Laundry.......do you sort? Favorite detergent? Fighting stains, what's your secret?

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Pearl

Pearl

Finder of lost things AND The Boss
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Joined
Apr 19, 2021
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16,991
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North central Texas
So I wash all small stuff (socks, undies, etc) together and those usually go in the dryer. Jeans and everyday clothes get wash together and line dry. Then there's the dreaded husband's work clothes😯!! Sometimes pre washed/soaked in a tub with blue dawn! It works great on greasy "car" clothes! Saves my good old washer!!
 
Still trying to find a good wringer washer at a decent price. Maybe at a farm auction this spring/summer. So for now I have a new fangled Maytag with bells and whistles and everything and am not impressed. But it's what husband found when I needed a washer, so be it. Haven't had a clothes dryer in years. They suck up electricity and add alot of wear and tear on clothes. Learn the art of hanging the "unmentionables" with the other laundry outside by hanging them on the inside of the other clothes. Right now everything hangs in the basement, but another month and it'll be outside again. Laundry soap: this washer only takes HE liquid. So my homemade stuff is shelfed for the time being. I do have a storage of the powders needed to make my own. Washing is constant here with the three grandkids
 
I have had to learn laundery and it was not fun...

I have 2 sorting hampers giving me a choice of 6 sorting options. 1 is unexposed whites, 2 is towels, 3 is the wife's house dresses, 4 is my dress shirts (light colors), 5 is my dress pants, 6 is my jeans and outdoor work clothes. I tend to wash everything on a deep water cycle switching between heavy and regular, I leave the water on warm. I use Amway soap and oxyclean, I use a regular measuring spoon based on the small Amyway measuring cup for each. The wife's special equipment goes into a mesh laundry bag before it goes into the washer. I dry most of the clothing in the dryer, the special equipment gets put on hangers without drying.... I do not dry most clothes completely, I just get is almost dry and then hang it up. The unexposed whites and the towels get to be completely dry before being placed in a laundry hamper for the wife to fold. We generally do about 8 loads of laundry a week, I try to put if off till the weekend, but if the wife run's out of something I will do it when notified....

Stains: I use hydogen peroxide to remove blood stains, all other spots get pretreated with an Amway spray.

When I was single: I used a 2 duffle bag sorting method (dirty vs filthy) and did the laundry around 3AM at the all night laundry before going to work at 06:00. My dear wife had to educate me as to the error of my ways....
 
I separate socks and underwear from the rest and wash them separate because I use bleach to help disinfect them. I also hang my bras to dry. I think the dryer ruins the elastic in them.

The rest I wash together. I hang my good blouses on hangers to dry and use the dryer for the rest.
If something has to lay flat to dry I have a wooden clothes dryer I use for that
I can usually hang things out to dry before the stink bugs start to come out, but after that forget it. Hate those nasty things. They cling to your clothes no matter how hard you shake them

I have big maytag washer. Its big enough that I can wash my king size comforter in it. Same with the dryer. Its a HE machine which doesn't bother me.
I've stocked up on HE detergent for it. I have a 5 gallon bucket of liquid laundry detergent put back for it.

For stains I use fels naptha and a scrub brush ( the kind to use for veggies). That stuff is great for all kinds of stains

I also add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of baking soda to the washer before I start it. It helps to soften the water and it really helps with odors on your clothes. I've been using baking soda since the kids were babies.

I have always washed the hubby's clothes separate because he gets MUCH dirtier than I do lol
I buy the huge bags of it at walmart when they put the pool supplies out in the spring
 
I’ve tried line drying here but it makes laundry smell weird (unpleasant) so I mostly use the dryer. Have a couple clothes horses. I use baking soda or borax for odiferous loads, wash unmentionables in hot water with a load of towels and (we still use) washcloths. I hear these younger people don’t use washcloths. (????)
:barf:
I used to separate but mostly all my clothing goes in one load. I don’t do anyone else’s.
 
I give it to Mom and let her worry about it. :dunno:

Not buying that? Me either. We usually use Tide. We separate darks. Whites and colors we put together. If a stain doesn't come out the first time, we will scrub the spot more thoroughly with liquid detergent and wash again. If it doesn't come out the second time it becomes part of the design. If the stain is that bad it won't be worn in public. Seriously, does a stain matter on work clothes? Guys wear that like a badge of honor. Shows you have been working.

Everything goes in the dryer. I don't think we have line dried anything since we have been married.
 
I do my own laundry. The Mrs does the rest of the family's.
I use Tide and sometimes Oxyclean. Everything regardless of material or color goes in the same load. Only exception to this is new, dark colored clothes go through their first wash with only similarly colored items.
Everything goes in the dryer.
 
It really depends for me. Sometimes I have so little clothing to wash that everything goes into one load. I usually sort by underwear, darks including jeans, socks and dark shirts. If I have just a few light things, they sometimes go in with underwear. Sometimes, to help make my loads a decent size, I will add my robe or a blanket or something large to help fill it out.

I purchased a new washer and dryer last fall and I wanted a large tub so that washing blankets, quilts, etc., would be easier. The tub is an impeller, not an agitator. It provides a larger washing space. It uses little water this way. There is also a dispenser for detergent and fabric softener, so for the first time in my life I can use fabric softener without having to stand there and wait for the rinse to add it. It has many bells and whistles as well, including self regulating filler. It is a top loading machine. I have used a few front loaders while house sitting and they all smell bad. I almost always use my dryer to dry my laundry, but bras and a few other things get hung to dry. The new washer has setting for how dry to spin the clothes. This really helps in the dryer phase.

Laundry detergent: I have used powdered laundry detergent for years. When I worked with someone who sold Amway, I always purchased from them. After I purchased my new machines last fall, I found large bottles of Ecos laundry detergent at Costco It says that it is plant based. I thought I'd try it, and I really like it. I pour a little into the dispenser and the washer dispenses when it want to.
 
funny, I'm headed to the laundry mat now.

did you know that soaking bad grease stains in household vinegar makes them easier to remove but it can be rough on some dyes.
(PINK SOCK SYNDROME!! YIKES!) Also, spraying blood or grass stains with hydrogen peroxide can remove them completely.
 
I’d like a wringer washer. I’ve never heard anything bad about them, and they seem to last forever.
We’re on our second energy efficient front loader. The first lasted about a year and a day. The salesman told us any liquid detergent was ok. Wrong. HE soap does not foam up and get into the works underneath like cheap liquid soap.
Leaving the door ajar when empty I believe slows down the black mold problem in the door gasket. I think that’s the stinky smell.
I prefer line drying, but between allergies and presents from the bugs and the birds from the line near the woods, usually use the dryer. After last months huge electric bill though, the clothes line is back in use.
This house is pretty airtight, so hanging clothes in the basement adds to moisture and mold problems.
Laundry soap is one area that I’ll spend more on. Name brand, from the warehouse club, works well here.
 
Weedygarden said:
The tub is an impeller, not an agitator.
Click to expand...

Many moons ago a BIL and I were helping our MIL with her washing machine. She said she was having trouble with it agitating. My BIL and I looked at each both having the same thought at the same time. He was thinking his wife. I was thinking my wife (sisters - her daughters). We will bring them down here and let them talk to it. That will get it to agitate.
 
You're supposed to wash your clothes???? And dry them too??? Obviously, that is the one household chore I HATE doing. Too many things to do before it's done and by that time, it needs done again. phewy

I used to hang it out to dry, but we've since cut down some of the trees used to support the line so it goes in the dryer. Hanging it out only happened in the summer anyway.

I used to use powder soap bought at Costco years ago until our septic tank was backing up and found out that powdered soap cakes the lines and we had to 'uncake' it on Thanksgiving day one year.....that's one way of making a memorable holiday, but I've used liquid soap ever since.

Though I did try making my own powdered soap, but didn't really care for it. Then I tried to make my own liquid soap and was doing great with it. Got everything in a 5gallon bucket and all mixed.......then I added some oxyclean to give it a boost. Wrong thing to do. The mixture erupted like those volcano science experiments all over my kitchen floor. Oh what a mess to have to clean up........and it stripped the old linoleum so now there is a huge 'spot' in the floor.


Personally, I've always liked the idea of disposable clothes. Just a one & done with none of this washing, drying, folding, putting away and start all over nonsense
 
Wife does her clothes, I do mine.
Once a week. I’m easy, the only thing I wear are jeans, t-shirts, western shirts. No fancy Docker slacks, no dress shirts, I’m just a Country Boy.
Everything goes in the machine together, and then is hung up to dry. We have not had a dryer since the last one quit well over a decade ago.
For detergent, we both prefer unscented, but it seems Tide liquid is the only thing that gets my work uniform shirts clean. I try to read the label and get the lightest scent available.
 
When my wife and I first started dating, her apartment had a washer/dryer in the unit, mine had a coin op laundry room.

She invited me to come over to do my laundry so we could spend time together and I could save my quarters.

I had whites and others. That was the extent of my sorting.
Guess what? Wrong answer...

She said "What are you doing???", I said "My laundry".
She said "Not like that you aren't!" and promptly took over sorting my 2 loads into 4 (still not sure what the difference was between light blue and dark blue, but apparently the only time they're supposed to be together is when I'm wearing them?).

Anyway, I haven't touched laundry (with very few exceptions) in almost 2 decades now...

She tries many different brands of detergent, but I think Gain is her go-to right now.

She still uses Bleach on the whites, but uses Lysol Laundry Sanitizer on everything else.
For stains, she pre-treats with detergent (Dawn for grease stains), then double checks before drying.

We have a clothes line out back, but with our weather here in the PNW, we can only realistically use it 3-4 months out of the year.
 
Hubs and I wear hospital scrubs and leave them there so I don't have to wash them.
Other than that, I use arm & hammer for sensitive skin, plus lysol for laundry.
Oxyclean for the kids sports clothes (especially volleyball kneepads, which can be just as bad as football socks)....UGH🤮
 
I make our detergent. I did it for years before Juju was born then started buying Tide on a whim. Since the lock downs I have been making our detergent again. I did start making a towel detergent recently that I like. It doesn't have the smell-good components so it will keep the towels absorbent. It does clean so towels do come out fresh but not the perfum-y fresh. It can also be used for cloth diapers.

We use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. I am looking to make a pole drying system like post-war Japan used for outdoors or in the garage when it rains.
 
A friend with a large family and limited water had large trash cans in his laundry room. He would use fresh water to rinse his laundry with, and save it into one trash can. He would take the old rinse water and and wash the next load of clothes and save that into another trash can. Having already used the water twice he would then flush his toilet with it for a third usage.
 
I have a large sorter in the laundry room that has three options: whites, towels, colors. They are full every day. Pretreating stains with spray and wash. My pet peeve is older granddaughter and her extra thick hoodies. She wears them as jackets and has a ton of them. Problem is, she throws one, sometimes two in the wash every day. I take them out and refuse to wash them every day unless they've got a spot on them. Why wash an overjacket every day? The kids hear me yelling when they throw clean clothes in the laundry to avoid hanging them up. Like rolled up socks.
 
I rarely do any sort, which is why my Dear Wife rarely let me do laundry.
I can do dishes, moping, cleaning, ironing/steaming, but not laundry.
But most of what I wear is cotton, no silk & suits are dry cleaned.
I do not own white under wear, so the bed sheet are the only whites I have.
 
Most laundry detergents you buy at the store use a very high percentage of fillers (inert ingredients). Plus the detergent usually comes in a non-biodegradable plastic jug that will last for 100s (1000s?) of years.

Consequently, we use laundry sheets. Laundry sheets dissolve in the wash and come in a biodegradable box.

https://www.earthbreeze.com/
 
Cabin Fever said:
Most laundry detergents you buy at the store use a very high percentage of fillers (inert ingredients). Plus the detergent usually comes in a non-biodegradable plastic jug that will last for 100s (1000s?) of years.

Consequently, we use laundry sheets. Laundry sheets dissolve in the wash and come in a biodegradable box.

https://www.earthbreeze.com/
Click to expand...
Almost as good, my wife makes her own Detergent for pennies on the dollar.
 
There are three types of clothes. Chore clothes, town clothes and underwear.

Chore clothes are stained and raggedy and can almost stand up by themselves before they get washed. You don't put on clean clothes to just grease them up again, in an hour.

Gojo mixed with with dish soap will remove almost anything as a spot remover.

Town clothes are not raggedy yet, and are clean.

Underwear is always clean and sweet smelling. The rest doesn't matter.

Oh, kids do their own laundry and deal with the consequences if they don't like the service.
 
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DrJenner said:
I swear you and my husband are related. 😄
Click to expand...

K broke our first washing machine the first time he used it! He jammed 4 handmade heavy quilts into it then wondered why the tub fell off the struts when it spun.
 
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