an embarrassingly trivial washing separation question.

[NotADomesticCat]

If you had to do all your laundry in only two loads, how would you do it?

You only have a small amount of laundry (one person's laundry for the week - as an adult living alone might have).

You have may use the washing machine twice per week only - either way you may not wash more than two machine loads per week and have no access to a launderette or another machine). You may not save any washing between weeks. So it all has to be washed, it fits into two machines easily.

Would you just separate by colour (lights and darks) and wash everything at 40 degrees?

Or would you do a hot load of towels, bedding and underwear in one machine and a 30 or 40 degree load of clothes in the other machine, without separating by colour?

Lights and darks everything at 40

When I lived on my own I did everything together. Lights, darks, bedding towels. If I had enough bedding stuff might do that on its own.

My now dh was horrified at this and separates it all out. Stuff is still clean....

I use biological washing powder, in which the enzymes that remove dirt and bacteria would be destroyed by high temperatures, so you should wash at 40 or below. So I'd use that and just separate by lights and darks. In fact that is what I do (with umpteen loads for a family of 4).

Just split by colour. Germs aren’t going to live on towels and bedding once they’re dry.

I'd separate lights and darks

Perhaps once is a blue moon I'd do towels on a hot wash

I can't help but wonder why you are asking this question in this way!

I used to wash white tunic tops, with ALL my other colours and did just 1 wash. I always used a colour catcher though. I re-use them over and over, and only throw when they are a dark blue colour, and often had 2-3 on the go in the machine at once.

I always separated a new pair of jeans, a new red blouse etc, but never has issues with the colour running.

Chuck it all together whenever you have enough for a load. I sometimes separate stuff now if I need to do a 60 wash because one of the DC has wet or soiled their clothes. Never bothered otherwise.

Wash in two loads light and dark, at 30. Tumble dry bedding and towels if available, or iron them.

We are a family of 4 and still just do lights and darks separately, all at 40 degrees. Occasionally I'll put towels on a hotter wash on their own.

ValedictoryMessage tbh even now I live in a household with several children I only separate if there's loads to wash. I put towels and bedding in on hot (60) but only separate clothes if there's a lot of laundry making a dark load and a light load immediately possible. If there's only one machine load quantity wise I bung it all in together rather than save it up, and as you say it's all clean.

For a stupid reason I have to write a training protocol for teaching young adults with learning disabilities to do household tasks. The target group need clear rules to follow. They live in a shared house and there's a rota for washing days to ensure they all get fair access to the facilities. So I have to write guidelines on doing your washing in two machine loads.

I'm not really the right person from a home economics standpoint, but I have to do it and don't want to officially train people to perform their independence skills as sloppily as me Once they know how to do it they can choose to bung it all in together though! Although I suspect that most will stick with whatever I teach them now... So should try to give good guidance

• what I mean is for a stupid reason it's me doing this, rather than someone more competent in the domestic/ laundry sphere!

I can't see 'You may not save any washing between weeks' being in any way a realistic restriction so I'd hot wash the towels and bedding one week on high spin and the other stuff divided into lights and darks the other week on a cooler lower spin cycle. If you do towels with clothes, either your towels will take longer to dry or your clothes will be creased and won't last as long.

Lights and darks if I only had two washes.

Francesthemute I see the logic but that isn't really a practical option in this case.

By colour, at 30 unless something was very dirty. I use colour catches when I have to mix loads or have something that might run.

As others have said:
1 wash lights
1 wash darks

Oh, xpost - for that purpose you need simplicity so sure, just lights and darks.

two Washes, lights and darks, but I do them on a 30 minute 30 degree wash.

Sorry for the washing saving confusion.

I've tried to explain more in the post replying to ValedictoryMessage

Saving laundry up won't be practical for various reasons (both logistically and due to the specific needs of the individuals involved).

There is a tumble dryer.

I'll stick to saying lights and darks separately at 40 and tumble dry sheets and towels, and anything else not delicate.

I've never separated by colour and have never had a problem with colour running! The only time I wash dark clothes separately is if it's brand new jeans or linen trousers that I know will run the first few times. I separate by heat. Most clothes I wash at 30 degrees and it all comes up perfectly clean. Then I do a hot wash (60 degrees) for towels, underwear (not bras but everything else), sheets etc. I read that underwear is still full of bacteria unless it's washed at 60.

I'm fairly sure my student DD just bungs everything in together when she's at uni, except for woollies.

Agree two loads at 40, one light one dark, unless one of them has dust mite allergy in which case bedding needs to be at 60.

But one other thought - try to give clear guidance about what is light and what is dark. My teenager still sometimes asks me when it seems obvious to me (eg pale mint green or bright coral).

Lights and darks separately then at 40. Or if you don't have leaky stuff like jeans in then all in with a colour catcher. I'd probably vary it week to week washing dependant to be honest!

I wouldn’t mix darks and lights, grubby grey results.

Your problem will occur with mixed clothing items, where a sweat top is two tone- they need to put this in a dark wash and not a light wash - otherwise they could ruin an entire load of clothes rather than the possibility of one item.