s/o Why do I separate laundry?

[KrisM]

I like my system, but I do wonder why I am separating by colors. I wash it all on cold/cold and dry on low. Can I just put it all in together?

[HIU8]

Yup, I think so. I have done that before. However, for the most part I wash almost everything on warm/cold, but I still separate b/c I fear some colors bleeding (I do wash colors that will bleed on cold/cold).

[wellyes]

The only reason to separate is to avoid colors running, right? So if you wash everything on cold, a free-for-all is fine.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't separate. If I have a brand new item that I think will bleed then I wash it on it's own a few times or I do make a dark only load. But, that is not a common occurrence. Nothing bleeds. We are all good here.

Beth

[egoldber]

I wash colors together and lighter things together. But the kids stuff I wash all together, I never separate. I have really never had a problem. I generally wash on warm and rinse in cold.

[lilycat88]

We've got significant allergies and on advice from the allergist, we wash certain things on hot (bedding, towels, etc.)...and our hot is hotter than generally advised. Our "warm" is still pretty hot so we wash anything that *might* shrink or fade on cold.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I separate jeans out from regular clothes so they don't wear out the other clothes by rubbing on them in the wash and dry.

if I have new clothes that are a dark color, I throw in a Shout Color Catcher. (I use about 1/3 of a sheet) Everything that is being washed in cold goes in together regardless of color.

[KrisM]

I'm going to rethink my bins. Maybe one for kids, one for me and DH, one for towels, and one for jeans. It would help if I only had to put kids stuff away, or our stuff.

I've always done jeans on their own, as well as towels and sheets.

[MMMommy]

I stopped separating colors from whites years ago. I used to always separate until I noticed DH was washing clothes without separating, and he never had a problem with colors bleeding. But the stuff I wash has generally been washed time and time again, so I don't worry about the colors bleeding. If I were washing a new pair of jeans or something brightly colored and never been washed, I would definitely wash those items separately for the first couple of washes. Otherwise, I do not separate. And I wash on regular warm.

[Andi98989]

I separate into: whites/lights, darks, colors, and towels/sheets.

ETA - I use a Shout Color Catcher sheet if I'm concerned about something that might let off color

[happymom]

I always thought that if you wash whites with darks all the time, eventually the whites will be kinda greyish as opposed to bright white.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I always thought that if you wash whites with darks all the time, eventually the whites will be kinda greyish as opposed to bright white.

My white clothes have enough problems from the stains I get on them that I just am not all that bothered if they are not super, duper white. You can still tell they are white and that's good enough for me. :)

Beth

[chinook]

I'm a "separator" :)

I do whites only (otherwise I think they look dingy), dark knits & wovens, jeans, coloured, and delicate all on their own.

I do the kitchen laundry with my microfiber towels.

I'm fanatical about doing the jeans on their own, I think they really do a number on other clothes when washed together.

[alien_host]

I'm also a separator.

I wash whites (generally socks, DH's undershirts and some t-shirts) in hot and sometimes w/ bleach.
I wash dark underwear and dark socks in hot
Darks for DH and I on cold
Lights for DH and I on cold
Towels on hot
Sheets on hot

DD gets her own load and I'll wash them together if I know something doesn't run. Now that she has more darks I tend to separate the load or wash her darks with ours.

[wellyes]

I always thought that if you wash whites with darks all the time, eventually the whites will be kinda greyish as opposed to bright white.

The only way to keep whites really white is to use a whitening agent. Like bleach. My mum used something called "bluing" to keep whites white - it was some kind of blue dye that had the effect of taking away any dinginess. Don't know if they still make it anymore, I haven't seen it.

[Carrots]

I'm also a separator.

I wash whites (generally socks, DH's undershirts and some t-shirts) in hot and sometimes w/ bleach.
I wash dark underwear and dark socks in hot
Darks for DH and I on cold
Lights for DH and I on cold
Towels on hot
Sheets on hot

DD gets her own load and I'll wash them together if I know something doesn't run. Now that she has more darks I tend to separate the load or wash her darks with ours.

I basically do the same thing, but I also separate out dark pinks and reds and wash them together on cold (even if the clothing has been washed 1000x). I have flashbacks of living back at home where somehow something red would make its way into my white laundry.

[salsah]

for clothes i have three categories; whites, darks (includes jeans turned inside out), pinks/reds (i have 2 dd's so we have a lot of pinks). i use cold/cold for everything except whites. whites get bleach and hot/cold.
i also wash sheets and towels separately. i really should start doing jeans separately too.

[lizajane]

i have had MANY bleeding accidents over the years, so i am careful to ONLY wash old darks with lights. any and all new dark clothing goes in cold with ONLY dark clothing- black, navy, red.

i also do whites in warm or hot often to get them really clean. i use oxy way more frequently than bleach.

[mytwosons]

I used to do whites on hot with bleach. But, now not doing bleach much, if at all, so they now get mixed in with warm items. Should probably separate and do on hot w/out bleach, but who has time?

Up until DS1 was probably 4, I washed all of his clothes separately in Dreft.

Now, I just follow the label instructions. I do warms, colds, towels and sheets/bedding. I do turn most everything inside out so it doesn't wear as fast. It makes a huge difference!

[hellokitty1]

from my observations, the bleeding often occurs after the load is done and the colors and whites are mushed together in the machine. so perhaps if you are super-diligent about getting it out the minute the load is finished, you can avoid bleeding. but i'm not that diligent so i could never risk mixing it up.

[salsah]

i have had MANY bleeding accidents over the years, so i am careful to ONLY wash old darks with lights. any and all new dark clothing goes in cold with ONLY dark clothing- black, navy, red.

i also do whites in warm or hot often to get them really clean. i use oxy way more frequently than bleach.

oxy? please tell me more. how? why?

[kijip]

We both wear a lot of white shirts. White shirts get dingy when washed with colors, even cold IMO. But besides doing the real white stuff separate, we don't seperate the laundry much. By kid and then us together basically.

[justincase]

The only way to keep whites really white is to use a whitening agent. Like bleach. My mum used something called "bluing" to keep whites white - it was some kind of blue dye that had the effect of taking away any dinginess. Don't know if they still make it anymore, I haven't seen it.
Yup, they still make it. I can find it at my tiny local grocery that tends to have lots of older customers. I haven't seen it at the bigger chains. I was intrigued when I saw it several years ago and remembered my grandma using it, so I tried it! It does work... but you have to be super-careful to put it in first with the water and let it agitate before putting in the clothes or you *will* have permanent blue stains. I don't have time for that these days.

Anyway, I sort by fabric weight and dirtiness level rather than by color, although when I think I have time I do a hot white load separately. I always do towels separately. Remember the college days when you were paying per load and just threw everything in together? My new thought after reading a lot of posts here and on the other recent threads: I'm going to try a couple weeks of doing a load separately for each DC instead of mixing in with ours the way a lot of you do. It would certainly make folding/putting away easier. I'm always up for an experiment!