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If you’ve got a laundry expert in your life, they probably have a laundry-sorting system that they swear by—and for good reason. Sorting can make your laundry cleaner, brighten your colors, and shorten your laundry day. But there are plenty of different sorting systems out there: lights and darks, fabric type, weight, soil level, and more. It’s difficult to sort through all of the options to develop a method that works for you.
Don’t stress. Our experts at Charlie’s Soap have broken down the best laundry sorting methods. Here are our pro insights on why and how to sort laundry for the best results.
Benefits of Properly Sorting Your Laundry
Your clothes affect each other in the wash. Bright colors are famous for spreading like an infectious disease from one garment to the next. In a washer, rough, bulky fabrics clash with delicate materials, which may damage the fabric fibers. Tossing everything into one load probably won’t ruin your clothes, but it may affect the appearance and longevity of your laundry over time. Light clothes will hold onto the transferred dye, gradually turning them dingy and gray. Soft clothes may be worn down by more abrasive or soiled garments. These are some of the biggest problems solved by proper sorting.
Sorting your laundry also forces you to pay closer attention to each garment, so you’re more likely to treat stains or target residue. It’s important to catch stains before drying them to prevent stains from setting, so it’s always best to treat stains on their first run through the washer. While sorting laundry, it’s easy to identify soiled garments and quickly spritz affected areas with a stain-fighting spray. You can even sort your soiled clothes into a single load and tackle the stains by adding a scoop of Charlie’s Soap fabric-safe oxygen bleach into the batch.
Another big benefit of sorting is that it prevents overcrowding. Extra large loads of laundry may seem like a time-saver, but it can actually end up taking more time in the long run. If you wash too many items at one time, you’re likely to have at least a few that have not been properly cleaned. When your laundry is stuffed into a crowded washer, there’s no room to agitate the water and the cleaning product. Chances are, you’ll end up with a load of half-washed clothes covered in detergent residue; however, when you sort your laundry, it forces you to separate your laundry pile into smaller, more manageable loads for washing.
Laundry Sorting Tips:
Sort Like with Like
The most basic rule for laundry sorting is to sort like with like. If you don’t want to get too bogged down in the details, this is a great way to intuitively separate your batches. You can always sort by lights and darks (though color isn’t always the most important consideration) or by fabric type. Group heavy fabrics like denim together and separate lightweight fabrics like cotton.
Keep Delicates Separate
Another quick and easy rule for sorting is to wash your delicates separately. Delicate fabrics like silk, lace, and chiffon often require special care. Be sure to check the garment care instructions on delicate materials and stick with gentle wash cycles. You may even want to reconsider your detergent. Many regular detergents and stain treatments are filled with caustic chemicals that may actually damage your delicate fabrics. Luckily, Charlie’s Soap laundry products, from our stain solutions to our detergents, are gentle enough to clean even the most delicate fabrics, making it an ideal choice for both delicate and regular garments alike.
Consider Washing Machine Temperature
One big thing to keep in mind when you’re sorting your laundry is the temperature at which you’ll be washing and drying the garments. In particular, you’ll want to keep an eye out for garments that may need cold-water treatments. Conveniently, fabric types often correlate with washing and drying temperature, so you can usually get a rough idea of a garment’s needs just by their material—but you’ll want to check your garments to make sure that you’re washing them correctly.
No matter what temperature you wash your laundry in, Charlie’s Soap laundry detergents are a great resource. Our natural cleaning formula works in both cold and hot water, so you don’t need to worry about residual detergent lingering in your cold water washes. The only exception is using ice water from the tap in Minneapolis in January. When it’s that extremely cold, use the “cool” setting on your washer or avoid the “tap cold” and use warm if “cool” isn’t an option.
Use More than One Laundry Hamper
Using multiple hampers is a practical tip that can be a big time-saver. Instead of sorting your clothes all at once, utilize multiple laundry baskets and sort as you wear. There’s no need to overdo it—for most people, two hampers do it. By adding an extra hamper, you can begin to sort your laundry into two major groups, like lights and darks or delicates and heavy fabrics, which gives you a head start on laundry day.
Keep it Laundry Simple with Charlie’s Soap
At Charlie’s Soap, we’re committed to keeping it simple. That’s why we offer laundry solutions that work with a variety of fabrics at both high and low temperatures. Our products will keep your laundry routine short and sweet. No matter how you choose to sort your laundry, we’ve got what you need to achieve an unbeatable clean. Explore stain solutions, detergents, household cleaners, and more from Charlie’s Soap.
