this may seem silly

[numom499]

but one thing i have done to simplify my laundry is just doing a load whenever i have enough of any clothes. I mean, I don't sort anymore. I wash everything on cold. This might seem crazy to some or duh to others. But when I let go of the whole sorting thing, my laundry life got a lot easier

Oh...except for diapers.

[Cinnamon]

I could never wash everything on cold. And I could never wash everything together. I have to sort colors and wash the towels on hot. Anything else would be yuck to me.

But if it works for you go for it

[broodymama]

I'm doing the same thing and it has really helped me keep up with the laundry. I wash towels and diapers separately but that's it.

[Wolfmeis]

I want to keep my colors purty! If the whole point is to simplify, taking the best care of the clothes I have now makes sense to me. I won't wash jeans with delicate shirts, ya know?

I am so glad it works for you though!

[kamilla626]

I kind of do the same thing.

I do towels, socks, undies and dipes in hot, but if I have a heap of different colored casual clothes that aren't super dirty, I just throw them all in warm wash / cold rinse.

If I know that the colors won't run, it doesn't seem like a big deal. The green t-shirts, red polo shirts, jeans, khakis, and dh's button-down shirts just go in together.

There are linen things and other delicates that I keep separate, but so much of our stuff is well-worn casual clothing, it doesn't make sense to sort each thing.

[wednesday]

Back when it was just me and I didn't have many clothes, I did exactly what you do! Especially when washing at laundromats, like heck was I going to pay to do two separate half-loads!

But what we do now is this. We have a 3-bag sorter like this that fits nicely just behind the door of our bedroom. One bag holds darks, one holds lights, and the third holds linens/towels. We drop clothes into the right bag as we undress, and when a bag is nearly full it goes to the washing machine. It makes it so easy to stay on top of the laundry!

I use a separate basket tucked inside my closet for delicates, and a separate basket in DS' room--almost all of his clothes qualify as "darks" so I just dump his basket into the dark bag in our room every few days.

[Wolfmeis]

I freaking LOVE my three-sorter!

[jgale]

All of our clothes are so old that nothing ever runs.
We wash everything on warm with a cold rinse (my husband thinks we're still sorting, but I haven't sorted anything but diapers in years).

[ollineeba]

Sort? What's that? :LOL
I always just throw everything in together (except for red!) and wash on cold and it always comes out great.. no problems yet.
Diapers, obviously, get washed separately.. but that's it.

[moss]

i wash everything together on cold too. i only buy clothes that can be washed together with the exception of a few sets of 'dressing up' clothes~those get washed seperately on the rare occasions that they get worn. hm, and dh washes his work clothes separately too. everything gets line dried, so i figure that the sun will kill germs. i also always do a vinegar rinse, so that'll kill bugs too.

[LianneM]

I only sort when I've let the laundry go too long for one load :LOL

I try to do a load a day - diapers, clothes, or towels. Sheets get washed on Saturday. It works SO well for us because if I let it build it, it becomes overwhelming.

I'm also working on folding/hanging clothes out of the dryer. It's HARD but I've managed to do it about half the time so far...

[numom499]

We don't own any "delicates " And as far as the germ factor, I don't really think of anything getting germy, ykwim? Are you referring to germs from places you sit outside of your house and such? Or like your underwear? I feel like unless someone poops in their pants there aren't any germs that are dangerous...just the dead skin, etc...

[tangozulu]

I say, whatever works.

We throw everything together as far as kids' clothes (actually the 2 girls' clothes go in together and the baby separately). For ours, we sort whites/darks. Bedding/towels go in to together in a separate load. Dipes are separate, obviously.

I say, whatever works! We have a sorter as well for dh and I.

If it keeps you from looking like this: then do it! Remember what Flylady says about perfectionism

[oldcrunchymom]

I can only wash on cold because there's no hot water to the basement where our washer and dryer are. A couple months ago our dryer broke so I've been doing most of our laundry at my mom's. The clothes don't get any cleaner there washed in warm water. We are past the point of diapers and baby puke, though.

[cbmr777]

I'm horrible! Laundry is not simple for me - (maybe after decluttering I will work on this, huh?)

I wash the diapers separately of course. And the towels are separate. Then I wash all of our colored clothes, then our whites, and finally our delicates. The baby has extremely sensitive skin so her clothes are a separate wash, too. Everything but diapers are on cold water wash/rinse.

You know I never thought that 2 adults and 2 kids could go through so much clothes!!!

[mainstreetmama]

My best friend the laundry goddes

My best friend is a laundry goddess, and here's how she does it.

Each person in the family tends to have clothes that are similar colors...and so each person has a hamper and she washes those clothes together. no sorting at the end when it's time to put them away.

The only exception is that she washes underwear with towels.

It's so embarrassing when I see one of her dd's in some hanna that we bought together like 10 years ago and her's looks new and mine has frayed and faded beyond belief and is 3 sizes smaller than it was. I can't even buy anything at target or walmart because it gets destroyed in just a washing or two.

Someday, I will get her to stand next to me when I do wash so she can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Sigh.

[Ruthla]

I've been doing laundry that way for years!! The only difference now is that I don't mix stuff from the hamper in the girls' room with other laundry- I do a load of just their stuff that they have to put away, and I put away the rest.

[Wolfmeis]

Originally Posted by mainstreetmama

My best friend is a laundry goddess, and here's how she does it.

Each person in the family tends to have clothes that are similar colors...and so each person has a hamper and she washes those clothes together. no sorting at the end when it's time to put them away.

The only exception is that she washes underwear with towels.

It's so embarrassing when I see one of her dd's in some hanna that we bought together like 10 years ago and her's looks new and mine has frayed and faded beyond belief and is 3 sizes smaller than it was. I can't even buy anything at target or walmart because it gets destroyed in just a washing or two.

Someday, I will get her to stand next to me when I do wash so she can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Sigh.

I am a laundry QUEEN! It is where my anal tendencies shine through.........now if I could only PUT IT AWAY I would be fine!!!!

[Wausau74]

Funny how laundry can take over like this!

Some weeks I wash the colors/darks together, some weeks not. Depends on how much there is to wash. Thankfully DS's clothes can go in with ours so that saves a lot. I used to be anal about laundry. Somethings I've learned to let go of!

[Wausau74]

Originally Posted by moss

i also always do a vinegar rinse, so that'll kill bugs too.

would you please say more about the vinegar rise? thanks