Washing clothes is one of the basic chores that you need to learn in life, but there are a lot of questions and myths that aren’t taught when washing clothes, especially around the separation of clothes and running colors. Tor from Organizing.TV has answered a few questions to really clear up how we should be washing our clothes.
Do you really need to separate colors when washing clothes?
“It won’t be the end of the world if you don’t, but separation really does help. With a wash here and there, you will likely get away with not separating your clothes, but separating your washing by colors comes with a lot of benefits.
The first one is obviously running colors, a stray red sock can turn your entire collection of white shirts pink if not careful, but separating can also help with the way your clothes are washed. White clothes can be washed at a higher temperature than darker clothes, and different materials will also benefit from different wash cycles (eg. denim can benefit from hotter cycles, while satin will benefit from cooler temperatures).”
How strict do you have to be with separation?
“Just separating the whites and darks should be fine, the real problem colors are reds and oranges, and they should be kept away from whites as much as possible. As long as you are keeping your whitest whites away from your problem colors, you should be fine.
If you don’t really have a lot of whites in your wash or don’t really have a lot of reds and oranges, then you should be fine whatever you do.”
I don’t have enough clothes to justify two washes, what shall I do?
“Color catches work wonderfully and can be bought easily from sites like Wal-Mart and Amazon, they do the job of separation without having to actually separate your washing. However, they aren’t guaranteed to work if you’ve got a load of problem colors in with a load of pure whites, so try and avoid picking up these clothes, or washing them together.”
