Here are my steps for doing laundry:

1. Allow clothing to pile up in laundry basket for at least 2 weeks.

2. Pile dirty clothing into large trash bags.

3. Heave clothing-filled trash bags across street to dry cleaner, cursing when bags inevitably rip, sending various unmentionables flying in full view of construction workers tearing up Second Avenue for new subway stop.

4. Pay through nose for privilege of leaving laundry in someone else’s hands.

5. Forget about said laundry for at least one more week, at which point husband remarks that there is not a sock in the house.

6. Pick up laundry and realize that someone has left tar-like substance in a pocket, which is now attractively adorning expensive sheets.

So I’m not an expert on this stuff. But Cheryl Mendelson, author of Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes and Linens, is. Julia sent me this article on Ms. Mendelson’s book from the Times, and if I’m ever in a position where I have a washer/dryer in my house (please?), I’ll be sure to incorporate some of the following tips:

-Separate clothes into five categories: whites, lights and almost-whites (yellows and whites with prints), brights (reds, oranges, and light blues), darks (purples and blues), and blacks and browns.

-Test dyed items that may bleed by dipping a corner into a glass of water mixed with a tbsp of detergent at wash temperature; if the water colors, the item must be washed separately.

-Err towards using less detergent, except in areas with hard water.