There are many people who’ve just started to live on their own who don’t know how to do laundry. When they lived at home, they would throw their dirty clothes in the hamper and later that day, all these clean clothes would appear in their closet courtesy of the parental units.

The good news is that doing a basic load of laundry isn’t that complicated. Here are some laundry tips:

• Check the Labels
Tons upon tons of clothes have been ruined because the owner didn’t read the labels. “Dry clean only,” means that the item needs to be taken to the dry cleaners. “Hand wash” means the item really does need to be washed by hand or the hand wash cycle if the machine has one. Other labels tell the owner whether the clothes need to be washed in cold water or whether they can be tumbled dry or dried flat. Pay attention to these labels.

• Separate the Clothes
Separate out dark or brightly colored clothing from whites. The dye may stain or dull the white clothing. If the clothing is red, it will definitely stain. To be on the safe side, items of red clothing should only be washed together.

• Remove Stains Before Putting Clothes the Wash
Remove stains before putting clothes in the wash. If a stain is still noticeable after washing, it should be removed before the item is dried. Drying sets stains, and ironing makes stains pretty permanent. Look online to find out how to get rid of certain types of stains from certain types of fabric.

• Take Clothes Out of the Dryer Right Away
Do not leave clothes in the dryer for a long period of time because they will wrinkle or suffer other types of damage. Take them out, fold them, and put them away.

Other laundry tips are to add a cup of vinegar to an empty washing machine, and let it run for a cycle, and remove mildew with a solution of one part bleach and two parts warm water. Vinegar reduces hard water that can leave clothes dingy or even yellow and diluted bleach kills mildew. Mildew is a problem in a laundry area that’s poorly ventilated or for a machine that uses cold water all of the time. Hot water kills mildew as well as dust mites, so bedclothes should ideally be washed in hot water.

These tips on how to do laundry should keep a person’s clothing sound and good-looking for years and avoid those avoidable catastrophes.