Thursday, October 8, 2009

How to Do Laundry

Do I really have to separate colors when I do laundry? Generally, I toss laundry in and wash in cold. The process is easy, but the results are mixed at best.

Now The New York Times weighs in and it turns out that separating colors before washing really does make a difference. Cheryl Mendelson, author of “Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens," shares her tips for keeping clothes looking bright. Don't ask me how she managed to write a 416 page book about doing laundry! Seems my time might be better spent by doing laundry rather than reading about it.

Keeping like-colored clothing together maintains its brightness, Ms. Mendelson said. She recommends separating clothes into five categories: whites; lights and almost-whites (yellows and whites with prints); brights (reds, oranges and light blues); darks (purples and blues); and blacks and browns.


Sot now I'll feel guilty when I don't sort by color. Maybe my family will just have to accept their drab clothing.

Read the article for yourself.

How many of you separate your laundry before washing? And what do you do about plaids?

4 comments:

Kathy N. said...

Hmmm...I'm beginning to think I'll have to get my husband to start commenting on your blog because he does the laundry, too. He separates the colors. He gets our son, who is 5 years old, into the project. The two of them are good at it. Laundry hurts my back!

Anonymous said...

Isn't separating out the laundry common sense? She made money writing a book about it? I'm going to write 350 pages on cooking chicken before eating it, then maybe I'll make some money.
The dye catcher sheets really work, if you don't want to separate into 5 categories *rolls her eyes* - I go for lights and darks, and that's it.

Undomesticated Me said...

I guess I don't have any common sense because I don't separate my laundry! And Kathy -- I think your husband needs to give me some housekeeping/cooking tips. Maybe he can be a guest blogger?!

Bernie Bernstein said...

It's Me, Mom - I agree with anonymous...separate into lights and darks. If I separated into 5 categories I'd be doing laundry all day and my washing machine would have been replaced a dozen times. As it is, I do laundry almost every day and there's only two people at home now. I'm pained to think how much wash I did when you and your brother were younger and living at home.