I usually make 3 piles of laundry to wash according to color and not fabric: black clothes go in one pile, every other clothe I own goes into a second pile (colors white to navy blue). The third pile is for my bed linens and towels, (100% cotton, so I can wash them to 140°F)
Now, I don’t know if I should make more piles instead, because my bed linens and clothes sometimes combine several colors and I don’t know if they bleed and I’m slowly degrading them:
I was thinking of making a pile for black clothes, one for white clothes, one for every other color clothe I own (I have purple, yellow and green stuff plus denims), one for my bed linens (all of them are mixed colors, including dark and clear colors like red, orange, green and black in one piece) and another pile for my towels (one color only, but different ones, including green, purple, white, yellow and navy blue).
Regarding fabrics, I have 100% cotton, 100% merino wool, 100% polyester and mixed fabrics, so the number of piles can grow considerably.
I live alone, so sometimes I can need a lot of time to get a laundry worth pile of stuff to wash if I create as many piles as I suggested here.
I may be overthinking it but I’d like to do the laundry the right way and keep the stuff I already have in good condition. How do you do it?
We do: my wife’s stuff and our t-shirts with pictures for delicates wash and literally everything else goes in on a standard wash cycle.
Red, orange, yellow, green, brown in one pile. Blue, grey, black in a second pile. White stuff in a third.
You’re overthinking it.
Modern fabric dyes are a lot better than 40 years ago. Like, don’t wash something dark the first time with a bunch of white stuff, but after the first wash or two it definitely doesn’t matter
Cheap clothes bleed a lot. Specially synthetics. It’s horrible honestly.
Like what cheap are we talking about here? Ordering from overseas?
Walmart or other cheap places are perfectly fine.
Are you washing in hot water? My clothes are far from expensive but I’ve never had that issue. I wash in cold water though which apparently doesn’t have the issue so much
And on the other side of the equation, modern detergents are way better and being colorfast.
I don’t think I do it correctly tbh, but since I have to drive to the laundromat to do my laundry, and pay out the ass for it ($12 per fucking load!!), all I want is to get in and out of there as fast as humanly possible. So I have two piles, one for all my clothes regardless of color or material, and the other for sheets and towels, regardless of color. I haven’t noticed any colors bleeding or extra degradation, and my clothes generally look pretty undamaged and crisp. I also typically use the hottest cycle for everything, which again, probably isn’t great, but it seems to work for me.
$12? I’m glad I was already lying down when I read that. It was only $2 (total) per load when I was in college 15 years ago, and I was already trying to min-max it then. I’d go back to hand washing and line drying if I saw that.
The cost of doing laundry is insane. I started doing mine by hand at home.
I don’t.
And haven’t for 30+ years. I also wash everything on cold (my cold water is about 65°), and use the shortest cycle.
Minimal drying time at low temp.
The only time I separate is when there’s something new - that will get washed once by itself or with like colors to ensure the dye is set. And I avoid washing reds with whites.
Everything together in cold water
Same.
Most damage comes from heat, and rough handling, so I sort by structure/texture and wash almost everything on cold. And tumble dry on low, auto-sense.
We might go a few weeks between running batches so we can separate things out just because there is enough to fill out it’s own load.
The only color I wash separate is white so it can run hot and with bleach.
Undergarments and deli sites go together, might add leggings or lightweight tops to fill out a load
Socks are separate merely because we like fluffy wool socks and they will fill their own load. Otherwise they’d be with undergarments. Might run on warm if the foot stank is real bad.
Sturdy fabrics like denim all goes together in a denim cycle it’s just cold/cold with a heavy spin
Sweats and other heavy bulkys go together so they don’t twist up lighter clothes
Lightweight tops and button down shirts go together Lightweight bulkies might be get mixed in too.
Then general laundry is t-shirts, slacks leggings, etc. all
Towels get a hot cycle to get cut down on microbial growth. NEVER USE FABRIC SOFTENER/DDRYER SHEETS ON TOWELS. It makes things softer by adding oils THAT prevent them from absorbing water, which is the whole point of towels.
and bedding might get a warm cycle and pre wash to help cut through accumulated body grease, etc.
Undergarments and deli sites go together
Now I’m not allowed back in Subway.
Low heat alone will help a ton like you said, high heat seems to ruin everything and it’s just not needed unless unless it’s towels maybe.
I knew that fabric softener would stop towel absorption but I never thought about dryer sheets too. I thought those were just antistatic.
Also the “deli sites” typo made me laugh.
Bleach pile, no-bleach pile, performance outdoor pile (wool, polypro, nylon/down, whatever)
E: oh, and extra-bleach pile: kitchen towels, dog towels
Basically this
Easy. I only have black clothes. If there’s bleeding, I can’t see it.
Slap them all in the washer together and enjoy any new coloured clothes I have.
I have hot wash for towels and bed stuff. Cold for literally everything else. I’ve never had anything bleed, even new stuff.
I don’t separate colours, only new clothes I put in with towels, sheets or clothes that I wouldn’t care if colour bled.
I never wash with hot water, only warm or cold. Low heat dry and cold water washing is really the best effort-for-performance to get your clothes to last, you can hang dry some of them but I personally can’t be arsed.
You’re completely overthinking it. I keep white separate. Colors get their own basket. Denim goes in a separate piles after it really smells (it honestly shouldn’t be washed very much). Towels get their own load due to shedding. Sheets sometimes go in with the colors.
I do everything on cold. I use the plainest of plain detergent. If there’s a smell in polyester or nylon clothes I’ll put in some Clorox 2.
Dryer on low or medium until mostly dry. I’ve got a fancy one with a moisture sensor that actually works so I let that determine how long. Usually 25-30 minutes.
Citation: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/wirecutter-show-podcast-20240821-better-laundry-secret/
I keep and wash my whites separate in hot or warm water. Everything else goes together in cold water. Wool stuff gets air dried, while the rest gets the dryer.
Add a cup of white vinegar to the wash with the clothes if anything is extra smelly, during the wash cycle/beginning.
