Separating laundry is one of the most tedious of all house chores, and most people consider it right up there with ironing. Separating laundry – and ironing – is something that your parents or grandparents may have spent a lot of their time on, yet an increasing amount of people don’t do it today. Should you separate all your laundry before washing it (or hauling everything that’s dirty to the laundromat)?
Do You Actually Need To Separate Laundry?
Here’s what to know about separating laundry, and what can happen to your clothes if you don’t.
What Does “Separating Laundry” Mean?
The act of separating clothing and other items can mean one of three things. You’re either:
- Separating laundry by color,
- Separating laundry by type, or,
- Separating laundry by fabric
The second (by type) is usually reserved for washing underwear separate from jackets, or choosing to wash a batch of blankets rather than shirts.
Separating laundry by fabric is only necessary when there are drastic changes in what you’re washing from one item to the next. Fine, delicate fabric like silk shouldn’t necessarily be washed with anything made of wool.
Separating your items by color is what most people refer to when they talk about separating laundry, and it’s not as complicated as it seems. Laundry should be split up by light versus dark-colored clothing – or sometimes, new items versus old ones.
Separating Laundry By Color
There’s a good reason why someone might need to split up their new items from their older ones before placing them in the washing machine. In some cases, new items haven’t been given their final wash from the factory. You should always assume that something straight off the shelf needs a separate wash cycle before mixing them in with other clothes.
The first couple of washes, usually for items like denim pants, creates a mess of dye that tends to stick to whatever is around it.
What about separating dark items from light ones?
When sorting laundry, don’t wash white clothes with dark clothing. Darker colors should be separate, just in case the colors bleed.
Again, this isn’t necessary every time you’d like to do your washing, but it’s going to be necessary for any drastic color changes. Sometimes the dye on darker items can wash out, and end up turning things that should be light into things that aren’t their original color.
Why Most People Don’t Own an Iron (Anymore)
Most people today don’t iron their clothing, though the thought would have been absolutely horrifying in your grandparents’ day and age. Ironing has become an unnecessary task, now that clothing has been designed from fabric people actually want to wear.
Unless it’s a three-piece suit, there’s no need to spend hours ironing your jeans.
We’re not in the seventies, and you’re not in the boardroom.
As for extreme ironing, that still happens to be a widely popular sport for some reason.
The Verdict: To Separate Laundry or Not?
Separate new items from old ones, and separate the darkest items from the light ones. Anything that goes into the wash should emerge the same shade it went in – just cleaner!
Additional Information: The Art of Washing Different Fabrics and Colors
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