Darks and Whites

Darrell asks me why I still don't sort darks and whites when I do laundry, since I know you're supposed do.

I've been doing laundry for 15 years now, and my clothes have been fine.  Also, it's kinda a hassle.  I already juggle sorting "really dirty" and "can wear again" between my basket, pop up hamper, and the space on top of my shelf. 

Darrell tells me that, just as you use warm water to wash dishes, hot water makes your clothes cleaner.  But hot water makes colors run, so that's why you use it for whites.  And it's really important to get socks and underwear clean.

Well that just opens up all sorts of problems!  What if you have colored underwear and socks?  Do you wash those with the whites so they'll be cleaner (and run the risk of pink socks, which has happened even washing cold-cold in our family), or do you wash them with the darks? 

Darrell tells me he washes his black socks with darks.  And to my concern that I don't have enough white clothes to make even a small load, he says they don't have to be all white.  Grays work too.  Light colors.

But what about yellow?  I just got a cute new yellow tanktop.  But what if it turns all my socks yellow?  

I am just making excuses.  But it's hard to change the way you've been doing laundry after so long.  And it feels like this will complicate the whole system. 

But mostly, I'll admit that I just don't know what warm water will do to my clothes.  Cold-cold has been safe for fifteen years, but what if my clothes get warped and shrinked but stretched in hot water? 

Though I guess I don't wear a lot of whites, that's not a problem for all my colored shirts that are still being washed cold anyway.  

This is so complicated.