Married 10 yrs and still don't know basic laundry skills

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Forum -> Household Management -> Cleaning & Laundry

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amother

Tue, Nov 26 2013, 10:47 pm

is this correct?

color clothing= cold cycle
towels, linen= hot cycle
whites= warm cycle

imasinger

Tue, Nov 26 2013, 10:57 pm

That is what is usually recommended, although some say that you can wash everything on cold and save money. I usually only do towels on hot if they are smelly, and I add baking soda for those, too.

greenfire

Tue, Nov 26 2013, 11:01 pm

I wash almost everything on warm

whites get hot

but the trick is in the separating types of clothing - delicate items, sweaters, towels, linen, dark, light, white

bubbebia

Tue, Nov 26 2013, 11:59 pm

Separate out your laundry into whites, lights and dark. I found, when my kids were little, that in order to get them to put their dirty things in the laundry was to make a central laundry area (we were fortunate to have our laundry in the kitchen back then) with 3 covered baskets of 3 different colors--1 for each. They were responsible for getting their dirty clothes into the hampers or the clothes didn't get washed and they had nothing to wear. They make laundry hampers now with 2-3 sections to help you sort when you put your stuff in the hamper so you don't have to hassle with that step later. It's a good investment.

I used to wash my whites in hot water with lots of bleach but I stopped doing that when I had to lug things to the laundromat. Now I wash them in warm water and use one of those all color bleach pods. It works just as well. If something is really yucky I'll use some bleach.

Towels and lights also get washed in warm water and darks in cold water. I use the all color bleach pods for everything and the detergent pods too. They are more costly, but they don't weigh so much since I have to shlep my laundry to the laundromat. Besides, it's just DH and me now so we only do 2-3 loads a week instead of 2-3 a day like we did when the kids were little.

Hope this helps. Happy laundry!

queen76

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 12:41 am

How does baking soda help?

DrMom

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 1:40 am

amother wrote:

is this correct?

color clothing= cold cycle
towels, linen= hot cycle
whites= warm cycle

Yeah, pretty much.

What have you been doing for the last 10 years (or before that), and what's been happening to your clothes? Was DH in charge of laundry?

imamiri

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 1:45 am

amother wrote:

is this correct?

color clothing= cold cycle
towels, linen= hot cycle
whites= warm cycle

Pretty much. I also throw a bit of bleach in with the towels. It makes them not smell musty.

FranticFrummie

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 3:23 am

I will let you in on my super secret laundry ninja skills. Cool

As far as every day clothes go, I never buy any type of fabric that has to be "babied". Everything goes in the wash together, everything gets washed and dried on "medium", and everything uses the same unscented laundry soap - whatever is on sale at the time. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I might take a few things out of the dryer and flat dry them or put them on a hanger to prevent wrinkling. I despise ironing of any kind.

My clothes come out great, as do DD's. DH takes all his stuff to the dry cleaners, except his underthings, which can get washed with whatever load is going in at the time.

Frumdoc

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 6:21 am

Divided laundry hampers is great, or just get several smaller ones - that's what we do.

I'm like FF, very very few things need special treatment, it helps that I'm allergic to wool and won't buy linen most of the time because of shaatnes (I'm just lazy about taking things or too busy so they never get worn!).

All clothes go on 40 degree wash, towels and light bedding 60 degree, dark bedding 40. I use normal hypo allergenic detergent, there is only one I am not allergic to, and a bleach type product in the white clothes and towels/ bedding. It is simple enough that my dh can do it on his own if I'm working or away.

Very few of my clothes need ironing if I hang them to dry straight from the machine, and my cleaner irons my dh's shirts as she is much better than I am. I know, spoilt brat, but it works for us, I prefer to clean the toilet myself and she can do the ironing, just the way my house works. Smile

I tend to do it all on one day at the moment it is motzei shabbos, so I sort out the washing into whites, lights and darks, then do the bedding and towels and it sits there in 6 or 7 baskets like a conveyor belt until all done by midday on Sunday. But we work all week, so it is the easiest method for us, plus no little ones, so nothing particularly smelly or dirty. I would prefer it done before shabbos rather than after, but I can't do everything for shabbos so I do the food and clean the kitchen and living room.

My dh's gym kit goes straight in the wash when he gets home, everything else waits.

Before I had this system, I always got confused about when I had last changed the towels etc, so having a fixed laundry day works for me right now.

Raisin

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 6:44 am

I wash some clothes on delicate (eg shabbos skirts, shells, boys shabbos trousers, knit tops)

Never quite figured out the bleach thing...my white towels get a bit grey after a few years. What do you do with the bleach? pour it in the drawer?

If they get those hospital sheets white again it must be possible!

imaima

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 6:51 am

I separate laundry into whites, darks/blacks, colored, and delicate. Delicate is washed in a "handwash" cycle with delicate detergent and it dries flat.

Whites are washed with a detergent for whites plus some kind of a powder for "extra white". I wash it on hot.

Blacks and coloreds are washed at warm (usually at the shortest cycle), each with its own specified detergent.

I also have a laundry hamper in the bathroom to put dirty things in there before showering.

Frumdoc

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 7:00 am

I throw bleach and detergent straight into the drum, not the drawer. I put softener in the drawer, but need to clean it out e ery few months as it gets gunged up.

I was also advised to run a hot 90 degree wash every few weeks to clean out the washing machine so it works better, as the cleaning products tend to accumulate when you only run low temp washes.

I love my washing machine and take care of it since my last one blew up and I got concrete all over the kitchen Rolling Eyes

chocolate fondue

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 7:16 am

I do a 90 degree wash to clean the washing machine every Rosh Chodesh; when I'm not using the machine for anything else.

Frumdoc

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 10:04 am

chocolate fondue wrote:

I do a 90 degree wash to clean the washing machine every Rosh Chodesh; when I'm not using the machine for anything else.

Good idea. Smile

granolamom

Wed, Nov 27 2013, 2:36 pm

contrary to the rules, I dont separate lights/dark and I wash all clothes on cold. I do have a front loader, which is more gentle than a top loader, if I had a top loader I would wash delicates separately.
our whites are still white and bright.
oh, not completely true...when I suspect that a new brightly colored garment will run, I do wash it first separately with a white rag to test colorfastness.

I wash towels, tablecloths, and rags on hot.

as far as drying, most clothes go in the dryer on medium. delicates get hung to dry. towels go on high.

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