For laundry I always throw everything together and have never had a problem (unless there is something that is a bright color and it's never been washed before). I am able to re-sell almost all of the kids' clothes when they are outgrown so I assume that my lazy laundry methods don't end up making the clothes look too bad. smile

For bins, you could buy one of those rolling carts with pull out drawers, since you don't care how it looks.