I think that these days no one washes their clothes by hand right? Sure, just some pieces that cannot go the the machine. So, doing the laundry in the machine do you separate your clothes or do you think that doesn't make any difference? Also, do you put the recommended dose of detergent or do you think that is too much?
That's funny, I actually still wash a lot of my clothes by hand because I'm a poor graduate student. That laundry money adds up! I wouldn't if money weren't an issue though. When I'm at home, I separate the whites, darks, and lights, and yes! It definitely makes a difference, especially with new clothing. It's very common for clothing to bleed in its first few washes.
OK, so I wasn't seeing this coming lol. Now that I think of it, there are places where there are community laundries and others where you need to put a coin to do it, is that your case?
Ok, so we don't hand wash. We have washers and dryers in our unit that we have to pay to use, but I think it's worth the $12-18 a month to use the machines and not hand wash. Even if money is tight, I could find some way (ie. freelance work) to come up with an extra $20. That being said, I don't separate. I have never had an issue and sure it may happen some day, but I throw everything together. We do a weekly load to keep up with everything. Sometimes we have to do 2 loads in a week. I do use the recommended detergent.
We have one washing machine and dryer in our small apartment building. While it isn't about price for me it is about time. I don't have enough time to do three loads of laundry in a public machine. Other people need to get theirs done as well. As a result of this, I rarely separate things other than for appropriate washing temperature. Some things can and should be washed in hot water while others prefer cold so I do keep those items to separate loads.
Yeah washing by hand, depending on the clothing can be too rough on it or not wash it thoroughly enough, from my experience. I lived in a developing country doing volunteer work for a while and we washed our clothes by hand, there was no way to get an appliance through the mountains to where we were, at least it wouldn't be worth it. Yes, be careful with new clothes, they'll bleed into the others. Always use soap, even if it's a little bit, otherwise you're just mixing the dirt deeper into the clothes.
Nope, all of our stuff goes into the machines together, and I'll throw in a colour catcher to go with it, and we've never had any problems really. Once or twice, when it's a newer shirt or something we'll have a bit of bleed, but that's caught by the colour catcher, so it's all good.
Me too. I'm a single mother on a budget. The washing machine in my apartment complex costs $1.75, the dryer costs $1.50 so that means it costs me $10 to do three loads of laundry. I end up handwashing a lot of items just to save the three bucks because it adds up. When I hand wash clothes, I use the Mexican laundry soap Zote because it's 98 cents for a huge bar of laundry soap that lasts for months.
I still hand wash my delicates and certain items like that after I put some silky, beautiful lace knickers in the wash and they came out torn to shreds I separate my clothes into darks, colours and whites. This is because I have mixed them in the past and my whites have gone grey.
How many people are in your building, if you don't mind me asking? We live in a complex that has 12 apartments in each building. Each building has 2 dryers and 2 washers. We also have scheduled times, which at first I hated. It's a 4 hour block. I do think it helps to make sure that everyone gets enough time. Our washers only take 26 minutes a load and the dryer is 45 minutes.
Wow, I've never heard of that! So is it at the same time every day? Or is there a rotating schedule so if you miss it on one day, you would be able to catch it at a different time the following day?
We never heard of it either!! It's actually the same block each week. But there are 3 4-hour blocks that are open so anyone can do theirs then. We have also run laundry if there were an emergency at 10 once the shifts are done, even though you're not supposed to. At first we were annoyed because the last person to have our apartment number had chosen our block. Luckily, I am always home during that time frame. We've made it work for the last 1.5 years. We plan to finish out this lease and then move elsewhere for a number of reasons lol
Wait, do you mean you have a four hour block in which you, and only you, are allowed to do your washing? That's actually fairly handy!
It might actually cause me to be more diligent about my laundry, now that I think about it. I end up putting my laundry off and doing it at 2 am sometimes because I discover I need clean clothes and don't have any at the last minute, lol. If I had a set block time every week, then I might force myself to actually do it during that time.
I'm spoiled because we have our own washer and dryer. There are only two of us, but we somehow go through a lot of clothing. I think it's because we both change a lot because of pet hair and I wash everything constantly to get rid of pet hair. Anyway, I do separate clothing most of the time but will sometimes mix colors if I'm only doing one load or something. I don't even handwash my handwashables because my machine has a handwash setting.
I do my own laundry, usually late at night, sometimes even very, very late at night past midnight, since then no one is ever trying to wash their clothes at the same time as me, so I can get my choice of machines. Usually I'll just wash it and hang it up around my room though to let it dry, since it costs far too much to wash and dry it using our machines, and I'm a broke student.
When funds are really tight, I will do laundry by hand. I will also mix colors if I use a washing machine. If finances are decent, I separate colors. I always use half the recommended amount of laundry soap and supplement with 1/2 cup of baking soda. If there is no money for laundry soap, I just use baking soda. I live in an area where stores get away with charging somewhat high prices for even the cheapest laundry soap.
I do five or six lots of laundry every day so I definitely use the machine. I never use the full dose of detergent because I don't think it is necessary. When I am pretending to be a good housewife I sometimes separate the wash but mostly I just chuck it all in together. I am trying to cut down on using the tumble dryer.
5 or 6 every day?? That's a lot! I'm guessing you probably have kids or an at home profession that uses a lot of supplies that need washing? Instead of tumble drying, are you opting to line dry them now?
I generally don't like to wash things by hand unless it's something very delicate. I mostly use the washer and dryer at my apartment building because it's there. But if I have a lot of laundry to do, I'll take it to the laundromat because it's more economical that way. As far as laundry detergent goes, I just use the recommended amount without worrying because I get a lot of it from doing market research.
