I just think this is crazy! Do I need to stop being such a mum?

[michelleseashell]

One of my friend's washing machine is broken so I'm helping her out by doing her washing. Rather than waiting around, she's just left me with two big bags of mostly baby clothes.

The thing is about 95% of the clothes are ruined! They're all gray and absolutely covered in bobbles. This is baby clothes so they can't possibly have had time to get in such a state. They've obviously just been put in with darks, jeans, on really hot washes etc.

I just don't understand it! I am literally aghast! Why would somebody do this? Isn't it just a terrible waste of money? These are all Next and Gap but even supermarket stuff can be kept in good condition, surely? A charity shop would throw these clothes out.

I put on a 'white' wash with a stain remover pouch and a colour catcher and the colour catches came out dark gray.

Aghast!!

Loving the name getorf! I'm a fan of Samsung too.

My favourite bit of the washing (after surveying my folded piles) is pressing the button to turn the cycle on. Makes me feel like I'm king of everything!

Oh. Ive just realised, ive been converted to the "dark side" by my DH. I used to seperate all my washing at home and then when i married DH, he used to just throw it all in together and hope for the best, now i find i do the same but throw in a colour catcher too!

Help me mend my ways, someone!

flatbread-

No, I'm afraid I wouldn't do any of that. I'm an adult, not an impulsive teenager doing her own washing for the first time!

A basket for lights and darks is alright, but where do you put the woollens, the jeans and the delicates? Not as practical as they look Tilly.

No, I didn't ruin the top...although can't remember the state of the sheets after the wash

And my clothes are in VERY good shape, thank you because DH now does the laundry

Timewasting- where do you put the oranges?? :o

Oh, that's easy. Don't allow such fibres house-room. Ebay any you already have, for your new two-part laundry basket.

Timewasting, you are missing the point - you can have more than one of these fabulous sorting baskets! A whole row, with labelled lids - pretty much like recycling bins

Flatbread, mrssawyer- JOIN US!!!

I've got my friend's washing out on my line. I'm trying to lighten it up in the sun. What will the neighbours think of me?? I'm going to be the talk of the corner shop!

A whole row?! Where would I sleep?!

Actually, I'd really like a whole row of labelled baskets.

I'll pop in there for a pint of milk and they'll all be gossiping going, well at least SOMETHING is going to be white in her house. The shame!!

OK, back for one last thing...and surely even all you washing fanatics must think it is REALLY weird and ott

When I was in grad school (so pretty much an older crowd), one of my fellow-students had a wife and two young kids. He used to do the laundry in the communal laundry room. Many a times I saw him examine her bras in excruciating detail and dab some kind of stick/liquid in places (stain remover?) before putting inside the washing machine.

Weird or what?

Do you do an eagle-eyed examination your OHs underclothes before putting in the wash to get the perfect results you washing addicts crave?

You better believe it flatbread :o

If my husband gets hit by a bus, his pants are gonna look all brand new in a&e!

Please would the experts critique my laundry skills. I would be grateful for any input.

The state of play at the moment is thus:

There's DH, me and 2 year old DD. We do three washes a week:

(1) Darks and colours - on 40, with an "Aqua Plus" rinse on top as DHs dark shirts seem to get soap marks on otherwise.

(2) Lights/whites - on 40

(3) Towels/duvet covers on 60

Use non-bio Ecover for (1). For (2) and (3) I give in and use half non-bio and half bio. No conditioner.

It all looks pretty clean to me though the sheets (White Company) look nothing like White Company sheets do in the brochures - faded and with some tea stains.

Go on, I can take it.

Another qu - when do people use "Pre Wash"? Football kit etc?

And when would you wash something on 90?

flatbread - ah there you have me. DH's grundies go into the washing machine unexamined (and touched as little as poss)

OK, I have a question for you laundry experts (sorry if it was asked before- i read a lot, but not all, of this thread)

• What would you do with a dark blue and white stripy T shirt? Or a duvet cover that was white on one side but dark blue on t'other?

This has been a dilemma for me for a long long time....

Darks and colours have to be separated and I'd wash at 30 with non bio for colours. You want to keep your blacks black as well as your whites white! If you're getting soap marks then it's probably over loaded or you could do with some washing machine cleaner. I mentioned it a while ago. It's about £3. The rest sounds fine.

I don't use 90 degrees. Think it's for people to look at their machine and go, ooh 90 degrees no less? :o

Starkadder- tricky!! I'd either hand wash cold so you can see how much leakage you get or put on short cold hand wash setting OR I'd wash the duvet cover on about 50 with some old towels and see if it survives. If it does, it shouldn't leak again because the dye should be sealed. It's a risk though!!

Love how I've turned into an amateur Dr Miriam Stoppard for bed sheets!

haha! thanks :-) you should write a little book actually. Bet you everyone would buy it for Christmas stockings etc.

It's quite an old duvet cover and I usually put it in with white sheets on 40 (too scared to put it hotter) and hope for the best. But perhaps it has been infiltrating the whiteness of my sheets all this time....and T shirts are a perennial problem. I love stripy t shirts but am put off them by the washing dilemma.

3 washes a week!

I never wash above 30 unless something is hideously stained.

When I was young and my raison d'etre was challenging convention, and I lived with similar flatmates, we ended up making various laundry-related discoveries. The crux of it was: basically, provided you

1. don't put the temperature on higher than 30-40 degrees
2. Wash brand new items with care and select the items that will share the drum with similar care on the first and second wash, in case colours run
3. Check the care label of anything you haven't washed before.

Modern fabrics and dyes let you get away with almost anything, provided you follow those rules.

Michelle I am with you. I have a white load, dark load, mid colours, think green/grey, a pink load, dark towels and light towels, I also hand wash woollens. I change the temerature of my loads to suit whatever is in the machine. I stayed with my DD once and her housemate had the biggest load of washing ever, it made me ill watching her mix whites with blacks when she could have seperated them. She did two washes anyway. Why.

I've got a wonderful picture in my head of your convention challenging outfits Tilly! :o :o :o

This is exactly what I'm talking about deste! I've got TWO bags of clothes from The Unclean One :o here. Ok it's not everything she owns but there is enough to keep them separate. Why! WHY!!!!

I think this might be the best internet conversation I've ever had. You guys are rocking my laundry room! :o