To wonder how many people don't do their spouse's laundry?

[Goostacean]

I see this on threads quite regularly: OP says they do cleaning/laundry etc, next posters say "why do you do [his] laundry?"

Do many households have separate laundry baskets- one per person? Or do people mean they take turns to do communal loads? How many of you only do your own laundry?

I've only ever seen this on MN, although in fairness I've not made a habit of asking friends and acquaintances how they manage the load (excuse the pun) in their households...

AIBU to ask what happens in your homes?

I will only do other people’s laundry if it it is sorted and brought down to basement. I don’t like people touching mine though. So I do the majority of the laundry.

I do all the laundry but that’s because DH will just break the machine or put mine or our DC’s stuff in on wrong settings/temps if he does it. Deal is he makes the lunches for work. But he does drive me insane as he leaves piles of dirty clothes in different places all over the house. I’ll empty the basket and get a wash on then it’s miraculously filled seconds later

I will only do other people’s laundry if it it is sorted and brought down to basement. I don’t like people touching mine though. So I do the majority of the laundry.

Did you mean family member's clothes or are you in a apartment building with communal washes and do everyone's?

All our stuff goes in together.

I do the laundry - also ironing and most of the cooking. My DH hoovers, does the general household stuff and mows the lawn. I think it is pretty fair and works for us.

Not sure why the laundry would ever be separated 🤷🏼‍♀️

Me and dp have seperate laundry bins and do seperate washings.

I find it utterly bizarre. We have a communal laundry basket. But even if we didn’t, I’d probably just do both when I put a load on and I would expect him to do the same.
Most other household jobs are for the benefit of both - cleaning rooms you both use, cooking etc (but maybe people insist on only cooking for themselves too??).
If one of us takes a bin out maybe we should insist on only taking out our own rubbish too?

I love all the tactics people's husbands and partners have employed to avoid doing it. 'Oh he can't use the machine properly, he can't use the right buttons, he doesn't sort the stuff properly, he gets so confused'. Aye, right

I do most of the laundry and iron DH shirts but DH looks after his own socks and underpants.

DH and I have seperate laundry baskets. He brought he when we moved in together so we do our own washing. Why would I make more work for myself by offering? I find it madness that in this day and age all the laundry seems to be taken over by the female in most partnerships I know when most work full time ( prior to having children)

I do all the washing - mine, DFiance & baby. I just grab it out of the basket until the machine is full, I don't even separate colours! 😱 Fiance would put a wash on if asked. When I've asked him why he never puts it on without me asking, he says he's not sure if I want it on then😂and doesn't want to annoy me. I like doing the washing so I don't really care if he doesn't. He lugs the basket up and down the stairs whenever I ask him to😊

I wash, he irons

We just sort of do each others/our own/our DDs laundry, in a random sort of way! We just tend to put our own clothes in and then someone else might hang them out to dry, or we just kind of take it turns to wash bed linen and towels. I'm not quite sure what the process is, but it all gets done!

No I don't do my husbands and I stopped doing my daughters at fourteen. We all do our own, and do it when we have full loads.

I used to do it all, but his clothes are much heavier than mine and he has more laundry, so instead of taking it in turns, I ended up running around doing everyone's laundry every other day. So I said enough. Do your own.

In my experience the whole we do each other's is bullshit. In every single persons home I know, one person turns into the skivvy and ends up doing it all.

This makes no sense to me. We have a nappy/baby basket in the bathroom and an ‘everything else’ basket in our bedroom. We just put on a wash whenever either is full. Who puts it on just depends on which of us has got the time. I do most of the putting away as I’m really anal about prepping the nappies nicely but in all fairness DH probably does at least three quarters of the washing and drying.

I do all the laundry. Dh has done some in the past. Put on the nappies, bedding, clothes etc but he didn't do it the same as me and I'd rather do it myself. I'm a SAHM so house things are my job then when he comes home he does whatever is left or I didn't want to do.

I do the laundry for all. I would hate to think how much water, power, detergent etc we would use if done separately. I am environmentally conscious though.

I'm a SAHM so I do it all, occasionally my husband folds and puts some stuff away in the evenings but usually puts my stuff and the baby's in the wrong place...
I would only not do my husband's if he was being a massive twat. It would be a lot of effort to separate it out.

I do all the laundry, it saves things being ruined. Previous experience taught me not to leave anything to chance, and he would do it but it is much better and saves replacing things if he doesn't. I actually don't mind as it makes me feel I have actually managed to get something done, whereas the rest of the house never seems to change.

We have separate washing baskets and do our own laundry. I do mine on a Friday when I'm working from home and he does his on Saturday mornings. On Sundays I put all the bedding and towels in together. It works for us, we don't have time during the week and I like knowing mine is all done, dried and put away in one day. I couldn't be arsed with having to sort out mixed loads at random points in the week

Plus we disagree on what is the correct cycle and temperature for a load, so this way we both do as we please.

@SudowoodoVoodoo, I’m with you on this one!

And for the same reasons.

In the days when it wasn't just me in the house, we had a basket in our bedroom and another on the landing (that our daughters used). It was up to each individual to keep back anything that needed hand washing.

I tended to be the person who noticed when the baskets began to overflow (and was pickier about separating colours) so I probably put the washing on 90% of the time. My late husband was the one most likely to tackle the ironing basket though.

If one of the kids needed to put a wash on because they needed particular items, they'd ask if we needed anything else putting in with them.

It was a pretty harmonious arrangement.

When the DCs lived with us, I used to do everyone's laundry. After they left home, I continued to do mine and DH's.

When our roles reversed and I was working full time while he was "working from home" he finally learned how to use the washing machine. But he can never be bothered to sort anything and so bungs everything in the same load.

After a few of my things were damaged from being washed with bright colours and/or at the wrong temperature, I asked DH not to wash any of my stuff. So we've had separate laundry baskets for about the last 15 years and we each do our own.

I was out of the house, dh rang me to ask where the plasters were kept.

I told him "in the cupboard above the washing machine ...... the washing machine is the big metal thing with a hole in the front of it".

It's now a running joke in our family.

I do the washing, dh earns the money.

Our YA kids do their own washing if I'm not here.

We each have our own laundry basket, plus an extra one for everything white.

Everyone's bedding and towels get done every week separately cos as a family we live in two properties so some weeks I have double bedding and towels depending on where we all are.

Whoever’s home does the whole family’s, either one of us will hang it out to dry and put the next load in. We sort in to piles by darks lights and reds so everyone’s is all jumbled together. Works for us.