I wash on cold (or warm) and stopped separating laundry by colour a while ago and now separate it by purpose. Like a load of my clothes, a load of my daughter’s clothes (that she loads and unloads herself, not raising someone that gets confused when she needs to clean her clothes when she moves out), towels get their own load (with added bleach, colourful ones just fade over time), same with bedsheets (no bleach here though).
If I remember, I’ll do new colourful clothes separately on their first wash with the assumption that most of the dye that is going to come out will come out during the first wash.
I went the other way. Never separated for ages, then I got some nice wool socks for work. I don’t care about colors running, but I do want to minimize wear on my delicate clothes, and need to use more expensive detergent for the wool. So now I do my whites on a more delicate cycle. And I’m suddenly finding my flimsy cheap-ass home socks and boxers that used to disintegrate in no time are lasting waayyyyy longer.
Another thing you can do is swap dryer sheets for felted wool balls. I’ve also added tennis balls. Helps dry them faster (I think because the balls create pockets of air for the moisture to get into as they tumble, and the wool seems to play a similar role as the sheets electrically, not sure if the tennis balls do the same or are neutral in that regard).
Apparently dryer sheets are rough on clothes. Though tbh I don’t know whether the increased mechanical damage from the tennis balls are easier on it than the chemical damage from the sheets. And I’ve never had boxers or socks disintegrate from the laundry, mine have failed more from wear and tear from use (with dryer sheet or without). So this might be more of an experiment recommendation than a “this will work better”.
I have never used any dryer sheets etc, and have tried to move away from the dryer entirely. The dryer itself is the biggest avoidable source of wear and tear, heat and unnecessary mechanical agitation. If I am early enough in doing my laundry on Saturday I hang it up, I only use the dryer now if I was late and need them dried before work on Monday.
I wash on cold (or warm) and stopped separating laundry by colour a while ago and now separate it by purpose. Like a load of my clothes, a load of my daughter’s clothes (that she loads and unloads herself, not raising someone that gets confused when she needs to clean her clothes when she moves out), towels get their own load (with added bleach, colourful ones just fade over time), same with bedsheets (no bleach here though).
If I remember, I’ll do new colourful clothes separately on their first wash with the assumption that most of the dye that is going to come out will come out during the first wash.
I went the other way. Never separated for ages, then I got some nice wool socks for work. I don’t care about colors running, but I do want to minimize wear on my delicate clothes, and need to use more expensive detergent for the wool. So now I do my whites on a more delicate cycle. And I’m suddenly finding my flimsy cheap-ass home socks and boxers that used to disintegrate in no time are lasting waayyyyy longer.
Another thing you can do is swap dryer sheets for felted wool balls. I’ve also added tennis balls. Helps dry them faster (I think because the balls create pockets of air for the moisture to get into as they tumble, and the wool seems to play a similar role as the sheets electrically, not sure if the tennis balls do the same or are neutral in that regard).
Apparently dryer sheets are rough on clothes. Though tbh I don’t know whether the increased mechanical damage from the tennis balls are easier on it than the chemical damage from the sheets. And I’ve never had boxers or socks disintegrate from the laundry, mine have failed more from wear and tear from use (with dryer sheet or without). So this might be more of an experiment recommendation than a “this will work better”.
I have never used any dryer sheets etc, and have tried to move away from the dryer entirely. The dryer itself is the biggest avoidable source of wear and tear, heat and unnecessary mechanical agitation. If I am early enough in doing my laundry on Saturday I hang it up, I only use the dryer now if I was late and need them dried before work on Monday.