How do you Laundry?

[MrsHusky]

No i'm not mad, i promise.

I do everyone's washing in turn, so all of DS's, then all of DD's, then all of Mine, then towels/bedding, and start again.

Do you do that, or do you do a mix and just split everyones into darks/colours/whites?

Dps work stuff (it's filthy), everyone's darks, lights, baby stuff, nappies, bedding & towels. So separated into 6 categories.

I have four laundry baskets.
1 - large: towels, underwear, bedding
1 - large: dark T-shirt's, jumpers, jeans, socks
1 - large: red, white, pastels
1 - small: delicates; bras, scarves, woollens

Each large basket holds two washes, when it's full I split it into two by colour and wash. Delicates I wash as and when.
In a week that's
Our bedding
Our towels + underwear
DC bedding plus towel + anything that's the same colour x2
One white/pale colours
One red/pink/orange
One dark DH's clothes
One jeans
1-2 dark DC plus my clothes
1-2 delicates
In the warmer months a sports kit wash too.

Lights, darks, bedding and towels. Everyone’s mixed together as everyone fine with biological.

You mean “How do you launder?”. Laundry is a noun, not a verb.
I shall shuffle back to pedants’ corner now...

@CurlyhairedAssassin

"you must each have a lot of clothes"

Not really, DS is adult sized at 14, and we don't use the tumble drier with peoples clothes (only the towels/bedding in the winter), so each cycle takes about 2 weeks as i do a load every other day, and dry it on the airers. Goes out on the line in the summer, dries quicker and i get a break from having to do laundry every other day :)

I do darks together, lights together and then delicates. I do one set of bedding as one load. It doesn't seem very efficient to do each person's separately unless you are doing them all in one day.

@Babdoc

You mean “How do you launder?”. Laundry is a noun, not a verb. I shall shuffle back to pedants’ corner now...

i know, i was being silly

It was all fine, until I started needing to do a two separate ballet washes every other day (pink tights, black leotards). Now I work towels, sheets, dark and light washes around the availability of dry, clean leotards and tights for the next class.

sheets/towels/teatowels...60, and one bed/person at a time...everyone has their own towels.

Otherwise clothes are strictly colour sorted, black/blue/green/grey/reds plus a jeans wash and ideally I'll person sort it too.

If anyone else wants to do their clothes all shoved in at once (yes dh and ds2 I am looking at you) then they are welcome, but don't come bleating to me when your whites are all 1000washwhite and your undies are pink from that bloody hoodie of yours!

whites and then, depending on whats left, bung in together or separate.
I don't even consider separating per person.

All together! I empty everyone's laundry bags into this sorter in the laundry room every morning and when each compartment is full it's a good load. Much more organised since I started doing it this way.

We're a family of 6, including 4 school aged kids who all wear white shirts & socks. I have plenty of each colour group to keep me going!

So I do separate loads of darks/pastels/whites/towels + tea towels.

@CurlyhairedAssassin

While I'm thinking this, I'm now wondering what happens when teens go off to uni. I lived at home in my first year then moved into a rented flat which didn't have a washing machine at first but just took clothes to my muum and dad's home to wash every week.

What do students do who don't come home all term? They must have a lot of clothes to make up a full load of their own, or do they share a load with mates or something? Do halls of residences have enough washing machines?

When I was at uni (a decade ago), we had a shared laundry facility in the basement of the residence. Used to just bung everything in at once and hope for the best! I think my flatmates would've thought I was really weird if I had asked them for their dirty laundry

I'm still pretty Darwinian with my approach to laundry - if the clothing survives intact then that's great, if not then I just learn not to buy that type of clothing again (but will wear the affected item at home until it has no further use!).

I'm obsessed with colour separating so whole family mixed in:
Pinks, yellows, reds
Pale blues, greys,
Darks
Whites
White with small patterns
Sheets (can go with whites depending on amounts)
Tea towels
I hate it when my husband tries to get involved!!

Op - I actually feel quite upset by your system - if you separate per person how do you ever have enough for separate colours/whites etc washes??

Start on a Friday with the darks, then onto whites, light colours, red wash and a blue/green wash. Everyone's all together. Mine DH, DD and Toddler DD then bedding and towels somewhere during the week

I mix it all together, but that mainly because I'm washing toddler cloths, which take a lot of hanging space relative to the volume of washing machine they fill. If I do a full load of DD's clothes, I wouldn't be able to get it all dry before it started to smell.

Clothes are sorted into separate loads, light, dark, and wool/delicates. Bedding; each bed gets its own laundering. The towels are hotwashed together.
We both share laundry chores , always have.

Darks and similar colours in together
Lights and similar in together

No detergent or fabric conditioner
I have a eco egg or soap nuts.

20c/30c depending on need.

Towels get a hotter wash with eco egg.

However, we have lots of "dog towels" etc - these go on a VERY hot wash, again no detergent. Heat is enough.

I do washing on saturday/Sunday (family of 3, we are trying to be mindful with our clothes and wear less so wash less in the week)

DP puts his dirty work clothes in on wash himself most of the time, mostly because he's always in them! So misses whenever I put a wash on.

Laundry is one chore really don't mind.... might even go so far as to say, I enjoy it! Lol!

[quote MrsHusky]@CurlyhairedAssassin

"you must each have a lot of clothes"

Not really, DS is adult sized at 14, and we don't use the tumble drier with peoples clothes (only the towels/bedding in the winter), so each cycle takes about 2 weeks as i do a load every other day, and dry it on the airers. Goes out on the line in the summer, dries quicker and i get a break from having to do laundry every other day :)[/quote]
I would say 14 sets of underwear, 14 sets of tops and bottoms, 14 sets of pajamas, 10 sets of uniform, two lots of PE kit etc counts as alot of clothes.

I do have two weeks of clothes for the babies because we were given so much. DS has 1 week of uniform and probably one week of bottoms. More tops and possibly two weeks of underwear, one set of PE kit

Darks / Lights / Coloured.

Is fill the machine with twins then DS then mine, next time DS then twins then mine, next time mine, twins, DS etc so I do try and do mainly one person's (same sex twins of same size) but I have one laundry basket so there isn't space to store it up until there's a full load for each.

DH does his own generally

Myself Dh, Ds (17) all do our own, have our own laundry bags
Will ask if anyone wants anything putting in with theres
Same when Dd (23) comes to stay
Ds is also responsible for his own bedding and towels

I just sort into lights and darks. I mix people and I also put the bedding and towels into the light or dark wash as relevant.

I do at least a wash load a day. Whatever there is most of in the washing basket.
Darks
Light colours
Dark colours
Whites / pale pastels.