Laundry sorting

[marbel]

I'm retraining one of my kids on laundry and am rethinking my sorting methods.

 

I separate my laundry 4 ways, based mainly on the way my mother did it:

 

- hot water items like sheets, underwear, towels, white socks.

 

- cold water items like regular clothing: jeans, shirts, all colors except black.

 

- black items because I've read that they fade when mixed with other colors.

 

- special items like a sweater that has to go in a lingerie bag and go on delicate cycle, a table cover that bleeds red no matter how many times I wash it, clothing newly from the thrift store that stinks of fabric softener and must be washed alone 5 or 50 times to get the stench out.

 

I've read recently that sorting is out:  everything can go in the same load. This makes no sense to me, but maybe I am stuck in old thinking.

 

Anyway, there's a poll, so have at it.

[Slache]

Sheets, towels and mats are their own loads. The kid's clothes don't get separated because they're so small it's a waste of time and money.

Reds: red, orange, yellow, brown

Blues: blue, purple, black, green

Whites: white

 

We're very patriotic.

[mamiof5]

I voted for delicate, regulars etc. But I also separate my whites

[MiMi 4under3]

My loads are:

 

Sheets

 

Blankets

 

Towels

 

Couch slipcovers

 

Bath mats

 

Undies/socks

 

Black/navy

 

grays/blues/greens

 

red/orange

 

lights or prints on a white background

 

whites

 

delicates, dark and light

 

:D  :lol: 

 

I actually don't mind laundry as a chore. 

 

 

[SKL]

I chose the closest to what I actually do:  the various color sorting.  Basically I roughly sort them from lightest to darkest, and then I make loads.  Depending on how much laundry I have on a given day, a medium color might go in the darker load or the lighter load or a third or fourth intermediate load.  If I have enough really light clothes for a whole load, I will use bleach and keep anything non-bleachable out of there.

 

When I was a kid, my mom taught me to separate based on fabric as well as color.  So we always had at least 6 loads.  In those days, we used hotter heats for washing and drying the "heavy duty" clothes such as towels and jeans.  Now I just dry my heavy-duty stuff on a lower temperature like everything else.  Really delicate stuff gets special individual treatment (and I try not to buy stuff that is high-maintenance).  Anything likely to run goes with dark clothes that don't matter, or alone.

[happypamama]

I separate several ways.

 

My laundry room has a basket for whites, one for lights, one for darks, and one for anything requiring special care (delicates, anything with a stain), plus a pail for diapers/small person underpants (I have a potty learning toddler). There's also a hanging bag for kitchen cloths. I do each of those, except for the special care, a couple of times a week.

 

I do sheets and towels weekly, but I don't store them anywhere; I just go and get them and wash them together. Well, it ends up being a couple of loads of sheets and a load of towels.

 

I do two or three loads of laundry most days. If the whites are pretty empty, I might wash them just once a week.

[Goldilocks]

It probably isn't good for my clothes, but I don't sort. I stopped having time for that years ago. 

The only problem we have (that I have noticed) is keeping my husbands T-shirts white. He just wears them as undershirts, though, so I buy a new set every 6 months or so.

[Ethel Mertz]

I voted "other."

 

Whites

 

Light colors

 

Darker colors

 

Blacks

 

Towels

 

Sheets

[MaryMak07]

Sheets

 

Towels

 

Lights (mostly whites)

 

Darks

 

Kids clothes

[Mimm]

I voted that I have a laundress because none of the options fit quite right and I would just about give my left arm to never have to deal with laundry around here. ;)

 

I do towels in one load, jeans in another and everything else gets thrown in together. My older two and my husband each do their own laundry except everyone's jeans tend to get thrown in together. So I wash my clothes with the baby's. I teach my kids to do their own laundry from about 8-10 I think. They start out doing it with help and supervision and slowly do it more and more on their own.

[Junie]

We only sort into two categories:

 

kids

 

adults

 

We just wash everything in cold water and let the dryer kill the germs.

[edelweiss]

I sort.  My categories are:

 

Darks (black and navy, dark purples)

 

Lights

 

Medium colors (greens, blues, grays)

 

Reds (red and pinks)

 

Underwear and socks

 

Towels

 

Sheets

[bolt.]

I semi-sort occasionally, but mostly I just wash whole loads on cold.

 

I don't have much "white" (1 or 2 shirts, I guess) so I can't think of separating them all by themselves, but I do put them in with a light-ish load that has no 'danger jeans' or dubious reds.

 

What's the reasoning for socks/undies/sheets/towels needing something distinct from regular clothing?

[73349]

We have one hamper for whites.

 

All the darks go in each person's hamper, but I actually wash reds separately and often separate really dark things (like Dh's black work pants) from bright colors.

 

I wash sheets separately because they fill the washer.

 

I wash my purple cleaning cloths separately.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Peed bedding, bedding, clothes for the dryer, clothes for the line outside.

[Word Nerd]

I mostly sort into two piles—whites and everything else—but it depends on what I'm washing and how much laundry has piled up. I sometimes do only towels or sheets.

[almondbutterandjelly]

Whites

Pinks, Reds, Oranges, Purples

All other colors

 

We pre-sort when we take off our clothes and put them in the appropriate basket or laundry cart section.  

[Aiden]

Up until a couple months ago, I would have voted that I don't sort at all, unless I happen to have a lot of laundry. If I only had enough for one load, in it all went, no matter. If I had enough, I'd sort into lights and darks, or put "special care" (i.e., hang dry) in its own load.

 

Then we moved to Greece. I'm currently adjusting to my first ever European washer and dryer set. (We've always had American appliances, even in our other outside-of-the-United-States homes.) These things are VERY different from their American counterparts. They're tiny, they have a gazillion different load options, and the dryer has been known to take 5 hours just to get a load to "cupboard dry"--meaning it's not dry enough to wear, but you can hang it in the cupboard/closet and it'll finish drying there so you don't have to iron it.

 

I'm figuring out the best way to sort laundry here. So far, here's what I *think* I've learned:

 

1) Sort by fabric type and weight, not color. So my husband's UnderArmour shirts (super thin, wicking material) and underwear go in one load, no matter the color. Thick cotton shirts go together; thin polo shirts go together; etc. Items that have to air dry anyway can go in any load, as long as you don't make the load too big--it won't rinse well if it's too big.

 

2) Don't try to do any load that couldn't be described as "tiny" by my previous standards. Two or three thick, long sleeve t shirts is a load. Five or six UnderArmour shirts is a load. Sheets get washed one at a time--not the whole set, just the flat sheet alone or the fitted sheet alone, maybe with a pillowcase thrown in. Towels just make me cry because it takes a whole afternoon (4+ hours) to wash and dry two of them. It requires 2-3 loads to wash the clothing our family of 3 wore the previous day.

 

3) Do laundry every day. If you skip a day, it may take four days to catch up. Seriously. And that's just clothes, not even counting sheets and towels that need to be washed. The dryer routinely takes 2-3 hours to get things "cupboard" dry, if the items aren't super thick. It would take less time if I dried things on high heat, but if I do that, my clothes shrink and the dryer spits water on the floor.

 

On the bright side, I'm getting the hang of my European washer and dryer, and now I have all the motivation I could ever want to get in the habit of doing laundry daily.

[maize]

I pull out dh's white shirts and run them with whatever other whites I happen to have on hand (other whites often get washed in regular loads as well). Everything else goes in together, on cold. I don't buy items that need special care, I don't have time to deal with them.

[regentrude]

Normally just whites and darks.

Occasionally I have a load of red/orange because DH and I wear a lot of those colors.

very rarely a small load of delicates (handwash.. cough... which I don't do)

 

[FaithManor]

Other because it goes by which human is running a load at the time:

 

Me? I separate towels and sheets, denim and cords or other very heavy items into their own, whites and ivories together, my clothes SEPARATE OF EVERYONE ELSE's because if I start a load and one of the males comes along to "help me" he puts the load in the dryer on the hottest setting no matter what it is, sigh.... So, I try to do my laundry when none of them are around.

 

Colors that don't bleed together. Colors that bleed go with the towels regardless because all of my towels are gem tone, dark colors, and well, I don't care.

 

Now, the three males - stuff the washing machine with the appropriate amount of whatever they want washed at the time - wash on warm, dry on too warm, and then live with the outcome. From jeans, they appear to have a lot of blue underwear. Oh well.

 

Yes they were trained. No, this training does not seem to matter to them, LOL!

[edelweiss]

 

What's the reasoning for socks/undies/sheets/towels needing something distinct from regular clothing?

 

 

 

I wash socks/underwear/sheets/towels in hot water and dry on high.  I wash everything else in cold and dry with low heat.  That is why I find it necessary to separate them.  

[gardenmom5]

I sort by fabric type - then color.  reds always get's their own load.

towels never get fabric softener (reduces water absorption). knits always do.

[J-rap]

I do lights and darks and reds.  I'll sometimes do white, durable stuff such as sheets, towels, socks, and underwear together in hot water and add bleach.  (Otherwise I don't add bleach).  Occasionally I'll need to do a delicate load.

[Rebel Yell]

"other."

Diamond, 20, does her own laundry.

 

I have baskets in the laundry room for:

whites/almost all white colors

medium colors

dark colors

jeans

dockers-type work pants

sheets/towels

 

I wash jeans separately because they take longer to dry, and also throw in very heavy sweatshirts with them if there is room in the load.

dockers/work pants are a separate load only so they don't get lost in colors and DH ends up with no clean pants

 

all loads except jeans ans sheets/towels gets a Shout Color Catch.

 

delicate/drip-dry items go in with their color friends in a mesh bag so they are easy to fish out to hang dry.

[marbel]

I wash socks/underwear/sheets/towels in hot water and dry on high.  I wash everything else in cold and dry with low heat.  That is why I find it necessary to separate them.  

 

Yep, this is what I do too.

[MysteryJen]

I do a load of towels every day. My clothes are sorted in groups of things that can go in the dryer and things that should not. The girls do the same for their laundry. The boys do their laundry when needed, all stuffed in to the washer and dryer.

 

We all wash on cold. Except for towels and sheets, which are on hot.

[Butter]

I don't sort.

 

I do sheets separately but only because they make up a whole load and I'd rather have lots of beds to make at once than do them here and there.  Sometimes I'll do a load of towels if there are enough for a whole load.  Otherwise I just throw a couple in with the clothes.

[Ellie]

In today's world of synthetic dyes and fabrics, it is no longer necessary to separate whites and darks and all that. It doesn't hurt anything, of course, but it is not as necessary as it once was.

 

Except when washing new clothing which is red or blue. Then you're smart to wash them separately a few times. :laugh:

 

I separate my laundry thusly:

 

• all-cotton white, which in our home includes not only Mr. Ellie's undies :-) but also the dishcloths, dish towels, washcloths (all of those are replaced daily), towels, and sheets/pillow cases (only all-white bedding in our house; they're not necessarily cotton, but they're white). I soak them altogether in Amway's non-chlorine bleach.
• towels etc. which are not white
• clothing which is not white all-cotton

 

That's pretty much it.

[Southern Ivy]

Towels are their own load. 
Sheets are their own load. 
Whites, colors, jeans, and dd's clothes have their own load. 

I use the color catcher sheets when I do dd's clothes and the colors. 

[abba12]

None of the above? My mum was an all-in-one-load type when I was a kid. I tried that and everything turned pink, or blue, or one time even purple! Now I do

 

Lights - White, and any colours which don't run, so all the pale to mid-colour stuff.

Darks - Black, and all the darker stuff that will either run, or won't take on colour if other items run.

Hand Washing - which, frankly, never happens, but I do have a small basket for it which slowly fills and remains ignored.

 

Hot/Cold is irrelevant to me, line drying is still the default in Australia and the sun will kill whatever germs might be in there. To be honest I've never even considered doing towels/sheets/underwear/socks on hot because of germs before. I do all cold washes. 

[kewb]

Clothes:

Whites

Brights

Darks

Jeans/pants/heavy sweatshirt items

 

I will combine my brights and darks if I don't have a full load.

 

Other categories:

Towels

Sheets

[abba12]

For a brief period I washed darks in Woolite dark. I still have a partially gothic wardrobe (heh) and I don't stress about the blacks.

 

You're officially awesome. Also, I so wish my gothic stuff still fit. I've gained 2 full dress sizes since then thanks to babies :(

[Spryte]

Lights

Darks

Reds

Towels/bedding

[KatieJ]

Only two of us here now, but I only do laundry once a week. I have always had a suds saver so I am very aware of heat the water looks like coming out out of that washing machine. Some of it is dye (jeans) and some of it is dirt. Colors don't fade as much as they used to, true. However I still sort by whites, then colors, then jeans. I try to wash towels separately as they can rub on the other clothes and cause pilling. I have one nightgown that still bleeds even though it is several years old! I would toss it if it wasn't so darn comfortable!

[Pawz4me]

I chose the closest to what I actually do, which was your second choice (colors other than black, blacks, whites, nasty things like underwear and socks).  In reality I do --

 

Jeans and other darks

Colors

Whites

Towels, white underwear and white socks (all our towels are white -- this is the bleach load)

Sheets

Kitchen -- dish cloths and kitchen towels

Microfiber towels used for general cleaning

Active wear

[MooCow]

I'm retraining one of my kids on laundry and am rethinking my sorting methods.

 

I separate my laundry 4 ways, based mainly on the way my mother did it:

 

- hot water items like sheets, underwear, towels, white socks.

 

- cold water items like regular clothing: jeans, shirts, all colors except black.

 

- black items because I've read that they fade when mixed with other colors.

 

- special items like a sweater that has to go in a lingerie bag and go on delicate cycle, a table cover that bleeds red no matter how many times I wash it, clothing newly from the thrift store that stinks of fabric softener and must be washed alone 5 or 50 times to get the stench out.

 

I've read recently that sorting is out: everything can go in the same load. This makes no sense to me, but maybe I am stuck in old thinking.

 

Anyway, there's a poll, so have at it.

This is pretty much what we do

[Peaceful Isle]

I voted other.

 

Here is how I do it.

 

Whites- hot

Colored rough clothes- cold

Colored soft clothes- cold

Towels - hot or cold really

Sheets - hot

[MercyA]

I voted other.

 

White towels, hot with bleach.

Vintage kitchen towels, hot or warm, no bleach.

Sheets, hot.

Whites like socks and underwear, hot.

Other whites and lighter colors, warm.

Darker colors, including black, usually warm, sometimes cold.

Delicates or other special care items, warm or cold.

 

Newly purchased used clothing gets washed by itself first. 

[AK_Mom4]

Sheets and bedding

Towels

DHs work clothes (bc there have to get hung up)

Whites and kitchen towels

Everything else.

 

I voted other.

[MomtoCandJ]

Everything together in cold water :) my washer is the hamper, when it's full it gets detergent added and turned on. I do blankets and sheets separate because I tend to do all 3 beds on the same day

[JFSinIL]

A new red or dark item may be hand-washed a bit to see if it bleeds before it goes into regular wash, and stuff I want to hang dry goes into mesh bags,but other than that, everything goes together, cool wash/rinse, with my home-made detergentsoap stuff. The same Fez Napha bar I use to make the soap, I dampen and rub on any stains. Works fine.

[shawthorne44]

it depends on how much I have to wash. But, if one sorted pile with take three loads, I will sort those out so that each load is as much like everything else is possible.  I often have a Blue load.   I like blue.  

 

Lately, I've also been sorting by whether the clothes will go directly on the hanger or into the dryer.  Because I something end up with two pairs of underwear for the dryer.   Then I put them on a hanger, then they get lost within my clothes.  

[kristi26]

I had to vote "other." My sorting method probably makes no sense, but here goes...

 

- I wash sheets together in a load (like, the set of sheets for that bed; if it's kid sheets, they get washed together- I have no real reason for this)

- I wash the white towels together (and they can even go in the load with the white sheets from my bed if they need washed at the same exact time)

- Everything else gets jammed in the washer and washed together.

 

:leaving:

[lanabug]

Kids' laundry gets sorted as follows:

- Gentle cycle (church dresses, things that need to line dry, etc.)

- Jammies, socks, undies, things that need to be washed in warm water

- Colors (cold water)

- Jeans if there's enough for a load, otherwise they get thrown in the with the colors

 

DH's and my laundry:
- Exercise wear

- Jeans

- Socks/undies/whites to be washed in warm

- Colors (cold water)

- Delicates and my shirts which I line dry

 

Everything else
- Load of sheets/blankets

- Towels (hot water)

 

Lana

[cjzimmer1]

I chose separate white but really it depends on how far behind on laundry I am.

 

We have two hampers in the hallways where the kids put dirty stuff.  One is white/light and the other is dark.  Towels sometime just get piled in front of the washer (which is in the bathroom) other times they get thrown in the hamper (we have some light colored and some dark colored)

 

So most days, I throw a load in from the dark hamper in the washer, if there is enough towels I will save them and do a separate load but if not they just get thrown in with the regular stuff.  White/light loads tend to be done every other day.

 

Sheets tend to be separate but it's because I go into a room, strip all the beds, stuff it in the washer, send it through the dryer and drop it back in the appropriate room for the kids to remake their beds. Since there is 2-3 beds in a room, there is a always a full load and I'm not really separating them. The covers are dark, the sheets are light but it all goes together.

[Stacia]

I tend to do a load w/ sheets/towels/other household items that get washed.

 

Clothes separated into the following categories:

Lights

Darks

Reds

 

Anything needing hand-washing (though I don't really have that because I got rid of most things like that & refuse to buy them) gets tossed in on a small 'delicates' load once in awhile.

 

If I don't have much, though, I'll toss everything in together. I love the Shout Color Catcher sheets.

[medawyn]

I was everything on cold, unless there's a need for bleach. I only buy white towels to make life easier.

 

My loads are

 

sheets

 

towels

 

lights

 

darks

 

air dry

 

I only separate sheets and towels because of the bulk, and air dry is for my convenience so I don't have to sort through wet clothes for what shouldn't be dried.

[DawnM]

I have NEVER sorted my laundry.  New jeans get soaked in vinegar overnight to keep the color and then get washed individually first, after that, they go in the regular "everything" loads.

 

My boys do their own laundry, including all their clothing, sheets, and towels, and they put everything in together in their loads as well.

 

 

[Melissa B]

I voted other.

 

Darks

Reds

Colors

Lights

Whites

Towels

Sheets

Delicates