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How do you sort and wash laundry?

N

NetWareHead

THAT guy
I have seen it all, from people who do no sorting whatsoever and mix colors and whites to people who create elaborate systems for washing clothes.

I'm kinda in-between those 2 extremes. I've developed this system over the years that I think works.

Colors: Normal cycle. Cold wash/rinse with borax laundry booster and regular detergent. Anything colored from jeans to tshirts to towels. Most general colored items wash here. Dry on low.

Whites: Normal cycle. Warm wash/cold rinse with detergent + oxyclean and bleach. Only for whites that can stand bleach like cotton undershirts, socks and towels/rags. Dry on low.

Delicate Whites: Normal cycle. Warm wash/cold rinse with detergent + oxyclean but no bleach. White fabrics with elastics, tshirts with logos or fabrics that cant stand up to bleach so I use Oxyclean+detergent only. Dry on low.

Other delicates: Delicate cycle. Cold wash/rinse using only woolite detergent, adding borax booster only if very soiled. Wash wools, other delicate fabrics or items like bras, under-armor, smart wool etc... Dry always on a line rack, never clothes dryer.

Waterproof/breathable fabrics (gore-tex, hyvent, eVent etc...) Synthetic cycle. Warm wash/rcold inse and no fabric softener. Mostly for outdoor gear such as shell pants and jackets, ski gear, hiking gaiters etc made from this special fabric. Wash in special detergent (Nikwax Techwash plus separate waterproofing treatment restoral wah with Nikwax TX-Direct) Usually done once a year or when gear gets really dirty. Line dry.

Down: Cold wash/rinse with no fabric softener with Down Wash and Down Proof from Nikwax. Mainly sleeping bags, coats and other down filled items. Line dry followed by air fluff in dryer with no heat.

Oversize items: Dog beds, enormous comforters get taken to laundromat or cleaners.


Additionally, I use minimal fabric softener. Supposedly it accelerates wearing/tearing of fabrics.

In the warmer months, I dry all laundry outdoors on a drip line (except for women's intimates, those get dried indoors draped on the shower rod). Since end of March, I've used my clothes dryer once and that was during a week where it rained non stop. Energy bill reflects positively on this. If I do use the clothes dryer, its always on low. In my college days, I knew no better and destroyed all my wearable clothes by drying on high. I guess you can say I've been kinda paranoid ever since. Plus the higher heat also accelerates wear/tear.
 
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Whites - Warm Normal
Darks/Colors - Cold Normal
Towels/Sheets - Warm Normal

Everything gets soap and fabric softener.

Dry everything on medium auto cycle with a dryer sheet.
 
I like to spend as little time at the landromat as possible, so I usually do something like this:

Clothes: Cold/Normal wash, lowest-temp dry w/ 2 dryer sheets
Sheets and towels: Cold/Normal wash, highest-temp dry w/ 2 dryer sheets

I should probably start washing some things on the gentle cycle to keep them in better condition longer, though.
 
I repair the outside of the house, split and stack firewood,handle computer issues, do the heavy lifting, etc. Someone else worries about laundry....
 
I separate in three loads:

Whites - Hot normal (sometimes extra rinse). Laundry detergent, Clorox2 bleach or sometimes regular bleach. Dry on high w/ a dryer sheet.
"Performance" fabrics (Tshirts and shorts mostly) - Cold normal (sometimes extra rinse). Laundry detergent, Clorox2 bleach. Dry on low, no dryer sheet.
Everything else - Hot normal (sometimes extra rinse). Laundry detergent, Clorox2 bleach. Dry on high w/ a dryer sheet.
 
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I don't separate based on color. I wash hanger items (shirts, cotton slacks, etc.) in one load, and folded items where wrinkling is not an issue separately. Usually use warm/cold. Seems to work fine.
 
I never have enough whites to justify doing them as their own load (my only whites are my socks, and maybe 2-3 shirts)

I do towels as their own load, because I was told that you shouldn't use fabric softener on towels (it makes them less absorbent or something?)

everything else goes in together, washed on cold and dried on low.

if I'm doing enough laundry, I'll try to do red/bright colors in their own load and cool colors/whites in the other.
 
I wash everything in cold.. i use that tide cold water detergent.. But I do separate the stuff.. white / color / deep stains / bears / dolls / baby stuff
 
I have everything dry cleaned, costs $$$ but things last so much longer and polo shirts collars stay especially nice looking. A washing machine can wreck havoc on the collar of nice polo shirts.
 
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Colors - warm/cold (wife does cold/cold but the washing machine says warm/cold so that's what i do)
Whites - hot/cold
Exercise stuff (no fabric softener) - warm/cold
towels-hot/cold
sheets-hot/cold
 
Color blind so colors aren't even a factor, I just make sure anything new gets washed alone the first few times so they don't discolor anything down the line. Nice shit warm/cold crap that has dirt or cat hair on it hot.
 
Normal cycle on cold/cold. I do one load per week of clothes and that's what everything gets. My clothes always look good, even my white undershirts, so I have no need to switch it up.
 
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