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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Original poster

Are we the only people without a laundry basket?

104 replies

samarrange · 12/09/2023 19:08

We always had a laundry basket because, well, we'd always had one, we both grew up in a house that had one, etc.

Then we moved to a smallish flat and got rid of our old laundry basket saying "We'll buy a smaller one when we've moved in". Four years later we still don't have one. We just put our clothes in the washing machine when we take them off, and when the machine is full we run it.

It feels like we should have a basket because "That's what you do", and we're not very unconventional people. But maybe this is what passes for rebellion against the system at our age. Or maybe I will find out that this is something that millennials have dropped entirely, like landlines.

OP posts:
Xmasbaby11 · 12/09/2023 19:57

Sounds fine if you don't have space! We have 2, in quite a big house so lots of wandering round gathering laundry from different rooms, and taking washed clothes outside to hang up. And then folding the dry ones into them to return to the bedrooms. And of course using the baskets to carry random things around the house! I find them so useful!

dementedpixie · 12/09/2023 19:57

My washing machine isn't large enough for all the discarded clothes as dh and I go to the gym and ds goes to rugby amd the gym and then there's schoolwear and ordinary clothes too. There's 2 baskets in my bedroom - 1 for lights and 1 for darks and a pop up basket in the bedrooms of the 2 kids.

maximist · 12/09/2023 19:58

I couldn't manage without my laundry bin upstairs and the basket to carry it about in - my bedroom is above the utility room, but they're at one end of the house, and the stairs are at the other (due to an extension) so I'd be walking right round the house every time I had something dirty. What would actually happen would be that I had a laundry pile on the floor upstairs....

Eminybob · 12/09/2023 20:01

knightsinwhitesatin · 12/09/2023 19:10

But where else can your dry clean and handwash only items loiter for months at a time?

Months? I think you meant to type years

UnbeatenMum · 12/09/2023 20:04

I've got 6... whites, colours, delicates and 1 for each child.

PinkArt · 12/09/2023 20:06

I do have a laundry basket but have been pondering your system recently. I also don't separate but chuck a colour catcher in for the rare item that runs. Although I tend to do a separate wash for bedding or towels, just based on what fits in the drum, I'll happily chuck other stuff in at the same time if there's space.
Beginning to see why laundry is such A Job in some households though between separating whites and darks and all the people washing a towel if they've looked at it for too long.

LaCerbiatta · 12/09/2023 20:10

My brother also washes everything at 30, all mixed up. His lighter clothes all have a grey tinge....

I don't think towels and bedding wash well at 30...

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/09/2023 20:11

Excellent idea, we’ll be doing the same.

unsync · 12/09/2023 20:13

I have a drawstring laundry bag which hangs on the back of a door.

Original poster
samarrange · 12/09/2023 20:14

Qilin · 12/09/2023 19:54

To be fair I don't have many of them.
If something needs dry cleaning, I'd take it fairly soon. Otherwise it could go back in the wardrobe, possibly inside it's plastic cover.
I avoid buying hand wash wherever possible. But would do the same as above.

To be honest these days I've been throwing dresses that claim to be dry clean only into a washing machine and hoping for the best. So far, over the last few years, no issues.

That wouldn't be my question for the op though.
What about light and dark separating?

Show quote history

We just wash everything together at 30. Almost never have a problem. We don't walk round looking like hippies in tie-dies. Maybe we have a good machine, but it's not a Miele or anything fancy. I'm starting to wonder if we buy exceptionally colour-fast clothes, or if everyone else buys very runny ones, because we just don't think about this.

OP posts:
Wolvesart · 12/09/2023 20:18

StrawberryPi · 12/09/2023 19:11

Do you not separate your whites and coloureds?

Yup, that was my first thought too. I do darks, whites, intermediates, bedding, towels all different loads.

Also, to me a ‘laundry basket’ is the thing the wet washing goes into to transport it to where it gets dried and a ‘linen basket’ or ‘laundry hamper’ is where people put their dirty washing, usually on the landing or in the bathroom

shearwater · 12/09/2023 20:22

We have a laundry bag/basket each! Apart from DH and I who share a massive wicker basket with two sections. We definitely need them, we generate about ten large loads a week between us.

Bobbybobbins · 12/09/2023 20:39

Also never separate out washing OP, I'm too lazy!

scrivette · 12/09/2023 20:47

I have 7 and bedding goes straight into the machine.

DD's mixed colours.
DH and my darks
DS (x2) dark and colours
Family pure whites
Family colours
Towels/face cloths

Original poster
samarrange · 12/09/2023 20:50

Wolvesart · 12/09/2023 20:18

Yup, that was my first thought too. I do darks, whites, intermediates, bedding, towels all different loads.

Also, to me a ‘laundry basket’ is the thing the wet washing goes into to transport it to where it gets dried and a ‘linen basket’ or ‘laundry hamper’ is where people put their dirty washing, usually on the landing or in the bathroom

Show quote history

"Dirty clothes basket" was what my Mum called the one we had in our house when I was growing up. Those three words were always run closely together, dirtyclothesbasket. It was tall, made from wicker (a real "basket"). One day my Dad painted it white for some reason.

We do have a plastic "basket" to take the washed clothes out of the machine.

OP posts:
PickAChew · 12/09/2023 20:51

We have 4. One of them is for ds2's smelly stuff as he has continence issues. We do more than a load of his per day, never mind anyone else's.

UsingChangeofName · 12/09/2023 20:53

We just put our clothes in the washing machine when we take them off

So you get undressed by the washing machine ? Confused

Oblomov23 · 12/09/2023 20:56

We do have a basket, but loads of stuff goes straight into washing machine: ds2's football kit, Dh's work shirts and socks. Never caused us a problem.

DyslexicPoster · 12/09/2023 20:57

I'm lazy. I have a basket wherever clothes come off. Can not imagine walking to the machine at night before bed.

We had an extension and wanted a laundry chute from upstairs to the utility room. But alas, didn't do it.

C1N1C · 12/09/2023 20:58

We don't have one.

Our house has faeries! I'll leave my clothes on the floor, or wherever, and the next day they're in the wash!

I tell my wife about them and she just glares at me... I think she's just jealous she hasn't seen them.

FinallyHere · 12/09/2023 20:59

C1N1C · 12/09/2023 20:58

We don't have one.

Our house has faeries! I'll leave my clothes on the floor, or wherever, and the next day they're in the wash!

I tell my wife about them and she just glares at me... I think she's just jealous she hasn't seen them.

I don't even know you, and feel I could cheerfully beat you to death.

Looks meaningfully at the patio.

ApoodlecalledPenny · 12/09/2023 21:01

If I had limited space, or no children. Or both. I’d probably do the same. As it is we have three baskets to collect the clothes across the week, and I run several loads in a row on my day off.

AllTheChaos · 12/09/2023 21:04

I have two: the one in DD’s room, which is an attempt to encourage her to actually put her dirty clothes to wash, instead of leaving them on the floor. Then there is mine, which hasn’t been used in years as it is the cats’ favoured sleeping spot, so I should use DD’s, but because I am a massive hypocrite I just leave my dirty clothes on the floor 😂 There is an all purpose trug used to lug various items - including both clean AND dirty laundry around - the horror! Not at the same time though… And yes, whilst I separate darks as otherwise stuff ends up greyed, I chuck bedding etc. in with whatever else needs doing, and frequently find missing items in the duvet cover!

Motheranddaughter · 12/09/2023 21:04

I do different washes for normal whites/ white towels /white bedding /coloured bedding/mixed cotton/mixed synthetics/woolens / delicates /handwash/sports clothing

Your system sounds much easier ( but I just couldn’t 🤣🤣

AllTheChaos · 12/09/2023 21:04

Hahahaha, @C1N1C and @FinallyHere 😂