Doing the laundry

We have a washer and dryer in our home and I was my own clothing. Depending on the amount of clothing that needs to be wash, I usually have two loads. One load for colors and one load for whites. However, if I only have a small amount of whites, I'll just add them in with the colors. They come just as clean when mixed together. I use the recommended amount of laundry soap most of the time. Other times, I just pour the laundry soap over in the washer without measuring.

 

I don't separate anything when I do laundry. If I've just bought something new and it could shrink, I might wash it alone on a different cycle, but for the most part, all of my stuff just goes in one load. I've never had any issues. I don't even really read the care labels on my clothes unless it's a weird kind of fabric. I pay to do laundry, and I can't afford to separate every little thing.

 

I use the washing machine and the dryer mostly, unless I spilled something on my shirt and want to get it off fast. With dry-clean clothes, I usually just wash them by hand and let it hang dry. For detergent and softener, I use a small amount and eyeball it according to how big the load is. I actually do not know what the recommended amount is, but it's probably way more than you need.

 

I separate lights and darks, but you really don't need the full amount of powder the box recommends! Try half, or a little over, unless things are really grubby.

I'm very lucky in having a delicates cycle that has never yet (touch wood) ruined a hand wash only item. It's also great for soft toys, in a pillow case.

 

I use washing machine to wash our laundry and I usually pay a lot of attention to the colours and how much detergent to put in. But whenever my husband takes over the laundry task, everything goes in together with lots of detergent that when I take it out, it's still sticking on some of the clothes

 

Our washing machine is broken right now and I don't have enough dirty clothes to justify going to the laundry mat so I wash my clothes by hand. Before the machine broke I washed my clothes with my daughter and grandson's, my daughter takes their clothes to the laundry mat.

I don't use the full amount suggested on the directions for the soap, often it feels like the soap is still in the clothes.

 

I only wash things that need gentle washing by hand. I recently tried washing towels in the bathtub, but wringing them out was quite a chore. I did this to save on paying the washing machine in our building. I do not think I will do this very often, because it's too hard. I do not use the full recommended amount of detergent. I use about 1/4 of the recommended amount. I have allergies and if I use the full amount I feel itchy. Also I have read that detergent companies want you to use more detergent than you really need so you buy more detergent. My clothing comes out just as clean by using less. I also sort my clothing when washing them. I only wash towels with towels and whites with whites. I am really fussy about this. I think ones clothing comes out nicer when you sort.

 

I definitely don't hand wash my clothes anymore, only very rarely when there is something that definitely cannot go into the washing machine. I separate my clothes per color or delicacy. Clothes that are too delicate I wash separately from the regular ones, and I usually separate the dark ones from the light ones and the colorful ones I separate them per color. So usually wash reds and pinks together, blues and greens together, and then yellows and tones similar to that together.

 

My washing machine actually has a hand wash cycle which works really well. It's nice for all of the clothes that need delicately washed and that need hand washed. It's amazing these days how many options washing machines have! When I first got my washing machine and dryer, I was overwhelmed with all of the cycles! Yikes! Now I love them and it's a breeze.

 

I wash my delicates by hand but everything else goes into the washer and dryer. I have a w/d in my actual apartment so the cost is added into my utilities bill every month. I separate my lights and darks because I wash the lights in hot and sometimes add more soap (I don't know why I just feel like it gets them a little cleaner). I wash my darks in cold and turn some of them inside out (especially dark denim). Lastly, I wash all of my linens separate because regardless of the color they're washed in hot but separated so nothing bleeds onto the whites.

 

I find it pretty surprising that people will wash by hand to save money. A Laundry budget goes into my "necessity" column where I always be sure I have enough money allocated to do my laundry.

The better idea is to save money is to decrease the amount of detergent you use per load of wash, unless it's a load that is particularly dirty and needs more. Most of the clothes we wear daily though only require about half of what is recommended for each load. Also, doing laundry later all night when it's cooler out will save on energy costs, if you have a washer and dryer in your home

 

If you have nice bras, you have to wash them by hand. It's not about saving money.


Otherwise, all my clothes get thrown in the washer, though some pants and dresses don't go in the dryer. Laundry detergent is very expensive; there's actually a scheme where people steal several name brand jugs from a Wal-Mart and then resell them on the street. I'm also allergic to most scented laundry detergent, it makes me sneeze and itch everywhere. So I've thought about trying my own laundry detergent recipes. There are several recipes online in both powdered and liquid forms. The best method I have heard so far are these things called soapnuts. They are dried berries from a tree that have natural soap in them. You put a bag of the soapnuts in the washer and reuse it 3-5 times. It works out to being very cheap per load and it's easier than making soap from a recipe. It's rather expensive to buy in bulk but it is worth it if it lasts a long time.