How do you categorise clothes for washing?

[sunflowerxo]

Hey Ladies. I think I may be making more work for myself with my washing. I think I might be over cautious- and do so many separate washes! Usually, I do:
White wash
Reds/pinks wash
Dark wash
Light wash
Towels/underwear/ bedsheets for hot washes.
Is this necessary? How do you categorise washing? Do you ever have any colour run mishaps?

Any thoughts appreciated!

I do
Darks
Lights
Towels
Bedding.

Everything on 40 except towels at 60.

Oh and a hand wash cycle for jumpers.

Towels
Bed linen (our main and guest beds are superking so take up a whole wash) so can't be done with clothes. Otherwise I would.
Colours - any clothes that are not white or very light.
Whites/lights (we don't own much that is white so this is rare!
Wool/delicates (has different detergent). DH owns a lot of wool jumpers.
Cat blankets (done in a special bag that collects hair)
E-cloths, steam mop heads and other cleaning cloths - get done weekly after cleaner has been.
Very muddy/smelly horse related clothes items - go on a hotter and longer cycle than my other clothes.

@SneakyGremlins I love that tactic! I may just have to try that one 😂

Well I live on my own so it's only my own clothes I'm washing, no chance of ruining anyone else's!

I love these threads! I'm so lazy!

I separate lights and darks. These are both at 30C. Occasionally husband buys a wool jumper which is washed separately on a wool wash but these inevitably only last a month or two before I accidentally shrink them.

I also do a towels and bedding wash at 60C.

I should say that darks is just anything that isn't white or pale colours.

I didn't used to separate anything until we had DD. A lot of her clothes are light so I just use her hamper as the lights wash and ours as the darks/other.

White
Dark
Anything else

Clean
Dirty

I wash ours and the childrens' separately, but all mixed loads. It's easy to sort afterward. I'm thinking of doing one wash for the each of us so when the children are older, they can do their own.

I have a 4 section laundry basket for clothing which is for
Darks
Brights
Lights
Whites

A double Landry basket for
Bedding
Towels/cleaning cloths/tea towels

The hall rug and pet beds go in the wash by themselves maybe once or twice a week.

60 degrees (towels and sheets)
30 degrees
I no longer separate 30 degrees light and dark as I didn’t notice any difference

Dark, lights, bedding and swimming (as all the towels and swimwear get done straight away)

Dark
Light
Towels

That’s it

Clean and dirty. Everything goes in dirty, comes out clean, put away. Not sure why it’s harder than that.

Darks/lights.

If it can't survive a wash at 40 and a spin it's not fit for purpose in this house.

Bras and tights get put in zip up mesh bags to stop the wires murdering the washing machine and the zips off hoodies etc murdering the tights.

The really delicate stuff gets handwashed once in a blue moon and tends to be stuff like wedding guest outfits.

Life is too short to give that many fucks about laundry

Darks
Whites
Towels either on their own or with DPS football stuff at a 95 wash because it's the only temp that gets tried of the stench of football socks.

@SneakyGremlins you are my new hero

Dark and lights.

Everything goes in together at 30 degrees other than brand new jeans.

Oh and I wash nappies separately.

I do:

White/yellow (40)
Red/pink/orange (40)
Darks (40)
Towels (90)
Bed covers (90)
Cold wash (dh has some expensive jeans and hoodies that need a cold wash)

All clothes, not separated on a 40 unless they are desperately filthy or fragile.

Towels and bedding on a 60.

Pile 1: Coloured
Pile 2: Whites
Pile 3: Things I'm scared will shrink

I try to separate into light & dark, but don’t always bother. I also try to wash things of similar weight together, so will do a whole load of big heavy jumpers and jogging bottoms at the same time. Football kits, bedding and towels are washed separately.

Clean and dirty. Everything goes in dirty, comes out clean, put away. Not sure why it’s harder than that

It’s not hard to separate things out.

I separate them out because I like my whites, white.

Hmm, whites here stay white too despite everything going in together!