NOT sorting laundry

[Mama_Rana]

Talk to me about this. I've done it once or twice when the laundry mountain became a laundry volcano, but on a regular basis I take the time to sort lights and darks, and then further into hot wash and cold wash [i do undies, hand towels, dishrags, DH's undershirts, that kind of thing in hot], so 4 categories. Plus I usually separate out jeans/sweatshirts just cuz they're so much heavier/take longer to dry.

 

DH does the sheets and bath towels separately, usually once a week, so that is out of the equation.

 

Sorting is a pain, and often a sticking point.

 

If you don't sort, do you do anything in particular to prevent bleeding of colors onto lights?

 

Do you do everything in cold? What about stained or stinky things? [i have two boys who think clothes = napkins/hankies]

 

TIA!

[Soror]

I don't sort and I wash all in cold. I've only had an issue once w/ staining or bleeding as I had some new towels given to me that had some red in them. I never have new clothes so didn't even think about it and they stained a dress. I've never had anything else bleed, ever. My kids can get rather nasty as well and it all seems to clean just fine, although we are never magazine cover ready or such. I hang everything on the line. Dh has uniform service at work, as he works in some nasty chemicals and doesn't want that at home.

[Kathryn]

I don't sort anymore. It's just not on my list of priorities. Each person's clothes hamper gets dumped into the washer and if there is room, someone else's goes in. I was on warm/cold and pretty much always do a full load this way. I've not noticed any extra fading or bleeding from this, but if we had a new dark or red that looked like it would bleed, I'd sort for a few washes. Towels and sheets do get their own loads, but that's because we have enough to make full loads of those. Oh, when I cloth diapered, those got their own wash.

[Twigs]

I don't sort my clothes.

 

I wash everything in cold water, permanent press cycle, and dry on the lowest heat setting.

 

I have almost all cotton or cotton blend clothes.

 

I found after 3-4 washes, the dark clothes like jeans don't bleed their colors any more, so they are safe to put in the normal weekly wash load.

 

I hang dry my bOOkshelves to try to make them last longer.

 

You might try taking the wash to a coin landry when it becomes a "crisis" situation, do it all at once, and get back into control. That works for some people.

 

Best wishes.

[DawnM]

I have never sorted.....EVER! I wash on warm, never hot and never cold.

 

With my jeans that I want to stay dark, I soak them in vinegar before the first wash.....then they never bleed. But I don't buy clothes that often, so I don't do it more than once every few years.

 

Dawn

Edited July 5, 2012 by DawnM

[2squared]

I don't sort at all, and I haven't noticed any color bleeding. I use Tide detergent, and everything gets clean regardless of how it went into the machine. If I have new clothes, I may wash them by themselves, but I usually throw those clothes in a regular load with a Shout Color Catcher. Those color catchers really work. I have experimented with other detergents, and nothing seems to work as well as Tide.

 

I wash everything on warm, but I am going to start experimenting with cold water washes. Wish me luck!

[athena1277]

I don't do much sorting. There are only 4 laundry piles at my house.

 

1. Towels/sheets - washed on hot

2. Underwear/undershirts/socks - washed on hot

3. "Special load" - dressy clothes that need to go on the gentle cycle

4. Everything else - washed on cold, regardless of color

 

Sometimes 1 and 2 are combined, depending on how much there is to wash.

 

I find it fairly simple to do it this way and the kids are able to help. I haven't had any problems with fading/bleeding of colors and I have done it this way since college.

[sunflowerlady]

I don't sort and I wash everything in cold. If I get a new garment that is dark and I think might discolor other items, I wash it alone once. That rarely happens, though.

 

I use a dryer, so if I were concerned about germs and washing in cold (which I am not:)) the dryer heat should take care of that.

 

Every so often, I gather up whites and do a load of those with bleach.

[Scuff]

I sort differently than I was taught growing up. I wash all soft things together and all jeans together. With the way clothes are made these days, this seems more important than sorting by color. I'll wash reds and blacks seperately when they are new. Once they've been washed a few times, I just throw it all in together. No problems. I do wash towels together; easier that way. And jeans/jackets/rough things together to protect the softer things and hopefully prevent those dreaded holes.

[Farrar]

We don't sort, but if there's a brand new red shirt, it gets a special sort. That's pretty rare though.

[marbel]

My kids do their own laundry, except underwear and white socks. Those go in a separate hamper with sheets and towels and such. Someone does that when it is full. When white socks get really nasty, I do a load of them with bleach.

 

All other clothes are washed together, except my black things. Blue (we wear a lot of jeans) has a slight bleaching/fading effect, so my black clothes last longer if I take care of them separately.

 

So I guess I'm the only one who still sorts!

 

ETA: I see that while I was typing, other sorters were posting. ;)

[Soror]

Oh, I do wash clothe diapers on their own. Sheets it depends on how much I'm washing, I can fit other clothes with the kids sheets as I have a large capacity washer. Every few days I go around the house and grab clothes until I have enough to fill up the washer or have the kids bring theirs in the laundry room.

[bettyandbob]

dh and I have two laundry bags in our hamper. One is colors. The other is whites/underwear. The kids have mixed laundry bags. That is all the sorting I do. Occassionally, I will pull something that requires more care into it's own load.

 

Everything is washed on hot (unless my dh does a load, then he changes the temp). We started this when my kids were little and we were told oldest had multiple allergies, including dust mites.

 

I haven't had much problem with clothes being damaged.

[lotsofpumpkins]

I don't sort, unless there's something new that might bleed. Then I make sure to put that item in a load with other dark items. But usually I'm just throwing items in the washer at random: clothes, towels, sheets, cloth napkins, kitchen towels, etc. I wash everything on cold, except in the winter sometimes I wash in warm since the well water is SO cold.

 

I've never had a problem with this method. :)

[kewb]

I do some sorting. For clothes I sort as I remove them from the hamper. I end up with 4 piles at my feet. Jeans/shorts, darks, brights, and whites. If there is only a small load of one of the piles I will either throw it in with something else or wait if it doesn't need to be done that day. If there is a relatively new dark dyed item in the wash then I will not mix lighter colors in that load.

 

Towels and sheets are done separately on a different day.

[alisoncooks]

I do sort a bit.

I do loads for: whites (w/ bleach on hot), kid clothes & delicates together (washed on gentle cycle and tumble dried on low), regular clothes, then towels and stinky things together (color bleach and washed warm).

 

If I have just a small bit to wash, I mix all and use a Shout color catcher.

[ktgrok]

I sort, but just "bleach versus no bleach". So two categories. Your 4 category system sounds exhausting!!!! I actually have a sorting hamper, with 3 bins..one for no bleach (colors), one for bleach (whites) and one for DH's drycleaning. The no bleach stuff gets washed in warm, the bleach stuff gets washed in hot. That is the extent of my sorting.

 

Edited to add: sheets are colored so they go with the rest of the no bleach stuff. Towels are all white here, as are my kitchen towels, so they go in bleach. So no extra sorting...it is all based on color

Edited July 5, 2012 by ktgrok

[Tammyla]

KISS....:D

 

We sort right into the laundry baskets/cart instead of creating a giant laundry mountain.

 

Sheets go directly into the washer, and then back on the bed.

[JFSinIL]

Any newly bought bright red or black etc. garment I handwash in the sink first just to see if it bleeds. If it does, it is washed by hand until it no longer bleeds.

 

EVERYTHING is washed all together in cool water with Tide. Delicates I either have in a mesh bag to remind myself not to toss 'em in the dryer or I do a separate small load set on Delicate. But that is the extent of my sorting.

 

I don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets either. Waste of money.

[Wheres Toto]

Up until earlier this year I never sorted except to pull out delicates. Our cold water hose was clogged from our hard water so everything got washed in hot water unless I ran a hose to the washer from the sink.

 

Earlier this year we bought a water softener and a new washer and dryer so now I sort. I do laundry every Monday. I pull out towels and sheets since things get tangled in them and don't dry well. Underwear, socks, hand/dish towels and wash cloths are washed in hot water (1 load). Delicates are washed in cold on a gentle cycle (1 load). Everything else is washed together in a warm load (2-3 loads depending on the week). I spray anything with major stains (especially white t-shirts) while sorting. It's working pretty well.

[Occasionally]

I don't sort and I wash everything in cold. If I get a new garment that is dark and I think might discolor other items, I wash it alone once. That rarely happens, though.

 

I use a dryer, so if I were concerned about germs and washing in cold (which I am not:)) the dryer heat should take care of that.

 

Every so often, I gather up whites and do a load of those with bleach.

 

:iagree: Except when I wash something new that I suspect may bleed, I throw in a small square of a cut-up white T shirt, so I can inspect it for bleeding once the initial wash is done.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I do not sort for the majority of the time. Every 3 months I take all the whites (true whites) and run them with bleach and take the towels and sheets and wash them in hot (super hot). Other then that I wash all the clothes together in cold. Colors do not bleed and come out clean.

[Ellie]

The only clothing I sort is Mr. Ellie's all-cotton underwear, because I use bleach, hot water, and add an extra wash cycle. Otherwise, the clothing all goes in together, same water temp (warm). I've never separated "lights" from "darks." I will wash new red or blue pants separately for a few times, just to make sure Mr. Ellie doesn't have pink or blue undies :D but that's it.

 

I wash linens separately, of course, but I don't count that as sorting.

[1Togo]

Everyone throws their clothes into four canvas, sorting bins from Bed, Bath & Beyond - whites, reds/tans, light blue/greens, darks. Dh's yard clothes all go together. It's easy, and we've been using the same method for years.

[craftyerin]

I sort by what room the load goes in, not by color. I wash kids' clothes all together, mine/DH's clothes together, (clothes on warm) and "grody" stuff together (started labeling that load when we had burp cloths and such. Now it's just sheets, towels, kitchen cloth, cleaning rags, etc that get washed on hot. That way when things come through the dryer, I know they all have the same (or close to it) destination for putting away. Makes it easier.

[Desert Rat]

I don't really sort. I pick through the pile. Towels and whites are washed separately. Everything else is washed together on cold. And sometimes towels get washed with the mix. I try to keep white shirts and tkd uniforms separate because they start looking dingy but white socks, towels and undies are fair game.

[mrs.m]

I do laundry by room/person. I only do a sort if I have more than one load and usually the last load from that room ends up being a mix. But my way of sorting is to throw the darks from the hamper into the washer and put all the lights into another basket. My boys have two hampers and they sort when they put it into the dirty clothes. So it's pretty quick. And I NEVER wash towels with anything else. I have red towels and they lint all over everything in the dryer (I do wash all DARK towels together). I also have a bleach load but that's done on towel/sheet day.

 

I like doing the room/person per day method. I feel like I have a definition of done for the laundry that I didn't have when I was always working through Mt. Washmore.

[bookfiend]

I do sort a bit.

I do loads for: whites (w/ bleach on hot), kid clothes & delicates together (washed on gentle cycle and tumble dried on low), regular clothes, then towels and stinky things together (color bleach and washed warm).

 

If I have just a small bit to wash, I mix all and use a Shout color catcher.[/QUOTE]

 

This is the best product ever! I semi-sort since we often do 3-4 loads at a time. I tend to sort by fabric weight and things that need bleach; towels seperate because they take a longer time in the dryer.

[jillian]

I wash everything in cold unless it's something that needs a hot wash (sickie clothes, beach stuff--we have sand fleas here) and the only things I separate out are sheets (because other stuff gets knotted around in the "pockets" on the fitted sheets) and cleaning rags because they usually cleaning solutions on them

[WiseOwlKnits]

I don't sort, unless it's a brand-new red shirt or similar. Color catchers are my friend and they work! :) I wash everything on cold and I never use bleach.

 

Oh, I do wash sheets separate, but I don't consider that sorting.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

This thread is making my obsessive-compulsive side of my head throb in agony! The thought of all this unsorted laundry in the world is more than I can handle. :D

[Sharon37127]

another "no sorter" here.

 

Each person gets a day. Clothes are washed in the morning and sheets are washed at lunch time. Everything in cold.

 

New stuff gets a once or twice on very low water by itself. That's about it.

[Bluegoat]

I don't normally sort. I will pick out new things that will run, or maybe if I do a wool sweater, or sometimes dirty dish-cloths.

[Guest]

We don't sort, but if there's a brand new red shirt, it gets a special sort. That's pretty rare though.

 

:iagree:

[*********]

I don't sort, except for whites.

 

I was everything except whites on warm.

 

I was whites on hot, and I use bleach.

 

Works for us. The overwhelming majority of our clothes come from thrift stores anyway, so they're not likely to bleed. If someone gets something new and it's dark colored, I'll wash it separately the first time to make sure it doesn't bleed.

 

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. :P

[nukeswife]

All this talk of not sorting is skeeving me out. I'm a major sorter.

Everyone has their own wash day. On that day everyone has 2-3 loads of clothes plus a load of their towels. Yes we even have separate towel colors for each person.

 

My kids usually have one dark and one white/light load and a load of towels on their days.

 

DH and I have 2 dark and 1 white/light load as well as a load of towels on our day.

 

Then there is sheet day.

 

I tried washing things all together but even after many many washings the white shirts start to look dingy because of color run off from other things, and this is when I even use one of those shout color catcher things.

[justasque]

I've used various techniques over the years, sorting by person, by color, etc. If you want the laundry sorted but don't want the sorting to be an extra chore, you can have a centralized hamper set-up, and have people sort as they put things into the hampers. Even the smallest of children can do this. Have one bin for whites, one for reds, one for darks, or whatever organization you prefer. It makes doing the laundry easier too, because you can wash the whites when there's a full load, without having to plow through the non-white clothes. This system can really help if you want to do a "one or two loads a day" approach, rather than a "wait till it's a mountain then take up the whole day with it" approach. You will still want to eyeball things as you put them in the wash to double-check they've been sorted correctly, but it is *so* much easier when things are automatically sorted this way. (Also, of course, you'll want to train the family to unbunch their socks, empty their pockets, etc. before putting the clothes in the hamper.)

[happypamama]

I don't do much sorting, and I wash most things on warm. I used to separate DD's tiny baby clothes from DH's dirty work clothes, but now that he has an office job, I rarely need to separate his stuff. I wash diapers separately from anything else, and they get a cold prewash, a hot wash, and a hot second rinse. If I find something that needs special attention -- stained, delicates, potential for bleeding, etc. -- I pull it out and set it aside. It gets washed when I have enough to make a load of that type of stuff.

 

Yeah, sometimes whites and light pinks get dingy, but I think that's not because of things bleeding; I think it's because of our very, very hard water. The diapers will get dingy after a while, and they're never washed with anything that could bleed on them.

[PinkInTheBlue]

I sort because I've noticed my lighter things most definitely get dingy when they are washed with darks; especially jeans. I wash lights, darks, towels, and sheets. If I don't have enough towels or enough permanent press I'll add the towels to the lights or darks (depending on towel colors) to make them full loads. I don't like having little loads because that's a waste to me.

 

I wash in cold except towels, which I was in warm or hot depending on the towels.

[thefragile7393]

I've long stopped sorting....our actual whites are so small in number that they don't even make one load. I just wash them in regular temp, nothing special.

[Lady Florida.]

I sort because I've noticed my lighter things most definitely get dingy when they are washed with darks; especially jeans.

 

This is why I still sort. Every now and then something light will accidentally get thrown in with darks, and it's noticeable.

 

I sort as follows:

 

-lights (we have very few true whites)

-darks

-towels - light and dark towels washed separately. Our pool towels are all dark, so washing dark towels is seasonal.

-sheets

 

Towels and sheets get washed on warm wash, cold rinse. Clothes are all washed on cold.

[alpidarkomama]

I wash all in cold, and during the week I throw just the whites into a garbage can in the laundry room and wash those once a week. So far there hasn't been a problem mixing lights and darks! I like to live on the edge... :lol:

[Trilliums]

This thread is making my obsessive-compulsive side of my head throb in agony! The thought of all this unsorted laundry in the world is more than I can handle. :D

 

 

:iagree::lol::lol::lol:

 

I don't think of myself as obsessive compulsive and I am not a neat freak...but I am surprised how many people don't sort.

 

I do avoid buying whites in general, except for sheets or towels, in order to minimize sorting needs.

 

I also tend to wash based on room, but I do wash jeans, etc separately from softer clothes. I also sort out DH's polo shirts which he wears daily. Mostly this is for the convenience of putting them away though. I much prefer folding/hanging up clothes when they are all similar types.

 

I just have to wash socks separately. Maybe with towels from time to time...but honestly that kind of grosses me out...I know it shouldn't...it gets clean, right? Right??

 

DS has a white martial arts uniform that I wash with sheets or towels or socks to keep it from getting dingy. His last one did get dingy after just a few emergency washes with some other clothes, so now we are more careful with it. Unfortunately, it cannot be bleaches as that will wash out the lettering on the back.

[chepyl]

Towels and clothes arr washed separate. Towels in hot, clothes.in cold. That is the xtent.of my sorting.

[alpidarkomama]

Each kid does their own laundry, so if they sorted their own laundry too they wouldn't be able to fill up the washing machine each time. So much easier to give each kid a laundry day, then on Sunday I do, whites, adult laundry, and house laundry. No sorting for each individual, and the kids can do it easily themselves (ages 4+). :)

[PinkInTheBlue]

"This is why I still sort. Every now and then something light will accidentally get thrown in with darks, and it's noticeable."

 

It's very noticeable to me. I have very normal water and wash in cold but a light or white that accidentally get in the darks is definitely dingy. If be willing to bet non-sorters would notice a difference in my lights and theirs. :) Fascinating

[2squared]

It's very noticeable to me. I have very normal water and wash in cold but a light or white that accidentally get in the darks is definitely dingy. If be willing to bet non-sorters would notice a difference in my lights and theirs. :) Fascinating

 

I bet I wouldn't notice any difference. It wouldn't register as something to notice unless you pointed it out and asked me to notice. I would politely acknowledge the difference, but I wouldn't change my laundry habits. The whiteness of my whites is a non-issue for me. I am sure I often see sorters out in general public and their whites may be whiter than ours, but I truly don't notice. :001_smile:

[Kel & the Kids]

Wow, I had no idea that sorting was optional! My mom was a compulsive sorter and I guess I am too.

 

I like my whites really white and my colours really bright :001_smile: I also don't like my reds having that darkish tinge when I wash them with darks. I wash towels and cloths on hot usually with a little bleach because its so damp here and they tend to get a little smelly :ack2: Sheets are also done on hot since I heard hot kills the mites or whatever gets on them :ack2: :ack2:

 

I love to get hand-me-down clothes that are grey and dingy and make them look new. I think maybe I need a new hobby or something.

 

I'm not sure I could do it any other way but it's nice to know I have options, lol.

[LisaKinVA]

The amount of laundry I have, will usually determine how much (or how little) I sort.

 

 

 

• I have colored towels and white towels, cleaning rags do not usually go in with the bath towels.
  
• Sheets get their own wash, has to be hot to kill critters/allergens.
  
• Whites/underwear/white socks (anything that gets bleach)
  
• Darks (can be broken down to reds/oranges, blue jeans, darks)
  
• Lights (can be broken down to pinks/purples, yellows/greens, grays & khaki)
  
• Husband's underwear, swimsuits & colored socks (just made it easier for me to make sure dh's underwear, kids swimsuits, and colored socks get washed and seems to reduce loss of socks.)
  

 

When I stay on top of my laundry, I do mix more. When I get severely behind (like when the power goes out for 4.5 days...cough... or when the kids clean their rooms/closets/drawers...cough, cough), I will spend two days on laundry catching up. Any guesses what we're doing right now :glare:. Oh, and I make the kids' sort, hang, move, any part of the laundry they can do. Especially when they bring me what they brought me yesterday (I was feeling pretty good about what I had to do laundry-wise until the kids "cleaned."

[PrairieSong]

I sort. I wash sheets and towels separately on hot. Most everything else I wash on warm, sorting into darks, lighter colors, and whites. I am not anal about it. Sometimes I will throw a darker item into a lighter load, esp. if it's something that's been washed many times.

 

My kids do their own laundry and do not always sort the way I do. (My youngest will be in 7th grade.)