hey there. i am thinking of streamlining my laundry tasks. i used to wash at the weekends because i work many hours during the week but i'd like to change it. my laundry is kind of determing my weekend schedule and i'd like o have some hours without thinking of any tasks to be done. so i try to change my strategy and i am thinking of... e.g: putting the laundry in the washing machine when one of the washingboxes is filled. i could set a timer and the machine starts to wash 2 hours before i get home and so i could dry them when i come home. but this is my one and only idea. how do you do our laundry? are there any advices to simplify the laundry?
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Posted 1 year ago #
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I have a metal rack in the walk-in closet with a couple of smallish laundry baskets. We sort lights and darks. A full basket is a load. If I'm short on time, I wash the clothes one night, dry the next, but I usually try to finish a load on the same day. It took me years to get to that point, and I'll never go back to leaving it all for the weekend. I am still in awe over how easy it is to take care of the laundry. Doing just one load at a time is easier to fold or hang and put away.
Surely your washer doesn't take 2 hours to complete the cycle?
Posted 1 year ago # -
hi juliajayne, thank you, so it seems to be a good idea, i will try to do the washing when a basket is full. and yes, the machine needs 2 hours, for 60 degrees or 90 it needs nearly 3 hours. but it is an energy saving mode, i could speed it up to one and a half hour but then it needs more energy so i try to avoid that for the sake of our environment.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I put mine in before I go to bed at night and try to switch it out in the morning when I get up - since I line dry a lot I can't do it all in one weekend, anyway.
That only works because I don't share with anyone. When we had roomates I had to be more vigilant and not hog the machine.
In the winter, our basement is so cold the laundry can sit 12-24 hours no problem. In summer if it sits 24 hours it gets mildewy, so I have to make sure and do it the very next morning (but if I do hang out laundry in the morning morning it's dry by evening, which is excellent.)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Laundry is the only thing I'm usually on top of. Mimi, it is a good idea to wash when you have a full load of a certain wash as you were saying. That way you can do a little at a time, and it doesn't seem like such a huge job. That's the way I usually do it, unless it gets backed up a little.
Posted 1 year ago # -
my machine takes 2 hours for cotton cycles too. Ah, the legendary efficiency of the Germans even extends to their white goods! (only kidding, love my Bosch :))
When I worked and there were only 2 of us, I used to put on a load at bedtime and then put it out in the morning a couple of times a week. Sadly now with 2 kids and 2 adults who exercise a lot, a load a day is the norm, if not 2 loads a day. Your timer idea would work OK if you don't want the noise overnight or don't want the washing to sit in the machine for a few hours. I don't have a timer so often put on a load in the morning as soon as I get up and then put it out when I get home if I'm out that day. Some machines have a built-in timer, you could check.Posted 1 year ago # -
Oh, and I never sort lights and darks, that makes life a billion times easier. I sort sometimes by dirtiness (sweaty gym clothes get a load, dh's work shirts get a load) but that's when I have a lot of laundry to deal with. It sounds like you don't have a huge amount though so you can just chuck most stuff in together so you have a load to do more often rather than waiting for darks or lights. It's putting the bloody stuff away afterwards which is usually the issue in our house!!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I sort more by weight than color. Jeans get their own load - it's all DH wears - though I'll throw his heavy flannel shirts in with them. Towels - bath and kitchen- likewise get done alone or with table napkins/place mats (plus I never use softeners with towels, makes them less absorbent). Sheets go in with everything else. Since I mostly home, I do laundry as needed, usually every 3rd or 4th day. In the summer I hang it out, and I use lines/rack in the basement for some stuff in the winter. Jeans usually get a short time in the dryer and then get hung, otherwise it takes a couple of days!
Posted 1 year ago # -
If your washer is taking 2 or 3 hours that's your problem right there. Admittedly, I have a newish HE washing machine but I don't think it takes more than an hour for anything. Have you thought about trying a lighter cycle? You probably don't need the heaviest wash cycle every time, and cutting down 30 minutes per load might help you a lot.
P.S. I would advise against washing whites and colored clothes together, because that way you can add bleach to the whites, letting you get them cleaner on a lighter cycle.
P.P.S. Use cold water. Hot water doesn't get your clothes any cleaner, any faster.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Here are a few tips that make laundry easier for my wife, two kids, and me.
(1) We mix everything together. The only exception is that a dark item that has not been washed a few times is not mixed with white work shirts.
(2) We do laundry on weekend nights, and we do laundry even if it is late. On Friday or Saturday night, we start a load as the kids are getting ready for bed or later. After the washing machine has finished, we hang my work shirts (which are expensive and thin) on a rack in our bedroom and put the rest in the dryer that night. Because of the time the washer and dryer take to finish, with the dryer being the slower of the two, we typically do only one load on a given night. We typically do not have more than two loads per week (unless there is an emergency).
(3) We sort the laundry the next morning.
(4) We handle emergencies as soon as possible. If something has pee or vomit on it, we wash it that night.
Our choice of when to do laundry might put us to bed later (typically on a weekend night), but it does not interfere with our daily activities.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Laundry in the evening and into the dryer before I sleep = usual goal
(may not work in a condo, apt or townhouse if laundry noises can be heard by others and keep them from their sleep etc)Posted 1 year ago # -
When we moved into our new house this summer, our washing machine died. I was 7 months pregnant and relaxing on the couch with my in-laws when I smelled something burning. My DH opened the laundry room doors to a wall of smoke! I can only imagine what might have happened had we not been home! So I vote for doing laundry while home.
Speaking of laundry, I'd like to remind everyone to clean their dryer ducts annually! When the ducts become clogged, the heat can spark a fire. We had ours cleaned on Friday and there were eight (8!) birds nests and some eggs in our dryer vent. I guess that's what happens when a house stands empty for 3 years.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@parsifal - we cannot use clorine bleach due to our hard water. It turns all my whites rust colored! (chemically the clorine precipitates the iron out of the water and it oxidizes on the clothes) I do use a non-clorine stair remover, but I don't have trouble with colors bleeding onto my whites as a rule. I do wash new red/black/jeans separately the first few times. :)
Posted 1 year ago # -
wow thank you for your comments!
it seems that a part of doing the laundry is a cultural thing :)
a friend who has lived in australia for a while told me that they made fun of him, because he was asking for a hot water cycle for the laundry. we use hot water to make the laundry clean and free of germs and bacteria and do not use chlorine regulary because it is kind of evil concerning the environment.
i have checked the manual of my (new) washing machine. it has a cycle of 30 minutes- for CLEAN clothes! LOL really. they say, it's to wash clean laundry that you would like to refresh, e.g. winter clothes that have been sitting in the closet for 6 month during the summer. maybe i should give it a try for some spotless but worn clothes. but i really can't imagine my sportsocks and my tshirts being washed in handwarm water for 30 minutes after i have been running for an hour...hehe, lottilot, some of my family members work at MIELE, so i am socialized with efficient white goods, not my fault :)
okay, beside the length of the cycle and the temperature- you all seem to agree not to wash at the weekend. cool. i will try to use the build-in-timer that starts the machine before i come home. that's what i do with my dishwasher at night, so this could get a habit. and maybe i'll try this 30 minutes-cycle, i a m getting curious...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Cleaning clothes is more about the effectiveness of the laundry detergent. We finally have a better detergent now that takes out set-in stains. I thought Europe was light-years ahead of us in that area.
Posted 1 year ago # -
JJ- which detergent do you use?
I've used a free and clear type for over 20 years now - daughters had sensitive skin as babes, plus i can't tolerate the smell of most detergents.Posted 1 year ago # -
Good thread. Laundry could make my life not very pleasant because the washing machine we have right now jumps a bit if there's a heavy load due to a slightly uneven floor, so someone has to be at home. There's another reason for this too, but it has to do with the drain and the condition of the house, not very interesting to write about.
Anyway, I did a very empirical research project on our dirtying-textiles habits and found out that it should be enough to wash stuff only twice weekly and so I decided that Monday and Thursday were to be those days - the two when we do some other chores in parallel.
Due to the jumpy machine and the drain situation we'd have to be at home during the weekend, but in my opinion those days are too precious to be forced to stay at home and so we mess the flat up visually by keeping a drying rack between kitchen and living room areas only during working days.
And about the germs; it really has to be 60 degrees C to kill bacteria. If you use an effective detergent you might be able to remove stains even in 15 deg C, but the bacteria say cheerio only at 60. So we wash anything that has to do with underwear, socks, towels and bed stuff in that temperature, others in 40 or 30. I used to have a lot more white things like t-shirts and delicates but I've noticed it's completely crazy to be so spread out over the colour spectrum. DH walks around in black all the time and it's easier if I have more of clothes that can be washed with his things. (sorry if the biochem and medical background makes me sound a bit 'waves her finger' :( it really isn't my intention, i love you guys too much for that)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Irish, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post name brands, so if I'm breaking a rule, I'll understand if this gets removed.
Tide with Acti-Lift and I also use the Tide laundry boost (forgot what it's called), which was released first. The laundry boost got out the mud stains from the white athletic socks I wear when working in the garden. It also got out set-in stains from dish rags. It keeps the whites white, so I no longer use bleach. Since the release of the Acti-Lift in their products, I only use the boost if the clothes are dirtier than normal or if I wash any of my son's clothes with mine. I do that to make sure there isn't any residual man cologne smell.
I don't work for Proctor & Gamble, I just have a great appreciation for products that work as promised.
Posted 1 year ago # -
@ninakk Our front loader discharges the water into a utility tub and it drains from there; would that be an option for you? Old pipes here, too; I use a mesh filter over the end of the discharge hose to catch lint that could block the drain.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I personally would be leery of running the washing machine while I was not home.
Our washing machine drains into a huge double sink. One time, the pipes clogged. We noticed that the washing machine sounded different. We were able to shut off the machine before the sinks overflowed onto the floor.
Another time, our machine broke, and oil started dripping onto the floor. Again, by being home, we were able to minimize the mess.
Just a few thoughts for consideration.
Posted 1 year ago #
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