Laundry - Sorting

I realize I'm a little bit nutty really nutty about my laundry. Of all the ways someone could help me, laundry would be the worst way. It makes me want to hyperventilate just thinking about it because I know it wouldn't be done the way I like it.

I also realize that some of you reading this will think, "Whatever lady." But a friend encouraged me to post about this subject so maybe some part of it will help someone.

Before I get into sorting, I want to encourage you to get your kids involved in laundry. Each of our kids has a day of the week assigned to them. On that day, preferably before breakfast, one of their responsibilities is to bring down the dirty laundry. Then on Thursday, we all go in the closet room to work on putting the clean laundry away. Many hands make light work!

Sorting laundry. Here are my baskets on shelves made by my handy husband. I have six baskets for sorting dirty laundry. I have another large basket that we use to transport dirty laundry from upstairs down to the laundry room. And then I have two clean laundry baskets for transporting clean laundry from the laundry room to the closet/dressing room. I never put clean laundry in a dirty laundry baskets.

So here is my list of baskets along with how I wash them and whether I dry them in the dryer or hang them up to dry (and I promise I didn't sort the actual baskets by color on purpose - that's my story and I'm sticking to it):

Left - Towels, wash clothes and really dirty white socks. Wash in hot water. Bleach added. Dry in dryer.

Right - Nice solid whites and off-whites. Wash in cold with Tide with Bleach Alternative (TwBA). Hang up to dry.

Left - Underwear. Wash in hot. Dry in dryer.

Right - Roddy's workout clothes. Wash in warm. Dry in dryer.

Roddy's white t-shirts, white socks not needing bleach. Wash in warm with TwBA. Dry in dryer.

Sheets. Wash in hot. Dry in dryer.

Pillows. Wash in hot. Dry in dryer.

Left - Any clothes with white and another color on them go in this basket. It is then sorted into at least 4 loads:

1. Red and white, 2. Mostly dark with some white, 3. Mostly white with some dark, and 4. Boys sports outfits.

All are washed in cold with TwBA. Hang to dry.

Right - All solid colored clothes. This basket also gets sorted into several loads.

1. Good black clothes, 2. Jeans, 3. Reds, oranges and pinks, and 4. The rest depends on how much of each load I have. I can have enough clothes to wash separate loads of tans, blues, and greens. Or I can just combine pastels together and darks together. I usually put yellows with tans, purples with blues, dark browns with not good blacks.

All are washed in cold with regular Tide. Hang to dry.

Laundry 101

Laundry is one of my favorite jobs. That wasn't always the case, though. Because I'm so picky about the way my laundry is done, it used to be a mental challenge every time the laundry basket was brought down.

Which load should this go in? was the constant question. I know most people just throw lights together and darks together and towels together. Not me. But I finally figured out a system that works for me. I no longer have to think about it. I just do it. No more decision making. That part is now done. And it makes life a lot easier for me.

A friend once asked, "How do you get all the laundry done?"

My answer is, "I don't!"

I'm a firm believer that laundry does NOT have to be done. In my book, it's a ridiculous notion.

This is a picture of my laundry at a point where I consider it "pretty caught up."
I remember back when I had 3 little ones. I looked at my one laundry basket which was stacked up a couple feet above the edge and thought, What a lot of laundry! Hee hee hee! I had no idea!!!

Anyway, I used to think I needed to get laundry baskets emptied and everything put away to feel like I could check Laundry off my list. But who can ever get laundry done? Even if I emptied the baskets and put it all away, we'd all change our clothes at bedtime and I'd have a full basket again! See? Ridiculous.

I also used to think that doing laundry every day would get old. But since I've figured out the best way for me to sort and know just how I want to wash each load, the only work is physically entering the laundry room and throwing in the load.

My laundry goal is to do at least 3 loads a day, one at each of our major meals ~ breakfast, lunch and dinner. My laundry room is right next to the kitchen so I'm right there anyway.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how I sort my laundry. For now, I want to give you some laundry tips. A lot of these are preferences and you may think I'm nuts (especially when you find out how little I put in the dryer).

Bleach ~ bleach is your friend. I put a little bleach in every load of towels and wash cloths to keep them from smelling musty and mildewy. I recommend it.

Vinegar ~ if you have a new red or dark colored garment and you don't want it to fade, soak it for about 15 minutes in a bowl of cold water with maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white vinegar. It helps set the color.

Darks ~ turn dark colored clothes inside out to wash. It helps with fading also. If you don't believe me, check your hubby's dark socks. Whichever side is usually turned out when you wash them will be lighter than the side that isn't exposed.

Good Whites, white socks and white t-shirts ~ I never wash white garments with any other color. If you want dingy whites, go right ahead and mix them in with other colors. I can always tell my kids socks from others' because although they are stained on the bottom from being worn without shoes (ugh), the tops are actually white instead of gray.

I also never dry my good white clothes.

Dryers ~ I don't dry most of our clothes. It saves energy and your clothes last longer - both of which save money. Clothes don't shrink or fade or pill as badly if you hang them up to dry. I don't have an outside clothes line so I hang them to dry on hangers in our closet room.

Clothes I dry are: hand-me-downs that I know were dried by their previous owners, socks, Roddy's undershirts, most jeans, underwear (but never bras or sports bras), sheets and towels.

Rubbing Alcohol ~ Gets ink out.

Hydrogen Peroxide ~ Takes out blood.

Shout or some other stain remover is a must.

Fabric Softener ~ I use Downy instead of dryer sheets in every load of laundry since I don't use the dryer for all the clothes.

Miscellaneous ~ I never lay clothes on top of the washing machine since I never know if there is the tiniest bit of bleach unseen that may ruin them.

The Laundry Mat

After our delicious breakfast and morning chores, I called the kids downstairs to help sort laundry. It only takes a week of slacking on the laundry to get really behind.

When we got it all sorted out, Dad said, "Hey, what if we take it to the laundry mat and get it all done at once."

He might as well have offered me a million dollars -well almost. The thought of getting it all done was enough to make me giddy.

So, we filled and labeled trash bags with the sorted piles and loaded them into the back of the Excursion along with two baskets of clean laundry yet to be folded and put away. I already had one load washed and moved to the dryer and another load in when we left.

Do you see the small basket on the left? At the end of the day that one was full of socks alone.

Anyway, after Dad treats us to sausage McMuffins (not the healthiest day of eating) we head to the laundry mat.

I got out first just to check if there were enough machines and they weren't taken already. When I confirmed that we were good there, I asked the lady, "So it's what, 50 cents a load?"

In her thick Spanish accent she answers, "Noooo, these machines are $2.50, these are $3 and the biggest ones are $3.50."

Holy smokes!!! I got back in and told Dad to forget it.

He said he'd helped me out with $10 worth and I said okay. We had 11 machines running at once and used 2 dryers.









It took less than an hour to finish washing, another hour to dry and fold and another hour at home to hang up all the clothes that don't get dried - which in my house is most of the clothes.

Ready for my MasterCard commercial?

8 sausage McMuffins - $8.52

11 loads of laundry washed in 1 hour - $24.50

A few loads dried and folded - $4

A DAY WITH MY DAD - PRICELESS!

Laundry

Had a little laundry to do Thursday. What's ridiculous is we weren't missing any of it - not really. But for the 2 weeks before this day, I hadn't been on top of it. In our house, we are NEVER done with laundry. I used to think when my laundry basket was overflowing, I had a lot to do. Now I have 9 laundry baskets. One holds the clean laundry that just comes out of the wash to be hung up or folded from out of the dryer. One collects clean matchless socks and other items that don't get put away right away and it stays in our closet. One is to collect the dirty laundry in our bathroom. That's where the kids bathe and we put all our laundry until it is brought downstairs. Hubby built shelves in our laundry room where the utility sink area is. So I fit 2 baskets per shelf there.

Want to know what they're for? One is for towels, wash clothes and very dirty white socks - this load gets bleached and washed in hot water. One is for nice whites that get washed in cold water. One is for underwear - washed in hot water. One is for darks - red, blacks, dk brown, dk blue, dk orange, dk green - washed in cold. One is for lights - khaki, lt blue, pink, green, pastels basically - and for dark clothes that have any white on them - like a dk blue shirt with a white collar - washed in cold. The last one is for sheets, blankets, white socks that aren't needing bleach, and Hubby's t-shirts - washed in warm water.

I had 11 or 12 loads here. I got 6 done Thursday, 4 done Friday. Then the weekend came. I did 2 Saturday after getting back from Daytona and while getting ready for the Fittros to come over; 3 Monday and only 2 today. So the baskets are low but none are empty. The underwear basket was empty for about 30 minutes.

I'm sure this is way more information than you ever wanted to know about the Wagners' laundry. If so, enjoy the next blog!