Many times we find ourselves pulling out clothes from the laundry that have shrunk, white clothes that have gone gray or shredded bits of tissue decorating our garments. We tend to forget that just dumping clothes into the machine does not always work! Here are a few guidelines to help you through your next laundry (and hopefully protect your clothes):

Sort the laundry - by color, by use (towels used for cleaning separate from guest towels), by fabric (according to need for hot or cold water, vigorous or less vigorous washing action, kind of bleach), by lintiness, by construction (lace-trimmed garments, for instance, need a gentle cycle), by degree of dirtiness. Assign them to specific loads.

Take everything out of pockets and cuffs. Look for clothes that need repair and don't wash them until they are fixed. Close zippers and other fasteners. Take off unwashable attached items (removable shoulder pads, decorations). Wash all pieces of sets of clothing (a matching blouse and skirt, for example) each time.

Pretreat by rubbing dirty spots with concentrated, dissolved detergent. If you pretreat with bleach, do not soak too long. Also treat stains. Most laundry washes effectively in warm water, and some washes well in cold water. Using cold water saves energy, minimizes shrinkage, and keeps colors bright.

Don't overload the washer - clothes should be able to move freely, or dirt removal will be uneven. Fill a front-loading washer only to the top of the door. Fill a top-loading washer to the top row of holes, if the washer has them. Vary sizes of items in the load. Delicate garments, no matter how small the load, should be washed with water level set to medium; otherwise they may shrink, wrinkle and develop pulled seams.

Use the correct bleach or none at all, according to the clothing labels. In hot or warm water, you can use granular detergent. In cold water, you need a liquid or predissolved detergent.

When clothes are dry, take them out of the dryer and hang them up or fold them immediately.