Sorting washing by colours (as in just reds & pinks, just dark blues and purples etc)

[ColdCottage]

My husband thinks it's over kill but I find it helps keep the colours brighter.

I do now use a colour catcher at times which means I slack a little but I still like to divide them all up.

On the other hand I'm not washing mini loads of each colour everyday I wait until I've got a good load - which doesn't take too long with reds/blues/blacks etc but yellow can take a while to build up a load.

I just wondered if it was just me?

Whites / lights
Darks
Brights

Then also
Bedding
Towels
Tea towels and dish cloths
Woolies

They also get their own cycles!

Stripy things always throw me off - eg a navy & white stripe top... Light or dark?

I stick them in with lighter colours, since if the darker stripe wasn't colourfast, it'd ruin the white stripe, anyhow. The white would go murky if it was regularly put onto a dark load.

@dizzydaisies stripes with whites in always cause me a headache too.

I do:

whites
lights
darks
colours
bedding
dark towels
light towels

Sometimes a light blue top can grey a white one and get greyed by darker ones, so that goes in lights. Bright colours are separated from darks so they don't get dulled. Bedding goes on a hot wash as do towels.

Has anyone noticed there's been a massive increase in clothes that have to be washed at 30?

It might be just Ireland, male clothes still seem to be 40 but females are now 30.

Our combined washing load for a week can either be done as one load or three mini loads. We have a lot of blue between us, and a lot of darks,so they usually get a load each.

I try to do it when my husband isn't looking, as he doesn't believe it works - though he struggles to argue with the results.

Every week:
Whites
Lights
Darks x 2
Towels x 2

Every two weeks:
Sheets x 2
Reds and pinks

As and when:
Woollens
Delicates
Maintenance wash

I have a 'wash day' once a week, so with 4 of us in the house i accumulate enough to separate properly.

i can't imagine being able to do it if I washed more frequently.

Ours is complicated by my allergies, so there is, for example, a whites-for-everyone-else with one detergent and a twice-rinsed-with-ecover-washing-liquid lights for my clothes...

I do
60 dark
60 light

Then 40
DH (all dark, use a different powder for his work clothes)
DC, me:
dark
Orange /pink/red/purple
Green/blue
White/pastel
Sports kit