Question of the Day, Friday, November 12

[Winchester]

Hi guys! Almost forgot the QOTD!

How many loads of laundry do you do in one week? Do you sort your laundry by color? Do you hang laundry outside or do you have a dryer?

I probably do 4 or 5 loads a week. A load of sheets, a load of towels, one load of whites and lights, one of colors and darks, and a load of kitty linens. We do have a dryer, but I would love to be able to hang clothes outside. My lower back can’t handle carrying heavy baskets of laundry anymore.

What about you?

 

[Katie M]

I go to my mom's once a week to do laundry (my building does have a laundry room, but I've always felt uncomfortable doing it here). I normally have two loads-one of clothes and one of sheets. My stuff has been washed so much, I don't really feel the need to separate by color. I use her dryer too.

 

[susanm9006]

I don’t sort by color, but do by kind of of items. I do separate loads for kitchen towels, bath towels, cat blankets, sheets and blankets, and clothing. Clothing is one or two loads every couple weeks, everything else is a single load each whenever there is enough to wash.

I do have a laundry chute which I use to get laundry to the washer in the basement. I appreciate it more every year as I get older and the laundry basket seemingly heavier. Everything goes in the dryer.

 

[Willowy]

Around 5 loads a week most weeks, I think. 2 of clothes and towels and 3 of various bedding (including my own).

I don't sort laundry, unless I just got a new red shirt or something like that.

I have a dryer, but even when I had a clothesline I couldn't figure out how to use it right. It always sagged in the middle so much that the clothes would all slide down and touch the ground, no matter how tight I made it. Special clothesline hitch knot, tightening screws, real clothesline, and everything. Plus there was always pollen and dust and bird poop and all that to deal with. I feel bad for our foremothers!

And line-dried clothes are so stiff. But that can be fixed with a quick tumble in the dryer with some dryer balls so it's barely worth mentioning.

 

[susanm9006]

Around 5 loads a week most weeks, I think. 2 of clothes and towels and 3 of various bedding (including my own).

I don't sort laundry, unless I just got a new red shirt or something like that.

I have a dryer, but even when I had a clothesline I couldn't figure out how to use it right. It always sagged in the middle so much that the clothes would all slide down and touch the ground, no matter how tight I made it. Special clothesline hitch knot, tightening screws, real clothesline, and everything. Plus there was always pollen and dust and bird poop and all that to deal with. I feel bad for our foremothers!

And line-dried clothes are so stiff. But that can be fixed with a quick tumble in the dryer with some dryer balls so it's barely worth mentioning.

The secret to not having a sagging clothes line is a clothes pole. After the wash is hung you use a pole or two to prop up the line. I never use the clothes lines but I do use the pole for hanging holiday lights on the house. They are also useful for picking apples or other fruit from high up in the tree.

 

[Elphaba09]

My husband does the laundry, so I have no idea if he sorts or not. Most of our clothes are dark. I guess that helps him! He does laundry once a week. I would say two loads of clothes and one load of kitchen towels and aprons. We have these fantastic bath towels that can just go in with our regular clothes. He washes sheets, pillow covers, and duvet covers every other week.

We never hang them outside because I do not like the way it smells when they come inside and, as W Willowy pointed out, they are stiff. (I used to do it years ago out of necessity. I did not like it.) My jeans are dried flat, though.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I do two loads probably every other week. One load is all of my clothes and the other load is towels and bed sheets. I will also do a third (and sometimes fourth) load every 4 weeks which would be blankets. I primarily dry everything in the dryer. The dryer just does a better job of getting the fur and other crap that stick to my blankets. Any clothes that shouldn't go in the dryer I hang them up on a clothes rack.

 

[lizzie]

I've never really stopped to think about it but...if this week is any kind of example...darks,whites including bath towels,dog blankets(2 loads),cat blankets(1 load),my quilt,a load of sheets and a load of scrub towels...there's 8.I also use my dryer for all the laundry I do.This doesn't include the quilt on the couch or the blankies on the 2 chairs...they'll probably get washed over the weekend.

 

[Margot Lane]

In drought season I eke out washes & save the extra water for washing me w a large pot of hot water. In the rainy season I wash a lot and take SHOWers. Whoa.

 

[Lari]

3 to 4. I sort my husband's and mine into lights and darks/colors and use Tide. I do all of J's together and use All Free and Clear.

Then it'll either be a load of cloth diapers (she's only been wearing a couple a day, mostly disposable because I got lazy), or sheets, or towels, but those all don't get done every week.

 

[game misconduct]

gf does it once a week in the industrial sized machines we have in our apartments the early mistakes(not sorting colors and using cold temps)only costed me a pair of shrunken jeans few white t shirts

 

[MoochNNoodles]

A minimum of 6 I guess. I recently stopped washing my kids stuff separately from ours. They used to be bothered by fabric softeners.

I do separate lights, darks, jeans (if they are new or we have a lot), and reds. I can wash the kids sheets together but not anything extra with our king size sheets. Towels can be 1-2 loads. DH washes his own work clothes.

Both my kids only want to wear jeans this year so that’s changed things. DS is also into red so half his shirts are red and need to be washed separately with a color catcher sheet still.

 

[Maria Bayote]

3 times a week.
I sort by whites, black or dark color, and other colored clothes.

 

[Mia6]

About 6 loads per week. I have a lot of black and navy yoga and sweat pants. Those are washed separately.
I dry some stuff outside then put them in dryer to kill any kind of insects I use a dryer sheet.

 

[vince]

Five small loads a week (it's just me here). One for whites, one for light colors, one for dark colors, and two for bedding.

 

[Jem]

I do about 4-5 a week...but sometimes more. I try to get it all done in one day.
There's the lights, darks, delicates (many of my work shirts have rayon in them so I do a separate load of delicates for my work clothes) and bulky (hubbies hoodies and pants). We have one of those top loading direct drive machines. They're good because they don't have a big agitator, so you can fit more in them, but the downside to them is the loads HAVE to be balanced so I don't put a random heavy item (like a hoodie) mixed with lighter items because sometimes the heavy stuff will bunch on one side leaving the whole thing off kilter...then it's just a pain and waists a lot more time and water.
Then there is towels, sheets and kitty stuff...these don't necessarily get done every week. With only 2 people in the house, we don't always have a full load of towels to do.

 

[neely]

Depending on the week I do at least 3 loads of laundry, sometimes less, sometimes more. I hate falling behind and that's when I end up doing more. I do fine and delicate clothing separately in cold water but don't necessarily separate by color. In the summer I love hanging clothes outside. My mother did this also and as they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

 

[strider rose]

1-2 loads every other week ... my mother in law picks me up and takes me to the laundry mat

 

[aliceneko]

1-2 loads every week, separated by colour.