Even if you plan on washing everything in cold water, you still want to separate your whites from your darks to keep your whites from getting dingy.
Your white load: Fill it with white tees, tops, underwear, and socks. If this load is small, you can add white sheets or white towels to make a load. Sheets and towels are best rid of germs in hot water, which is also fine for these whites. However, if you prefer to do your white clothes in warm water, then keep the two loads separate. These are also the clothes that you may want to brighten with bleach. Keep detergent with bleach on hand just for these loads. For a natural, no-chemical whitener, try oxygen bleach. And keep in mind that bleach works best on white cotton. Tops that are a blend of cotton and, say, polyester or Lycra, could turn gray if exposed to bleach.
Your dark load: Colored tees and tops, exercise bras, yoga pants, colored underwear, and socks. Basically any clothes that aren't white can go here. Got a new dark item of clothing? Wash it separately first. Make sure you turn pants and tops inside out before washing to reduce color loss.
Your jeans or other dark groupings: If you have a lot of jeans, make them their own load. That way they won't bleed out on any of your other darks. Plus, since you're likely air-drying them, you won't accidentally toss them into the dryer with your other darks. Likewise, if your family tends to have tons of pink or tons of red clothing, make these a separate load for peace of mind.
As you sort, attack stains: Quickly examine each piece of clothing for stains and spray with a spotting product. With today's spotting products, you don't need to worry about letting a remover soak into your clothes before washing. In fact, don't make the mistake of spraying a stained item too far in advance, such as when you take it off and toss into the laundry basket. Leaving such a heavy-duty product to set into your clothing could cause color loss, and stain removers actually need to get moist to work instead of drying out on your stained top, so to effectively get a stain out of a garment, treat with remover and wash the item as soon as possible.
Yes, your clothes are now clean, but don't switch off yet. Transferring clothes from your washer to dryer is a crucial step. To avoid shrunken sweaters and permanent stains, it's important that you do a quick but careful inspection of each item in your load.
Shake out every item of clothing. This will reduce drying time, wrinkling, and possibly stretching if you normally throw a garment wadded or twisted into the dryer.
Look for stains. While you're shaking out each item, eyeball for stains that didn't come out. If you find one, pull it out for a rewash. Once clothes go through the dryer, most stains become permanent and may only fade at best.
Soften up. For static-free, soft clothing, using dryer sheets during the drying cycle tends to beat out liquid fabric softeners in the wash because it's just easier. If you use dryer sheets, cut them in half, suggests Chris Allsbrooks of Zips, a national drying-cleaning company. Not only will you get twice the lift out of the dryer sheet box, you'll also reduce the risk of getting any softener spots — oily-like stains — on your clothes. The green way: Use two clean tennis balls if you prefer to avoid the chemicals in dryer sheets to effectively soften your clothes.
Select your temperature. Less is more — again. Just like smaller loads are better than larger ones, and less soap is better than more, less heat extends the life of your clothes.
Lattes, sodas, orange juice — oh, my! Most likely none of us will be able to drink or eat without the occasional spill onto our clothing. Keep these solutions at the ready in your back pocket.
First, attack the stain as soon as possible. If you're out of the house, you can use one of those stain-remover pens. Just make sure that you wash the item that night — don't toss it into your hamper. Otherwise, the bleach from the pen could discolor your clothing. If you're at home, apply stain remover to the item and handwash or wash (and find a new outfit to wear!). Moving quickly like this should do the trick for ridding clothes of most beverage and food stains.
For more difficult stains, try the following:
For oil or grease stains. Who remembers to wear an apron when they cook? The result is that your clothes get frustrating little oil spots. Get them out with this homemade oil remover that Queen of Clean Linda Cobbs swears by: Mix together 8 tablespoons warm water, 1 tablespoon any liquid dish soap, and 1 tablespoon glycerin (find this product in the hand cream section of a drugstore). Pour into a squirt bottle, keep it in your laundry room, and shake before using. Wash item after spraying.
For bloodstains: Pour a bit of 3-percent hydrogen peroxide through it and wash as usual.
For pen ink stains: Blot with a wet cloth and then spray the spot with hairspray and continue to blot. When you can't blot any more ink out, rub a little liquid laundry detergent into the spot and then wash in cold water. Stain still there? Repeat the hairspray step once more and wash.
For a dried stain: Didn't notice a stain on a garment until after you pulled it out of the dryer? These can be the toughest stains to get out. Your best chance is to first saturate the stain with a bit of a degreaser home cleaning product. Then rub with a toothbrush on the inside and outside of the stain. Rinse, spray again, and let set for 15 to 30 minutes.
