How do you deal with your dirty kitchen laundry? - Page 2

[clutterwarrior]

Just wondering, what is 'family cloth'?

[akwifeandmomma]

Family Cloth = Toilet Cloth.

[clutterwarrior]

Originally Posted by akwifeandmomma

Family Cloth = Toilet Cloth.

Oh you mean like toilet paper?

[bluebunny]

I wash kitchen towels, placemats, and napkins separately from all other laundry. I don't like to think of the things that I eat off of or wipe mouths or counters with washing with the stuff that wipes bottoms or dog vomit. Yuck!

My laundry room is right off of my kitchen. I hang wet kitchen rags/towels on the rack in the laundry room until dry and then put in the laundry bag for kitchen things. Then I wash all together when all but one are dirty. (I have about twenty kitchen towels that I use for everything in the kitchen so when 19 are dirty, I wash.)

[sunnysandiegan]

I have a small three-rod metal rack on the cabinet door under my kitchen sink. I use the bottom one to hang my gloves; middle one to hang DD's gloves; and top one to hang the wrung-out wet kitchen dish cloth. When it is dry, it goes to the powder room to sit on the counter until the next load of laundry. The position of the powder room sink counter is such that no one can see it while casually walking by, so I'm okay with this. We put anything that needs special laundry attention here and I am well-trained to look here before doing the next load of laundry.

We rinse all rags/cloths well before air-drying. Then, we wash them with the appropriate color load. Our dish cloths are bright colors (100% cotton) and I wash them with our dark clothes (cool or cold wash, depending on soil level). All other rags are white/light gray from old t-shirts and get washed with towels or whites (hot or warm wash, depending on soil level and sunshine level for drying/"bleaching").

As for placemats and cloth napkins and kitchen drying towels, those all stay in place (towels are hung on oven door) until I wash them. When I grab them for a load (along with the appropriate colors/fabrics to fill the washer), then I put fresh ones in their places from my stack above the dryer. Once laundered, they get folded and put at the bottom of the stack. I wash the napkins and kitchen towels most. The placemats get shaken off more than washed.

Three-quarters of our rags live in a magnetic open-top box attached to the side of our dryer. DD can grab them whenever she needs one and then places it in the powder room sink to be rinsed and air-dried before laundering later on (although this summer she is learning to rinse it herself and hang it outside on the line to air-dry before laundering). The other 25% of our rags live on a shelf in our linen closet upstairs at kid-friendly height. Any of us grab those when we are upstairs and need a rag; use it, rinse it, and drape it across the laundry sorter to air-dry. Once dry, someone knocks it into the whites.

[montlake]

The door going into our garage is in the kitchen and I keep a small dollar store laundry basket sitting right outside the door, in the garage. I just crack the door and toss them in, then when it is full I wash. When I was a kid my stepmother just threw them right into the washing machine and leaves them, then just washes them with whatever load she is doing next, but I don't like to mix with the regular laundry.

[goddessjulia]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

There is no way I'm wiping my counters with washcloths washed with diaper laundry.

I totally wash mine with the diapers!

sometimes the wet kitchen towels, or a wet bath towel have ended up buried in the basket too long. we've ruined a few perfectly good clothing items this way this summer

[Masel]

I have a mesh bag that hangs from the underside of the counter. This happens to be near an air vent so if the towel hasn't dried out completely it doesn't get mildewy.
My laundry is no where near my kitchen. I'll take the basket of whites and stop off by the kitchen and put the towels and stuff into the whites basket just before it all goes in the washer. This is the one load that gets washed on hot. It's mostly undies, gym socks and the occasional white cotton blouse or tee.

[OkiMom]

I have this old pink plastic storage container thats lid got broken. I was going to throw it out but had the inspiration to put it on my dryer (my laundry and dryer is in the kitchen) and throw my towels in there. I wash the towels i use on my counters with my regular laundry but if its used in the bathroom, patio or to wipe up oopsies then they get thrown in the towel/sheets basket and I wash them when I wash bath towels or sheets.
Only laundry I won't wash cleaning towels with is cloth diapers. My girls skin is really sensitive and I worry about a reaction since I can't convince my DH not to use commercial cleaners. He will go out and buy cleaner instead of using the homemade cleaner I made and then he complains hit doesn't do as good a job as the stuff I made.

[Peppermint Leaf]

I have a small plastic bucket under my kitchen sink -- and I only wash the kitchen stuff by themselves-- I dont mix them with anything else... they are washed at a high heat sometimes with a little bit of bleach.

Usually about 1x week

[clutterwarrior]

This thread prompted me to do a search and I found this which may be of interest...

http://www.ehow.com/how_5573464_kill...g-machine.html

[sbgrace]

I like to wash kitchen stuff on it's own. So I have a laundry basket that I put the kitchen stuff in. Wet cloths hang on the side of the basket and I push them in when they are dry. Our laundry area is behind a bifold door/pantry type area in the kitchen so it sits on top of the washer but I think I'd do something similar (maybe under the kitchen sink) if our laundry was elsewhere. Actually, I have a small wastebasket for my boys to throw their cloths in after drying hands.

We go through a lot of kitchen laundry because we dry hands on fresh kitchen washcloths rather than a communal towel hanging up, use kitchen cloths as napkins and to wash faces before eating if needed, as well as the typical wiping the table and drying dishes stuff so we go through a lot. But I purchased enough that I have a wash load before I run out. That way I can wash them on their own without wasting water or my time.

[Jen-o]

I have a small laudry baskiet next to the buffet in the dining room. I throw all napkins, dishclothes, placemats, baby face clohes and bibs in there, and when it is full I take it downstairs and do a hot wash. I usually let dishclothes dry over the tap/edge of sink overnight, and tea towels hang over the stove handle before putting them in the basket so there is nothing wet in there. I usually do a load every 2 weeks.

[StephandOwen]

That is really funny to see all the different ways people do it!

For us, our laundry is right by/in the kitchen. When I have a dirty towel or wash cloth I throw it right into the washing machine. I do the same with any random clothes that are downstairs. Friday is laundry day so whatever is in the washer on Friday gets washed first But I have no issues washing kitchen laundry with clothing laundry.

[CatsCradle]

Wow. I never even thought in terms of "kitchen laundry!"

We have three towels and two dish rags that we use all week, and they get thrown into the rest of the laundry on Sundays (dark stuff with darks; light stuff with whites). We have three bath towels we use all week too. Then they get hung back up for another week. Perhaps that is unsanitary but I've been doing it all my life, including at my parents' house. I'll go hide under a chair now.

[Aubergine68]

We have a plastic bin under the learning tower which lives in front of our sink for any kitchen laundry.

Our washer is broken so I've been going to the laundromat every few days. I couldn't stand the wet cloths (we go through a lot and it is hot summer weather) so I swished them around in hot water, soaked them overnight in the kitchen sink with laundry soap, rinsed the next day, then hung outside to dry. Very easy and they seemed clean enough with the bleaching action of the sun. I may continue this practice.

[Lilypie32]

My laundry room is right off my kitchen (through a door) and I have a small metal drying rack out there that holds anything wet. Whenever I do a load of laundry, whatever is on the rack goes in with the load.

[sapphire_chan]

Huh, now that I have a washer and dryer where I can select different load sizes instead of paying a set amount for a set size of load, should I start worrying about all this sorting? Oh wait, I stopped sorting before moving back to apartment living.

Yeah, no signs of plague around here, I think you'll be safe washing the dishtowels with the socks.

I always use a hamper with vented sides. Like those popup mesh hampers or a laundry basket. Wet things get really nasty if you leave them closed up in plastic.

[babyjonesmama]

Wow! Everyone seems so organized with it. The real problem for us is that DH has some OCD issues, and goes through A LOT of washcloths. I will come home from a day at work to find about 4 wet wash cloths, probably each having been used only once, in a pile on the back of the sink. I personally would use one wash cloth all day long, rinsing it out in between uses, and then life would be easier. But he is different. So I'm going to try to find some kind of basket or thing we can hang them over the side of, so they can dry. Otherwise they are getting all mildewy and moldy and I'm just going to end up throwing them out. Do other people bleach their kitchen stuff that isn't white, BTW? I always feel like I'm not supposed to bleach stuff unless it is white. But lately I have been bleaching the kitchen things because they are so nasty. I think I'm going to just get rid of anything that has color, or mold, and then get all new white washcloths and towels, dry them before going in a basket, and bleach when needed.

[EdnaMarie]

I put mine in the laundry with the rest, but I always worry about the "no oil" thing in the dryer. I think I will have to start washing them separate but it's such a pain!