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.