I usually make 3 piles of laundry to wash according to color and not fabric: black clothes go in one pile, every other clothe I own goes into a second pile (colors white to navy blue). The third pile is for my bed linens and towels, (100% cotton, so I can wash them to 140°F)
Now, I don’t know if I should make more piles instead, because my bed linens and clothes sometimes combine several colors and I don’t know if they bleed and I’m slowly degrading them:
I was thinking of making a pile for black clothes, one for white clothes, one for every other color clothe I own (I have purple, yellow and green stuff plus denims), one for my bed linens (all of them are mixed colors, including dark and clear colors like red, orange, green and black in one piece) and another pile for my towels (one color only, but different ones, including green, purple, white, yellow and navy blue).
Regarding fabrics, I have 100% cotton, 100% merino wool, 100% polyester and mixed fabrics, so the number of piles can grow considerably.
I live alone, so sometimes I can need a lot of time to get a laundry worth pile of stuff to wash if I create as many piles as I suggested here.
I may be overthinking it but I’d like to do the laundry the right way and keep the stuff I already have in good condition. How do you do it?
I separate by the kind of detergent and cycle a thing is run on.
Gym/sleep t-shirts, denim, towels all get a hot wash with oxi-clean and fabric softener because I love the smell come at me bro.
Elastics - things that are mostly elastic/spandex/polyester - socks, underwear, leggings, sports bras. They get a hot/cold wash with a pre soak and extra rinse. The they get the free and clear detergent that washes cleanest and leaves no smell.
Daily wear/delicates - gentle cold wash with woolite with low tumble dry or hang dry. I only ever have like 4 of these with each wash. Generally the nice, more expensive stuff I wear in public that I want to last a long time.
I don’t care what color anything is.