5 Laundry Sorting Tips

"Separate brights and whites" is the mother of all laundry rules. Everyone knows it (we hope), and everyone probably breaks it from time to time -- either by accident or out of sheer laziness -- and pays for it with a load of pink socks and undershirts. No matter what your laundry-sorting habits, this is one you really have to follow, no ifs, ands or buts.

If it's never occurred to you to sort your laundry by weight, this tip might have just thrown you into a tailspin. But trust us, it doesn't take too much brainpower and won't add hours to your sorting time. It's a good idea to sort by weight so thinner fabrics don't get damaged by heavier ones, and so that everything in the load has about the same drying time. The main items that should be washed separately are jeans, towels and sheets -- not so hard, right?

For delicate items, like lingerie, that can get snagged, stuck and tangled if they're washed with everything else, use a mesh bag (with a zipper, not Velcro). Mesh bags are also a sure cure for missing-sock syndrome: Throw socks into one of them instead of the hamper, and wash the bag on the delicate cycle.

Speaking of mesh bags, here's an absolutely ingenious idea: Put mesh laundry bags into your hampers and throw the whole shebang into the washer. This tip is especially useful if you have older kids: Put a "whites" and "colors" hamper into each kid's room, have them toss them into the machine when the bags are full, then return the bags when it's all clean and dry -- for them to fold!

While you're sorting (or, ideally, as you're tossing dirty clothes in the hamper), keep an eye out for tough stains. The earlier you can catch and pre-treat a stain, the better; if a badly soiled shirt makes it all the way through the wash cycle and the dryer, the stain might never come out. Keeping all of your stained items together makes it easier to check everything after the wash cycle and ensure that all those dirty spots are gone.