Reason #137 I need my own place: laundry

[telecom_goddess]

I soak some of my laundry...

.... in a bucket, under the laundry tub. In my own home.

Which is fine because you're not tying up a washing machine that others have to use....if my neighbor had done that it would have made my life so much easier....

[AdminAssistant]

These are all reasons why I insist on having an apartment with a washer/dryer in the unit itself. It makes life oh-so-much easier.

Mom still tries to do my laundry when I go home. Honestly, the only problem I have with how she does things is that she irons everything and I don't. Ever. I had a tank top that was all wrinkly - that's how it's supposed to look. She ironed it.

[Treasure]

my loads are:
Slinky shit (bras, panties etc) - Cold/cold gentle*
Darks (black, gray, red, dk purples, dk blues, etc) - warm/cold regular (re-spin if necessary)
Lights (pinks, lt purple, lt blue, etc) - w/c reg.
Jeans - w/c reg (re-spin!)
Whites - hot, w/ bleach (when I have) reg.
Towels - hot or warm/cold reg.
Sheets - w/c reg

i have a "mini" stackable washer/dryer combo and i can only wash like 3 or 4 pair of jeans at a time and the damn dryer recently ate a pair of undies (to a really cute nightgown! )

*I use a bra-bag for my bras, but i usually dry on reg. heat b/c i have nice "slinky" fabric shirts that take forever to dry on any other setting - I also use dryer sheets to reduce static, and will usually put the dyer on for about 30 mins first, and add time as needed.

when i lived at home (full size w/d) this was pretty much how it was done then too, but if darks and jeans were small enough, they could be combined, and dad's button down work shirts get washed w/ the slinkys

anything that needs to be dry cleaned, or air dried got washed w/ the slinkys and hung upin the laundry room' or laid on the dryer (if clear) to dry - we didn't have any real problems that way

(our biggest problem was bleach on blacks - my brother had a habit of just wiping his hands off on whatever was nearest when he did the whites - which should've been done last anyway to prevent this!)

[Seshat]

We're actually fairly casual about our clothes. We have very few 'good' clothes - on purpose.

Darks.
Lights. (we have very few whites, so all our 'lights' can go together)
Delicates & bras (but not special-treatment)
Heavy duty and/or extra dirty (eg, clothes used for gardening)
Sheets, towels, etc.
Special treatment (beaded, brocaded, lace, other such)
Soaking needed. (eg the dogs' piddle pads, 'errors' from that time of the month, anything used for car work)

Almost all the time, our weekly loads are just darks, lights, sheets/towels, one delicates load that's almost entirely bras, and the piddle pads. And if I rinse and soak the piddle pads properly, they're actually clean and can be thrown in with the sheets and towels.

But we get away with that by careful and clever clothes-buying. VERY rarely buying reds, or anything that would need to be handled as a delicate.

[AdminAssistant]

My laundry is fairly simple:
- Regular clothes, all colors. (t-shirts, tanks, pjs, shorts, undies and socks that aren't white, etc.) Cold water, regular dry cycle
- Delicates (nice clothes, dress pants, sweaters, bras. Sometimes I'll do bras separately.) Most of this stuff air dries, the rest dries on delicate.)
- Jeans. Always air dried
- Whites, usually every other week. Hot water, Oxi-Clean, and bleach.

I also do the towels and sheets, because Fiance likes dryer sheets and I prefer liquid fabric softener. Those get washed in warm water, rinsed in cold and dried. I just use Oxi-Clean, even though we have white sheets.

Now, if I get something new that I'm afraid will bleed, I'll wash it by itself the first time or two.

Fiance just throws everything in the washer, all mixed together, and then it all goes into the dryer with a Bounce sheet. And he wonders why his nice work pants only last a few months.

[hinakiba777]

The breakdown for me is usually
Delicates- All Colors- Cold Water Gentle
Darks- Blacks, Browns, Navys, and Jeans- Cold Water Regular cycle
Medium- Too dark for light, too light for dark- Cold water Regular Cycle (optional)
Lights-Light colours, beige, White with another color- Cold Water Regular Cycle
Whites- Just white clothing- Cold water Regular

As you can see I always use cold water to wash. Mainly because it's cheaper, and my parents never think to reset the water temperature so I get in trouble if they wash in hot. Usual laundry day consists of two loads Delicates, Two Dark, one Medium, one light, and a very small white.

A few people don't see a rhyme or reason to my sorting because one time i will wash a top in with the lights the next day medium, or one day dark and the next time medium. The whole purpose of the medium pile is mostly to keep the other two piles under control.

Though a lot of people have commented that it's weird that I don't sort my delicates by colour. The answer is that I just honestly don't have enough in one section to warrant the separation.

[Seshat]

If I have less than a full load of delicates, or if I have dark delicates and light delicates that shouldn't be mixed, I'll usually just handwash them. Toss the 'special handling' in at the same time.

We've got an old laundry tub, the sort with a built in set of 'washboard' ripples. I love it.

Handwashing isn't a huge issue when you only have a few things to do, and they're all lightweight things.

And yes, new items that might leak dye - especially indigos and reds - get washed separately until they stop leaking. If I have enough reds, they go into a load entirely of their own.

[blas]

I haven't experienced bleeding or transferring of color/denim in new clothes in a long time. Even with jeans that advise you that they'll bleed.

[hinakiba777]

See I actually have no idea how one hand washes something...

[Seshat]

Put water and detergent in a laundry tub, bucket, handbasin, or kitchen sink. Check clothing for stains - you'll want to pay special attention to those spots.

Put clothing into the soapy water. Gently agitate the clothing - basically, stir or knead them in the water. I use a kneading motion, like for making bread. Other people stir. It doesn't matter which you do, the purpose is just to encourage the soapy water to do its job.

Locate any stains you wanted to work on. Do careful extra agitation of that. If it's a tough fabric, like drill or denim or gaberdine, you can just rub the stained areas against each other.
If it's a spun silk or other fragile fabric, just rub gently with your fingers.
You may need to put some soap or detergent directly onto the stain, and rub that in.
Keep dipping the stain into the water - what's happening is one end of each detergent molecule is clinging to the stain, you want to give the other end of the detergent molecule a chance to clutch at a water molecule and pull its tiny bit of stain out.

Once your stains are minimised (or as much as you think you can do), and the rest of the fabric has been agitated to give the detergent a chance to work, let out the soapy water.

Refill the tub with clean water. Put the clothes back in (or leave them in). Agitate again, so that the soap is washed out.

Empty and refill again, agitate again. You shouldn't feel any soapiness or slickness. If you do, rinse yet again.

Now get some of the water out of the clothes. Depending on what it is, squeeze things, put them in towels and press them 'dry' (maybe walk on the towel), twist things (make sure it's not going to be damaged by being twisted).

And finally, go ahead and dry them.