5 washing baskets - is this madness?

[Asthmaticmouse]

Hi lovely people. We have a household - 2 parents and two DC, one 4 and the other a recent baby.

DP insists that we need 5 separate washing baskets - one for whites, one for lights, one for brights, and then one for darks plus a 5th for delicates/hand washing.

I think this is bonkers - at most its probably whites/lights, darks/brights, and then delicates/handwash. We don’t have the space for 5 separate washing baskets/bags!

AIBU?

I have a big trolley washing contraption which has 3 large removable hanging bags, we have an upstairs utility room and this trolley lives on the landing. One bag for whites / light colours ( much less of these since DH is no longer required to wear shirt and tie in his job) dark / new stuff that might colour run in second bag and then towels / bedding / bulky stuff in third. When DS’s still lived at home this third one was for all their sports kits / school uniform etc if it wasn’t in the laundry bag it didn’t get washed. We have no baskets anywhere else.

@orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclementsI could not do what you do! I am a messy cow but love laundry!! I have always been very regimented about sorting colours, using correct laundry products (whitening stuff, stuff for black clothes) and I’m a sucker for fabric softeners. Love pegging it out too. I never let anyone else do the washing.

But, I avoid ironing if at all possible - never iron bedding - who does that??

People who don't hand wash are the same people who complain their bra wires are always breaking and wondering why. I've never had one break in my life, and some of my bras are older than England football players 😂

Just put the hand wash or delicates setting on, on your washing machine, it's no more work.

I have two - one for towels, one for clothes (which get sorted as I wash). Bedding gets done the same day it's changed, so I just dump that on the floor and work through it. On top of the dryer I have three baskets. I can wash faster than I can dry, so three. Probably solved by currently having two dryers though. It was accidental but gosh is it handy.

Five is ridiculous imo - we have one and just sort things out as we go.

One washing basket! Your house must look like a laundry!
Me, DH, DS6 and DD3.

We don’t have a washing basket - everyone brings their washing and put it beside the machine (or I go around collecting each night) I put a wash on before bed of colours / darks as this is what we mostly have

whites (sports socks, shorts etc) go on top of the machine and I soak and wash when I get enough

we don’t need baskets as I just wash everyday (but not as much as my neighbour who has hers out by 6.30 am and a few more loads throughout the day)

5 is OTT for your size of household with such young children. One or possibly two.

We have three, one in the bathroom and one in the dc bedrooms.

We have five 😂

I have one for whites, one for darks, one for mixed coloureds. The kids and I use these.

Hubby has one for light and one for dark. I don't get involved in his washing - it turned into something to bicker about many years ago and the solution was to split it. Maybe let him have his baskets and you have yours?!

So do we , one laundry bin in the family bathroom and it’s sorted as it’s washed although I tend to separate by tumble dry or not tumble dry rather than colour

Bonkers! We have one for us and DD and another for DS as he is on another floor. Have only ever sorted into whites and other and never had any problems.

I follow those rules (one for whites, one for lights, one for brights, and then one for darks plus a 5th for delicates/hand washing) so in principal I agree with him.

If you don't have space then he should just sort as he goes along.

Or get something like this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/IHOMAGIC-Sections-Collapsible-Foldable-Bathroom/dp/B075ZPS1K3/ref=asc_df_B075ZPS1K3/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=697306065299&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13997541842595957800&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9197144&hvtargid=pla-438351538263&mcid=b4d0360d4c4839fbab0be5545d15ff96&gad_source=1&th=1

I use a similar system to your DP. I have five of those fabric covered cube boxes, so they sit in a row on the shelf. Each one holds enough for a load, and they get done when they’re full. DH puts his laundry into the hamper, and I sort it into the boxes, because I’m fussy about what counts as “white” and “light” 😆

But when I was sick and DH did the laundry, we abandoned the cubes and just used the hamper, because that’s what suited him. He would still check with me about delicates or unusual colours. Whoever does the laundry chooses the system, within reason - as long as it’s not ruining anyone’s clothes.

We have two, darks and lights. We just sort delicates out separately. No reason brights and darks can't be washed together as long as they're colour fast.

That's madness! We're a family of 7, 2 adults 5 children (14>7), we have this (but mine was about £30 from The Range). It's great as has a small footprint. Whites in the top basket, lights & brights in the middle, darks in the bottom. We got it when dc5 was 3, it's really helpful for pre-sorting the loads & the children got the hang of it straight away. You definitely don't need 5!!

We have one big laundry hamper, and separate whites or delicates/woollens when removing a basketful of "everything else" to put in the wash. There are usually relatively few whites/delicates/woollens so they tend to accumulate until there are enough to bother with. This in turn means we tend to avoid buying whites/delicates/woollens as they spend too long in the laundry hamper, and so the cycle is maintained.

Same. I mix things up anyway as long as they're not brand new red socks anything goes.

How often are you washing? I'd only do five of you're literally waiting for them to be full before you touch them. Even when we had twin babies, a young child and two adults we had one basket and is just sort as I went. If I get backlogged I pre sort but just into bags for life so turn over is quicker.

Baby stuff I watched separately, DJ terms do do his in one go so then I'd split mine and childs into darks / lights. Towels and bedding separately.

Unless you have a huge utility, he's crazy. Does he actually do the washing?

We have 5. One for DH’s laundry because he never sorts and his clothes are mostly dark and have a lot of fluff. We started doing this a few months ago because he always forgot to take out a dark, and I was sick of having mine and my toddler’s favourite clothes ruined. Not worth the aggro. https://www.habitat.co.uk/product/7578872

I have a double laundry basket from Amazon, which I use for everything for me and toddler but we don’t have many dark clothes, and pure whites. I own a lot of white t shirts. DH will put his white shirts in there. www.amazon.co.uk/SOLEDI-Removable-Collapsible-Foldable-Bedrooms/dp/B0B4WBW5K9/ref=mp_s_a_1_13

Toddler has a small basket in her room which I sort into mine.

Recently I got one for the kitchen and bathroom, so we can fling tea towels and flannels in. www.next.de/en/style/su001816/u12369

So the washes we do are, everything without Dh’s clothes, DH clothes, whites and towels.

I don’t want to sort dirty laundry. I just fling it in when one of my baskets is full. DH does his own. Towels, tea towels and flannels once a week, or the small bits go in with my “everything” wash.

TLDR: I don’t think 5 is excessive. If it makes your life easier do it. If it’s important to your DH he can do it.

??? Managed with one my whole life

Everyone has their own laundry basket in their bedroom. Not sure where we would be able to store the same number of laundry baskets where everyone has access to them so could be sorted into type rather than ownership

I thought it sounded crazy, then realised we use an ikea kallax unit with plastic crates similarly.

whites
darks
coloured
sportswear

towels/linen get chucked in the bath when changed

okay my first thought here is that your DP needs a hobby.

I just wash everything together 🤷‍♀️

Bonkers!

We only ever had 1 wash basket but since we moved house we have two. One in the main bathroom which the kids (young adults) use and one in our en suite. They get combined and sorted when I put a wash on.