When I used the laundymat, I sorted by white, colors, darks and towels/sheets. Whites warm or hot, towels on hot, and colors cold. Since having a machine in my home, I tend to wash as I go so everything gets mixed together and it's all done on cold, except that towels are still a load by themselves. Also, dh and I do our own laundry and G's is washed by itself. Sometimes I add bleach or borax to whites (if I happen to have enough to make a whole load), but not very often. My whites are dingy, but I don't really care all that much.

 

My routine:

Dump whatever clothes/linens/whatever are dirty into the washing machine. Add detergent and wash on cold. Throw most of the stuff into the dryer on medium, hang dry the stuff that would get ruined in the dryer.

 

I never wash my clothes on cold. Cold water does not get the clothes clean enough. I have never had a problem with shrinking clothes--and I am 41 and have 3 kids and have been doing my own laundry since I was a teenager!

Sort between lights and darks. Wash both in warm water, dry in dryer on high for about an hour. If you want to do a load of only whites and are using bleach, then it helps if you use hot water for your wash.

Hope that helps,
Lisa

 

I love doing laurndry, i know i'm a freak! LOL This is what i do, usally every monday and thursday are my BIG laurdry days i usally will have very full load by then, i dont' like to do laurndy if it's not a full load b/c it waste soap, water, time, and most of all $$$! I seprate mine into all white NO COLOR at all, bleach about once ever other week or so, not to over bleach b/c it will cause holes in socks, undies, ect. so then i seprate out the colors into darks and light colors to keep the lighter colors from fading to quick, then a jeans load and a load of towls, some times i mix the towels and jeans depending how many there are. White are washed on HOT HOT HOT, mainly b/c my cleaning rags, some pf diaper are usally in there, rince on cold. Darks cold wash cold rinse, light colors warm wash cold rinse, jeans cold/cold, and towles alone warm wash cold rinse. then mostly i try to make myself hang the clothes to dry, then fluff what i need to in the dryer for 5-10min or so. I use tide laundry detergent b/c it's what my mom always used, it works great i only use 1/4 a cup on all loads but i also have soft water so it works out well and saves me a ton of $.

 

our washer leaks on hot so currently evrything goes in cold but this is what i used to do

towels, undies, bedclothes, pajamas, anything that might need to be "sanitized" HOT wash, occaisional bleach, cold rinse

evrything else cold no bleach cold rinse; colors separated into light and dark.

dipes seperated from anything else and cold wash then hot wash the cold rinse

 

I do laundry the way my mom did too!

I only separate lights and darks, not whites. I don't usually use bleach though and neither did my mom. Light clothes include our daily kitchen towels, cleaning rags, etc. They get washed on hot/cold & an extra rinse w/ biokleen powder detergent plus some TTO. Darks get washed on warm/cold & an extra rinse w/ the same. I add some oxyclean and use the presoak function if the stuff is really dirty. On rare occasion I'll take the stuff that is stained and soak it in the sink w/oxyclean before washing. Sheets/towels get washed once on hot/cold w/ oxyclean, detergent powder and TTO, then a quick warm/warm wash with no soap,etc. I do usually wash the kids stuff separately on a cold/cold cycle only because ds's clothes usually have some sort of poop/spitup on them

and they get their clothes changed in a room that has a separate laundry basket.

Honestly, I think just separating dark stuff from light is sufficient. I like to keep blankets and towels separate too because they are big and little stuff like socks tend to get stuck in them during washing/drying. I try not to own clothes that *can't* be dried because I tend to forget about them and they get shrunk. I'm pretty low mainenence though

 

I separate my laundry by colors: whites, light colors and darks and then a jean load and towels and linens separate. I always wash my whites on warm but that's because I thought hot water killed bleach, I'll have to try the hot and see if it works better. I wash the rest on either cold or warm and my towels and linens in hot water. I use purex detergent and fabric softener but no softener on my towels or else I dilute it by half because softener makes fabric non absorbent and of course I want my towels to be absorbent. I use my dryer but that's because I live in an apartment and can't really hang everything on a line. Some of my shirts I shape and hang on a dryer rack that I have in my room because I hate skin tight shirts and mine tend to get clingy and I don't dry my bras in the dryer because it ruins the elastic and they're too darn expensive to ruin!

Speaking of laundry, I really need to do mine.

 

Its interesting to see how different people to laundry

I usually seperate very light, greys(which can go in with light or dark if I need to fill a load) , darks, towels, and diapers. All of the baby clothes get washed with the diapers though. I also sperate out anything light colored that is really good (ex. easter dresses) and wash those things by hand. I try to do one regular load and one load of diapers each day. I used to wash everything on cold, but then I swtiched to laundry soap instead of detergent so most things get washed on either warm/cold or hot/cold depending on how dirty they are. Diapers get washed twice through on a hot/cold cycle so that they are very thouroughly rinsed. One thing I've learned about laundry is how it makes sense to do it has a tendency to change everytime you add someone new or take someone away from your family because the composition of your loads change so much.

 

Towels/washcloths/sheets go together, hot wash to kill germs.

Whites may get bleached occasionally(if something is stained or I happen to have a full load or they are getting dingy in general) but mostly get mixed with very light colors(beiges or light grays,e tc..) . I find if I mix them with darker colors they get dingy really fast. Hot water if I'm bleaching, otherwise cold.

Bright colors, jeans, and very dark colors will be seperated into those categories or tossed in together depending on how much there is. Cold wash.

Most everything goes int he dryer, usually takes about 30 minutes. Longer for thick stuff like towels or blankets. I am trying ot remember to hang bras and things like that to dry. Not a true habit yet but they do last a lot longer that way.

When we had apartments with no machines and had to lug it to the laundromat, I went maybe once or twice a month. Filled big laundry bags willy nilly fromt he mountains taking over hte home, shoved as much as possible into each washer regardless of fabric or color(less washers=less $!)and dry till done. Or mostly done. Depending on how many quarters I had.

 

Thanks!

: I'm excited to start a new laundry routine...

 

we use a laundrymat
we rarly seperate colors if we do it is lights and darks, but we own few light colored things and we buy mostly used clotehs that doesn't bleed at all in the wash and so it doesn'ts eem to effect anything if we seperate colors or not. i use very little soap and wash in cold water. i have been told cold water helps clothes last longer. if we lived someplace where we could hang cloths to dry we would because that would help them last longer, since we don't se use the dryer at the laundry mat and use medium or coolest heat setting, usualy i start on medium then switch to cool, i don't dry favorite shirts or old shirts i just find a way to hang those up so they last longer.
my clothes always smell clean and fresh after. i own shirts that is probably more than twenty years old i got it as a hand me down when i was 10 and it had been a hand me down a few times before it came to me, it is a plain gray (was probably once black) knit tank top, cotton. it is still in good condition and i wear it at least once a week and have been wearing it that often most of the time i have owned it. of course when iw as 10 it was pretty big and baggy on me and now it is still a little large. when it gets to worn out to wear i will use it to make a pattern and make mroe shirts just like it.
i only wash cloths that are visibly dirty or smell. the more you wash cloths the faster they wear out. usualy i wear as hirt only once, or if i am at home i might wear a dity shirt around the house or to garden in or if i am doing anything where i will end up smelly anyways i might wear a mildly dirty shirt, like for a 30 mile bike ride or something crazy i will wear a comfortable shirt that smells a little since when i get home it won't make any difference anyway. but most pants get worn many tiems before being washed

 

Great thread, no advice from me though, I wash like my mom as well... I don't separate colors and always use warm water. Except diapers, those are the only things that are done a little different but other then that I don't do anything special. I NEVER use bleach, DH thinks it's weird enough that I don't separate whites/darks and doesn't understand why I won't buy bleach.

I love hearing what others do, maybe it will motivate me to not only get some laundry done but possibly change up my wash routine a little

 

well, I am a bit nuts about my laundry - I really love doing it

:

I have one laundry basket upstairs in each bedroom, and then they all get sorted into one of 3 bags in the laundry room: white, colourfast colours, dark (denim, black t's, towels)

White clothes get a warm wash, 2 rinses (otherwise the detergent can build up and make things look dingy)

White towels and kitchen linens get a hot wash...with non chlorine bleach occasionally

Colours get a warm wash

Jeans, black t's etc go on cold....

Coloured towels, sheets etc get a hot wash

I hang as much as I can out on the line to dry too; way less $$$$$$, and my clothes get lovely and fresh! In the winter I still hang bras to dry inside....I hate when they get all stretched out

 

Thanks for all of the advice!

I do have a couple of questions...

Bleach -- how do you bleach clothes? Is there a special way to put it in the washer? I don't want bleach spots. Is there some way of making sure there is NO bleach left in the washer when I go to put the next load of clothes in?

And colours are never bleached, correct? I assume that even the slightest bit of bleach would put bleach spots on colours.

ALSO.... if I'm going to wash underwear on hot, what do I put it with? Most of my underwear is not white, so I can't really put it with the whites. I guess I could put those with sheets and/or towels?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirei Bleach -- how do you bleach clothes? Is there a special way to put it in the washer? I don't want bleach spots. Is there some way of making sure there is NO bleach left in the washer when I go to put the next load of clothes in?

To bleach clothes run some water in the washer, then add the bleach, then the rest of the water, and last add the clothes. This is for a top loading washer. If you have a front loader it should have its own directions, and generally a specific labeled spot to pour bleach in. If you are concerend about extra bleach you can either do an extra rinse or wash a load of something like rags which you don't care about after your bleach load. I generally just fill me washer again and as long as I don't smell any bleach I add whatever I wanted to wash to the water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirei And colours are never bleached, correct? I assume that even the slightest bit of bleach would put bleach spots on colours.

in general if it is well disolved bleach won't leave spots, but it will lighten colors, so I would never use a chlorine bleach on colors. Oxygen bleaches (oxyclean, hydrogen peroxide, etc.) are more "color safe" and can be used on colors if necessary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirei ALSO.... if I'm going to wash underwear on hot, what do I put it with? Most of my underwear is not white, so I can't really put it with the whites. I guess I could put those with sheets and/or towels?

Sheets or towels, or maybe a grey load? Usually though I don't wory too much about washing underwear in hot. I generally wash it on cold or warm because stains are less likely to set that way. Which brings up a good point to learn if you don't already know. Never ever wash blood stains in hot water, you'll set them for sure. Wash in cold and line dry, repeat until the stain is definitely gone. Hydrogen peroxide can also be a good blood stain remover, but only if you catch it before its washed on hot.
What temp to wash clothes on is really personal preference. My mom never washes anything on hot because she thinks its a waste of the energy it takes to heat the water. I think you just have to find what works for you.

 

I wash all our socks, underwear, DH's undershirts, towels, dish rags and sheets in hot water to kill all the germs. I read an article once about how dirty our laundry is, so that's what I've been doing. I didn't think detergent could kill bacteria and stuff.
The rest of our clothes are sorted by lights, darks and whites and washed on cold and dried on low.
Diapers are washed separately, but the rest of our family's laundry goes in together.
We don't use bleach. DH hates the smell of it, and I don't really like the idea of it either. Occasionally I will send stuff home with my mom for her to wash with her bleach load - DS's bibs and cloths for his face would get bad food stains on them, so she would bleach those for us.

 

I only seperate lights and darks. I only wash in cold, unless I am doing a load of underwear and towels, then I use warm. I use about a third of a capful of tide free and clear and I rinse twice. I sometimes use a free and clear dryer sheet, but usually not. I don't mind crispy clothes, they uncrisp pretty fast when they are worn. If I want them softer, I will add a little vinegar to the final rinse. Our clothes are always clean and they don't smell like harsh chemicals. In fact, I have found that too much soap is often the cause of clothing wearing faster.

 

Remember the rhyme.

Whites
Lights
Darks and brights

(Hot, warm, cold)

 

How we do laundry:

Whites
Darks
Colors

whites hot with bleach if needed
darks cold with colorsafe bleach if needed
colors warm, again colorsafe bleach if needed

bras are hung to dry. this greatly increases their lifespan
certain polyester fabrics are hung to dry, again to increase their lifespan

I prefer to use dryer sheets instead of liquid fabric softener, which tends to build up on clothing. When washing cloth diapers, do not use any fabric softener.

Have a laundry sorter or a system of baskets that works for you. If you have a laundry chute that can help too. ( our laundry chute is on the opposite side of the basement from our laundry room. No idea how that happened

)

 

we have a LOT of laundry so here is what works for me:

we are in a townhouse and have a laundry closet on the 2nd floor....in that hallway I have 5 hampers and everyone has to put their dirty clothes in them (instead of me hunting thru everyones rooms etc)----we have a hamper for blues/greens/purples, black/brown/grey, whites, pinks/reds/yellows and one for delicates/baby clothes. I have to use 2 different detergents too (one for the delicate/baby stuff....allergic kids, and one for the kids who grind dirt into everything LOL)

I wash often and do loads based on how full the hamper is. Sheets get washed separately but towels get tossed in with the blues

I hang dry (in my bathroom lol) all of DDs and DS3s tops and some of their pants/skirts etc....a lot of other stuff goes in the dryer

 

I can understand wanting to kill germs if you are washing a load of underwear or whatever, but why is it so important to santize everything else? Are we talking about e coli or something?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellyaellen towels, undies, bedclothes, pajamas, anything that might need to be "sanitized" HOT wash, occaisional bleach, cold rinse

don't bleach your undies. Just wash them on hot.

 

I also wanted to point out that shirts, pants, dresses, etc. have labels that tell you how to wash them (on what temperature, etc.)