Standard answer: in the evening. It saves a little bit on the electric bills (not that I pay electric bills, but I still like to help my landlord out), and we're too busy during the day to do laundry anyway. More specific answer: I don't do the laundry. My wife does the laundry. I hate doing laundry so much. I clean everything else in the apartment - dishes, bathrooms, bedroom, etc. - and let her worry about smelly clothes. (Apparently I suck at setting the machine properly anyway, so it's a good arrangement.)
I like doing the laundry in the morning. I don't use the washing machine much because I want to see my laundry very clean, which is why I wash mine by hand. Only the heavy-duty fabrics like jeans, bed sheets, and towels go to the washing machine. I usually do the laundry when the sun is up to save electricity, and because I want to have my clothes dry by evening when washing in the morning.
Landlords can be such a pain! I thought it was just ours. So sorry yours sounds as bad as ours. I guess it goes in swings and round abouts. Ours won't let us do anything whatsoever, even putting up pictures is a no-no. They maintain the grounds but not any of the immediate space around us. The pool is like a swamp because they can't be bothered to do anything about i, so you can image the mosquitoes They only cleaned up and paved the drying area because we were on their case.
I used to do it mostly at night because that's where the backyard is free of people, but now since I don't have access to a washing machine anymore then I do it anytime of the day by handwash.
OMG @sidney, I couldn't imagine doing my washing by hand anymore! It must be such a hassle. I used to have to do it by hand and my hands would be red raw by the time I was done. Are there no laundromats around that you can use? We too don't have space in our small flat for a washing machine, but we get someone in to do the washing and ironing or take it to the dry cleaners, where they also offer those services.
@Lushlala, I have crappy handwashing methods hahaha. I just squeeze the clothes, I don't scrub them vigorously, I just soak them in soap and rinse, then soak it in soap again overnight, then rinse then hang to dry haha. I can be very lazy to wash it properly, you know, scrubbing it vigorously? I can have the option to bring the clothes to my parent's house so that I can use the washing machine, but that would be too heavy to bring.
We don't have a washing machine and our laundry is hand-washed by our laundry woman who comes in twice a week. She does the laundry early in the morning - she comes in at 6am and leaves by 5 pm - so as to avail of the heat of the sun. When it is raining, she would hang the clothes inside the terrace and train an electric fan to aid in drying. In the afternoon, the schedule is ironing of the dried laundy so when they are not fully dried, we had a problem.
Hehe that sounds like my husband! The poor man can't hand wash to save his life. He's never had to, and whenever he's seen me doing a small amount (because I REFUSE to do a huge amount by hand), he marvels at how easy I apparently make it look. But I can see where you are coming from, it's so very sore on the hands to do it the right way.
@Lushlala, I know right? It seems like self-inflicted pain if you rub the clothes vigorously. I don't even think it's needed unless it has a stain. You just place bleach or bleach for colored clothes on the armpits and neckline then soak it until it becomes white, so it's good enough I think.
That's my trick, @sidney ! If I find myself having to do my washing, I just focus mainly on the collar and the armpits and then I just quickly gloss over the rest of the item. But I only use bleach on my whites because I don't want the coloured clothes to lose their colour. There's this brilliant stain removal product called Vanish that's like a bleach for coloured clothes. It's fantastic! I hope you can get it over there, because it can really make your life that little bit easier.
@Lushlala, Yes there is also a similar product over here that is made for colored clothes only, but it can't remove rust though. For stubborn rust stains, I use the lowest concentration of muriatic acid. It is the only thing that I tried that could remove rust on clothes.
That's fab, @sidney I know sometimes different countries have the same product made by different brands. But I never knew there was something that can affectively remove rust, so thanks for the heads up. I'll look it up, hopefully I'll be able to find the muriatic acid here. Thanks for that
@Lushlala, I'm pretty sure you guys have that, you can find that in the supermarket or in a hardware, it's used to clean the bathroom tiles.
I did rent somewhere without a machine once and I would hand wash early in the day and then leave to dry throughout the day. I would soak clothes and then wash them, but it was cheaper and less hassle than going to the launderette. Plus as the weather was bad at the time, it wasn't really worth it. When I lived alone I would do a load at night and then leave it to dry over night in the lounge. That's the best time to do it, but I guess it varies more on how you dry the clothes and where that determines when you do the laundry.
I do my laundry early in the morning. I find I'm always motivated to do it after I have looked in my closet and found I'm running short on blouses or skirts. Other than that I have a real hard time getting it on any type of regular schedule. It's not like it takes a long time. It's just not one of my most interesting chores. I think having first or second floor laundry would be better for me. Sometimes I dread the cold and smelly basement.
Wow @sidney, it's used to clean bathroom tiles LOL?! Is it safe to use on clothes, is it not too harsh on them? If it works for you, I'd be willing to give it a shot hehe I've heard of stranger things! I'll be sure to look it up and if I find it, I'm really curious to see how it works
@Lushlala, Well, for safety purposes use it only on white clothes and khaki pants, my khaki pants had rust stains on them and it never faded at all when I repeatedly placed muriatic acid on it. Buy the lowest concentration form, (they come in many variants of concentration) since the strongest one is corrosive.
I do my laundry during early Sunday mornings because this is the only time that I have due to my busy work schedule. The dirty clothes would be the past week’s work and home clothes that I have worn and added are my bed sheet and pillow cases. Occasionally I also wash my bags, shoes and other non-cloth material when I have enough time because these are materials that need extra care when washing since they may become damaged when not taken care of. It’s a good thing that we have a washing machine with a dryer because I can adjust the strength of washing my clothes so as not to overstretch them. The dryer is also nice because I do not have to squeeze out water from my clothes and after coming out of the dryer, I just hang them outside and let the sun dry them out.
I don't have a specific time, I do it when I have some time and when I have a good amount of clothing in the same colors to put together. I try to have several clothing items of the same color together before I wash them to avoid wasting water and electricity, so only when I have a good amount of dark clothes, pinks/reds/oranges, whites, blues or greens I will wash them, separated always by color.
I do my laundry on three separate days. First day would be my clothing and I do that on Friday after the electricity rates go down. In the summer I can hang clothing out to dry and it's completely dry in minutes -- I live in the desert southwest where it's dry and hot. The second day, on Saturday, I wash out my bedding -- my coverlet (one of many), my pillow cases and fitted sheet (I sleep with just the fitted sheet and my coverlet covers me and the dogs, no top sheet). On Sundays, I wash the towels and any items I've used for grooming the dogs. I throw everything in the dryer, except my clothing -- which is hung up to dry. In winter, when it's too cold to dry outside, my house looks like a Chinese Laundry, because I dry my clothing inside the house.
