How do you break down your laundry?

[itsheresomewhere]

I have a three part sorter. Colors go in one bag, whites in another, towels in the third. When the bag is full, I run a load. I really jam the clothes into the bags because when it is full like that, I know its enough to fill the washer. Sheets get washed separately.

 

I only wash whites on hot and with bleach when I think they need to be sanitized.

 

I wouldn't recommend the all white towels and sheets, either. Whites tend to be high maintenance. Plus, my whites tend to look old long before my colored items fade.

Not just that but there are some stains that children can make that never come out of white.

[Petrichor]

Towels, underwear, socks, undershirts, sheets, etc.

Dh's and my clothes 

DS's clothes

DD's clothes

Diapers

Handmade clothes that need to be washed on delicate (we have a lot of these)

 

I have labeled laundry hampers for each of these. 

 

Everything is washed in cold except for diapers, and occasionally towels (if they start to stink) The only reason I sort it is to make it easier to fold, and so people who say "I really need that shirt" or "there's no clean underwear" can know where to find it to wash it. 

 

IMO clothing labels are unnecessarily nitpicky 

 

and I use homemade detergent

 

[Petrichor]

I'm skeptical that's going to make laundry easier. All one color, yes, but not white. Maybe navy?

 

The people in my house think white towels=clean up mud and grossness

 

I bought [cheap, but still nice] blue towels for use in the bathroom, and any other towels can be used for taking to the gym or throwing on the floor to clean up water.

[saffron]

I seperate as:

Whites

Darks

Reds

Delicates

DH work clothes

 

Yup, his work clothes get their own wash load. His pants are contractor twill or jeans and they will destroy other soft clothing.

 

I wash sheets or towels separately. I "save up" delicates and reds if there are too few for a decent load.

 

DS17 washes his own and it's usually just one load because all his stuff is dark for the most part. I'm on the verge of beginning to have DS13 do his, too, for the same reason. It makes one whole load and he rarely has something that doesn't go except for some reds.

 

I don't mean to pick you out. Your post just had me thinking, surely we can have children doing laundry from a young age?

 

Every aspect of doing laundry (reading wash instructions, identifying symbols, sorting colors, measuring detergent) is doable by a 7 year old. It's just a matter of taking the time to break it down for them. I guess it depends how physically accessible your washer and dryer are though. Front loading at ground level would be doable.

 

Also, I always use disposable gloves when sorting laundry and putting it on. (Yes, I'm big on hygiene.) So worrying about exposure to dirt or chemicals wouldn't be a real problem if supervised.

[saffron]

I have a three part sorter. Colors go in one bag, whites in another, towels in the third. When the bag is full, I run a load. I really jam the clothes into the bags because when it is full like that, I know its enough to fill the washer. Sheets get washed separately.

 

I only wash whites on hot and with bleach when I think they need to be sanitized.

 

I wouldn't recommend the all white towels and sheets, either. Whites tend to be high maintenance. Plus, my whites tend to look old long before my colored items fade.

 

I've done the all white sheets thing for a year now and I'm very happy with how they've lasted. I don't find it difficult to maintain them at all.

 

White clothes are another issue though! I usually end up throwing them out after the first wash.

[saffron]

Darks

Lights

Towels with whatever category fits above.

 

Why do most of you separate towels from the clothing? Am I missing something?

 

Towels are heavy and rough so they can make softer garments wear faster.

 

I also prefer to put them in a different wash because they're tough enough to go through a sterilizing wash with hot water and bleach while clothes wouldn't survive that.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Everyone washes their own. Towels I do by themselves, of course (for PP who asked, towels shed a lot and leave fuzzy balls all over the other clothes). If they want to separate their clothes into several loads they can.  But for the most part we all have about 90% dark clothes and no whites (DN is the exception, he has white jeans that I make him wash alone so I don't have to listen to him complain about them being "grey).  Most everyone's clothes are also cotton.  DD has a few things that she lays flat to dry but that's about it for special requirements.

 

 

[Pawz4me]

Darks

Lights

Towels with whatever category fits above.

 

Why do most of you separate towels from the clothing? Am I missing something?

 

I separate them for several reasons --

 

If I gather up all our towels (they're white) and the white socks and underwear it makes a full load that can be bleached if needed/desired.

 

I like to dry towels on the hottest setting for sanitizing (my dryer has a separate setting just for towels). That's often not good or recommended for clothing.

 

I don't like to wash towels with clothes because sometimes, especially if the towels are fairly new, they'll give off a little lint that will stick to some clothing.

 

I wash towels (and socks and underwear) separately because I don't have to be in any hurry to get them out of the dryer and fold them. I've never understood people who dry a load of clothes and don't get them out and folded/hung up right away. I wrinkle enough w/o starting out with more than necessary! :lol: 

 

As far as white towels -- that's all I'll ever buy.  I can't stand colored towels, especially very dark ones. I've always preferred white towels because my eyes as well as my nose can tell when they're clean. Sparkling white, fluffy towels make me happy.  :001_smile:  I've never had any trouble at all with staining, but all my crew have been taught to use an old towel if they're really messy.

[happypamama]

I separate towels because the kids' towels end up being a good portion of a load. I can throw in the bathmats and bathroom rugs with them and run them on a cooler setting if need be, or I can add sheets. It does save a little time when putting everything away.

 

I separate DH's and my nicer towels because if they get washed with other things, they get dingy. I'd like them to stay the pretty yellow and green as long as possible.

 

OP, yes, laundry CAN be done by young children, and in theory, that sounds good. But you may decide to do otherwise once you actually have several children. I do have my children do chores and pitch in plenty around the house, but they don't generally sort or do the laundry. One of them does bring down the hamper daily, and they put their own away (I help the littles), and they will switch it from washer to dryer sometimes, but it just isn't one of their regular chores. There are many things that children CAN do, but you may find that you have reasons for them not doing every chore they can, and that's okay. You'll find what works for your family.

[Carrie12345]

Darks

Lights

Towels with whatever category fits above.

 

Why do most of you separate towels from the clothing? Am I missing something?

 

Towels make a large load for us.

They shed more than anything else in the dryer.

When it's time to fold and put away, I don't want to be delivering random items all over the house. All our towels go in one place.

[Guest]

I don't mean to pick you out. Your post just had me thinking, surely we can have children doing laundry from a young age?

 

Every aspect of doing laundry (reading wash instructions, identifying symbols, sorting colors, measuring detergent) is doable by a 7 year old. It's just a matter of taking the time to break it down for them. I guess it depends how physically accessible your washer and dryer are though. Front loading at ground level would be doable.

 

Also, I always use disposable gloves when sorting laundry and putting it on. (Yes, I'm big on hygiene.) So worrying about exposure to dirt or chemicals wouldn't be a real problem if supervised.

I don't feel picked on. :) No, you are completely correct that children can do their own laundry from a young age, and seven is perfectly possible and I'm sure apporpriate for some families. However, I did not transition my kids to doing their own laundry until teen years because I don't want 20 little loads going all day every day. It's more efficient to combine all the laundry until a kid has big enough clothes, and enough clothing of the same category, for them to do one full load of their own about twice a week.

 

I don't want (and have never wanted) one child to do all the laundry because a lot of personal information exists in the laundry; I didn't want my daughter looking at stains a man or boy might make and I didn't want my sons looking at stains a girl or woman might make. I would rather keep that information to myself and, by the time my sons are teens and might have a stain they don't want mom to see, they are doing their own laundry and washing their own sheets. :)

 

P.S. I also just realized that I typed "DS13" but I meant "DS12." Just a typo. He just turned 12 in December; he will almost certainly be doing his own laundry by age 13.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Quill

[Guest]

Also, just a general comment, not meant for any particular person: I hardly ever use chlorine bleach in the laundry. IME, it destroys cotton fibers very quickly. It sabatages elastic, too. I never understood whote sheets and towels (for household use) that are bleached and scalded every wash. Don't they wear out very quickly?

 

Maybe my expectations are just amazingly high, but I have towels and sheets for years and years and years. DH's favorite towel is a hunter green towel we got as a bridal shower gift in 1994. :) (I grant you, that towel has seen better days and clearly looks as old as it is.)

 

I do use Oxi Clean in most loads, though. Just not Chlorox.

[lailasmum]

We don't routinely separate laundry and mostly wash it at 30°c on a 45min cycle. Anything that needs that extra clean because it's particularly dirty or possibly germy will obviously be treated appropritely with a hotter/longer cycle. I don't think we own much white clothes or anything. Not had a problem so far.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Towels are heavy and rough so they can make softer garments wear faster.

 

I also prefer to put them in a different wash because they're tough enough to go through a sterilizing wash with hot water and bleach while clothes wouldn't survive that.

 

Yeah I find they seem to cause pilling with certain garments so that's why I do it.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Also, just a general comment, not meant for any particular person: I hardly ever use chlorine bleach in the laundry. IME, it destroys cotton fibers very quickly. It sabatages elastic, too. I never understood whote sheets and towels (for household use) that are bleached and scalded every wash. Don't they wear out very quickly?

 

Maybe my expectations are just amazingly high, but I have towels and sheets for years and years and years. DH's favorite towel is a hunter green towel we got as a bridal shower gift in 1994. :) (I grant you, that towel has seen better days and clearly looks as old as it is.)

 

I do use Oxi Clean in most loads, though. Just not Chlorox.

 

I don't have any plain white clothing so I have no use for bleach in the laundry.  I have maybe 3 pairs of white underwear.  I can't see bleaching that.  And DH too...he has a few undershirts that are white, but who cares if they are perfectly white.  I don't...he doesn't. 

 

We too have had our towels and sheets for a zillion years. 

[Pawz4me]

Also, just a general comment, not meant for any particular person: I hardly ever use chlorine bleach in the laundry. IME, it destroys cotton fibers very quickly. It sabatages elastic, too. I never understood whote sheets and towels (for household use) that are bleached and scalded every wash. Don't they wear out very quickly?

 

Maybe my expectations are just amazingly high, but I have towels and sheets for years and years and years. DH's favorite towel is a hunter green towel we got as a bridal shower gift in 1994. :) (I grant you, that towel has seen better days and clearly looks as old as it is.)

 

I do use Oxi Clean in most loads, though. Just not Chlorox.

 

No, I've never encountered that problem at all. I don't typically bleach our sheets, but I usually do bleach towels/socks/underwear every other load or so. DH has underwear that could probably qualify as antiques, so I don't think the bleach is contributing much, if at all, to deterioration. I just replaced our towels that were at least ten years old. They were still in okay condition, just not as fluffy as I prefer.

[Jan in SC]

I have way too much laundry. My kids (3 teen boys) went to school this year and have uniforms. I thought that would limit my laundry, but it added 15 uniforms to the existing chaos. They all hurry home to change clothes. Ugh!

 

I use Tide for everything, with Bounce sheets, and Fels Naptha for the nasty baseball stuff

 

Boys darks- 2 loads- cold

Boys medium and light-cold

Our dark- cos

Our medium-cold

DH's white undershirts-hot

Reds- cold (school uniform shirts)

Orange-cold (football season only) Go, Tigers!

Baseball clothes- cold(tons of pre-cleaning)

Towels- sanitary

Sheets- 2 loads, sanitary

Quilts- as needed, hot or sanitary (every other time-ish)

Dog blankets- sanitary- as needed

All button-up shirts go to the dry cleaners

Edited January 28, 2017 by Jan in SC

[Carrie12345]

I don't mean to pick you out. Your post just had me thinking, surely we can have children doing laundry from a young age?

 

 

 

For the most part, my kids do not do laundry.  They know how, and I can depend on them to do it when asked, but I mostly want to do it myself.

We have a small water heater for a large family and crummy water pressure, so there's an intricate dance of laundry, showers, dishwasher, etc.

 

(Also, my washer and dryer are stacked, so the little ones need to stand on a chair to reach the dryer.  My 13yo grew enough to reach the buttons just this past year!)

[regentrude]

Also, I always use disposable gloves when sorting laundry and putting it on. (Yes, I'm big on hygiene.) So worrying about exposure to dirt or chemicals wouldn't be a real problem if supervised.

 

Just a heads-up: you should be prepared to relax your hygiene obsession a bit, because once you are a parent, you will be in contact with a lot of bodily fluids of all kinds. And I hope you won't be wearing gloves when you touch your baby.

 

Unless you do the laundry for a hospital's infectious disease ward, wearing disposable gloves is completely unnecessary. You touch the people whose laundry you do. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by regentrude

[Guest]

Just a heads-up: you should be prepared to relax your hygiene obsession a bit, because once you are a parent, you will be in contact with a lot of bodily fluids of all kinds. And I hope you won't be wearing gloves when you touch your baby.

 

Unless you do the laundry for a hospital's infectious disease ward, wearing disposable gloves is completely unnecessary. You touch the people whose laundry you do.

:)

 

I was thinking this, too. Once you've been barfed on and shat upon and peed on and bled upon, you probably won't find your kids' play clothes all that offensive. I don't even use gloves while handling DH's laundry and he sometimes stands in people's septic fields. ;)

[Guest]

No, I've never encountered that problem at all. I don't typically bleach our sheets, but I usually do bleach towels/socks/underwear every other load or so. DH has underwear that could probably qualify as antiques, so I don't think the bleach is contributing much, if at all, to deterioration. I just replaced our towels that were at least ten years old. They were still in okay condition, just not as fluffy as I prefer.

Interesting.

 

My MIL used to bleach the mop covers at our beachhouse, and the elastic was shot in a year. I also have white terry towels I used to use to clean other people's homes (so I did bleach them) vs. Terry towels that i used for my own home. They wore out and got holes in them much faster. I have assumed it was the bleach in both cases. Admittedly, I may be wrong. :)

[Annie G]

Also, just a general comment, not meant for any particular person: I hardly ever use chlorine bleach in the laundry. IME, it destroys cotton fibers very quickly. It sabatages elastic, too. I never understood whote sheets and towels (for household use) that are bleached and scalded every wash. Don't they wear out very quickly?

 

Maybe my expectations are just amazingly high, but I have towels and sheets for years and years and years. DH's favorite towel is a hunter green towel we got as a bridal shower gift in 1994. :) (I grant you, that towel has seen better days and clearly looks as old as it is.)

 

I do use Oxi Clean in most loads, though. Just not Chlorox.

 

I've bought white towels from Kohl's, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Macy's and they all say NO chlorine bleach.  I wonder why since growing up it was always used on our whites. 

MIL bleaches towels and sheets every time (well, FIL now since MIL has dementia) and oddly enough, they seem to last just fine. It's amazing to me that they haven't been eaten away by the bleach. Some of the towels they have are decades old.  Crazy!!! 

 

I don't bother with bleach. I'm a lazy laundry person.  

[historically accurate]

I do at least 1 load daily. This consists of anything that was worn yesterday. This load includes dish towels & cloth napkins, and if my oldest takes a shower, her towel is in there.  Homemade soap on cold/some gets hung up (til I fill up my indoor rack) and the rest gets thrown in the dryer. I dry some by hand because my dryer adjusts the length of the cycle by sensing wetness, so less clothes in there means less energy used. I'd like to get another rack, but it just hasn't hit the top of the need list/budget yet. 

 

The other kids still use my shower, and I do a load of those towels and the bath mats weekly; they're all white and there's enough of them to make a full load. Homemade soap in hot, dryer on towel setting.

 

Sheets get washed every other week - I do all the kids' beds one week and the master the other. Homemade soap in hot, dryer on sheet setting.

 

ETA: on the bleach thing, DH recently soaked in a little bit of bleach a white towel  that he had blotted his face on after cutting his face shaving, and the washing machine totally shredded the towel the next time it was washed. I don't bleach, so I don't know if that was the reason or if it got caught on something, but it was the only towel that came out shredded in that load.

 

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by beckyjo

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

Based on who is doing laundry we:

 

Stuff that bleeds

Stuff that won't bleed

Towels

Stuff with zippers.

 

Darks

Lights

Towels

 

 

Whites

Dark colors

light colors

towels

pants

bedding

[MaeFlowers]

Darks

Lights

Towels with whatever category fits above.

 

Why do most of you separate towels from the clothing? Am I missing something?

I separate towels out because of the dryer. If I put them in with clothes, the clothes dry and the towels don't. Plus I have that nifty towels setting on my dryer. It gets hotter than the regular cycle and dries towels pretty fast.

 

ETA: I'm pretty impressed that anyone reads the instructions or pays attention to the symbols.

Edited January 28, 2017 by MaeFlowers

[TechWife]

Darks

Lights

Dark Towels

Light Towels

Sheets (I only have light sheets)

 

I wash towels separately because I don't want the lint on my clothing. I wash sheets separately because I don't want to untangle clothing from the sheets. 

[Alessandra]

This is actually a great thread.

 

Speed Queen and Tide with febreeze here

 

Cold wash -- fleece, polyester blend clothes. Black, red, white, colors together, no problems.

 

Warm wash -- cotton t shirts, colored socks, colored underwear, etc, all colors together.

 

Soak/prewash in hot water with bleach and oxyclean -- inexpensive white cotton socks and underwear. Ds's socks are dirty! Then a warm wash -- I add ds's expensive cushioned socks, maybe a few other whites.

 

Sheets and towels are separate. If I remember I add bluing and mistolin to white sheets.

 

ETA

I love SQ, but it is not kind to feathery things. So, quilted mattress pads, quilts, pillows, and sleeping bags get taken to laundromat.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Alessandra

[saffron]

Just a heads-up: you should be prepared to relax your hygiene obsession a bit, because once you are a parent, you will be in contact with a lot of bodily fluids of all kinds. And I hope you won't be wearing gloves when you touch your baby.

 

Unless you do the laundry for a hospital's infectious disease ward, wearing disposable gloves is completely unnecessary. You touch the people whose laundry you do. 

 

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

When I learned that it's actually the improvement of hygiene that's had the biggest impact on human lifespan over the last few hundred years I started practicing it more rigorously. I'm not obsessive though. I just prefer to do things in a more hygienic way when I have the option to.

 

I've found that I'm better at housekeeping as a result because I do a more thorough job and faster when I'm not thinking about the 'ew' factor.

 

It costs barely anything and it takes 2 seconds to put them on, so the cost is outweighed by the benefits IMO.

[Pawz4me]

Interesting.

 

My MIL used to bleach the mop covers at our beachhouse, and the elastic was shot in a year. I also have white terry towels I used to use to clean other people's homes (so I did bleach them) vs. Terry towels that i used for my own home. They wore out and got holes in them much faster. I have assumed it was the bleach in both cases. Admittedly, I may be wrong. :)

 

Do you think it could be related to the amount of bleach used? I've had front loaders for years and years and I tend to be very conservative with the amount of detergent, bleach and fabric softener I use. I found that with detergent it really isn't necessary to use much at all. I tend to use about half of the recommended amount with very good results, so I've assumed the same thing with bleach and fabric softener.

[itsheresomewhere]

I don't mean to pick you out. Your post just had me thinking, surely we can have children doing laundry from a young age?

 

Every aspect of doing laundry (reading wash instructions, identifying symbols, sorting colors, measuring detergent) is doable by a 7 year old. It's just a matter of taking the time to break it down for them. I guess it depends how physically accessible your washer and dryer are though. Front loading at ground level would be doable.

 

Also, I always use disposable gloves when sorting laundry and putting it on. (Yes, I'm big on hygiene.) So worrying about exposure to dirt or chemicals wouldn't be a real problem if supervised.

 

While my oldest can do laundry, I find that doing tiny loads all the time would be wasteful.  I just throw everyone's laundry together.  

[itsheresomewhere]

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

When I learned that it's actually the improvement of hygiene that's had the biggest impact on human lifespan over the last few hundred years I started practicing it more rigorously. I'm not obsessive though. I just prefer to do things in a more hygienic way when I have the option to.

 

I've found that I'm better at housekeeping as a result because I do a more thorough job and faster when I'm not thinking about the 'ew' factor.

 

It costs barely anything and it takes 2 seconds to put them on, so the cost is outweighed by the benefits IMO.

I can tell you that it will change.  When it is 3am and you are flat out exhausted, you won't be looking for gloves to change the baby.  Kids will change you.  

[Another Lynn]

Partly because of the volume of laundry.....

 

lighter colored towels

darker colored towels

kitchen load

white load

jeans load

dark - regular load

dark - delicate load

 

ETA:  Sheets!  I forgot sheets.  Yes, they eventually get washed too.   :lol:

Edited January 28, 2017 by Another Lynn

[KungFuPanda]

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

When I learned that it's actually the improvement of hygiene that's had the biggest impact on human lifespan over the last few hundred years I started practicing it more rigorously. I'm not obsessive though. I just prefer to do things in a more hygienic way when I have the option to.

 

I've found that I'm better at housekeeping as a result because I do a more thorough job and faster when I'm not thinking about the 'ew' factor.

 

It costs barely anything and it takes 2 seconds to put them on, so the cost is outweighed by the benefits IMO.

I think the hygiene improvements are mainly about safe water and sewage systems. If you try to go too sterile you're not giving your immune system a chance to learn through exposure and stay strong. It's really enough to wash your hands regularly. You certainly don't need gloves to do your household laundry. Your living with those germs. Gloves won't keep you from contacting them. It just creates another hoop for you to jump through with no real benefits.

[Lorien]

colors (cold)

whites (hot)

towels (hot)

[Seeking Squirrels]

Towels

My clothes - all together, dark, white, colors, I don't care.

Kids' clothes - all together

DH does his own, also all together

Sheets/blankets

 

The only thing I do special is I don't dry the girls dresses with tulle because they get destroyed and twisted in the dryer and I wash anything of theirs with glitter/sequins inside out. 

[Guest]

Do you think it could be related to the amount of bleach used? I've had front loaders for years and years and I tend to be very conservative with the amount of detergent, bleach and fabric softener I use. I found that with detergent it really isn't necessary to use much at all. I tend to use about half of the recommended amount with very good results, so I've assumed the same thing with bleach and fabric softener.

It may be. I don't know for certain and haven't done a study. My casual observation was always that chlorine bleach eats cotton fibers and elastic. And when I used cloth dipes, the advice was always DON'T bleach them. They lasted for ages.

 

I don't think much of bleach anyhow. I only buy a bottle once a year or maybe less.

[Arctic Bunny]

Dirty; clean, but wet; clean, but dry; dry, but unfolded; folded, but not put away. I feel super accomplished when there is a "folded and put away" category.

[LucyStoner]

Lately?

 

When the mountain looks like there will be an avalanche, I sort it into a number of loads and jam it all through and then cheerfully and then not so cheerfully bug my sons until they put their clothes and all the towels and bedding away.

[Guest]

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

When I learned that it's actually the improvement of hygiene that's had the biggest impact on human lifespan over the last few hundred years I started practicing it more rigorously. I'm not obsessive though. I just prefer to do things in a more hygienic way when I have the option to.

 

I've found that I'm better at housekeeping as a result because I do a more thorough job and faster when I'm not thinking about the 'ew' factor.

 

It costs barely anything and it takes 2 seconds to put them on, so the cost is outweighed by the benefits IMO.

Well, I'm content to see what unfolds as you go through life, but I can say with certainty no mom that I know of puts on disposable gloves for each of these tasks every time.

 

Also, (YMMV, of course), I'm in the Zero Waste direction. I would not be okay with throwing away latex gloves several times a day because that's a tremendous amount of waste going into a landfill.

 

It is true that humankind has been made much better off since the improvement of hygiene (also, due to vaccinations), but I agree with Kung Fu Panda that this means appropriate water treatment and sewage disposal, as well as correct treatment of biohazardous waste and medical personnel using sanitary practices. Wash your hands often and well and you'll be in great shape.

[Carrie12345]

Dare I mention catching vomit with bare hands?  Or scooping poo out of bathtubs?  Or sweeping squished bugs out of mouths?

[saffron]

Dare I mention catching vomit with bare hands?  Or scooping poo out of bathtubs?  Or sweeping squished bugs out of mouths?

 

Don't worry, I'm not going to have a mental breakdown if I can't wear gloves. It's just a preference when it's available.

[2squared]

I pick up a dirty pile and put it in the wash. Normal setting usually, warm water. No separating.

[2squared]

I pick up a dirty pile and put it in the wash. Normal setting usually, warm water. No separating.

Ditto. Separating is inefficient and annoying in my world. We do line dry everything but towels and sheets. Dh's preference, not mine.

[ktgrok]

Darks

Lights

Towels with whatever category fits above.

 

Why do most of you separate towels from the clothing? Am I missing something?

 

I was wondering too! I mean, I don't wash white towels with black pants to avoid white fuzz on the black pants, but I have no issue washing a white towel with white undershirts and white socks and such. 

 

Edited to add: I just remembered the big reason - I don't use dryer sheets with loads with towels, but do on clothes. I want the towels to be absorbent, so no dryer sheet or softener. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by ktgrok

[ktgrok]

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

 

 

So wait..no need for gloves when touching the clothes while the baby is wearing them...but once the clothes come off the baby they require gloves to handle? I'm so confused. 

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited February 4, 2017 by .qp_

[Scarlett]

Since I have apparently been doing the family laundry for a couple of months with a non working agitator I realize clothes get pretty clean just being in water and spinning out.  

 

I sort because I don't want rough stuff washing and drying with my non rough stuff.

 

[regentrude]

I wear disposable medical gloves even when going through my own laundry and when I'm emptying the trash or the vacuum cleaner etc. I intend to wear them when changing diapers, but not when holding the baby, obviously.

 

When I learned that it's actually the improvement of hygiene that's had the biggest impact on human lifespan over the last few hundred years I started practicing it more rigorously. I'm not obsessive though. I just prefer to do things in a more hygienic way when I have the option to.

 

I've found that I'm better at housekeeping as a result because I do a more thorough job and faster when I'm not thinking about the 'ew' factor.

 

It costs barely anything and it takes 2 seconds to put them on, so the cost is outweighed by the benefits IMO.

 

The biggest improvement for hygiene was hand washing. And toilets and waste water treatment.

The gloves have no hygiene benefit at all, if you wash your hands.

 

Don't forget about the environmental cost of throwing away a dozen pairs of latex gloves daily. 

 

I still don't get it - you wear the clothes on your body, but once you undress they become a dangerous biohazard? How bizarre.

 

ETA: I have never encountered a mother using gloves to change diapers. Not once.

 

Edited January 28, 2017 by regentrude

[Critterfixer]

Sheets and blankets get their own day, usually. 

Everything else just gets washed. I don't sort.

[Gentlemommy]

Everyone's clothing is washed each night. Towels washed separately. Washcloths washed separately. Sheets and bedding washed weekly. Everything is washed on normal except bedding on the bedding cycle. Dogs bedding washed twice monthly.