Laundry basics

[Gendenwitha]

I've always washed laundry on warm, permanent press because my mom did. Sometimes I separate whites and bleach them, depends on how much time and laundry I have (usually my only whites are the kid's socks & undies and since I go to the laundromat it doesn't seem worth $2.50 to give them their own load).

It occurred to me the other day, my mom didn't know thing 1 about any other household chore, so why am I following her lead in laundry? So if you were teaching your son or daughter from the ground up, what would you tell them?

[kytheria]

I'd tell them to wash in cold to conserve energy.

I do wash diapers on warm after a cold rinse, but everything else gets a cold wash.

I was told that the hot water in washing machines usually isn't hot enough to kill germs anyway, that it's the dryer that takes care of that. Since I got the information secondhand, I have no idea if it's true or not, but I've always washed on cold with a bit of tea tree oil and never had a problem.

[1growingsprout]

Im a bit 'anal' about laundry so you mileage will vary on this

i have several buckets to sort in
Whites
Towels
Denim (and red)
most other colors

i wash on cold and hang most clothes to dry, i generally only use the dryer for towels/sheets/socks/undies....

i do 3-4 loads a day.... (i have 6 kids soon to be 7) change towels daily, they get smelly and yucky here for some reason... my 'goal' is to have sheets make it a full 7 days... that rarely if ever happens...

my main goal is to stay on top of the laundry... if im not careful it gets out of control...

my dream laundry room would have 2-3 washers and 2 dryers...

[AlbertaJes]

We sort by color and wash in cold water. Dry on medium, or on the clothesline when weather permits. Diapers get cold soak, hot wash, cold rinse and the same drying routine as everything else.

[MommyErin]

I have an HE front loader so:

WHITES are washed in the SANITIZED water (it gets up to 160) for two reasons. One, the uber hot water gets the whites whiter without chemicals and two, my DD sleeps in the Motherease bed wetter pants and I wash them in that load. With the uber hot water, I don't feel bad about the pee.

COLORS are washed in the WARM water as are DARKS/JEANS although in two different loads.

I spin everything on HIGH (1400 rpms which seriously saves on drying time). This time of year, since I'm hanging out most of my laundry, I am doing a double rinse. This keeps it from getting too "crunchy". I do use my own laundry detergent (except on the whites -- I use Trader Joe's since it has a natural optical brightener) and rinse in vinegar.

The next time I make my own detergent, I'm going to try Zote soap. It's designed for laundry, has some optical brightener in it and the scent is very mild. And I can get a huge double batch sized bar at my local grocery for $1.09.

[Gendenwitha]

Originally Posted by MommyErin

The next time I make my own detergent, I'm going to try Zote soap. It's designed for laundry, has some optical brightener in it and the scent is very mild. And I can get a huge double batch sized bar at my local grocery for $1.09.

How do you make your own detergent?

[EnviroBecca]

Have separate laundry storage areas (baskets, bags, hampers, whatever) for each category you wash separately. This saves tons of time when doing the laundry! You can see when you have a full load of one category, without having to sort the laundry in piles all over the floor. My categories are white/very light clothes, bright colored clothes, black/very dark clothes, diapers+cleaning rags, and linens (bedding, towels, napkins). I also have a zippered mesh bag for stockings, cloth pads, and other delicate/small items; that gets washed with the colored load.

I wash almost everything on cold with natural detergent and hang on indoor clotheslines in the basement. Diapers get washed on hot, with a presoak cycle using baking soda and Bac-Out, then detergent and vinegar in the wash cycle; I hang them on the line until dry, then put them in the dryer with no heat to fluff them up for better absorbency and softness.

Stained clothes, funky-smelling towels, hankies after illness, etc., get soaked in a bucket of hot water and oxygen bleach, then washed as usual. This uses less hot water and dilutes the bleach less than adding it to a hot cycle in the washing machine. It also means that only the items that need bleach (which theoretically wears out fabric) get soaked in it.

[Abarat]

MAKING YOUR OWN LAUNDRY SOAP
Here's my method. I make a liquid soap, using a 5 gallon bucket. I shred a bar of Fels Naptha soap (any laundry soap bar would work) and melt it with water, then pour it in the bucket with hot water, 2 cups Borax and 2 cups Washing soda. For me it's about $1.50 to make 5 gallons of laundry soap.

I use 1-2 cups per load, depending on what it is.

I always wash in cold, everything, including diapers (which I wash with vinegar, and washing soda and sometimes some castille soap)

Unless it's raining or storming, everything goes out on the line.

[MommyErin]

Originally Posted by Gendenwitha

How do you make your own detergent?

I make a powder.

Grate 1 standard sized bar of soap of your choice (I've used Ivory in the past -- gonna try that Zote next)
Add it to:
1.5 cups borax
1.5 cups washing soda
1 cup oxyclean (optional)

I store in a large glass canning jar. Use 1 tablespoon per load in a front loader, 2 tablespoons in a top loader. Use vinegar in your rinse to get the soap off the clothes. It works great on darks and colors. Whites, ehhh, not so much. So I've started using the Trader Joe's detergent for them and it's better at brightening up whites.

[DevaMajka]

Can I ask a really basic probably stupid question? How full should I fill my washing machine with clothes?
Yeah, I've been doing laundry for YEARS, but just realized that I'm probably filling it too full. lol. I don't want to go the other way, and not fill it enough and end up doing more loads and wasting water...

[cupofjojo]

Originally Posted by Gendenwitha

So if you were teaching your son or daughter from the ground up, what would you tell them?

I'm the youngest of 9 and had to do my laundry from 4th grade on. Some tips I remember then and still carry on are:

We pin our socks together so we don't have strays so I'd start there.

Also unless something gets little pils (like sweaters) I'd have them turn all their things right side out before washing so when its time to fold you can just fold.

We sort darks, whites, and everything in between. Reds go in a completely separate bin. We wash primarily in cold.

We were taught to share our laundry responsibility. If three of us were doing loads of laundry together we'd either each take a load to completion, washer, dryer, and folding, and getting to appropriate rooms or we'd share the process each load. If they see it as a team effort its less likely to sit in a dryer and be forgotten.

I'd encourage them to set a timer, even if your dryer beeps to go get dried clothes before they wrinkle. We used to, and still do, set a timer for 20 minutes then check on clothes in the dryer and take out things that could air dry the rest of the way.

We buy mostly wash and wear items so we've eliminated ironing altogether. Again, pulling things out of the dryer early saves on ironing as well.

[koru]

i think i'm the only person in the world who doesn't sort "whites/colors/darks." that's how my mom taught me but i've wandered into a sorting method based on fabric type/weight. (probably because we don't have many whites & i only do very full loads of laundry). jeans & towels & such are heavy duty & wash well together but rough up other clothes too much. all the underwear & bras & lightweight tops go together, etc, etc. i also turn certain bright colored clothes inside out to maintain their colors. for eco-reasons, all loads are done in cold (except diapers), spun on high & dried for the least amount of time. when the weather gets a tad warmer i can start using the clothesline! right now i can only hang a limited amount of stuff in the house.....

[kerc]

the best thing you could teach about laundry:

fold and put away before moving on to the next load. This is my family's biggest issue with laundry.


I wash on warm because the cold water that comes into the house is really really cold -- literally we don't need ice cubes. I find warm gets my clothes cleaner. When my kids are done staining things I'll go back to cold water

[Abarat]

Originally Posted by Deva33mommy

Can I ask a really basic probably stupid question? How full should I fill my washing machine with clothes?
Yeah, I've been doing laundry for YEARS, but just realized that I'm probably filling it too full. lol. I don't want to go the other way, and not fill it enough and end up doing more loads and wasting water...

You might want to check your washer's manual, because each washer may be different. But, with ours, it's a top loader and in the barrel that you put your clothes in, there are holes all around...general rule for our washer is not to fill the barrel higher than the holes go, otherwise clothes won't get too clean if it's too full.

[DevaMajka]

Thanks- I'll check out my washer. We don't have a manual, because we are renting, and the landlord bought the washer used...

[Ruthla]

I sort by what room the clothes get put away into. There's a hamper in each room- when it's full, I do a load.

I do the whole wash in either cold or warm water. I'll use warm if I'm adding oxygen bleach powder to the load, since that won't dissolve in cold water. Otherwise I use cold. If anything in the load needs the bleach, I'll do the whole load in warm (the warm water isn't that hot- it's basically the temperature I'd be using for hand washing, since cold tap water is like ice water here.)