Not bothering to separate colours

[Trunkybum]

I’m just read a reply on another thread where someone mentioned OP should pick similar shades of colour for her child’s clothing so she can wash them all together.
Cant you just wash it all together anyway? I literally bung everything into the machine, including really light stuff and it’s all fine. If I’ve got something dark I’m washing for the first few times lll shove a colour catcher in (yes I’m aware they are the produce of satan). I might keep white stuff separate if it’s really lovely, but white towels are fair game and I hardly have any white clothing.

really who can be arsed with doing so many separate washes? BTW, we’re not talking about high end, delicate garments. Poster was talking about Primark clothes and most of our wardrobe is Next or supermarkets.

I separate colours and whites but it stops there. If a pink to turns a slightly deeper shade of pink, nobody will notice. Greying whites are another matter though.

My machine has a mixed colours cycle so everything gets whacked on that. Can't be arsed faffing around separating whites😂

I separate lights and darks. Wouldn’t go further than that. I had white socks go through a dark wash and they ended up greyish.

Always separate. White, darks and colours. People that don’t say they’re whites are white. They aren’t compared to people who separate their washing. Why wouldn’t you?

We have so much washing anyway so yes I wash similar together.
Our eldest had a friend stay over who needed her school uniform washing, shirt was grey but was sent home white.

Whites, colours and darks. If too many I might separate colours into pale and bright. Its easy as I use a laundry basket with 3 sections so the clothes are separated as they go in the basket. School blouses and bedding ensure I can always find enough for a whites wash.

I could not wash like that. It looks terrible.

I've never separated colours and never had an issue with day to day washing. I hate beige and light coloured clothes though, so that might be why! Even clothes which have lighter areas (eg stripes or white patches in the design) have never suffered.

I separate whites but only since DC started school which gives us enough whites to justify a separate wash. Everything else goes in together. Towels, clothes, bedding, cleaning cloths. Some people have special washes for all those things. Madness.

I used to be a ‘chuck it all in with a colour catcher’ until an expensive engineer call out to clear a blocked filter. Was advised to bin them unless I wanted to continue contributing to his summer holiday fund 😁

It only takes a few seconds to separate lights and darks, I also use powder for the former and liquid for the latter and it makes a big difference.

I always seperate colours into Whites, darks and pink/browns

I separate whites and delicates. And wash cleaning cloths and bath mat separately on a boil wash.

Half our household uses bio and softener and the other uses only non-bio, so that's another separation

The only thing I wash separately are the white school shirts (they do not stay white if washed with other colours). That's the only white clothing we own as I refuse to buy white anything on principle. Everything else goes in together, with the exception of a few random things with natural dye that do stain anything they touch. I wash these individually on a quick wash and that's it.

I can’t believe anyone cares so much about what other people do with their laundry! Chuck it all in, separate, who cares, you’re the one wearing them!!

What’s wrong with colour catchers?

Unless I have something that will obviously loose dye or a very special light peace of clothing,I just shove everything together.

I separate lights and darks, whites just have to take their luck with the lights. So far so good, in fact I've not had the colour run out of anything for years. Like a pp I use powder for the lights, and liquid for the darks - I've had bleach spots on dark clothing when I've used powder to wash them. My whites always look very white btw. Towels, sheets, and merino garments have their own washes.

I was on a morning train and noticed how different people operate, even to the same end.

Some looking and smelling good.
Some smelling stale.
Men in expensive suits that were not ironed.
White shirts going grey.
Some looking like they’d rolled straight out of bed and onto the train.
Some finishing their grooming on the train.

Fascinating viewing (I hadn’t been on a peak hours train for years), and a lesson in ‘to each, their own’.

I do light colours, dark colours and whites. Whites really must be separate if they aren't to end up greige eventually.

I wash whites separately but everything else in together. But honestly on MN you’d think everyone washes each item separately when it’s been touched for a minute.

I do two washes: whites and light colours and darks and brighter colours.

BF mixes it all up.

You can tell when he's done the washing put it that way.

this made me chuckle. Every time oldest DS back from uni DH makes a big effort to get his t-shirts back to white with soaking and washing. I was joking the other day with the amount of vanish he uses could get new t-shirts.

in our house:
Whites
lights (sometimes split into general lights and light blues depending on how much of it we have)
bright colours
Navy blue and dark greens
Black
delicates

we wash towels and sheets separately on 60 degree washes.

i do use colour catchers sometimes but put in a net bag so they don’t go into the filter. Occasionally I forget but we do a maintenance wash once a month and check the filter then.

I chuck it all in together. The only whites we have are the kids’ school polos and they do start to grey after a while but they also have loads of food stains on so a bit of greying doesn’t make a difference!

Yes I separate, you might think it's fine but after a while your whites will be grey!
In fact I just accidentally put a pair of DD's white socks in with a dark wash and they have come out noticeably greyer, if you don't care then fair enough but I prefer to keep my light clothes looking nice.

I separate colours.
White, dark, red/orange/pink/purple, blue/green.

I’m still doing the same number of washes (around 6 per week) just they are different colours loads rather than 6 mixed loads.

It doesn’t take me long to sort out.

I have enough of each colour to make a load.

It means I can say with confidence that I have or haven’t washed something if other family members are looking for it.

I prioritise whites and darks because of school uniform - I know they absolutely have to be ready for Monday morning. It means I can put aside some set time to iron them rather than waiting for them to come through piecemeal and get lost at the bottom of the ironing basket.
It helps me be organised. I would absolutely get snowed under if I didn’t sort like this.