How do you sort your washing?

[suzi2]

DH says he's confused by my system. He groups things by colour (pinks, blues etc) whereas I go for lights and brights (then whites and darks). DH can't understand why putting a bright pink thing in with a baby pink thing might not work...

How do you group yours?

whites

not whites

usually have one of those colour run sheets in with them as well, you can use them again and again till they are practically black

im lazy.lights and darks.nothing dyed so far!
dh on other hand seems to shove whatever in and i find multi coloured tops that used to be white,shruken wool garments

whites

darks

brights sometimes go in with darks

everything goes in together at 40
much more environmentally friendly

whites

everything else

3 categories - Whites, my colours (use colour-safe detergent) and DH and DS's colours (use non-bio for senstive skins). Might isolate something with a deep colour the first time it's washed if I'm suspicious but otherwise don't seperate light/dark colours.

• Whites
• All other colours
• Stuff that doesn't need fabric conditioner (not much of that, so usually v small loads - not v environmentally friendly
• Towels (also no fabric conditioner, usually)

Whites
Blacks
colours
Jeans
all above at 40 degree.

Towels/bed clothing all done at 60 degree.

Light stuff.

Darker stuff.

Sometimes a white wash.

If I have soemthing new, like black trousers, then i do a very dark wash, just in case!!

Officially I do whites, lights and darks.

Sometimes a separate towel wash at 60, sometimes stick them in with the relevant colours!

Bibs and muslins go in with the nappies at 60 or the whites.

Sometimes pale pinks etc go in with the whites.

Oh I sometimes handwash new jeans or red/black things just to assess if they run badly.

Whites
Light Colours
Dark Colours
Darks
Towels
Bedding

Everything goes on at 30 as a rule so there is rarely any running anyway.

If I have a particularly large amount then I do split by colour, ie light pinks, light blues, dark pinks, dark blues.

I think both systems work fine!

dooley1 why does everything together make it more enviromentaly friendly?surely just full load on lower temp is good no matter what colours/whites?

Whites

blues and greys (sometimes a blue wash and a grey wash)

pinks

jeans

darks

reds if there are any

towels together

sheets together or alone

(5 kids )

Everything together on 40 with bio.

Baby stuff separately (non-bio).

(Am a lazy mare )

Whites/pales, brights, darks all on 40 or 50 degrees.
Also do separate washes for:
my underwear ie bras/knickers at 40,
towels/flannels at 60 (plus bathroom cleaning cloths) as I read that they can make other things bobbled,
bibs and kitchen cleaning cloths together at 60,
bedlinen (all white) also at 60,
nappies plus cloth wipes at 60.
not very eco friendly but we do use eco friendly detergent and no fabric conditioner
Sorry for the long list!

oh we're environmentally friendly here - I don't think I've ever done a non full wash!

Maybe we're both being too fussy. We use non bio though so I think the whites are worth staying together.

DH washed my new, £55, "dry clean only" coast top last week. Better than that he tumble dried it on hight heat. And guess what? It's fine

Those who wash at 30 degrees, does it actually come out clean?

I often find that even at 40 with biological powder and an in-wash stain remover clothes don't always come clean, so I can't see that 30 can possibly work.

(my washing machine also needs a regular hot wash 70+ to keep it working....)

Oh and occasional wool wash for work trousers, nice jumpers etc.

Surprising how complicated it all seems when you write it down...My friend's dh was trained by his mother to do separate washes for almost everything. Pants wash, socks wash etc. She has untrained him now.

My machine is old - doesn't have a 30 setting.

In GH magazine recently they did tests. Basically, iirc, 30 often didn't get stuff clean. 60 is recommended for towels and bedding especially if you want to kill the dust mites. 40 seems to be more reliable.

Doen't most bio powder work better at 40 as that is what it was designed to work at?

we use ecover liquid.40 for clothes
60 for bedding (2 ds have ezcema,1 has asthma)
nappies done at 40 with weekly 60 wash.

I tried washing at 30 once, it all came out filthy. Never again. I don't wash clothes after one wear, but I do insist that when I was them, they are clean.

I separate mine into

Whites
Lights
Darks
Wool setting - delicates & jumpers
Towels
Bedding

I do darks & wool setting clothes on 30 deg, never been a problem, everything else at 40 deg.
I use ecoballs, ecover laundry bleach for whites. Plus stain remover where necessary.

Just flicked through this thread so don't know if it's been mentioned already, but my friend had a brainwave recently and now also sorts her wash into WHETHER CLOTHES CAN BE TUMBLE DRIED OR NOT.

She says it's much better sorting dry clothes than wet and saves time when you can just dump everything from the washing machine into the dryer.

She has 3 kids - I only have 1 so not loads of washing yet, but will try and remember it when I do!

Ibblewob I cut out the middle man and do that in the shop. "Can it be tumble dried? No? back on the peg then!"