simplified laundry

[Oliver's Mama]

In the never-ending laundry battle, I caved and decided I need to just do laundry every day- 1 load in the evening seems to do the trick, and everything is dumped together in cold. And surprisingly, it's made life so much simpler and easier- I don't have to keep tabs on when laundry is piling up or when to do it or stress that I may run out of clean napkins; I'm discovering we don't need nearly so many clothes and towels since whatever we use is fresh the next morning. Suddenly, there's no need for a drawer full of socks- 3 pairs will do. 1 pair of jeans will do. 1 towel per person will do. And less things means less clutter, more space, and easier dressing choices in the morning. Sure, things will wear down quicker, but more fun to replace just one item more frequently than have a closet full of half-worn-down stuff.
yay for a simple discovery!

[bezark]

I made this discovery a few months ago when we moved our washer and dryer to a more convenient location and it has been fabulous.

The first time I had all of the laundry done at once, I ran out of closet and drawer space and said "Holy crap, this is ridiculous!" and went on a purging rampage.

DH and I each have a set number of hangers in our closets and a rule that if we buy a new article of clothing, we have to get rid of one too.

I usually have to do more than one load per day because we don't use paper products, we CD and have white slipcovers on our furniture, but it's so much nicer than devoting an entire day or two per week/month to laundry, and it's great to have so much less clutter in the bedroom.

[StrawberryFields]

I made this same discovery!! And the funny thing is I WAS doing laundry almost every day, yet I still struggled with it backing up. For some reason it must have been the sorting that was causing problems. Now I just throw one load in a day, everything together. Well, except for kitchen laundry. I still separate that out and wash once or twice a week by itself. And crazily, the laundry now stays caught up!!

[zoebird]

we have been doing our laundry this way for some time, and it does make things a lot easier, for certain.

also, our laundry is in our bathroom, so when we take off dirty clothes, it goes right into the washer, and usually it's full the second or third day, so we do a load and that's that! easy done.

[treeoflife3]

I was always made fun of growing up for doing my laundry all mixed together on cold... now I'm definitely glad I do! Trying to make full loads of the separated colors was just too stressful when I was 11 and started my own laundry... it certainly hasn't changed!

I also don't have laundry baskets in the bedrooms... just one in a closet centerally located plus another in the mudroom by the machines just in case I get backed up (and the wetbag for the bathroom/family cloth) so I can just do a load when the basket is full as it being full (but not stuffed down full) is the perfect amount for my machine. When it is full, I do a load... since we rewear things a lot and don't shower daily, I sometimes don't have to do laundry every day!

[MrsH]

What about whites? I wash them by themselves and still struggle with keeping them white. How does it work out in this system?

[hillymum]

I haven't sorted laundry for years! The closest to sorting I do is towels and sheets together so no fuzz gets on clothes. Because I'm only doing one load every day or so it's easy to get it straight from the dryer and fold/ hang it up.

[goddessjulia]

Originally Posted by MrsH

What about whites? I wash them by themselves and still struggle with keeping them white. How does it work out in this system?

my whites are all brown

I should add, though, that I don't use any toxic nasties in the laundry, absolutely no matter what, so it doesn't matter how I wash white things. we're farmers so keeping things nice doesn't really make sense at our house

[Maine Mama Doula]

I'm still working on simplifying. We tend to have more than one load a day and i think it's because so much laundry doesn't make it to the drawers/closets and ends up back at the bottom of the stairs due to dog hair/confusion as to whether or not it is clean. We could save so much money and energy if we just downsized so that we could fit everything where it belongs.

We just scored a beautiful hardwood dresser for $10 at a moving sale so now everyone has their own. I'm hoping I can soon switch to a system that works!

[treeoflife3]

Originally Posted by MrsH

What about whites? I wash them by themselves and still struggle with keeping them white. How does it work out in this system?

my whites aren't stunning bright whites, but they aren't as grey as I've seen others whites to be. I don't know what it is I do though. I just wash everything on cold with a detergent with as few extras as possible (cloth diaper detergent ftw) and dry on low or in the sun. Maybe its the water? Mine isn't really hard.. I DO often use calgon though.

I DO separate when I get something new that will probably bleed.. first couple washes jeans and reds get separated, but after that it is a free for all.

[mommathea]

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Edited by mommathea - 5/11/11 at 4:38pm

[lifeguard]

I try to do a load every morning. I still separate though. We have a 3-way divided laundry hamper & sort into that. In the morning I throw in whichever one is the fullest.

As for whites - well, it doesn't seem to matter what I do my whites don't stay white - even when I use bleach so I'm not sure the trick to it.

[broodymama]

I don't separate either, never have (much to my mother's dismay).

I have one basket in the boys' room (though DS2 still sleeps with me), one basket in the girls' room, a divided hamper in our room for our clothes and for linens/towels, and a basket in the kitchen for dish towels, napkins & dishcloths. And the diaper pail, of course. For me it's easier to just separate by room. DS1 (almost 6) and DD1 (4) put away their own laundry. I let go of having everything put away neatly folded in favor of having less for me to put away myself.

[clutterwarrior]

I always separate most of the laundry, not sure I could mix delicates with other things, or they would all fall apart in two minutes, and my daughters have a lot of delicate tops, cardigans and skirts/dresses which I can't afford to replace, also for example the black stockings can't be washed with DS's expensive white school shirts or I would be paying for more!

I have done one change recently though which is washing the sheets with the towels and kitchen cloths, something I never used to do, but it seems to be fine.

[minta]

I've simplified in the opposite way: I now have an old-fashioned "wash day" and only do laundry once a week. I love it!

[ltlmrs]

Originally Posted by minta

I've simplified in the opposite way: I now have an old-fashioned "wash day" and only do laundry once a week. I love it!

We don't have a machine, but when I used to do laundry by hand I would do it daily. I have to say that most of the time I left things on the line till the next day and then just dumped the clean clothes in a hamper and didn't put them away. I really didn't need another daily chore. I think this would be the case even if I had a machine: I'd just forget that I have wet clothes in the washer.

I like being able to do the laundry and have it be done until next week.

The way I'm simplifying laundry is being ruthless with decluttering the clothes that we have and making sure that I get all the laundry done every Monday.

[mimid]

I've been doing this for a while and love it! After about 6 weeks dh complained that his undershirts won't so white so I pulled them out and washed them, his white undies and his white socks together with some bleach.

I wash our towels together with the family cloth. The cleaning rags are washed separately, too. I don't really sort, though, because the family cloth is kept in its own pails and the cleaning rags are kept under the kitchen sink.

[Gray's Mommy]

Originally Posted by MrsH

What about whites? I wash them by themselves and still struggle with keeping them white. How does it work out in this system?

Shout makes a product called Color Catcher & they actually work. If I remember to buy them, I throw one in a mixed load of laundry. The sheet absorbs the bleeding colors & helps keep things whiter. You are only supposed to use them once, but I use them about 4 times or so per sheet.