Sorting and doing laundry

[Amy SF]

I find it slightly ridiculous that as someone who is about to turn 55 years old (on June 28), I still have trouble sorting laundry.

Suppose something is half black and half white. Do you put it in the whites or the darks? Suppose something is half red and half white and you're washing it for the first time, and there's a chance the red color will run. Do you wash it with the reds, wash it with the whites, or hand wash it, even though the instructions say machine wash?

When something says "dry clean" do you dry clean it or hand wash it or take a chance in the machine? When it's supposedly better to hand wash something than take a chance on the machine, do you hand wash it or wash it in the machine anyway, but with the gentle cycle? Would you then hang it to dry or lay it flat to dry or take a chance and put it in the dryer?

And what about the laundry detergents? There are so damn many these days. It makes my head spin when I'm looking at them in the store, especially since so many of them have strong perfumes.

When you buy laundry detergent, do you buy the cheapest and use coupons, or do you stick to the "natural" brands because they're supposedly better?

Oh, the mental torture my laundry gives me.

 

[PTree15]

Yikes, Amy. I loathe doing laundry.
For me, I just kind of wing it. I put the multicolored clothes in with whatever I think it will match best with.
If I'm washing something for the first time that I think might run, I will hand-wash it in cold water first. If I don't hand-wash it, I'll put it in with similarly colored clothing.
I hate taking clothes to the dry cleaner for many reasons, so I mostly I hand-wash such items. I would dry it flat.
As for detergent, I mostly use the natural kind, as I have sensitive skin. I've tried a few; right now, I have one by Jessica Alba that's supposed to be good. I went in on some monthly club thing to get all vegan products ranging from shampoo to body lotion to cleaners. I haven't tried this one yet, though.

 

[ledboots]

I have whites, darks, and mixed loads, the mixed I wash in cold water. I use Gain detergent and oxyclean booster because of my athletic son who can have some stinky workout clothes.

I don't have anything that needs dry cleaning except my husband's suit. I wash hand washables in the machine on the gentle cycle in a little net bag with toggle closure. I'm way too lazy to hand wash anything.

 

[Clueless Git]

I just tippexed out all the settings on my machine and penciled them all in "whatever".

 

[Calliegirl]

I don't separate anything. As soon as I have enough dirty clothes for a load, they all go in the washer together. I use Vons brand powder detergent that's free of dyes and perfumes. Vons doesn't test their store brand products on animals. I use about half of the amount of detergent that you would normally use since I heard that a lot of times the suggested amount is too much and it doesn't all wash out. I haven't noticed a difference in cleanliness since lowering the amount of detergent.

 

[Amy SF]

I don't separate anything. As soon as I have enough dirty clothes for a load, they all go in the washer together. I use Vons brand powder detergent that's free of dyes and perfumes. Vons doesn't test their store brand products on animals. I use about half of the amount of detergent that you would normally use since I heard that a lot of times the suggested amount is too much and it doesn't all wash out. I haven't noticed a difference in cleanliness since lowering the amount of detergent.

You don't worry about ruining anything if you throw in darks and colors with the whites, or delicates with, say, sheets and towels?

ETA: The machines in my building are high efficiency, meaning I can only use liquid detergent that says "HE" on the label.

 

[hungryraccoon]

I just kind of got used to what could go with what. I suppose you just make an educated guess...I'm not particularly careful about what mixes with what & nothing has ever gone wrong! Haha

If I had an item that was a really bright colour that I thought would run I'd probably just wash it separately the first few times

Also, I never dry clean anything. Everything's going in my washing machine okkkkk.

 

[Calliegirl]

You don't worry about ruining anything if you throw in darks and colors with the whites, or delicates with, say, sheets and towels?

ETA: The machines in my building are high efficiency, meaning I can only use liquid detergent that says "HE" on the label.

Nope, I've never had anything ruined yet. I usually get my clothes at the thrift store so they've already been washed a million times. No loose dye left to get on anything else.
The only thing I will wash separately sometimes is the cats stuff, if say, one of them is sick and has throw up all over their blanket and it's covered in hair too.

 

[Joe]

I find it slightly ridiculous that as someone who is about to turn 55 years old (on June 28), I still have trouble sorting laundry.

Suppose something is half black and half white. Do you put it in the whites or the darks? Suppose something is half red and half white and you're washing it for the first time, and there's a chance the red color will run. Do you wash it with the reds, wash it with the whites, or hand wash it, even though the instructions say machine wash?

When something says "dry clean" do you dry clean it or hand wash it or take a chance in the machine? When it's supposedly better to hand wash something than take a chance on the machine, do you hand wash it or wash it in the machine anyway, but with the gentle cycle? Would you then hang it to dry or lay it flat to dry or take a chance and put it in the dryer?

I do what I do, which may not be the best thing or right thing to do.

Most of my laundry consists of whites--white cotton underwear and white sox. These get washed together, and thus are sorted from the rest of the laundry. The second largest category are jeans--blue and black denim. This narrows down the laundry a lot. The remainder of the laundry then gets sorted by color and by water temperature--I generally wash in either cold or warm (and am guided by the "use and care" tag on the garment). The "remainder" category can create many small loads. I may tend to "over-sort." This may not be truly efficient or economical.

If a garment is of two colors, I tend to put it in with the darker color. I tend not to buy red clothing, due to the color "running" problem. But there is one other factor. Many retail stores have their employees wear red shirts. So if I dare to go shopping wearing a red shirt many people come up to me asking where to find this item or that, and I tell them I do not work for the store. And they profess being shocked! "But you are wearing a red shirt!" So I've learned not to buy red shirts.

My washer has two gentle cycles, one for hand washables, so I use this rather than literally hand washing things.
My dryer has several heat settings, one of which is "fluff," i.e., room temperature air is circulated. I'll fluff something for a while, then hang it up while still damp to finish drying.

And what about the laundry detergents?

When you buy laundry detergent, do you buy the cheapest and use coupons, or do you stick to the "natural" brands because they're supposedly better?

Oh, the mental torture my laundry gives me.

I tend to be a fan of Tide, and secondarily, Gain. (Both are Proctor and Gamble products.) Kroger runs periodic sales on them, and also has digital coupons for them. Another brand I use is Oxydol, which I can sometimes find in discount store Big Lots.

I am not sure what you mean by "natural" brands. Like Seventh Generation? I just tend not to use them.

 

[Poppy]

I just follow the directions on the label. If I launder something in accordance with the instructions and then it runs or fades, I return it.

I have yet to find a natural brand that thoroughly gets rid of yellow armpits or necklines or gym smells. I do use them for things that do not need to be deeply cleaned.

 

[Mischief]

These are my separate loads:

dishcloths and kitchen towels
towels, sheets and other bedding
jeans and "working outside clothes" (Washing other stuff with jeans is really hard on clothes - the jeans can really bang up other fabrics.)
other darks
whites/light colored clothes

We have a separate washer for all the animal stuff.

 

[KLS52]

These are my separate loads:

dishcloths and kitchen towels
towels, sheets and other bedding
jeans and "working outside clothes" (Washing other stuff with jeans is really hard on clothes - the jeans can really bang up other fabrics.)
other darks
whites/light colored clothes

We have a separate washer for all the animal stuff.

Wow, all these years of doing laundry and I never considered this.

 

[Katrina]

I do mine like this

- towels
- sheets
- clothes (regular)
- special workout clothes (bike shorts, lululemon tops, sports bras, etc) wash on cold and hang up to dry

If I happen to have lots of black items in a regular load, I'll pull them out and do a separate cycle for them.