So, how do you sort your laundry?

[ZeeMommy]

• by family member?
  
• by type of material?
  
• by color?
  
• by wash water temperature?
  
• or just chuck it all in and let it rip? :leaving:
  

[BlueTaelon]

Generally by color and wash temp but lately it all gets tossed in together in a huge washer at the laundry mat. Its to $$$$ to wash like I should there, can't wait to finish moving and get my washer/dryer back!

[jenL]

We have 2 side-by-side hampers in my room with a total of 4 compartments. The boys have a hamper in each of their rooms. They dump their clothes into my room, and I sort by color.

 

whites (these will be bleached) - underwear, t-shirts, socks - hot water

darks - jeans, blues, browns, blacks - all material types - cold water

tans/lights - khakis, creams, light colors (pastels), whites that do not get bleached - warm water

reds - oranges, reds, pinks - cold water

 

This is how my mom taught me, so I just kept up with it. We also have a pile in our bathroom for towels that includes bath towels, face cloths, hand towels, cloth napkins, and kitchen towels.. They are washed with hot water.

[nmoira]

Almost everything we have is cotton, few whites, so I just wash everything together. Exceptions are on towel day and sheet day, but only because not much else fits in the washer. Delicates, well bras (nothing delicate about my bras), are hand washed.

[kewb]

Whites, brights, darks, jeans, towels, sheets.

[Freckles]

All whites that get bleached.

neutrals

darks/reds washed on cold

delicates/hand washables

[dirty ethel rackham]

Usually by whites, mediums and darks. But, we do try to like fabrics together as well. Also, items that can be bleached are often separated from those that can't. Since we have a front-loader, I have noticed that there seems to be less wear and tear on our clothes. I can't be bothered to separate out the moderate delicates (like bras.) However, if I have a special something, I might handwash it.

[prairiewindmomma]

All bedding is washed separately as it has to go onto high heat to kill dust mites.

All cloth diapers are washed separately. ;)

 

Each of the kids' rooms (boys, girls) has their own laundry basket. I don't sort their laundry anymore...I just toss in a color catcher sheet. I will occasionally make an exception for a delicate item, but I prefer not to buy those and have to deal with it.

 

My dh & I's laundry is separated into white/lights/darks. We have separate hampers in our master bathroom so as an item is discarded into the basket, it is sorted appropriately.

 

I have to do 2-3 loads of laundry a day just to keep everyone in underwear...maybe when the kids take over doing their own laundry life can get more complicated again and I'll go back to sorting out towels and brights.

[historically accurate]

I don't. Everything is washed up in one load. Sheets & towels usually get washed (together) in a separate load from clothing because they get washed in hot.

[Joker]

The only sorting I do is to wash the whites alone so I can bleach them, and bed linens because I wash those on the hottest cycle I have due to dust mite allergies. Everything else gets thrown in together when it piles up.

[Mrs Mungo]

We have 2 side-by-side hampers in my room with a total of 4 compartments. The boys have a hamper in each of their rooms. They dump their clothes into my room, and I sort by color.

 

whites (these will be bleached) - underwear, t-shirts, socks - hot water

darks - jeans, blues, browns, blacks - all material types - cold water

tans/lights - khakis, creams, light colors (pastels), whites that do not get bleached - warm water

reds - oranges, reds, pinks - cold water

 

This is how my mom taught me, so I just kept up with it. We also have a pile in our bathroom for towels that includes bath towels, face cloths, hand towels, cloth napkins, and kitchen towels.. They are washed with hot water.

 

 

This is pretty much what I do too. Sometimes when I don't have lots of laundry I might combine things like tans and whites or darks and reds. Some lightweight fabrics I wash separately from heavy things like jeans.

[T'smom]

I do it by family member and wash everything (well, clothes) in cold water. I do wash towels in hot and if something needs to be bleached I might gather up some socks or something.....but that's not what's usual. It's easier for me to do it by family member, fold by and return to their rooms. Each laundry basket only has to go to one room instead of all over the place. I also fold the kids clothes in "outfits" and put them in fabric shelf things that hang in their closets. They just pick an outfit per day. I don't have to worry about them mixing and matching in ways I don't want. Mine are little though. When they start caring they'll be organizing their own clothes, so I won't care how it's done.

[rgrin]

whites (these will be bleached) - underwear, t-shirts, socks - hot water

darks - jeans, blues, browns, blacks - all material types - cold water

tans/lights - khakis, creams, light colors (pastels), whites that do not get bleached - warm water

reds - oranges, reds, pinks - cold water

 

This is how my mom taught me, so I just kept up with it.

 

 

This. Exactly.

[Laura Corin]

Nice shirts get washed together with our few white clothes - all the shirts are light coloured. Then all the other clothes get washed together. Both these sets of clothes are washed on cold (because it works fine and why use extra energy). Sheets get washed on cold too, but my white towels get washed on ultra-hot: it keeps them white and sterilises the machine. I don't use bleach.

 

Laura

[somo_chickenlady]

I wash everything together, and have never really noticed any dinginess or anything like that. Our clothes also don't wear out any faster, either. I just gave away a TON that I have had for years that look brand new. I wash it all on warm, cold rinse. The only things I wash separately are dish towels, bath towels and sheets, which I wash on sanitize with generic Oxyclean (couldn't use bleach at our old house b/c of septic tank otherwise I would bleach them...but they seemed to stay nice and white and get pretty clean).

[tearose]

I used to only sort by color but because it was a pain to get everyone's clothes in the right place come folding time, I now sort darks/lights for the kids and then for me and DH separately (though I sometimes combine the whites load if there isn't much from all of us). Now I take all our clean stuff into our bedroom, and it's quick to put away. And it's also a lot faster to put away the kids' stuff. Before, I'd avoid doing it, and a few loads of clean laundry would pile up before I'd finally make myself put everything away.

[PachiSusan]

I wash everything but underwear, socks and towels in cold.

I used to do Melissa's separately since I used to sell her clothes, but I no longer do.

I put them in color piles; whites, lights, browns/greens, black/navy, reds, and pinks/purples

 

One thing I do use is Color Catchers for the reds and blacks and they're a GOD SEND if something sneaks in that shouldn't be with those colors.

[Unicorn.]

Lights

Darks

Jeans

socks/underwear

towels

Reds/oranges/ if there is enough, otherwise they go w/ darks

blues/greens can go light or dark, depending on where I have room.

 

blankets by themselves or w/ towels

sheets

[Miss Peregrine]

Whites, including towels on hot

Jeans with colored underwear, DH's dark blue undershirts and uniforms on warm

colors I want to keep colorful, all together on cold

[jenangelcat]

I've never sorted laundry.

[Janie Grace]

I sort by person first (or people). I have 5 kids, sharing 3 rooms. So I do the 2 youngest kids' stuff together, 2 next oldest kids' together, and then oldest dd does her own. I do my and dh's stuff separately, too. This cuts down on the sorting I have to do afterwards.

 

Then, on whoever's day it is, stuff gets divided between lights and darks. I wash both warm, except I do my and dh's darks cold (we have some some more delicate fabrics; the kids have all cotton). I dry everything on low. I do sheets and towels on another day, hot.

 

Clear as mud?

[redheadmom]

Clean and dirty???? I separate linens from clothes but that is about it. Worst mother ever, lol.

[Annie]

Whites

 

Anything that isn't white

 

It makes my mother twitchy to watch me do laundry. She has a load for every color under the sun. Your orange shirt better not be your favorite because, once it goes down to the laundry, you're not going to see it for three months until she gathers enough for an orange load. ;-)

[wapiti]

Another non-sorter here. My mother is appalled.

[MomtoCandJ]

I don't sort either. Cold wash and rinse :) if something white is particularly gross then I put it in a bucket of hot water with some bleach

[itsheresomewhere]

Jeans

Towels

lights

Darks

Work Clothes

Reds

Pink

[Susan C.]

Ds19 dark load less lights

Dh load less lights

Dh and Ds lights - wait for a load

Dd19 and I - lights, then darks, we share loads

Towels

sheets

bleach load - fabric shower curtain, white washrags, white socks, white t-shirts

jeans

[KungFuPanda]

By person until the whites start to get dingy, then I'll sort by temp and bleach my whites . . . then fall right back into washing by person :-)

[Holly]

bedding--pillowcases may go with clothes since we seem to go through tons of those!

towels--I can't stand linty clothes!

jeans--they make everything blue!

whites--I may through in a few light colored items if I'm a little short a load

colors--I may wash DH's dark work shirts separately so they don't get so linty

[lavender's green]

Whites

Lights

Darks (may be further sorted into red/orange/pink and jeans depending on how much I have)

Delicates (most of my clothing)

Towels

Sheets

 

I do everyone's things together, but when the kids are older they'll do their own.

[Giraffe]

Clean & dirty.

 

There's just too much for me to mess with sorting. I'd go nuts. DH generates a ton of dirty clothes and towels daily and I fight just to stay ahead of it. Right now I have four loads to fold tha I'm avoiding. :(

[Wildiris]

You mean that massive pile of clothing, sheets, and towels needs sorting??

I throw a little of everything from everyone into the washer so we all have a few clean clothes to wear. Off-the-grid laundry is a challenge, but it beats using a laundromat.

[happi duck]

In the laundry room are baskets that everyone sorts to:

lights

mediums

darks

jeans

linens

 

Then when a basket is full I wash that particular load.

 

Everyone has their own mesh tote for socks and underwear and these are washed by each person. (Our washer has a water level setting so I feel it's worth the convenience of not sorting out whose stuff is whose.)

 

We normally wash everything in cold water.

 

If we have a "I need this tomorrow!" emergency and I can't sort out colors, I use a Shout color catcher, just in case anything would bleed color.

[besroma]

Whites, brights, lights, darks, white towels, colored towels.

 

 

White towels and light towels in hot.

 

Brights and darks in cold.

 

Lights and whites in warm.

[Melissa in Australia]

whites/lights and darks.

I wash every day.

[8circles]

hot colors

hot whites

cold wash

sheets

diapers get washed with hot colors after a cold prewash

[Jenny in Florida]

Underwear and socks go together in hot water, along with kitchen towels and cleaning rags.

 

Regular bath towels usually go in warm water along with sheets, and I sometimes toss jeans in with them if I need to make up a load.

 

Everything else goes together in cold water. It seems like the majority of our clothing is dark and often made with fabrics that benefit from gentle washing and hanging to dry. So, this is always the largest pile. If I have to break it into multiple loads to fit in the washer, I sometimes sort it into black and "everything else." If I have only enough for a single load, though, it just get tossed in together.

 

Edit: I forgot to say that I do bleach occasionally, when enough stuff looks dingy. But it's not every week or even necessarily every month.

[Ellie]

• by family member?
  
• by type of material?
  
• by color?
  
• by wash water temperature?
  
• or just chuck it all in and let it rip? :leaving:
  

• White, all-cotton linens (which is all my sheets/pillowcases, all dish cloths, wash cloths, any towels); they are presoaked in hot water and dry, non-chlorine bleach.
  
• Colored towels
  
• Mr. Ellie's white, all-cotton undies, along with any other white, all-cotton garment, washed in hot water with bleach.
  
• Everything else, washed in warm water, no bleach.
  
• Brand-new red or blue garments, depending on the kind of fabric; I wash them separately a couple of times, and then they go in with everything else.
  

[Χά�ων]

I sort by how much will fit in the washing machine. If it fits it goes in the load. If it doesn't it goes in the next load but that only happens once a week when I change the sheets. I have found our cothing, including all layers from the day, make one load.

[ashfern]

Each kid has their own basket. We hand down the clothes for the girls & it would be a hassle for anyone other than me to be able to sort it all out afterwards. I wash each child's clothing separately in cold. For DH & I, we have a basket for white and a basket for colors. The towels & sheets are also separated out. I do 2-3 loads of laundry per day. :glare: I wanted to add that each child has their own day for laundry. I'm trying to get the older two to do the whole thing themselves. They do put their basket in the laundry room on their day and put the clean clothes away.

[Parrothead]

Towels and whites

Jeans with work pants

everything else

[fraidycat]

Chuck it all and let 'er rip. Unless it's new. When we have new clothes, I'll sort by color for the first wash or two so we don't have bleeding.

 

I used to be a lot more uptight about sorting by color, separating out towels, etc. but I've relaxed my standards a LOT to be able to keep up with my crew and the massive amounts of laundry they can generate.

[UrbanSue]

I sort by where it gets put away. Boys in one hamper, dd has her own hamper in her room (and just started doing her own laundry :hurray: ), mine and dh's together, kitchen linens together. Sheets get washed separately as needed.

[Guest]

I don't sort anymore. My mom doesn't know... :leaving:

I guess that's not entirely true - each family member has a dirty laundry basket in their closet. When it's full, I throw it all in the wash. Sheets and towels are washed separately.

[Julie Smith]

I try to sort it by clean and dirty.

 

But sometimes something ens up in the wrong pile.

[Kathryn]

I don't really anymore.

Towels by themselves. Sheets by themselves. DH's work clothes by themselves. Truly Special needs clothes by themselves. But other than that, they all go in according to how much will fit.

[LaxMom]

 

• by family member?

• by type of material?

• by color?

• by wash water temperature?

 

 

Yes.

Linens: bedroom, bath, kitchen/dining, then by color.

Clothing: adult, girl child, boy children, then by type, then by color*

So, I wash our (the grownups') whites, lights, colors, darks, jeans, black workout, colored workout in different loads. It keeps the bleeding and wear under control, and the fabric weight consistent. We do the same with the kids' stuff, and the linens.

 

(*exception: all white socks are tossed into a soaking pail, then washed together, usually with our whites load.)

 

• or just chuck it all in and let it rip? :leaving:

 

 

:svengo:

[amo_mea_filiis.]

No sorting here. The best way I've found to keep up with laundry is to use the washing machine as our laundry basket. When I get ds out of the shower in the morning, I check the washer. If full enough to run, I run it. If ds's bed is wet, I'll add his sheets and mattress pads to fill the load, then wash his blanket separately because it doesn't fit.

[Mommie_Jen]

Unless it's something new and prone to color bleeding, or needs to be kept white, it all gets tossed together. It's just not a priority for me.

 

There are exceptions - puked on stuff, extra grungy/greasy clothes DH will occasionally bring home from work.

[magnificent_baby]

By color, then by texture if it's delicate.

 

Colors and whites on warm, towels on hot and delicates on cold.