I'm here to bitch about laundry...

[TwinFoxes]

OK, so I know I'm lucky that my DH does a lot around the house. But honestly I just wish he'd leave the laundry ALONE. I've been sick, so he did some laundry (which I didn't know, or I would have tried to stop him.) I go into the laundry room today, and there's a pile of clean clothes on our rolling cart, about three loads worth on TOP of the drier, a load IN the drier, and a load still in the washer (I assume because he ran out of room to make another pile). DUDE! The laundry has to come upstairs eventually! When you yourself come upstairs, do you think about MAYBE carrying a load?

And let's get into his technique. Clothes that are "pretty much the same color" (like bright pink and white :rolleyes:) go into the same load. No need to pre-treat those food stains on the girls' clothes! At least he has given up washing my clothes...except for the random "wash in cold with like colors" piece that just gets scooped up in the backhoe he uses to load the machines.

I feel bad typing this (but it is the bitching post after all), because he's sooo wonderful, and does so much. But dude, please, just leave the laundry to the professionals (me!)

[buddyleebaby]

I TOTALLY understand.

[niccig]

Oh, I hear you. For a while, DH did the laundry and I had to put up with his system. Now, we've swapped jobs and I've got it back...I now always have clean underwear and no stains on any clothes.

[tamie]

I completely understand. Wish I could send a laundry fairy over to your house to make it all go away!

Sometimes, I feel like I just need to start the laundry all over again after DH does it.

[kristenk]

Oh, I hear you. For a while, DH did the laundry and I had to put up with his system. Now, we've swapped jobs and I've got it back...I now always have clean underwear and no stains on any clothes.

Nicci - I think you meant "system" with quotes!

DH doesn't try to do any laundry, but he messes with the dishwasher too much. I will readily admit that I'm somewhat anal about our dishwasher, but if you don't rinse the dishes *very* well, little bits of food will circulate and end up stuck onto our glasses. Yuck. And why does he think that sticking a very dirty fork (with food stuck between the tines) tines-down into the silverware compartment will actually succeed in getting it clean? I can understand when you do it the first time, but the twentieth? Aaaaargghh.

Oops. Sorry, OP. I think this was your BP vent! I'm amazed that your laundry room is clean enough to stack that many piles of laundry. :)

[ohiomom1121]

My husband ruined a brand new silk nightgown I bought when we were first married and has been banned from the laundry room since! He's good at many things, but laundry is not one of them. :D

[ladysoapmaker]

Oh, I understand. My DH does stuff similar. I don't complain because he does do the laundry. The older two kids are old enough so I typed up and posted in the laundry room how to do laundry "my way". They still mess up but I'm not getting reds & whites mixed up. I just have to replace bras more often because they keep drying them in the dryer. And explaining the concept of "if the clothes are still wet and they are not sweaters" run the dryer for an additional 15 minutes so they dry seems to be eluding all of them. more then once I've went to grab a shirt and it was damp and musty smelling.

jen

[VClute]

Preach it, sistahs! I've also had to ban DH from helping fold laundry. He thinks any white sock goes with any white sock. Not so! DS wears a different size from DD! And my cotton beige socks are different from my cashmere blend beige socks! Oy!

[niccig]

Nicci - I think you meant "system" with quotes!


Yes you are right. DH's "system" involves me buying more clothes and underwear, so he doesn't have to wash as often. And then he complains about the stinky clothes smell from the 3 sorter hamper that sits in HIS closet...still has not connected the dots on that.

[Momof3Labs]

My DH has pulled some laundry doozies, too - most recently throwing a pack of brand new DARK BROWN microfiber towels in with a load of whites (mostly household and baby). I cried when I pulled that stuff out of the dryer and saw what he had done. Other times, we've had exploded pens, pockets full of crap, the list goes on.

He's banned from washing my stuff without consulting me first, and I don't like him to wash the kids' stuff but he does it sometimes anyways when he washes his own stuff (I refuse to wash his stuff - see pen/pocket issues above).

Oh, and when he pulls a load out of the dryer, he does bring it out into the living room and lay it all over the couch. But that's it. Then he's "done" the laundry. Even if it is still damp!! Unless he thinks that he's communicating with the laundry fairy, who comes along and puts it all away when he's sleeping??

We should unite together and vow that we will not raise our boys to be as laundry impaired as their fathers! And hopefully our future DILs will thank us one day!!

[belovedgandp]

DH has been banned from laundry since the beginning of our marriage. That is a major control issue for me.

This weekend he kept trying to be helpful in the kitchen clean-up. He does OK by himself when I'm not around an entire weekend, but his definition of cleaned up from a meal usually involves at least a couple cups on the table and a poorly loaded dishwasher. I think when I'm completely gone I just don't see how bad the in between meal times were.

[newg]

aaaahhhhh yes..........when DH "helps" me do the laundry so I can take a break, somehow I still end up doing the laundry because I have to stand next to him and tell him what can go in the same load and what can't (...socks and underwear do NOT go in the same load DH!!)

while I am totally greatful that he helps out..........and he tends to fold and put away his laundry more quickly when he washes it................I still prefere to do the laundry!

DH and I met in the laundry room of our dorm freshmen year because he didn't know how to sort his clothes and how much detergent to put in!

[SnuggleBuggles]

YOu wouldn't want me to come do laundry there b/c I am of the "wash it all together on cold" mindset. I do pretreat asap so things that need special attention aren't in the laundry chute. Anything in the laundry chute is fair game just to be washed. Oh, and I have 2 loads folded on top of the dryer + one more in a basket on the floor. :)

Beth

[lizzywednesday]

I have a different sorting method than DH and also use mesh bags for anything that could get tangled in the legs of my jeans.

DH needs to do his own laundry because he's insanely germ-phobic. He also has a job where he needs to look professional every day, so he's very particular about what washes with what..

Honestly, I'd love it if he would just suck it up and do the family laundry, but I don't think that'll happen any time soon.

[MommyofAmaya]

(...socks and underwear do NOT go in the same load DH!!)


:confused: This is a standard load in our house. Am I missing something?

[belovedgandp]

:confused: This is a standard load in our house. Am I missing something?

Um, yeah, here too. I think I'm anal, but after reading some of these evidently, I couldn't do laundry for a lot of other people.

[DebbieJ]

Before DS2 was born, I actually typed out laundry instructions and taped them to the top of the machine. They were more for visitors who offered to help more than for DH, but they didn't hurt. My MIL later thanked me for them because I ended up with a c-section and couldn't go downstairs, so she had to the do the laundry that first week.

[Cam&Clay]

:confused: This is a standard load in our house. Am I missing something?

Um...yeah...why CAN'T socks and underwear go in the same load?

[Momof3Labs]

:confused: This is a standard load in our house. Am I missing something?

I'm missing something too, unless you mean black socks and white underwear. That gets separated in our house. But white socks and white underwear absolutely go together.

[TwinFoxes]

YOu wouldn't want me to come do laundry there b/c I am of the "wash it all together on cold" mindset. I do pretreat asap so things that need special attention aren't in the laundry chute. Anything in the laundry chute is fair game just to be washed. Oh, and I have 2 loads folded on top of the dryer + one more in a basket on the floor. :)

Beth

Oh, you'd be a welcome change from the "wash it all together in hot and dry it even hotter" mindset! And I wasn't clear...the loads on the dryer aren't FOLDED. They're piled on so our nice clean clothes will get wrinkled. ;)

I'm so glad I'm not the only one whose DH is laundry challenged. And he's not doing it on purpose in order to get out of doing it...and that makes it both more endearing and more ANNOYING at the same time. :tongue5:

[newg]

Um...yeah...why CAN'T socks and underwear go in the same load?

Oh, my mom taught me this...........DH wears his socks outside, so I worry that whatever he tracks in on his socks, then gets mixed with underwear in the wash.........and if the load is really full the socks don't get washed well and still have a little yucky left on them...................
I don't know..........the idea of underwear, which touches my lady parts, and socks, which pick up anything on the floor.........kinda grosses me out......:barf:

[niccig]

Oh, my mom taught me this...........DH wears his socks outside, so I worry that whatever he tracks in on his socks, then gets mixed with underwear in the wash.........and if the load is really full the socks don't get washed well and still have a little yucky left on them...................
I don't know..........the idea of underwear, which touches my lady parts, and socks, which pick up anything on the floor.........kinda grosses me out......:barf:


Throw in some oxyclean with your loads. I swear by that stuff...just a little in with your detergent and all the clothes are cleaner and your whites are brighter...

[SnuggleBuggles]

Oh, my mom taught me this...........DH wears his socks outside, so I worry that whatever he tracks in on his socks, then gets mixed with underwear in the wash.........and if the load is really full the socks don't get washed well and still have a little yucky left on them...................
I don't know..........the idea of underwear, which touches my lady parts, and socks, which pick up anything on the floor.........kinda grosses me out......:barf:

Nope, still doesn't bother me after that explanation. :)

Beth

[almostamom]

I put a load of my clothes in the washer in Saturday morning and returned to bed with a migraine. A few hours later I was still in bed and my head was throbbing. It hurt to move. Then I heard it - the washing machine door was opened. He was going to dry my clothes! Not much else would have gotten me out of the bed at that moment, but I dragged my sorry self to the laundry room and begged him to stop. The last time he dried my clothes they ended up looking like a Cabbage Patch doll's wardrobe!

His "system" is to fill the washing machine with as many clothes and towels as humanly possible (why sort?). Pour soap over the clothes (this was solved with the front-loader), and add the hottest water possible unless he is washing his gym clothes in which case he washes them on cold. :shake: Dry the clothes on high heat just until they are damp and then let them sit in the basket until they smell and are hopelessly wrinkled. And he wonders why I don't want him to touch my clothes!

All of this to say, I completely understand!

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

YOu wouldn't want me to come do laundry there b/c I am of the "wash it all together on cold" mindset. I do pretreat asap so things that need special attention aren't in the laundry chute.

I'm with you on that. I'm so glad I'm low maintenance. :)

One thing I do insist on, however, is the immediate fold to prevent wrinkles.

[srhs]

...At least he has given up washing my clothes...except for the random "wash in cold with like colors" piece that just gets scooped up in the backhoe he uses to load the machines.

Oh the pain! I FEEL your pain!
I feel so bad because DH REALLY DOES TRY and he gets so upset when he messes it up and I boohoo about my ruined garments...but I don't understand how he continues to do so!

[TwinFoxes]

I'm with you on that. I'm so glad I'm low maintenance. :)

One thing I do insist on, however, is the immediate fold to prevent wrinkles.

Sorry, too high maintenance ;) for my DH's laundry "technique".Folding is never required. It's best to leave the clothes in a pile on any flat surface, and just pluck the garments from the piles as you need them!

[lizzywednesday]

Sorry, too high maintenance ;) for my DH's laundry "technique".Folding is never required. It's best to leave the clothes in a pile on any flat surface, and just pluck the garments from the piles as you need them!

I actually do that, except I use baskets or clear trash bags to contain the items.

Although, lately I have started to fold things because digging through a basket in the dark is no fun.

[MamaSnoo]

Every time I lament about the laundry......ever helpful DH has a solution. He offers to stop wearing clothes and suggests I do the same....lol!!

Anywoo....I feel you. Laundry just sucks and it never goes away.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Sorry, too high maintenance ;) for my DH's laundry "technique".Folding is never required. It's best to leave the clothes in a pile on any flat surface, and just pluck the garments from the piles as you need them!

It took a while but I got DH onboard with either folding or telling me he was turning off the dryer so I could fold. :p

I am seriously low maintenace on laundry though, I couldn't do yours and a lot of other peoples. I put everything in at once and wash on cold or warm. Our dryer is broken and only dries on one heat and doesn't turn off, so everything is dried at that level.

DH actually complains sometimes saying we should seperate colors but he doesn't complain when he has a nice stack of clean folded clothes! :D

We look pretty presentable in spite of my laundry techinque, at least, I think we do.

I must admit some of my sons' clothes have stains because they don't come out even after pretreated and I can't be bothered to do an overnight oxyclean soak unless it is something I really like.

Anyways, I sympathize. If one person likes things a particular way, they should just do it. The other person should just let them. That way everyone is happy! That's why I generally let DH load the dishwasher... he has his way. :) Nothing worse than me trying to help and then him complaining on how I put the knives, or whatever.