Just some pointers on laundry

I have found a number of helps in doing laundry that I think would be good to share. I can't cover how to treat every situation; I have a couple of books I keep in my laundry room for those more obscure problems.
First, hopefully you know to categorize clothes into white, medium, dark, and delicate clothes. White can be washed in hot water (more costly but it's more sanitizing too); medium, dark and delicate can be washed in cold water. If you keep them categorized, though, the colors of the darker ones won't make the others look dingy. The delicate ones need to be washed at a more gentle setting.
If you have a stain that has gone through the wash and the dryer without being treated, usually people think it can't be gotten out. I use Zout--it almost always works. Does that sound like a commercial or what?! Still, it's true.
For everyday spot cleaning, a few years back I learned that if you take a new empty spray bottle and fill it 1/4 full with liquid laundry detergent, 1/4 with ammonia, 1/4 with vinegar, and the rest with water, it makes a great laundry pretreating spray, and it's sure cheaper than any other laundry treatment! (I buy white vinegar by the gallon--it's only about $2 or $3; ammonia in the largest bottle I've found, about 1/2 gallon; and liquid detergent, whatever is cheapest.)
If you have stinky clothes, spray them with vinegar. You would think that would make it worse, but it helps get it out. If the whole wash is bad, just put 1/4 c. or so of vinegar in with the laundry soap. Vinegar is also good on grass and coffee stains.
Never mix ammonia and bleach--they can let off a potentially deadly gas.
Also, I buy the very cheapest powdered laundry detergent. If you need perfumes and blueing and all the silly stuff they put in the other, you could add them separately, but if you don't need them and all you need is to get the clothes clean, plain cheap detergent is good. It's also better for those who are sensitive to the strong perfumes. Even with my newer washer and dryer, I use the cheap powder though they "recommend" a certain costly type of Tide liquid detergent that's supposed to foam less. Only one time I had a problem; the washer just shut down and wouldn't go. By the time the repairman came out it worked fine--because the powder had clumped in the passageway and then dissolved. If you have that problem, just add water and wait, and try again later.
Another thing--I rarely use as much detergent as they imply you need. I replace the scoop that comes with the detergent with a smaller scoop. Repairmen will tell you that you don't need so much.
With white clothes, I add just a little bit of bleach with each wash and give it an extra rinse to avoid there being residue. You certainly don't need as much bleach as they say on the bottle! Too much wears out the clothes and makes them scratchy.
And there you are. Do I sound authoritative? I'm not. I just have learned this stuff through time. Happy laundering!