Or is this not how anyone does washing?!

[Sofiegiraffe]

Who is BU here, me or DP?

When I put a wash load in the machine, I pick up each item individually and sort of make a mental note of it so I have a rough idea of what is going into the machine (in case anyone asks where an item of their clothing is, or in case I'm wondering "where's that pair of black trousers of mine?", for example).

DP claims to just "pick up a load of stuff and shove it in". He doesn't put them in one by one. So if it's a darks wash that he's put on, and I ask "are my black trousers in that wash?" or "is DD's pink dress in that colours wash by any chance?", he won't know. All he knows is that he shoved a load of dark or coloured stuff in.

He thinks that's a perfectly reasonable way to do the washing. I think surely no one else does this? Surely most people look at what they're putting in so they at least have a rough idea of what's going in?!

Who is BU? Please settle this once and for all!

@Sofiegiraffe

Also our wash loads take 3 hours, not 1. Should this not be the case?!

Mine will take 3+ hours if I overload it. Are you putting too much in? If it's a modern machine it will weigh it and add hours on if you've put too much it.

I find I have far too much washing to just shove it in, so I have to decide what’s urgent and what’s not. Which I think is what the OP does except she worded it badly with the mental notes!

Shove it all in. I have 2 baskets, one for white/light clothes and one for dark clothes purely so I can shove it in without having to sort through it first.

Life is too bloody short. I shove the appropriate colours in together and job done.

I only make sure things that have to be in are, so a combination of the two. We are a family of 5 so a lot of washing and generally wash to a schedule.

Cavagirl Ours takes 3 hours because I use the economy setting.

Shove everything in on a 30 degree wash. Don't even separate colours and whites. Nothing bad has ever happened and the clothes come out clean. If the kids can't find something it's probably in the wash.

I do kind of half check what im putting in, especially if ive got a lot to get through, so i know im washing important things first. I am not very organised about it though.

Shove it all in, the only thing I seperate are period pants and cloth nappies from the main wash. Don't even seperate colours/darks/whites; I know, I'm a heathen!

I don’t check pockets because everyone here has it drummed into them that they can’t put stuff in the basket before they’ve checked their own pockets!

This is interesting, seeing what everyone does.
I have 4 dc and a husband who is a tradesman. I have a shelving unit with baskets on, 12 or 14 baskets. Dirty laundry on the bottom shelves, clean to put away on the higher shelves. DH stuff goes in its own basket, so do bedsheets, the rest goes in baskets sorted by light/dark and light/heavy. So like adult trousers, jumpers etc in a 'heavy darks' basket, sun dresses and underwear in a light lights basket.
This system wouldn't make sense for most families but I wash every day,usually a few washes and try to balance the loads or it buggers the bearings but I'm not super strict about it.

YABU. It gets chucked in.

All in at once, like your DH.

I shove it all in . I don't sort it at all. The only time I do is if I bought something new and that will be washed separately

I know roughly what is in each load because we don't have separate washing baskets for type of load so I generally make an involuntary mental note whilst I'm separating the wash out.

I just shove everything in. Its in separate baskets anyway, one for lights, one for darks. If it's not in there, it doesn't get washed.

I'm like you! I know exactly what is in the washer! But if someone else does it I dont mind how they do it!

Each individual item but I don't really notice what's going in its to make sure everythings turned the right way out and there's nothing in pockets.

I admire your organisation! I can never find anything and I only hav one DC!

I think it not the norm but sounds sensible. 😀

I sort each item into the relevant pile (whites or colours) and then put them in. So I do sort each item but I don't make mental notes of where they are.

I'm with you OP. I also make sure nothing's still inside out AND fold certain items before I put them in the machine 😳

I just put things in as colours/darks etc. If I put anyone's else's in they'd probably consider it a bonus.

@PourUsAGlass

I'm with you OP. I also make sure nothing's still inside out AND fold certain items before I put them in the machine 😳

You fold them?
Surely that means (in a full ish load) that it gets trapped folded and doesn't wash consistently?

I just shove stuff in. If I happen to have enough whites I'll do them separately but I usually don't.

When DP does a load he makes sure that he only puts in socks in matching pairs and leaves piles of washing all over the floor sorted into lights and coloureds etc. He empties the whole basket - so thorough. I just grab a load of darks and shove it in. If the socks aren’t in pairs they’ll be matched in the next load -he gets frustrated with my way.