Separating whites from colours...

[Celebelly]

Who does this regularly when washing clothes?

I've always heard of it being a thing but I only ever wash things separately if I think they might run (ie. dark stuff that hasn't been washed before). Otherwise, stuff that is regularly worn just gets bunged in together and then into the tumble drier and we've never had any dye disasters, my whites are still white, etc.

What am I missing? :D AIBU and a terrible human being? Do I need to be shown the light?

Never done this,@ and have never had problems

We never seperated whites until 3 years ago - the whites are definitely ‘greying’ less, I am especially impressed as dd has several expensive white branded sweatshirts and I thought they would be stained or greyed quickly, but a year on and they are still looking good.

Only things I separate are towels, everything else goes in together. Don't really have any white clothes and find colour catcher sheets pretty good

DH separates his washes, but I don't. I found that my whites would grey over time regardless, so I stopped bothering.

I shove a couple of colour catchers into my wash though.

@JasperRising I can’t remember the answer about whites with stripes etc (it MAY be with colours) but it’s in here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/3308661-I-developed-laundry-detergents-AMA very helpful thread!

I separate into whites and colours. There are three of us and not that much laundry. But still my whites seem less white than other people’s.
Why??
Should I be using a different detergent for my whites? I wash them at 60- is that right?? I’ve even tried using that vanish white powder stuff but barely noticed a difference... what am I doing wrong??
How militant are you with ‘whites’ should I not wash light grey stuff whith whites for instance? How did I get to this age and not know how to do laundry properly 😆

Not just you @ethelfleda! I seem to have also missed lots of laundry memos...(Love the name by the way)

Colour catchers another needless item that ends up in land fill

I really want to be this level of organised with all the colours and separating but I can't.

DP's whites are work clothes often covered in various building materials so they go on their own.

All that's left is DC's school polo's and if I save them all up I still have a quarter load and risk having no clean ones.

I would like them to look whiter though.

For now it's lights, darks and grubby work clothes.

Whites, lights and darks for me with appropriate washing powder. Bedding and towels in two washes of their own as they are huge and take up the whole drum and are washed at higher temps.

Yep, everything separated here.

Whites
Colours
DH's work clothes
Towels/bedding
Dog blankets
Cycling gear

DH is a plasterer so he washes his stuff on a 90 degree hot wash every week, else they just won't get clean. Towels and bedding go on a 60, as do the dogs blankets but they get washed separately. Then cycling stuff on a 30, and everything else on a 40. If I don't separate whites they go grubby after a while.

I love washing threads!

@ethelfleda see above AMA thread

I just have lights, darks and colours. Occasionally have enough dark blue stuff to run it a wash on its own.

I once chucked a few light items into a darks tumble dry and discovered dark fibres transferred onto the light items and they looked a bit grubby. So I haven't done that again. You do notice if you have a black garment with white areas within it, the white bits don't stay bright white for long.

I also tried those whitening things Dr Beckmann do for nets and the like, but there wasn't much of difference, so I don't bother now. Polo shirts still look less than bright white even washed with their own kind, but I don't know what to do to make them brighter. And dunno if I can be bothered any more

Washed exdh cricket whites with dd bright red bikini pants 😬

I separate according to temperature. If there is enough laundry then I separate light, dark, colour.

I CBA, so long as the coloureds have been washed several times so less likely to run. Anything in the same house as DS2 is unlikely to stay white for long anyway.

I wash dark/bright colours together in colour washing powder. Whites/lights (such as cream, pale grey, lemon - colours I'm not too fussed about fading) are washed together in bio powder.

Everything is separated. We are a large family so there is always a lot of laundry.

Whites - 40°C, powder detergent + Vanish
Darks - 40°C, liquid detergent
Wool, fleeces etc. - 20°C, special detergent, fabric conditioner
Bath towels, bedsheets - 60°C
Kitchen towels and DH's grubby work clothes - 60°C (or sometimes 40°C with bleach)

I have apartheid separate laundry baskets for whites and coloureds. Each fits a load, so when the basket is full it goes on. Towels and sheets do separately as get washed at a higher temp. We don't have anything that wouldn't survive a 40 wash any more

I'm a chuck everything in the machine on a mixed cycle at 40.

Only exceptions are cloth sanitary products as they need a 20 wash and my cheeky wipes that need fabric softener and can't go in with towels.

Don't have enough whites to worry about greying.

Yes - people who don't separate are definitely in denial about how bright their whites are.

I don't to be honest - we don't have enough white washing (school uniform polos are bright coloured) to ever decently make up a load. I just tend to accept I'll be replacing kids' vests a little bit more regularly as a result.

I separate out uniform tops for the first couple of weeks of term as the uniform is red and I've turned stuff pink in the past, but after that it all gets bunged in together - generally I quick wash uniform every night, proper wash other stuff later in the week.

I don't wear pale colours, DH doesn't wear pale colours and the kids - well one's dyspraxic and the other's permanently attached to packs of felt pens and glue to draw and make stuff... so I try to avoid pale colours for them too.

I never do, because I wash everything at 30.

I release at towels, whites, darks and delicates, oh a dps work stuff and football stuff which all goes in together because it stinks 😂. Accidently put a school polo shirt in with the coloured wash the other day it's geyish now I'm comparison!

I'm a separating maniac!

Hot wash whites (towels, flannels, cheeky wipes, soiled baby clothes) plus laundry cleanser disinfectant
Regular wash whites/pales
Bright colours
Darks (with special dark detergent)
Blue and white stripes () me and DD have so many and I've never figured out if they're whites or colours so I just keep them until I've got a load.
Delicates/wools/silks

I even have a special cupboard for all my different detergents.

Nothing else in my house is organised or neat. I just have a thing about clean laundry and also I really hate it when things don't look new anymore. Probably because my mother had the opposite attitude and when I was young lots of my clothes would get a bit ruined.