Laundry baskets for dirty clothes - do you think that this will work?

[happytodayhappytomorrow]

'We' are DH, me and our 2 teenagers; 18 year old DS and 15 year old DD.
We need a new laundry basket and I'm toying with the idea of getting a triple one, or a double and a single, and having everybody put their dirty clothes in the relevant section (whites, coloured, sportswear).

Do you think it will work or am I living in cloud cuckoo land and they will just chuck their stuff in the closest one?

It works. Been doing it for years.

GoD, thanks for posting. How old were your DCs when you started getting them to sort?

I did this when my kids were younger and it worked really well. They were quite young but just asked if they weren’t sure.

Better still, one for ds, one for dd, one for you and dh to share. They can do their own laundry.

But then I just chuck all clothes in together. I don't sort.

If they do start just putting it in the nearest one then just don’t wash it unless it’s in the right one. They will learn very quickly.

I don't sort either. Am aware of the whites/colours thing, but sportswear?
Sometimes I think a basket per room might work since sorting the laundry at the other end is very time consuming - if there was a full load of one person's stuff that would be easier.

We have this system, the 4 year old is very good and will ask if he's not sure. The almost 2 year old will put in the right one if you tell him which colour. 10 year old and DP are slightly more likely to fling it in the general direction but usually do ok.

thanks for the extra replies.

For most sportswear, fabric softener shouldn't be used hence the separate wash.
I'd rather we did the laundry all together as it's more efficient that way. It would take quite a while for any one of us to have enough whites for a full load for example.

Thanks for explaining
I don't use fabric softener, I find it irritating on my skin so that's not a problem.

We all have our own laundry bins in our bedrooms. DH and I have three identical bins.... one for whites, one for darks and coloured and one for “special” ie knitwear, silk, sportswear etc. DDs room (not that she’s here much) has a two section one and she has her own system and does her own laundry. DS just has one bin and I just tell him what washing I want him to bring down and put in the machine. He’s been able to sort out his dirty laundry from around 10 - later than his sister but he has SEN and is “younger” than his actual age.

Depends on how house trained your DC are, in theory it should be fine but I'd check before putting anything in the machine!

Younger dc easier to train than teenagers

that's what I'm thinking

I don't separate whites and colours- unless say it was a new pair of jeans, new red shirt etc. I use colour catches in every wash. I add a new one in, then leave the previous 1 or 2 in there also (unless completely grey). I used to wear a white uniform with lack trousers, and didn't see the point of doing a separate wash for only 1-2 tops. Its worked fine for me for years.

Honestly I've washed white shirts with colours for years with no obvious effect. Unless you buy super dear stuff I wouldn't bother.

I have some history of colour mixing with disastrous results so perhaps I'm more careful than most.
DH does spend decent money on his work shirts too so I'm going to keep the whites and darks separate.

I've just remembered that I've got two small pop up laundry basket type things so I'm going to use those for a week and see what happens. My money is on Dh and DD being ok but DS not so much .
Watch this space.

I've just ordered a laundry bag from Argos that has 3 sections, I'm hoping it will make my life easier but let's see! My kids are younger and I think they'll be okay, its DH I have concerns about... but then if he ruins his own clothes that's his problem 😂

We have a family system rather than laundry hampers in each room. The baskets live inside a wardrobe in the spare room. Each basket is designated for either whites, lights, darks and blacks (which includes reds).

The children have been doing it for years, they used to check with me if they were unsure which basket something went into but now do it automatically without thinking.

I can't see why your 18 year old Ds cannot learn this, it is not exactly rocket science