do you sort your washing in colours, even though the items are so old they wont run?

[EleanorReally]

will they run?

My machine has a good quickwash setting. Altogether, my washing would make for one large load a week (2h), but as it is, I do three smaller loads - one whites, one blues or reds, one mix.

We have a laundry egg instead of capsules, and I add whitening stuff to the whites load, and a teeny bit of concentrated conditioner to the other shirts load for my husband.

40s Whites seperate or they go grey, use whites liquid and vanish/ecover bleach.
Occasionally white towels and/or bedding (guest bed) at 60. Extra rinse.
Coloured towels at 60 with colour liquid, extra rinse.
40s colours for everything else, colour wash, spray or vanish stains if needed. Seperate bedding if enough, or may do with towels.

Don't use bio detergent for wool, it eats them

I don't separate anything, literally ever. Okay, sometimes I wash white and dark bedding separately because it doesn't get washed often enough to have rinsed the dye very well. But clothes, I truly never separate them. Though I probably don't have enough whites that it matters (other than school socks? thankfully school uniform is all dark).

White only get washed with white.

For the rest, it depends on the clothes, no issue with putting everything when I know clothes don't run.

I don't like quick wash or cold wash, i don't think they wash near as well, and the quick wash doesn't rinse enough either. Fine for me, but not good for the kids.

Yes, always. Whites only go in with whites, too.

Just me and DP in the house, and laundry is my job. I do:

Towels and DP's work shirts on a hot wash - Wednesday
Bedding on a hot wash - Saturday
Woollens on a wool wash - once every few weeks at this time of year, once a week in the winter
All other stuff in a 30 degree wash, unless it's a thing like new black jeans, which I would be more careful with - usually twice a week

I don't tend to separate by colour, just item type.

I do weekly. One wash for whites, one wash for bedding and towels ( because I like a hot wash on them), the rest is 1 load a day of everything else.

No.

I've only ever seperated whites and 'other' and don't have any problems irrespective of the age of the clothes.

People are really making a lot more work for themselves on this thread

Whites should be done seperately, everything else can be done together. Twenty years of this and no issues at all on a 40 degree wash.

No colour catchers or any other chemicals required.

Every chemical we use in our washing eventually makes it way to rivers and the vast majority say in tiny writing "harmful to wildlife" or similar on them

I sort everything, wouldn’t dream of mixing. Things do get dull if you don’t and grey whites look awful.

Every chemical we use in our washing eventually makes it way to rivers and the vast majority say in tiny writing "harmful to wildlife" or similar on them

@WheresMyMoJo I use indian washing nuts rather than detergent, with the exception of when i do the whites, then i add a dab of bleach.

I usually do 1 load 4 times a week, its not hard work as the machine does the work for me

Whites go in separate generally so they don’t go grey.

They do run. Not hugely or noticeably but whites and bright yellows will go dull looking over time.

I put white, light grey, yellow, pale colours all in together. Light blues get more leeway in the whites wash as well. Then if there's enough clothes I might separate the rest into darks and brights or by colour but mostly I plop them in together.

I have colour catchers on hand for when DH does the washing because he just throws everything in together. Tbh I used to as well until I noticed the difference between brand new white things and the stuff we'd had for a while.

A colour catcher isn't a chemical, it's just a little piece of absorbent cloth.

I really can't put denim in with anything that contains white stripes or pastels, definitely not at 40. I have lost a few t shirts to blue dye streaks.

Yep, darks get washed at 30c on a longer cycle, and whites/lights get washed at 40c or 60c on a quicker cycle. It's the shrinkage I want to avoid rather than colour run.

“so I'm not sure we even own a full wash worth of whites/lights)”

What about bedding Jager?

I just do whites, light colours, towels and dark colours. IMO whites tend to go a dingy grey colour if washed with other colours, and I like my whites to stay white. I use Ariel washing powder (never laundry liquid) for whites and lights, and Fairy powder for dark colours.

A colour catcher isn't a chemical, it's just a little piece of absorbent cloth.

Pedantically, it is a chemical which is attached to a piece of cloth.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/12/colour-catcher-gravity-tea-whites-caffeine

The only things I do separately are the cloth nappies. We don't wear white clothing or have white bedding so everything just goes in together. Ain't got the time/inclination for faffing.

I do everything together, unless it's brand new and dark, then I'll stick a dark wash on once and forget after.

We don't really have much white stuff because we're too messy. The school shirts seem to stay white though, and are hidden underneath blazers anyway so I don't care!

I've found clothes that are vibrant colours really dull if washed with dark things.

Whites
Colours
Darks
Delicates
Towels (hot)
Bedding (hot)

I do -
White
Towels
Bedding
Everything else

Darks - anything remotely darkish coloured or old/discoloured
Lights
Anything else with a colour catcher thrown in (usually save up all the odd coloured clothes and do a wash when there's enough)