Doing the laundry isn't my favorite chore to do, but it's also not my least favorite. I guess it falls somewhere in the middle. I have been doing my own laundry for 14 years but have never really given it much thought or energy. Luckily I don't tend to get stains on my clothing because I'm not very good about trying to get them out/treat them before I throw the load in. :)
Right now I am in the midst of doing 4 loads (yikes!) of laundry. I usually pretty much just wash everything together and wash everything on cold (to conserve energy). This isn't what my mother taught me, except for the cold part. She taught me to wash sheets, separate from towels, separate from whites, separate from darks. I grew up in a family of six so there was always a plethora of laundry to be done so it made sense to separate things out since there was plenty of each type of load to be done. For just one person, this seemed a little ridiculous to me. I'd be doing tons of tiny loads which seemed like a big waste. So occassionally I'd separate things out, but most of the time I'd throw in whatever needed to be washed and call it a load. I'd do about 2 loads a week.
Today I piled up so much stuff I decided I'd try doing laudry the correct way, or at least more like the way my momma taught me. So I thought I'd actually do a little research and find out the best settings for each of these different types of loads. What did I find? Lots of conflicting information. For example, I found one site that said cold, another that said warm, and yet another that said hot -- all just for towels. So I'm going to just kind of wing it. I am going to try washing whites on cold (to conserve energy), towels and sheets on hot (to kill any bacteria, mildew, mites, etc), and darks on cold (to reduce fading).
What is your usual laundry routine? Are you good about separating out different types of loads? Do you use different settings for each type?
Haha! I thought I was the only who ignored her mother and tossed all the laundry together. I have a full time job and hobbies. I can't spend an entire day washing every article of cloth separately! And that's not even to mention trying to remember the different temperatures and settings.
The only thing I wash separately is the sheets. They dry so much faster than everything else that I think it would be silly to leave them in the dryer for all that time burning up.
I neeeever separate laundry. I HATE doing laundry, so I'm certainly not about to extend it by separating. We don't have a washer/dryer on site, so we have to take the laundry to the laundromat or one of our parents' houses. I say "we" but I mainly mean "me"... but anyway, that's a chore and a half and usually only happens once a week and so I always have three or four loads. The only stuff I separate now are the baby's clothes since I wash his stuff in the gentle, no fragrance, no color, etc detergent.
Oh yeah, and also a big fan of doing stuff in cold. When I had a washer/dryer on site, I always did my stuff in cold.
No way do I ever separate. Well, only if I'm washing a brand new colored sweater or jeans or something I think has the potential to bleed on first wash.
Everything gets dumped in a single load. Always cold water, no matter what it is. I finally got husband to do the same. He was always a believer in warm wash/cold rinse. I told him we were wasting energy/money, so he stopped. If he tosses in something really smelly or dirty, then yes to the warm.
Ha. Thank you all for your comments! It is really nice to know I'm not alone in throwing everything in together and just doing everything on cold.
Amanda, I'm glad you stopped by and decided to leave a comment. You made me laugh. :)
Candice, laundry would probably very quickly become my least favorite chore if I had to go to a laundromat.
Kathy, you're lucky you have a husband that actually does the laundry. Heh. :)
I LOVE doing laundry. No that's isn't a typo. This is the one time I can read and not feel guilty bc I am also doing laundry. Load, turn on, read. One hour later (or so), switch over, load, turn on, read. LOVE IT! I usually wash all clothes in cold water. No I don't sort too much. I do wash sheets and towels in hot water though because of germs and such, which is, I guess, how I sort.
I just learned how to do laundry, and boy am I ever proud of myself. I throw in everything together. None of my clothes are really the type that needs ironing or bleeds or anything like that. Even my bras go in, which is funny because the tags always tell you to wash by hand. They're fine, though, haha.
HEIDI: Haha. I think you might be the only person know that LOVES doing laundry! Your reasoning does make sense though. :)
ABBY: Thanks for stopping by! Congrats to you on learning how to do your own laundry. A nice milestone :) I don't handwash my bras, but I do use a lingerie laundry bag -- although I honestly don't really know if it does anything! Here is a link in case you have no idea what I'm talking about: http://www.barenecessities.com/Bare-Necessities-Small-Lingerie-Wash-Bag_product_BareNecessitiesBN1000_,search,.htm
Haha! Glad I'm not the only one who throws everything in the same load. Towels, jeans, t-shirts, underwear, you name it, in it goes. Like you said, when you're doing laundry for one person, it's ridiculous to separate everything out like that.
Just letting you know I gave you a Sunshine Award because your blog makes me smile!
Yeah, it just seems so silly to separate when you have like 2 towels and 1 set of sheets to wash.
What a sweet comment about my blog making you smile. That makes ME smile. :) Thank you!