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[separatedornot]

Separators reckons we can tell. Can we?

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Blue in with white is fine.

I sometimes even use the old fashioned "blue bags" to brighten whites. (Mostly I just like the packaging, but you know, occasionally, if something need help.)

I think the fashion for washing absolutely everything mixed and at 20 or 30 degrees is the real cause of greyness. The combo of both together is a recipe for bleurgh. It's not just separating.

I'd like to care less than I do, but I think it's my grate-blacking, step-scrubbing WC ancestry making itself felt.

You need the colour- run stuff.

One of the best way to keep your whites looking great is obviously do a white wash, but also hang them on the line to dry In the sun, the sun really helps keep them look white and bright. I live in Scotland (very soft water ) and my mother in law was from the islands she use to but her whites on the grass to dry in the sun, apparently it’s what her mother had taught her. I just stick to the line but try to do the white wash when I know it’s sunny (which this year has be near impossible) as it’s constantly bloody gray skis.

For me it would mean a second load. I have only myself to wash for, so in a way it would be a moral failing to use water I don't need and take up a second machine in a small communal laundry.

If anything I would have said the "we can tell!" types were almost calling not separating the whites a moral failing!

I grew up in the 1960’s and I remember my nana would judge a woman by the colour of her nets!! (Net curtains) if they weren’t white then she would point it out and can remember her saying look at the state of her nets no bloody pride, Also a clean door step seemed to be very important to her out every weeks scrubbing it and the windows very different times and different standards.

I've got some of that blue stuff you can add to the rinse. It works great on white sheets & towels. I've rather expensively discovered that, if you've used Vanish to remove a stain and then added blueing to the rinse, the previously stained area comes out bright blue. I possibly could've anticipated this by thinking about chemistry before putting the wash on ... but who does that? (Clue: not me!)

Imagine being at your child's sports day and sitting smugly about your child having the most gleaming white polo shirt!

We have yellow school t-shirts and they are somehow worse than white for sucking colour out of dark clothes. DH has finally learned but tbh it doesn't matter for DS(5) as his also get tomato pasta, blueberry yoghurt and pen stains.

We separate whites+ yellows, reds, blues and darks although I will mix reds with blues and blues with blacks if the washing basket is empty enough!

I have white sheets, so I can make up a load anyway.

As I said earlier, I don't care what other people do and don't sit there judging other people's washing techniques. I just like my whites to be white not pale grey.

I wash striped garmets with other light colours BTW.

How refreshing to hear women discussing laundry ...

How annoying to hear a poster being sarcastic about something most of us have to do. I also talk about cooking and baking - and current affairs, work processes, books I have read, films I have seen etc etc.

How refreshing to see a woman putting down other women...

I've always separated whites and they always look nice. My dc are teens and now do their own laundry and also separate their whites.
They have a lot of white t shirts and would hate them to became grey.

How refreshing to see a woman putting down other women...

That's quite ironic 😊

I do a four washes: whites, darks coloureds and lights.

I use bio washing liquid with whites and non-bio and a Colour Catch with the rest.

My sister bungs everything in together with no colour catch though, and her clothes always look lovely (and are far more expensive than mine)!

LOL

Me too! Doing Laudry is my special hobby .

No-one in this house has white underwear but all the other whites, including socks and school shirts are sparkling white. Some school shirts have been through both DS, therefore used for two years worth and they are still bright white. I use washing powder with optical whiteners, Oxi-powder maybe twice a year, tiny drop of fabric conditioner and hang them dry on hangers. No need to iron afterwards.

If I had a clothing with say white and blue stripes, I would include it in the mixed colours wash with a colour catcher sheet. (I use the same colour catcher 2-3 times before discarding). If the item of clothing is predominantly white with say small coloured flowers or polkadots, then it’ll go into the white wash - with a colour catcher.