AIBU To Wonder About This Laundry Travesty?

[TheShellBeach]

I am forever reading threads on here about laundry, in which some people admit to putting all their washing in the machine UNSORTED.
Yes! Whites, coloureds, woollens, sheets, towels etc. etc. etc. all put in together.

How can you do this? It's just wrong, isn't it?

(lighthearted)

My husband is one of them, the bastard. RIP whites.

I sort mine a bit but probably less than others.

I only owned anything white after DC started school and had to wear white polo shirts. Now I separate them to keep them whiteish.

Never understood the need to separate anything else. Life is absolutely too short for separating laundry.

I grew up with a top loading washing machine that had a "suds return". IE the first soapy wash water was discharged separately into the laundry sink and could then be returned to the washing machine for the next load, saving both water and detergent. (it was also a lot quicker than modern machines!) Wash day routine was parents sheets, childrens sheets, whites, coloureds, darks/work clothes, towels. Every other load got a bit of extra laundry detergent.

In summer you could often bring one load in as you pegged the next one out. Australia I admit ...

YANBU, when DC were at uni, all their washing took on this “look”.

Like well worn and grey.

It looked even worse as it was washed with powder from the pound shop, dried on airers in an unheated house and then worn un-ironed.

Neither of them are that much better at washing now, but I don’t say anything, as I clearly remember my MIL telling me when I was in my twenties that my washing looked mucky, cheeky mare.

We own nothing white. We do a clothes wash and a towels/bedding wash but will put any extra clothes in with towels if neither of our bedding needs washing that week. Woolen jumpers go in with other clothes on the rare occasion they need washing.

I generally do whites, lights and dark. Except for when my DD was young and I regularly had an entire pink/purple wash.

I’m quite proud of my ability to keep my whites, white. But then I lead a very quiet life and don’t get out much.

We don't separate most things. My husbands white shirts go in a separate wash with whitening powder, otherwise it's all in one go.

We're still alive.

I do have some whites, but the hassle of keeping them white means I rarely go out of my way to buy more.

Greys, blacks, pales, whites, blues, reds and greens.

Sometimes, if I have a pair of blue denims, I'll just throw them into the blacks wash.

We do whites, colours, delicates/woollens, sheets and towels separately - how are people actually fitting sheets, towels and clothes all in their machines?

I don’t separate into different colours though, like DM does. That way lies madness. And aside from DS’s school shirts, we don’t really own any whites.

Rarely separate washing, only sometimes if there's something new in the wash. Usually works ok.

Another household with no whites. Maybe the odd top or dress in summer? Absolutely no white underwear or socks!
I do a 'darks' and a lighter coloureds.
I bought the biggest machine I could afford and can now go 10 days without it getting filled.
It has halved my laundry time and costs and even fits winter duvets.

Two bath towels washed every week. One week the single bedding will go in with the towels, another week the double bedding, remaining two weeks the bath mats, mop head, and any clothing that didn't fit in the clothes wash. So not all of it at once.

Yes I’m another sad woman, white wash coloured wash and darks wash. I would never throw all in together. I had a friend at school why always had grey(white) socks and shirts always felt sad for her , have always been proud of my washing especially my whites.

Both my daughter’s just shove every colour item of clothing in their washing machines.
I have decided they are no daughters of mine. 😁

I don’t have enough whites to do a full white wash. Clothes get done at 30, 40 if they’re a bit gross. Towels, sheets, etc get washed at 60. Woollens and delicates get hand washed. No sorting by colour unless something looks like the colour might run.

I do whites/pales, darks, wool/delicate and sheets and towels.

Sometimes grey things get stuck in the basket for ages due to being too dark for pales and too pale for darks (of which there are always loads).

I do: a whites, a coloureds, a “normal” dark, a DH work clothes load (he’s got a very manual messy job that requires a separate very hot wash), towels/bedding. Occasionally there are delicates/woollens but not often. DD is only a baby though and the whites and most of the colours are hers. If it weren’t for her we wouldn’t have anything white. Even now it’s dwindling as she’s outgrowing the neutral white stuff that young babies get gifted/as hand me downs

This is what Colour Catcher sheets are for... which can be arsed to separate - I certainly don't have room for that!

*who can be arsed...

Whites in with darks? Over my dead body.

There was a girl in my sons year and all her white shirts was a mucky gray. I thought to myself while looking at her smiling up at mum and she loving giggling and cuddling her dd "dear god, she doesn't separate her whites!"

However this is my line in the sand. I never iron. I have a few times been into school, looked at my child in crumpled trousers and thought to myself " you like you've just climbed out of a skip my son" then felt deep shame, bit not enough to fire up the iron.

Wash wool with anything? Similarly, never. With wool you must be VERY careful. Gently pick up the garment, feel its soft texture, check the care label then lovingly leave in in the shop.

I came down this morning to find that DP had uncharacteristically done a true whites wash. It's unlike him to be so brave - he's been technically banned from doing them since he ensured I also had absolutely no whites or lights via the mixed wash principle. But then again, he'd ordered a new clothes airer because the previous one broke when he'd put three loads on it at once, so maybe he wanted to test it?

I do

Whites and lights (sometimes a hot, depends upon what's actually in the pile)
Dark - black, blue
Reds

Towels fill in the gaps on a load of either darks or reds (life is too short to be worrying about keeping white towels pristine, so they're all dark - I don't count the hairdye towel, which hasn't been truly white since about 1997 because the clue's in the name).

White, lights, mixed, darks. 40c usually, but can adjust to suit level of filth.

Bedding and towels 60c, my machine, a 10kg loader has a Bath and Bed setting.
the machine has a default temp of 60c and I couldn’t understand why the white synthetics were coming out grey after a few washes until I read the instructions.
Anything with Lycra in now gets a 30c wash.

I used to have a white uniform! It, along with any other coloured washing all went in together with multiple colour catchers. Never had an issue with colour bleeding.