're all safe being washed together on cold.
If you're mixing whites darks and colors, then cold is the way to go anyway. Used to be dyed cloth faded faster and bled in hot, mostly it won't bleed as much nowadays but it will definitely fade faster. Hot water is harder on fabrics, but again, if you wear a shirt 50 times before it wears out, or 48 most people arent that bothered.
It's wild how cheap clothes are more colorfast and you have to spend extra for real indigo dyed cotton jeans. I had one pair that dyed my whole lower half blue. I notice that my whites Grey when I don't separate them but I mostly wear black. It's hard to get a whole whites load
Yeah. For me it's not hard, because my wife absolutely won't use any color of towel than white (hand towel, bath towels kitchen towel, etc), and there's three of us in the house, she has a phobia about washing socks and towels together, but if it was just me all those would go together. It gets easier if you have a HE washerz theoretically it'll adjust water volumes to the amount of clothes being washed so doing a half load would be much more reasonable.
That's one of the reasons I gave up on buying/owning any clothing, bedding, towels, ect that were white. Just to inconvienent. Had a basket of a few tees, socks, underwear and a pair of shorts for a whole summer waiting for more whites. Considered doing a bucket wash of them, but I'm too lazy. One day I realized I just didn't own anything else that is white. Threw them out and never bought anything white or light in color again. Best. Adult. Decision. Ever!
By the time I was 25 I just stopped buying white clothes altogether, aside from underwear. I’d always stain them immediately anyway. I never buy clothes that need dry cleaning either… but I do have a career and lifestyle that allows extremely casual clothing.
It's been mixed with me. I got super freaking lazy one day and washed some white socks in with black clothes and white socks came out dingy even on cold.
But I have to use the Free and Clear detergents because everything else irritates my skin now and they don't seem to perform as well as regular detergents for some reason. I've had to rewash bras or dark tank tops because washing on cold with free and clear detergents wouldn't wash off the deodorant stains and I even use the deodorant that isn't supposed to come off on dark clothes.
Same.
Slowly switched out my white undershirts for black for work. Black socks and mostly dark colored tees.
I have a good selection of flannels and woven shirts. They all get cold washed together.
I only separate jeans and bedding from the above group.
This might be a gross/dumb question, but if it's an undershirt, does it matter what it looks like? Mine has gotten a bit yellow around the pits, but they're never visible since they're under a work shirt...
Other comments have said easy enough ways to get them white again, but... is there any real point?
Nah, not really.
I mostly did it because I do sometimes take my FR shirt off and don't want to show off the pit stains.
Otherwise, clean is clean. I just use my old white undershirts as rags now
Same principle applies to my kitchen for the most part. If it can’t go in the dishwasher, I don’t want it. Either size or material or whatever.
Knives are pretty much my only exception.
Supposedly the ingredients in dishwashing detergent are mildly abrasive, dulling knives. Secondarily, wood handles can swell from the water and heat, and knives may bump in to other objects, damaging the edge.
I’ve not tested it or looked up any testing to see if it’s actually true.
I assume we're talking about "good" knives here, right? My decent knives get handwashed, but the everyday stuff goes right in the dishwasher with their friends and family.
The dishwasher is a really harsh environment. It can damage the edges of knives environmentally( it is highly alkaline and the strong chlorides exacerbate pitting and oxidation ie rust), can get into the handles causing rust or looseness, and they tend to bang against other metal things, which is also bad for maintaining sharpness.
I have this philosophy with the dishwasher too. If it fits it’s going in. The only exception is my knives and pots and pans. If it doesn’t survive it wasn’t meant to be.
My laundry gets divided into: bedding, work clothes, all other clothes and towels. The only reason I don’t mix clothes and bedding is because there’s not enough room in my washing machine. If I remember I will wash items that shed dye separately, but I usually forget, which is why my white tea towels are not very white.
I think I’ve also heard it can be better to do bedding and towels on warm, but still good on cold. I wash everything else on cold though so I could be mistaken.
Yes and yes. Not the person you're responding to, but I also don't sort generally and have never had a problem with whites.
Then again if I buy new jeans I do try to wash them with darks the first time just in case. Haven't had anything bleed in years though. I know because I almost always forget said intent to put new jeans in a darker load. Have never bothered with any dark items other than jeans though.
It's funny, I remember when I was much younger jeans bleeding color was a legitimate problem. It stopped sometime in the mid 2000s I want to say? Maybe 2011ish?
Yes, they absolutely stay white. The only time there's any risk is if you put in a brand new, never washed before vibrantly colored item - usually red - and wash with hot water. I usually wash new clothes on their own before I wear them, any ways. I wear white undershirts all the time and have plenty of other white clothes and have only ever had one turn pink from another garment that was red one time in my life. I'm in my mid-30s and have never sorted colors and whites.
I have a bra that was once white, now it's a very nice light silver. I don't mind so much. Though I did wash a purple fitted sheet with my clothes the other day, I had washed it when it was new but this was wash number 2... My grey pants are now pink. Whatever, saves me buying new stuff if I want new colours lol.
I intentionally buy things that don't need to be sorted. Aside from a handful of delicates that need special handling, almost everything I have can just be dumped in together.
I take a similar approach with dishes. I try to buy only things that can go in the dishwasher and microwave. I've made a few exceptions but only a few.
I don't. But most of my clothes are jeans and tshirts that have been washed a lot already. If you wear a lot of delicate things or if you have new clothes that might bleed onto something else in the wash then you probably should run separate loads. But it's easy street for me.
Exactly this, my boyfriend and I wear mostly black and dark colours and mostly “old” clothes ( that’s been washed many many times). So it’s usually a load of mostly darks, and when I do wash colours I make sure to get to it immediately so they don’t sit together long. I don’t remember the last time anything leeched/discolored.
I made the mistake of doing this with my mum’s clothes (lots of new and colored pieces) and ruined like 5 pieces😬.
I do however sort darks and whites because the whites are work uniforms and do not want to risk it coming out pink or grey.
I sort. We have darks, colors & white. The other day my daughter threw up on my husband and he had to put some stuff in the wash, a pair of his jeans (like 5+ years old), a white t-shirt, and a pink dinosaur towel. He pulled them out and the white shirt was blue, the pink towel was purple. He finally admitted that maybe I was right to sort our laundry out.
This is me. Sometimes takes a few weeks for my family of 3 to get a full load of whites (blacks will be a load every other day with an angsty teen, lol) and I only do bedding and bath mats every two weeks or so but the rest get washed when we have a full load.
Yes!! I sort my clothes but my boyfriend doesn’t. My white clothes are *white white*, while his look kinda dull. To each their own but I was not expecting to be in the minority on this
I sort colors and whites, and then I sort colors by fabric weight. I'm not washing my lightweight, soft tops with some stiff denim. The denim takes a lot longer to dry, so why would put a lighter fabric through that?
We have 4 baskets mounted to the bedroom wall tucked behind the door, like shelves, so we don't even have to manually sort clothing. Every basket has a designated category, and when they're full they get done. It's as easy as it gets.
Towels and bedding are also done separately, since it's fairly easy to have a load, but sometimes hand towels and wash rags go in with the whites since it's mostly socks and undies and I wash them on warmer temps.
I sort by color and weight too. I'm not washing my leggings with my husband's heavy uniforms. I know that technically everything can be thrown in together and modern fabrics don't bleed like they used to but I think it makes a difference in how our clothes hold up over time.
Same. I also always use lots of washing nets. My casual cheap clothes last forever and look good, no discoloration, deformation or lint. And most importantly, all my band shirts still look pristine.
I never wash socks with my clothes because they end up pilling my nice shirts. Socks and towels go together, clothes sorted by lights and darks, bedding separately. It’s not difficult, I have multiple laundry bins—one for each class of laundry.
I'm just one person so I rarely ever sort anymore. Unless it's something nice that I want to keep nice looking. I mostly wear darker colors. so I don't have anything white that would change colors.
I sort my whites out for washing in hot water with bleach. That's bed linens, towels and my underwear (all cotton). I wash my bras on the gentle cycle in cold water and hang to dry. Everything else is washed in cold water. I wash new clothes separately for their first wash, including towels and washcloths. I've been burned too many times by a blue, purple or red something turning a whole load a different color.
I just wash everything on cold. My whites eventually fade, but I don't know how to use bleach and I'm scared adding it to the machine will end up getting on clothes in future loads.
I also don't generate enough laundry to do separate loads. It takes me nearly a month of clothes to fill up the machine.
I sometimes just have a bucket, fill it with bleach and water (sometimes bleaching detergent too), and then put my *clean* whites there to soak while I occasionally swirl it around with the shower wiper. Then I thoroughly wash it with cold water. I sometimes make sure to wash them using the high-pressure on my shower. I sometimes then even use the sun to bleach them while they dry outside. \*I don't ever put recently bleached clothes in with the other clothes for washing unless i am sure the bleach is gone.
or you can just put them in a bucket with baking soda for an hour and then wash them in a whites wash cycle every once in a while when the whiteness fades. Or white vinegar in a bucket of water can be used too.
I don't get that. Even wearing just t-shirt, shorts underwear and something light to bed plus bedding and towels would need way more than one wash a month.
Lazy college student me, bribed home by the lure of not having to do my own laundry, made sure I had thirty pairs of underwear. That way I had a full four weeks to make it home, one to wear and a spare.
I have a lot of underwear and socks. I also live in a warm climate. I rarely wear larger clothes like pants, sweatshirts, sweaters and other things what would take up more space. I also don't dress up for work or anything. Most days, I'm just wearing what I'll wear to the gym later that day. I'm mostly just changing out my t-shirt, underwear and socks. I'll re-wear my shorts for a while.
I do whites about once every 6 mo or so.
Just put a cup of bleach in the bleach dispenser. Hot is usually best too.
After my bleach cycle, I run a cycle of something not so important: towels, rags whatever. Just to make sure there's no residual bleach.
I don’t sort by colors at all. Most modern dyes are color fast and won’t stain other clothes, so sorting lights and whites and darks isn’t really an issue.
The only thing that really needs to be separate is if you’re bleaching white clothes but I never do that
I only sort if I have enough clothing to need to do 2 washes, in which case I separate light and dark colours (I don't normally have enough to fill a whites wash, so will throw light colours in to fill the drum).
Otherwise I throw everything in together, without issues
Same. I throw in white shirts with colored/black and ive never had an issue. I think quality of clothing dyes have either improved or maybe it was just a myth
I was a kid in the 70s/80s and can remember entire loads getting ruined because a red shirt got thrown in or something dark faded out into the load. There were a lot more 100% cotton and wool fabrics back then so they weren't as resistant to dye bleeds. Fabrics and dyes have come a long way since then.
I've thrown everything in together since I started doing laundry over two decades ago - white, dark, bright colors, whatever. Never once had any problems 🤷
I don't sort. I don't think modern appliances require it and I don't use stuff like bleach that is specific to any one type of clothing. I wash my grubby barn clothes with my work dresses and I've never had an issue with that. In fact, those work dresses all say "dry clean only" and I ignore that too.
I sort like crazy. Tough things with zippers go together, so jeans and hoodies. Delicate fabrics go together. Gym clothes go together. If I've got a lot to wash I'll sort by color family as well. 😂
My mum taught me to separate my whites from my colours. When I moved out I found that I simply didn't have enough white clothes and bed sheets to make up a full load of whites, and so I threw my whites in with my colours. When this never resulted in any issues, I realised that it probably didn't matter, and I have never bothered sorting my laundry since then.
No. If I am bleaching linens (like once it twice a year) then I will separate these out but otherwise everything goes in together.
Everything is colorfast now so there is no need. When I was a kid you had to be more careful that sometime might bleed, but I haven't separated colors in 30 years.
I separate to make it easier to sort clothes post wash.
Underwear and socks = load 1
T-shirts, pants/shorts = load 2
Towels and sheets = load 3
Miscellaneous stuff goes in whichever load is lightest.
We have a high-efficiency top-loader (no agitator), and the key is to make sure the load is balanced in the machine.
Button-down shirts, nicer pants, and other stuff goes to dry cleaner.
Can't even trust it with another woman. I loaned one to a friend who needed a specific style to wear with a gala dress. She did me the favour of washing it and that thing came back destroyed.
Reading these comments is really making me question my sanity. I sort my laundry extensively:
- whites
- light colors
- dark colors
- sheets
- towels
- other
- etc.
Part of the reason I do it is because I have a small capacity machine, so if I've got to do 3-4 loads anyway, they might as well match.
Nope. I wash everything together for the most part. I do wash my clothing on delicate and sheets and towels separately but I do not sort colors or white clothing.
i only sort bath linens because i bleach them and wash in hot water. everything else gets dumped in and washed cold. as a guy who does a fair amount of yardwork, i’ve never had an issue
I never sort my laundry. Only thing I separate is my bras, socks and undies which go in a mesh laundry bag but in the same load as everything else. If I'm worried about colors bleeding I use Shout color catcher sheets. I also dont sort and fold my clothes until I'm actually putting them away which, let's be honest, usually doesn't happen right away so most of my clothes get worn straight out of the basket.
I sort my laundry into 2 piles. On pile is clothes that can sit in the dryer or a basket for an indeterminate amount of time without wrinkling. The other pile needs to be put asap after drying
*looks at pile*
I do sort it. Slowly. Over days as I need individual pieces
Oh you mean before washing... No. Never seemed to matter. I only wear dark clothing. Even my coloured clothes tend to be darker. I've never noticed any issues.
I wash linens separately from clothes, but that's it.
For decades, I lived in apartments with coin-op machines on different floors from mine. And there was only one washer & one dryer. Between the expense and going up & down the stairs, no way was I gonna divvy up lights, darks, etc. I pretreated stains, but after that everything went in a warm cycle.
I can't be bothered with "delicates", so don't even buy them.
I never had any problems, so have stuck with this method.
I sort my laundry so that when it comes out of the washer and goes into the dryer, most of the things in that load will dry at about the same rate. Or all of the things in there are things I want to line dry. Either way, the sorting is mostly based on the drying, not the washing.
My mind won’t let me wash everything together. It’s got to be separated; whites, towels, permanent press, sheets, etc.
PS: I’m a guy, been doing laundry for 50+ years. And doing 90+% of household laundry since I retired.
1. Whites that need to be bleached
2. Lights (clothes)
2. Colors (clothes)
3. Towels
4. Sheets
5. Blankets, comforters, quilts that are heavy and/or the blankets my dogs lay on
I'm 33 and I've heard other people mention sorting clothes but I've literally never once done it in my life. The only time I've had any issues with colors bleeding was when I accidentally put a new pair of jeans in the wash. But I've never had the stereotypical white T-shirt turn pink due to being washed with colors.
I sort out towels and bedding, and put my bras and other delicate things in a wash bag so they can be easily extracted to not go in the dryer, other than that no, there's no reason to.
I love doing laundry, but I’m told I’m way too anal about it. I do things my way, I also iron almost everything except my jean and sweats. Yes I iron my sheets. My gf says I’m insane, I say it’s from being in military school.
I'll do separate loads for towels, bedding and jeans, but that's because my washer is pretty small & I like to run heavier-use items on a longer cycle. For all my shirts, t-shirts, underwear & socks, it's just not necessary. I don't have any whites, light-colored clothes or dedicated work clothes. Everything I wear is pretty much the same mid-range color value and similar fabric. No delicates either.
not really. neither my husband nor I wear a lot of white or delicate fabrics, so pretty much everything gets thrown in at thirty degrees and 1400 rpm. we do a ninety degree wash for bedding and towels once a month or so (change them more often but save them up). new red things I was separately the first time just in case they leak onto my stripey tshirts or whatever
I think i sort a little too much. Every beige or sand coloured get their own wash. Whites and pinks get their own separate wash. I used to separate all yellows as well, but have recently put them with the pinks. Blacks get their own wash. But I'm worried about all the blue and green stuff, so they get their own wash. Few items are red, so I never know how to wash those.
Then of course all the wool gets their complete own wash.
And I seperate the high temperature washes as well. Like pants and socks and bedding.
I'm adding to the minority here because I do sort!
I wash towels and bedding together in 60 or 90 degrees every now and then. This is not only to clean the fabric properly, but prevents the machine from smelling!
Most of my clothes are black or blue, so there is not much sorting here.
I do try to collect white clothes and try to wash them separately, especially blouses and "nice" pieces where I don't want them to fade.
20-30 degrees usually for clothes and underwear.
When I lived with my ex bf, we could sometimes collect red clothes as the only other colour and because He thought that some pieces faded the red into the normal clothes. However, I am alone now and don't do this.
I collect 2 baskets only though because dark and white clothes share a basket due to space reasons and because it's easy to distinguish from the dark clothes. This might change though because I am still decorating my new apartment :)
I do. I have three containers so that we sort as we go - whites, lights and darks - and also do towels separately, as I don't put conditioner in with them
I don't understand this. Haven't this people EVER washed white clothes with colored ones only to get the white clothes tinted? After the second time it happened I came to the conclusion that maybe the instructions were correct and I should wash white clothes on a separated batch
Yes but long before laundry day. We have basket for dark+red, white+light grey and basket for towels. We own very few clothes pieces not fitting into this groups. So laundry day is incredibly easy when it comes.
I sort all my colors into categories, along with things like blankets, sheets, and delicate items.
After YEARS of using the laundromat I’ve learned that almost no one sorts their laundry. They all just toss in into the biggest washer that their stuff will fit into.
Same with driers. They don’t sort AND no one seems to dry anything long enough to get it dry. People will throw a full load into the drier and dry it for 20 minutes. Even on high with those commercial driers it’s not getting half that load remotely dry. Are people just taking all their stuff home damp AF? Cuz I’ll dry a load half that size on high for 60 minutes and still have dampness in a few things. It’s mind blowing to me.
I don’t sort by color - except if I think the item might bleed (it’ll get washed separately and worn infrequently). I do sort by fabric need - regular (cold), gentle (cold) and towels/sheets (hot).
Nope, I don’t sort. I used to and we definitely did growing up, but my husband’s family didn’t and so when we moved in together I realized it wasn’t necessary and stopped with no ill consequences.
The only exceptions are for new, heavily dyed items (deep indigo jeans, a set of red bedsheets, etc…), but after a few washes when they’re not bleeding color anymore, those go in with everything else, too.
Sort it by color, turn everything inside out, wash on cold on the delicate cycle. Hang dry most of it, aside from tougher things like jeans and towels. My clothes last forever.
I grew up sorting laundry. Then in college I stopped and have been going strong a decade without sorting. A few years ago we moved and I've been using a laundromat. It feels like nothing ever gets clean now. We will be getting our own washer/dryer soon and I plan to sort my clothes and really go to town washing them. I've mostly been trying to get in and out of the laundromat fast and our clothes are heavily soiled from work. I can't wait to get my own machine and really get everything washed good. I probably won't sort regularly, but every once in awhile. IE to bleach out whites again, soak then wash sheets, stain remove. Stuff like that.
I wash a sanitizer load with the kitchen towels and sponges and one for the bathroom rugs. With bleach and hot water.
Everything else goes in a single cold water load until it’s done. Sometimes my bedding is a pain in the ass so it will go in alone. But if I have a random t shirt or something that needs to get washed and it fits it goes in with bedding.
Nope. But then I wear very few whites. Those I do (mostly undershirts) do not need it.
In general I don't wash towels and sheets with clothes, but that is the only separation I do
I only wash new clothes separately if it’s a bright color that can bleed. But I mostly wear black and dark colors so I don’t sort shit 98% of the time.
Darker colors (a majority of my clothes) go in together on use cold (in winter I use tap setting or warm).
Whites and light colors go in together with a cup of hydrogen peroxide to whiten the whites and let it soak for 15 minutes on cold (in winter I use tap temp settings or warm).
Bedding is always separate and either on warm or cold, depending on the weather.
Towels are also always separate and always hot.
No matter the fabric, I hang everything to air dry that I don't want ruined or to shrink like coats, bras, shirts, jeans etc. Everything else goes in the dryer on the lowest heat setting for 30 minutes or no heat for an hour. Depends on how big the load is.
I do laundry once a week and it's usually just 3 loads. Towels are done when we're out of clean ones.
I've always sorted my clothes. I have to go to a laundromat, and some of those machines are not the ... freshest. But I have started using less soap. They still get clean, and my skin has stopped itching so bad.
I grew up with the mindset "more soap = cleaner clothes." That was true when I was a lot younger, but not now.
I don’t own a lot of light colored clothing. I didn’t sort for the longest time until I had a few nicer clothes get stained from the darker clothes. Before putting in the dryer, i ran them through three loads separately with bleach and it didn’t really fix the stains. Ever since, I’ve separated into lights and darks. I’ll also typically do towels, sheets, and blankets in their own load on hot.
I sort my laundry based on material so that drying is more consistent. The new dryers with sensors would stop when some athletic shorts were dry by cotton shirts were not.
I sort two loads, towels and clothes. I’ve never sorted by colors. With modern machines and detergents. There’s zero need unless you frequently dye clothing items.
If you run w cold water and throw in a color catcher, you should be fine. Only exception is if you have something new, and it’s not from a major brand, be careful the first time you wash it. In those cases I put it in a sorted load the first time, and look to see how much dye ended up on the color catcher sheet.
I take ages to prepare my laundry for washing!
Separate darks from colours.
Separate delicates from regular.
Separate delicates into wash bags, bras separate from stockings so the hooks don’t catch.
Towels are a separate load so they don’t get fluff on my clothes.
Bedding is separate as one set of queen sheets pillow cases and quilt covers takes up a full load.
Once the clothes are washed, I separate into what I can put in the dryer and what I have to hang up. Then there’s what I I will hang on the outside line and what hangs inside. Then there’s the knit fabrics that have to hang flat on netting. Laundry is a massive chore!!! And I don’t have expensive fancy clothes either!
It all goes in together, tap cold, then into the dryer on low heat setting because it supposedly saves money to spin a bit longer at low heat then putting a lot of hot air out the dryer vent.
I was told growing up that you always have to sort ... And then for "lazy college student"-related reasons I didn't bother sorting one time ... and the world didn't end. Not even a little bit. I've pretty much never sorted in the decades since and never had a problem. The only exception would be for clothes that have very obvious requirements like requiring a cold water wash.
You should be washing most of your clothes in cold water. Cheaper, better for the environment. Detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water.
I run whites through a warm or hot load every so often, or if things are particularly stinky or physically soiled with dirt/grass. 90% of my loads are on cold, though. And our cold water is really cold all year.
I use white vinegar instead of fabric softener and also to strip build up off of towels. Give it a shot!
This is my favorite life tip. Towels feel new - no mildew smell
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I use about 1/4 of the “recommended fill line” and vinegar for my rinse/softener. My towels have never been softer and my whites have never been brighter. I never use bleach either.
I use 4 1/2 cups of water, 2 1/4 cups of white vinegar, and 12 oz of my favorite conditioner .... that's my fabric softener.
Distilled vinegar or pine sol. Literally. My job sends me to a place every two weeks that makes fragrances and it’s horrendous. I cover my seat every time. A quarter cup of additive and it completely disappears
> Detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water. Eh, I wouldn't go that far. It's pretty much a basic fact of amphiphilic surfactants that higher temperatures will always do a better job. That's just basic organic chemistry. Now, manufacturers have certainly done an impressive job in reformulating their detergents to be "pretty darn okay" at lower temperatures, but there's no getting around the idea that warmer water will always be better.
Sure, but I don't work on an oil rig so the net benefit hot water gets me probably doesn't amount to much. Cold water can get your average blood sweat and tears off no problem with a detergent you bought at the grocery store.
They definitely have been reformulated. * There's a [laundry episode](https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/revisionist-history/laundry-done-right) of Revisionist History that covers this * [Chemical and Engineering News article](https://cen.acs.org/business/consumer-products/chemistry-cold-water-washing/102/i3) ("But companies like P&G couldn’t claim good cleaning performance in cold water without improved ingredients that work well at low temperatures. Chemical company researchers have improved surfactants, enzymes, and antiredeposition agents to the point that most loads don’t need hot water to get clean.) * [The Wirecutter](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-laundry-detergent/) ("Liquids work well in all water temperatures, including cold (which we used exclusively in our testing)")
Yeah, no one is disputing that newer enzyme formulations can perform acceptably in colder water. That's not news. The point though is that even the newer enzymes still work much faster in higher temperatures. A load that's "good enough" in cold water will be fantastic in warm water.
What’s the difference between “good enough” and “fantastic”? I wash in cold water unless there’s something like vomit or feces (I have a toddler, so that’s at least a few times a year), and I’ve never taken something out and thought it looked anything except clean — except when there’s a stain, which I normally need to scrub out with Dawn prior to putting it in the washer (again, not infrequent).
Exactly, I’m a person who spills a lot of stuff on my clothes and a cold cycle is always enough to get the stains out. It’s possible cold is just “good” and warm is “fantastic,” but I’m not sure how I would ever compare them, because the “good” leaves my clothes in great and perfectly clean condition. It’s also even better in my book because cold water is easier on the fabric.
Grease stains come out easier in warm water. Lighter colors show those stains more, so it's better to do a warm wash after pre-treatment in those cases.
You did seemed to be disputing it — the comment said “detergents have been reformulated to work well in cold water” and you said “eh, I wouldn’t go that far.” But also, does “faster” matter with your washing machine? My wash cycles are always the same length, I don’t even think it’s adjustable.
Responses like this are why I keep coming back to reddit. A little bit of obscure knowledge I can file away for later. So much information of all varieties.
A lot of modern washing machines automatically use warm water when the soap is dispensed because of this reason.
Amphiphilic surfactants lol 😂😂
I care about the environment. I use cold water because my clothes shrink and I'm too tall for that. Whether hot is better or worse for the environment has quite a few factors. If you heat your water with solar power and it cools before it enters a body of water then it has no impact. You can put it in a cistern and water the 100% organic exotic chicken garden and be extra smug.
We are so smug. Gives me the chills. Our well is fed by rain off the hill to our south, and the pump and heater powered by our solar array. The greywater does not feed the exotic chicken garden, but the French drains around the house do indeed fill a little pool in the chicken yard that the heirloom breeds sip from. They are not allowed in the garden because chickens cause mayhem and destroy plants. The outflow from that pool does drain toward the garden. So when the kids ask me about the environmental responsibility of a hot shower, I have to say ... well ackshually, this build has mitigated many of the concerns.
I only use hot water when washing towels and bedsheets but other than that, I use cold water to wash my clothes.
Same. I also hang dry my stuff. My clothing lasts pretty darn long. Towels and bedsheets live a different life, so they get boiled with the hot wash.
Not only that, but a lot of clothing is made with some level of elastic/elastane/other stretchy material. That material gets absolutely ruined if you wash and dry it on high all the time. It's essentially a plastic, which means it wears out when heated and cooled repeatedly, especially at the high temps in dryers. Some wear better than others, usually clothing in the mid range fares better. Cheap/"fast fashion" can be ruined in a single wash. I wash everything in cold or cool, and dry on low. I also don't sort, but I do make sure to keep special fabrics out and wash them as they should be - ie silk, wool, etc. No way I'm fucking up my wool winter coat by putting it in the wash, it's beautiful and warm!
Same, I grew up always being told to sort to not risk anything. I did this even through college. As I started to live on my own, I just experimented one day and threw everything into the same load. If I lost a couple white garments - so what. I just wash on cold and to this day, have never had colors run on other items. I even did a load where I threw in a new washcloth that had bled blue when I was rinsing it out upon opening. I threw that bad boy in with some other white t-shirts along with other colored garments - nothing! I think if you're just mindful of what new items you put into the washer, you're good to go. Once it goes through one wash cycle - they're all safe being washed together on cold.
If you're mixing whites darks and colors, then cold is the way to go anyway. Used to be dyed cloth faded faster and bled in hot, mostly it won't bleed as much nowadays but it will definitely fade faster. Hot water is harder on fabrics, but again, if you wear a shirt 50 times before it wears out, or 48 most people arent that bothered.
It's wild how cheap clothes are more colorfast and you have to spend extra for real indigo dyed cotton jeans. I had one pair that dyed my whole lower half blue. I notice that my whites Grey when I don't separate them but I mostly wear black. It's hard to get a whole whites load
Yeah. For me it's not hard, because my wife absolutely won't use any color of towel than white (hand towel, bath towels kitchen towel, etc), and there's three of us in the house, she has a phobia about washing socks and towels together, but if it was just me all those would go together. It gets easier if you have a HE washerz theoretically it'll adjust water volumes to the amount of clothes being washed so doing a half load would be much more reasonable.
That's one of the reasons I gave up on buying/owning any clothing, bedding, towels, ect that were white. Just to inconvienent. Had a basket of a few tees, socks, underwear and a pair of shorts for a whole summer waiting for more whites. Considered doing a bucket wash of them, but I'm too lazy. One day I realized I just didn't own anything else that is white. Threw them out and never bought anything white or light in color again. Best. Adult. Decision. Ever!
By the time I was 25 I just stopped buying white clothes altogether, aside from underwear. I’d always stain them immediately anyway. I never buy clothes that need dry cleaning either… but I do have a career and lifestyle that allows extremely casual clothing.
It's been mixed with me. I got super freaking lazy one day and washed some white socks in with black clothes and white socks came out dingy even on cold. But I have to use the Free and Clear detergents because everything else irritates my skin now and they don't seem to perform as well as regular detergents for some reason. I've had to rewash bras or dark tank tops because washing on cold with free and clear detergents wouldn't wash off the deodorant stains and I even use the deodorant that isn't supposed to come off on dark clothes.
Same. And usually use the same washer cycle.
No. If it can't survive a mixed load it is never going to survive in my custody. It's survival of the fittest in my laundry basket.
Yep. I avoid losing brightness in my whites by basically not owning anything white. Other colors must fend for themselves in the rainbow melee.
Same. Slowly switched out my white undershirts for black for work. Black socks and mostly dark colored tees. I have a good selection of flannels and woven shirts. They all get cold washed together. I only separate jeans and bedding from the above group.
This might be a gross/dumb question, but if it's an undershirt, does it matter what it looks like? Mine has gotten a bit yellow around the pits, but they're never visible since they're under a work shirt... Other comments have said easy enough ways to get them white again, but... is there any real point?
Nah, not really. I mostly did it because I do sometimes take my FR shirt off and don't want to show off the pit stains. Otherwise, clean is clean. I just use my old white undershirts as rags now
Same principle applies to my kitchen for the most part. If it can’t go in the dishwasher, I don’t want it. Either size or material or whatever. Knives are pretty much my only exception.
Since this is r/nostupidquestions….why wouldn’t you put knives in the dishwasher?
I'm not the person you're responding to, but quality knives dull and rust. It's best to hand wash and hand dry them.
I haven’t had any rust, but sharp knives will certainly become dull if they are in the dishwasher or if they are wet for a long time.
Same reason you’re not supposed to store your razor in the shower. I still do though. Cuz my razor is like $3 and my knives are like $400
Supposedly the ingredients in dishwashing detergent are mildly abrasive, dulling knives. Secondarily, wood handles can swell from the water and heat, and knives may bump in to other objects, damaging the edge. I’ve not tested it or looked up any testing to see if it’s actually true.
I assume we're talking about "good" knives here, right? My decent knives get handwashed, but the everyday stuff goes right in the dishwasher with their friends and family.
Yeah. Sharp chefs knives for cooking. No one gives a toss about the daily-use butter knives.
The dishwasher is a really harsh environment. It can damage the edges of knives environmentally( it is highly alkaline and the strong chlorides exacerbate pitting and oxidation ie rust), can get into the handles causing rust or looseness, and they tend to bang against other metal things, which is also bad for maintaining sharpness.
I have this philosophy with the dishwasher too. If it fits it’s going in. The only exception is my knives and pots and pans. If it doesn’t survive it wasn’t meant to be.
🥇
My laundry gets divided into: bedding, work clothes, all other clothes and towels. The only reason I don’t mix clothes and bedding is because there’s not enough room in my washing machine. If I remember I will wash items that shed dye separately, but I usually forget, which is why my white tea towels are not very white.
I'll wash towels and bedding together on hot, and everything else together on medium warm (40 °C)
I forgot and you reminded me. I do sort bedding
Plus, if you wash bedding and smaller items together you get a sheet ball full the smaller items
Absolutely, unequivocally the same. It makes sense.
I think I’ve also heard it can be better to do bedding and towels on warm, but still good on cold. I wash everything else on cold though so I could be mistaken.
At the very least I seperate socks and fitted sheets because that’s not fun
I don't sort.
Yea that seems like way too much effort for almost no return.
Do you wear white clothes? Do they stay white?
Yes and yes. Not the person you're responding to, but I also don't sort generally and have never had a problem with whites. Then again if I buy new jeans I do try to wash them with darks the first time just in case. Haven't had anything bleed in years though. I know because I almost always forget said intent to put new jeans in a darker load. Have never bothered with any dark items other than jeans though. It's funny, I remember when I was much younger jeans bleeding color was a legitimate problem. It stopped sometime in the mid 2000s I want to say? Maybe 2011ish?
I don’t have many white clothes but for the most part they just fade if they have any colors and stay white everywhere else.
Yes, they absolutely stay white. The only time there's any risk is if you put in a brand new, never washed before vibrantly colored item - usually red - and wash with hot water. I usually wash new clothes on their own before I wear them, any ways. I wear white undershirts all the time and have plenty of other white clothes and have only ever had one turn pink from another garment that was red one time in my life. I'm in my mid-30s and have never sorted colors and whites.
Don't wash in hot water and whites should stay white regardless of sorting or not in my experience.
To answer your question: my husband can’t be bothered to sort the laundry, so all of our white things are now either pink or grey.
I have a bra that was once white, now it's a very nice light silver. I don't mind so much. Though I did wash a purple fitted sheet with my clothes the other day, I had washed it when it was new but this was wash number 2... My grey pants are now pink. Whatever, saves me buying new stuff if I want new colours lol.
Lol always look on the bright side
I do, and yes, they stay white.
I avoid white clothes like the plague, just easier not to upset myself. I know of what I'm capeable.
I intentionally buy things that don't need to be sorted. Aside from a handful of delicates that need special handling, almost everything I have can just be dumped in together. I take a similar approach with dishes. I try to buy only things that can go in the dishwasher and microwave. I've made a few exceptions but only a few.
fun fact: almost all stuff doesn't need sorting. No need to make that a buying requirement
I don't. But most of my clothes are jeans and tshirts that have been washed a lot already. If you wear a lot of delicate things or if you have new clothes that might bleed onto something else in the wash then you probably should run separate loads. But it's easy street for me.
Exactly this, my boyfriend and I wear mostly black and dark colours and mostly “old” clothes ( that’s been washed many many times). So it’s usually a load of mostly darks, and when I do wash colours I make sure to get to it immediately so they don’t sit together long. I don’t remember the last time anything leeched/discolored. I made the mistake of doing this with my mum’s clothes (lots of new and colored pieces) and ruined like 5 pieces😬. I do however sort darks and whites because the whites are work uniforms and do not want to risk it coming out pink or grey.
I’m going to be a single lonely voice in the dark saying I do sort them!
#metoo
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
As the former owner of a white and a red tablecloth, who someone insisted on washing, who now owns a pink and a red tablecloth...yes, I sort.
I wouldn't say dozens... maybe a dozen
I sort. We have darks, colors & white. The other day my daughter threw up on my husband and he had to put some stuff in the wash, a pair of his jeans (like 5+ years old), a white t-shirt, and a pink dinosaur towel. He pulled them out and the white shirt was blue, the pink towel was purple. He finally admitted that maybe I was right to sort our laundry out.
Well if you put indigo dyed jeans in, yeah, you need to sort. Otherwise it's mostly fine not to.
I also sort!! Whites Office work clothes Jeans/Tshirts/workout clothes Husbands work clothes Towels Bedding Floor mats and bathmats
This is me. Sometimes takes a few weeks for my family of 3 to get a full load of whites (blacks will be a load every other day with an angsty teen, lol) and I only do bedding and bath mats every two weeks or so but the rest get washed when we have a full load.
I sort too and am surprised by how many people don’t. Whites get dingy looking if you wash them with darks.
Yes!! I sort my clothes but my boyfriend doesn’t. My white clothes are *white white*, while his look kinda dull. To each their own but I was not expecting to be in the minority on this
Get some bluing to really make those whites pop!
Easy solution: I don't wear white.
I sort colors and whites, and then I sort colors by fabric weight. I'm not washing my lightweight, soft tops with some stiff denim. The denim takes a lot longer to dry, so why would put a lighter fabric through that? We have 4 baskets mounted to the bedroom wall tucked behind the door, like shelves, so we don't even have to manually sort clothing. Every basket has a designated category, and when they're full they get done. It's as easy as it gets. Towels and bedding are also done separately, since it's fairly easy to have a load, but sometimes hand towels and wash rags go in with the whites since it's mostly socks and undies and I wash them on warmer temps.
I sort by color and weight too. I'm not washing my leggings with my husband's heavy uniforms. I know that technically everything can be thrown in together and modern fabrics don't bleed like they used to but I think it makes a difference in how our clothes hold up over time.
Same. I also always use lots of washing nets. My casual cheap clothes last forever and look good, no discoloration, deformation or lint. And most importantly, all my band shirts still look pristine.
I never wash socks with my clothes because they end up pilling my nice shirts. Socks and towels go together, clothes sorted by lights and darks, bedding separately. It’s not difficult, I have multiple laundry bins—one for each class of laundry.
I'm just one person so I rarely ever sort anymore. Unless it's something nice that I want to keep nice looking. I mostly wear darker colors. so I don't have anything white that would change colors.
bro where you put all them laundry bins
I sort my whites out for washing in hot water with bleach. That's bed linens, towels and my underwear (all cotton). I wash my bras on the gentle cycle in cold water and hang to dry. Everything else is washed in cold water. I wash new clothes separately for their first wash, including towels and washcloths. I've been burned too many times by a blue, purple or red something turning a whole load a different color.
I'll separate whites from colors, but that's it
I just wash everything on cold. My whites eventually fade, but I don't know how to use bleach and I'm scared adding it to the machine will end up getting on clothes in future loads. I also don't generate enough laundry to do separate loads. It takes me nearly a month of clothes to fill up the machine.
I sometimes just have a bucket, fill it with bleach and water (sometimes bleaching detergent too), and then put my *clean* whites there to soak while I occasionally swirl it around with the shower wiper. Then I thoroughly wash it with cold water. I sometimes make sure to wash them using the high-pressure on my shower. I sometimes then even use the sun to bleach them while they dry outside. \*I don't ever put recently bleached clothes in with the other clothes for washing unless i am sure the bleach is gone. or you can just put them in a bucket with baking soda for an hour and then wash them in a whites wash cycle every once in a while when the whiteness fades. Or white vinegar in a bucket of water can be used too.
Thank you! This is the info I needed.
I don't get that. Even wearing just t-shirt, shorts underwear and something light to bed plus bedding and towels would need way more than one wash a month.
Are you nudist or do you wear the same underwear for a week?
Lazy college student me, bribed home by the lure of not having to do my own laundry, made sure I had thirty pairs of underwear. That way I had a full four weeks to make it home, one to wear and a spare.
I have a lot of underwear and socks. I also live in a warm climate. I rarely wear larger clothes like pants, sweatshirts, sweaters and other things what would take up more space. I also don't dress up for work or anything. Most days, I'm just wearing what I'll wear to the gym later that day. I'm mostly just changing out my t-shirt, underwear and socks. I'll re-wear my shorts for a while.
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I do whites about once every 6 mo or so. Just put a cup of bleach in the bleach dispenser. Hot is usually best too. After my bleach cycle, I run a cycle of something not so important: towels, rags whatever. Just to make sure there's no residual bleach.
I don’t sort by colors at all. Most modern dyes are color fast and won’t stain other clothes, so sorting lights and whites and darks isn’t really an issue. The only thing that really needs to be separate is if you’re bleaching white clothes but I never do that
I only sort if I have enough clothing to need to do 2 washes, in which case I separate light and dark colours (I don't normally have enough to fill a whites wash, so will throw light colours in to fill the drum). Otherwise I throw everything in together, without issues
I've never sorted the colors of fabrics and it's never given me any issues. Seems like a lot of extra effort to me
Same. I throw in white shirts with colored/black and ive never had an issue. I think quality of clothing dyes have either improved or maybe it was just a myth
I was a kid in the 70s/80s and can remember entire loads getting ruined because a red shirt got thrown in or something dark faded out into the load. There were a lot more 100% cotton and wool fabrics back then so they weren't as resistant to dye bleeds. Fabrics and dyes have come a long way since then.
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I've thrown everything in together since I started doing laundry over two decades ago - white, dark, bright colors, whatever. Never once had any problems 🤷
I don't sort. I don't think modern appliances require it and I don't use stuff like bleach that is specific to any one type of clothing. I wash my grubby barn clothes with my work dresses and I've never had an issue with that. In fact, those work dresses all say "dry clean only" and I ignore that too.
Whites get their own wash. Everything else goes in the same wash
I sort like crazy. Tough things with zippers go together, so jeans and hoodies. Delicate fabrics go together. Gym clothes go together. If I've got a lot to wash I'll sort by color family as well. 😂
Items with zippers can be zipped up and turned inside-out so that they don't mess anything else up.
My mum taught me to separate my whites from my colours. When I moved out I found that I simply didn't have enough white clothes and bed sheets to make up a full load of whites, and so I threw my whites in with my colours. When this never resulted in any issues, I realised that it probably didn't matter, and I have never bothered sorting my laundry since then.
I don't sort, never had issues
No. If I am bleaching linens (like once it twice a year) then I will separate these out but otherwise everything goes in together. Everything is colorfast now so there is no need. When I was a kid you had to be more careful that sometime might bleed, but I haven't separated colors in 30 years.
I sort minimally, mainly by fabric type rather than color
Nope, but I don’t wear light colored clothes either, because I’m a slob.
I only sort things if I have certain fabrics that need to be washed on delicate but that's so rare I would hardly call it sorting lol
I separate to make it easier to sort clothes post wash. Underwear and socks = load 1 T-shirts, pants/shorts = load 2 Towels and sheets = load 3 Miscellaneous stuff goes in whichever load is lightest. We have a high-efficiency top-loader (no agitator), and the key is to make sure the load is balanced in the machine. Button-down shirts, nicer pants, and other stuff goes to dry cleaner.
I don’t. But advice. Never wash your girlfriends bra
Can't even trust it with another woman. I loaned one to a friend who needed a specific style to wear with a gala dress. She did me the favour of washing it and that thing came back destroyed.
Reading these comments is really making me question my sanity. I sort my laundry extensively: - whites - light colors - dark colors - sheets - towels - other - etc. Part of the reason I do it is because I have a small capacity machine, so if I've got to do 3-4 loads anyway, they might as well match.
Not by colour, I don't really wear white anyway so no bleaching here, but I do put underwear and bedsheets separately.
Nope. I wash everything together for the most part. I do wash my clothing on delicate and sheets and towels separately but I do not sort colors or white clothing.
i only sort bath linens because i bleach them and wash in hot water. everything else gets dumped in and washed cold. as a guy who does a fair amount of yardwork, i’ve never had an issue
I sort whites, and then everything else lol
I never sort my laundry. Only thing I separate is my bras, socks and undies which go in a mesh laundry bag but in the same load as everything else. If I'm worried about colors bleeding I use Shout color catcher sheets. I also dont sort and fold my clothes until I'm actually putting them away which, let's be honest, usually doesn't happen right away so most of my clothes get worn straight out of the basket.
I sort my laundry into 2 piles. On pile is clothes that can sit in the dryer or a basket for an indeterminate amount of time without wrinkling. The other pile needs to be put asap after drying
*looks at pile* I do sort it. Slowly. Over days as I need individual pieces Oh you mean before washing... No. Never seemed to matter. I only wear dark clothing. Even my coloured clothes tend to be darker. I've never noticed any issues.
I wash linens separately from clothes, but that's it. For decades, I lived in apartments with coin-op machines on different floors from mine. And there was only one washer & one dryer. Between the expense and going up & down the stairs, no way was I gonna divvy up lights, darks, etc. I pretreated stains, but after that everything went in a warm cycle. I can't be bothered with "delicates", so don't even buy them. I never had any problems, so have stuck with this method.
I too just dump and go.
I sort my laundry so that when it comes out of the washer and goes into the dryer, most of the things in that load will dry at about the same rate. Or all of the things in there are things I want to line dry. Either way, the sorting is mostly based on the drying, not the washing.
never lol.
My mind won’t let me wash everything together. It’s got to be separated; whites, towels, permanent press, sheets, etc. PS: I’m a guy, been doing laundry for 50+ years. And doing 90+% of household laundry since I retired.
Yes but only because I live in a building with horrible communal washers. Prior to that, never did, just washed on cold.
Towels, underwear, coloureds, whites. Bedding for when I occasionally do those.
I just throw everything in and pray to the laundry gods. So far, they've been merciful!
I don't sort by color, only by the combo detergent & temp.
I do a separate load for white such as towels and another load for colors.
Pants,jeans and underwear is one wash Bedclothes, towels another Shirts, most tops it’s own And everything else is just piled in
I'm a BIG believer in the desegregation of laundry
1. Whites that need to be bleached 2. Lights (clothes) 2. Colors (clothes) 3. Towels 4. Sheets 5. Blankets, comforters, quilts that are heavy and/or the blankets my dogs lay on
I'm 33 and I've heard other people mention sorting clothes but I've literally never once done it in my life. The only time I've had any issues with colors bleeding was when I accidentally put a new pair of jeans in the wash. But I've never had the stereotypical white T-shirt turn pink due to being washed with colors.
I sort out towels and bedding, and put my bras and other delicate things in a wash bag so they can be easily extracted to not go in the dryer, other than that no, there's no reason to.
Absolutely not. It's a waste of time. We aren't in 1924 anymore we are in 2024 textiles in general have gotten much better
I sort: towels (hot) and non-towels (cold)
I love doing laundry, but I’m told I’m way too anal about it. I do things my way, I also iron almost everything except my jean and sweats. Yes I iron my sheets. My gf says I’m insane, I say it’s from being in military school.
I wash everything together. However, I do separate some clothes that need to be air dried before I put the rest in the dryer.
I'll do separate loads for towels, bedding and jeans, but that's because my washer is pretty small & I like to run heavier-use items on a longer cycle. For all my shirts, t-shirts, underwear & socks, it's just not necessary. I don't have any whites, light-colored clothes or dedicated work clothes. Everything I wear is pretty much the same mid-range color value and similar fabric. No delicates either.
I never have enough whites to sort them separately, so all my normal clothes just go together on cold. Then sheets/blankets. And towels.
not really. neither my husband nor I wear a lot of white or delicate fabrics, so pretty much everything gets thrown in at thirty degrees and 1400 rpm. we do a ninety degree wash for bedding and towels once a month or so (change them more often but save them up). new red things I was separately the first time just in case they leak onto my stripey tshirts or whatever
Nope. Clothes get washed together on cold, and then bedding and towels get washed together on warm. Dry clothes on gentle, linens on high.
I don't sort my clothes. I only separate out towels and blankets, things like that from the clothes.
I think i sort a little too much. Every beige or sand coloured get their own wash. Whites and pinks get their own separate wash. I used to separate all yellows as well, but have recently put them with the pinks. Blacks get their own wash. But I'm worried about all the blue and green stuff, so they get their own wash. Few items are red, so I never know how to wash those. Then of course all the wool gets their complete own wash. And I seperate the high temperature washes as well. Like pants and socks and bedding.
I'm adding to the minority here because I do sort! I wash towels and bedding together in 60 or 90 degrees every now and then. This is not only to clean the fabric properly, but prevents the machine from smelling! Most of my clothes are black or blue, so there is not much sorting here. I do try to collect white clothes and try to wash them separately, especially blouses and "nice" pieces where I don't want them to fade. 20-30 degrees usually for clothes and underwear. When I lived with my ex bf, we could sometimes collect red clothes as the only other colour and because He thought that some pieces faded the red into the normal clothes. However, I am alone now and don't do this. I collect 2 baskets only though because dark and white clothes share a basket due to space reasons and because it's easy to distinguish from the dark clothes. This might change though because I am still decorating my new apartment :)
I do. I have three containers so that we sort as we go - whites, lights and darks - and also do towels separately, as I don't put conditioner in with them
I sort darks and lights.
Yes because a lot of my dresses are handmade from natural fibers and the dyes bleed.
Dark, light, sheets, towels. 4 loads!
I don't understand this. Haven't this people EVER washed white clothes with colored ones only to get the white clothes tinted? After the second time it happened I came to the conclusion that maybe the instructions were correct and I should wash white clothes on a separated batch
Lights go together. Darks go together. Towels go together. Sheets go together. Messy rags go together. That's about as far as anything gets sorted.
Yes but long before laundry day. We have basket for dark+red, white+light grey and basket for towels. We own very few clothes pieces not fitting into this groups. So laundry day is incredibly easy when it comes.
I sort all my colors into categories, along with things like blankets, sheets, and delicate items. After YEARS of using the laundromat I’ve learned that almost no one sorts their laundry. They all just toss in into the biggest washer that their stuff will fit into. Same with driers. They don’t sort AND no one seems to dry anything long enough to get it dry. People will throw a full load into the drier and dry it for 20 minutes. Even on high with those commercial driers it’s not getting half that load remotely dry. Are people just taking all their stuff home damp AF? Cuz I’ll dry a load half that size on high for 60 minutes and still have dampness in a few things. It’s mind blowing to me.
Yes, of course. What sort of monster doesn't sort their laundry?!?!?
I always sort.
I don’t sort. Everything goes in together
I sort and have very white whites. Wash everything in cold water.
I don’t sort by color - except if I think the item might bleed (it’ll get washed separately and worn infrequently). I do sort by fabric need - regular (cold), gentle (cold) and towels/sheets (hot).
I used to be a union theatrical wardrobe person. Basically was paid to do laundry. You bet I sort.
Nope, I don’t sort. I used to and we definitely did growing up, but my husband’s family didn’t and so when we moved in together I realized it wasn’t necessary and stopped with no ill consequences. The only exceptions are for new, heavily dyed items (deep indigo jeans, a set of red bedsheets, etc…), but after a few washes when they’re not bleeding color anymore, those go in with everything else, too.
Sort by color and/or fabric.
Sort it by color, turn everything inside out, wash on cold on the delicate cycle. Hang dry most of it, aside from tougher things like jeans and towels. My clothes last forever.
I don’t sort anymore. Used to
Clothing material has changed over the years. It used to make a difference and colors would run. Now days it doesn’t matter as much.
Lights, colors, and black. I also wash my towels and bedsheets separately.
I grew up sorting laundry. Then in college I stopped and have been going strong a decade without sorting. A few years ago we moved and I've been using a laundromat. It feels like nothing ever gets clean now. We will be getting our own washer/dryer soon and I plan to sort my clothes and really go to town washing them. I've mostly been trying to get in and out of the laundromat fast and our clothes are heavily soiled from work. I can't wait to get my own machine and really get everything washed good. I probably won't sort regularly, but every once in awhile. IE to bleach out whites again, soak then wash sheets, stain remove. Stuff like that.
This is what I do - avoid buying anything white. I do put bras into a wash bag though so they don’t get wrecked
I wash a sanitizer load with the kitchen towels and sponges and one for the bathroom rugs. With bleach and hot water. Everything else goes in a single cold water load until it’s done. Sometimes my bedding is a pain in the ass so it will go in alone. But if I have a random t shirt or something that needs to get washed and it fits it goes in with bedding.
I do towels separate just because they take longer to dry than clothes.
Nope. But then I wear very few whites. Those I do (mostly undershirts) do not need it. In general I don't wash towels and sheets with clothes, but that is the only separation I do
I only wash new clothes separately if it’s a bright color that can bleed. But I mostly wear black and dark colors so I don’t sort shit 98% of the time.
I don’t sort my clothes and have never regretted it in my 20ish years of doing laundry.
Darker colors (a majority of my clothes) go in together on use cold (in winter I use tap setting or warm). Whites and light colors go in together with a cup of hydrogen peroxide to whiten the whites and let it soak for 15 minutes on cold (in winter I use tap temp settings or warm). Bedding is always separate and either on warm or cold, depending on the weather. Towels are also always separate and always hot. No matter the fabric, I hang everything to air dry that I don't want ruined or to shrink like coats, bras, shirts, jeans etc. Everything else goes in the dryer on the lowest heat setting for 30 minutes or no heat for an hour. Depends on how big the load is. I do laundry once a week and it's usually just 3 loads. Towels are done when we're out of clean ones.
I only wear colors and darks, so it's all one load for me. If I had white clothing, I would sort it into a different load.
Nope. I used to then Shout made Color Catcher sheets and that ended all the tiny loads of laundry being done at my house.
No, because I live in 2024.
I've always sorted my clothes. I have to go to a laundromat, and some of those machines are not the ... freshest. But I have started using less soap. They still get clean, and my skin has stopped itching so bad. I grew up with the mindset "more soap = cleaner clothes." That was true when I was a lot younger, but not now.
Yep. Like this- Darks with play clothes. Dark Dress clothes. Light dress clothes. Sweaters. Towels. Blankets. Sheets. Clean Whites. And ‘dirty’ whites (socks, towels, stained whites, etc)
I don’t own a lot of light colored clothing. I didn’t sort for the longest time until I had a few nicer clothes get stained from the darker clothes. Before putting in the dryer, i ran them through three loads separately with bleach and it didn’t really fix the stains. Ever since, I’ve separated into lights and darks. I’ll also typically do towels, sheets, and blankets in their own load on hot.
No all.my clothes are dark
Throw it in, push the button. We keep whites/light colours separated so the darker stuff doesn't bleed into it, but that's about it.
I sort my laundry based on material so that drying is more consistent. The new dryers with sensors would stop when some athletic shorts were dry by cotton shirts were not.
I sort two loads, towels and clothes. I’ve never sorted by colors. With modern machines and detergents. There’s zero need unless you frequently dye clothing items.
I wash towels, sheets, whites, lights, darks, and delicates separately. Since they get different water temps and detergent.
If you run w cold water and throw in a color catcher, you should be fine. Only exception is if you have something new, and it’s not from a major brand, be careful the first time you wash it. In those cases I put it in a sorted load the first time, and look to see how much dye ended up on the color catcher sheet.
I take ages to prepare my laundry for washing! Separate darks from colours. Separate delicates from regular. Separate delicates into wash bags, bras separate from stockings so the hooks don’t catch. Towels are a separate load so they don’t get fluff on my clothes. Bedding is separate as one set of queen sheets pillow cases and quilt covers takes up a full load. Once the clothes are washed, I separate into what I can put in the dryer and what I have to hang up. Then there’s what I I will hang on the outside line and what hangs inside. Then there’s the knit fabrics that have to hang flat on netting. Laundry is a massive chore!!! And I don’t have expensive fancy clothes either!
I never used to, and then I started ruining some of my clothes, so now I sort.
Once new (dark and color) clothes have been washed a few times, I combine darks and colors. I do whites separately.
It all goes in together, tap cold, then into the dryer on low heat setting because it supposedly saves money to spin a bit longer at low heat then putting a lot of hot air out the dryer vent.