How do you sort your washing?

[Krazylady]

Just wondering...I think I probably do more loads than necessary instead of lumping together.

I always separate the following:
Jeans
Towels
Bed linen
DH's shirts
Dark colours
Light colours
Woollens
Delicates

I've always done it this way, but my sister says she just does dark or light colour washes. Who is right? Do I need to get a life?

I do

Things that need washing.

That's it. Most of the time I don't even separate dark and lights, unless it's brand new dark clothes.

Darks
Whites
Colours

I wash towels and bedding separately

I am quite proud of my laundry system(s).

I have an IKEA kallax 4-cube in the dressing room. One for whites/lights, one for darks/colours, one for towels/flannels, one for delicates/wool. Every morning whichever cube is the fullest gets put in the wash. The cube boxes are really useful for taking the stuff up and down stairs.

Other categories - bedding, weekly when it is changed. Household cloths/tea towels get put in a small basket under the sink and when that looks full a load gets done. And finally the dog has her own laundry basket in the hall cupboard too, for her towels/jumpers, and when it looks full it gets done.

For me the key has really been sorting things when they go in the laundry baskets/cubes. Makes it so much easier than when I used to have one huge laundry basket for everything and then have to sort through it before putting a wash on.

Jeans and men's trousers go on on their own because they use loads of water so anything with them doesn't wash as well. They get very heavy so need a smaller load. I've never had a washing machine break, maybe that is why?

Darks,
Towels
Bedding for double/king size is a load by itself, but DD's single goes in with lights
Lights are divided into whites/lights/brights if there's enough, but can overlap
Wool and hand wash only usually sit around for weeks.

Whites, lights, darks, towels. Whites and lights may go together, depending on exactly what needs washing. When I wash my new red skirt, that will go in a wash only with other red stuff for the first couple of washes, then it'll go in darks. I also do a separate wool wash, but less frequently. I mght also do delicates separately, but I avoid buying things which need much extra laundering consideration. There's not a lot of dry-cleaning in my wardrobe, either.

3 baskets in the utility for darks/colours/lights (at 40). Then I also do towels/tea towels/cloths/bedding (at 60). That covers most things, I find. "Delicates" tend to either linger at the bottom of whichever colour basket they're in, or have been eliminated from our wardrobes entirely! Sometimes I do an extra sort in the colours/darks e.g. colours split into 1 load greys & blues, and 1 load brights, but depends on how much laundry has built up!

Towels
Dd clothes (sensitive)
Underwear
Normal clothes that can be dried
Work/non tumble dry clothes
Every bloody sat when we get our free electricity thing/allowance.

Most of our stuff is well-wahed and doesn't run, so for when there are just two of us:
Towels, tea-towels and bath-mats - 90C (plus Calgon to minimise lime-scale), 1 load weekly
Bed-linen and pants/knickers - 60C, 1 load weekly
Shirts, T-shirts andjumpers - 30C or 40C, 1 or 2 loads weekly.
Guest bedding and towels either go into the regular wash or are done separately at the end of the visit

whites (40), sheets and towels (60), woollen and everything else (40)

I have an IKEA kallax 4-cube in the dressing room.

Very clever! I'll have to steal this idea.

I'm in awe of the number of loads you guys do a week!

For me it's

• Whites (bedlinen) - 1 x a week
• Whites and (very) lights (everything else, inc towels) - 1 x a week
• Darks - 3 x a week on a cotton wash
• Wool and delicates - 1 x a week

Right ...
Darks and denims (40)
Blues/greens/greys (40)
Reds/pinks/yellows (40)
Whites with patterns (40)
White only (60, plus prewash with Napisan or Biotex if really mucky)
Delicate/woolen wash for cashmere, silk etc

I do

Bright colours
Light colours
Dark colours
Darks
Whites
Hand wash
Wool
Delicates
Light tea towels and cloths
Dark tea towels and cloths

Then dh's work stuff in a different machine. (Mud and ticks)

People take the piss but I put a duvet cover on yesterday that is over 20 years old and still looks nice and still have bras and underpants that my Mum gave me almost 30 years ago.

"Why can't they just go in with the other dark stuff?"

Some of the denim dye methods cause jeans to run and fade very very quickly. Especially black jeans.
I've found it is best to wash jeans together, inside out and with a colour protect detergent. Takes us about 2 weeks to get a half load of jeans which I then wash on quick 40 degrees

Im amazed at you all sorting out washing. I literally shove it all in together and ensure washing machine is full. That means washing sports gear, towels, some linen and underwear etc all together but surely that's ok?
DH's shirts go out to be done as does some of the bedlinen.
I wash every other day and I still feel Im behind. If I waited for whites to mount up etc I would never get a full load and I find clothes come out cleaner (less dust) if machine is full.

Bedding, towels, tea towels : 60° wash.
These don't go in wash basket generally and are done as they are changed.

Jeans, tough tee shirts, pyjamas : 40° cotton wash.

School uniform, lighter weight tee shirts, sports gear (indoor sports) : 40° synthetics wash (always on a Saturday am!)

Then occasional delicate or wool washes collected over a long time.

I also air stuff when I get a chance: coats, jumpers if it's blowing, pillows when it's frosty. This is ott! But I am at home a lot so just do it.

Wool doesn't need a lot of washing ime but can benefit from airing. I find acrylic holds smells and I try not to buy it now. So a wool school jumper bought for my tidy teen was washed about a quarter of times compared with the previous acrylic one.

At a busier time of my life I threw it all in together a lot more and replaced stuff more often. Oh and never wore delicates!

Darks, lights,colours, nappies, towels and cloths go on a boil wash, bedding on a hot wash.

:shinny: bedding, towels and cleaning cloths need a hotter wash for hygiene. 60 degrees minimum.

Whites also benefit from hotter washes and mixed in with coloureds means they will go dull and grey.

One method has revolutionised my washing basket- DS1 20 and DS2 16 do their own washing. They have own hampers, all their stuff goes in together (I don't buy them anything light and they don't have any synthetics).

Now to work on DH...

pklme I've just started the same with my late teen son. The way he hangs them on the line or clothes horse is just awful though, I know I have to distance myself from it and let him get on with it. Do you find this?

Bedding
Towels
Lights
Darks

By person, his stuff, my stuff, towels and bedding. Occasional load of expensive delicates or white shirts.

Mostly colours and type of fabric.
If I need to wash DS's football kit, I'll add a few more items but still wash at a lowish temperature (it's synthetic so no mud).
Hardy white cotton, colours and the eventual set of delicates and woollies.

I throw mine on the floor and DH sorts it and washes it. I then fold it and put it away.
Teamwork