Question about laundry

[thomer]

What's the point of separating 'whites' from 'colors'? All of my laundry is done in cold water with the same detergent.

None of my 'whites' are actually white anyway. DH's are, I guess, but no one sees them anyway, so who cares?

When I was single I didn't have enough laundry to do two loads so I would just throw everything in together. I think things would be much simpler around here if I did that now. I could just do loads when I have enough, instead of waiting until we run out of undies and then not even having a full load.

I can understand if you're CDing, but is there any reason I can't just put all my laundry in one load?

:shrug

[Benjaminswife]

Well when we first married I would wash everything together but then DH's white got dimmer and he didn't like it. So now I try to do both. But I still sometimes put in some whites with the rest.

[Drew]

Whites will definitely dim if washed with colors, even in cold water. If they're only worn as undershirts it may not be that big of a deal, but I wear a lot of white tees without anything over them so it is important for me to try to keep them bright.

[milkmommy]

Unless there new clothes and were still not sure about bleeding or DH Tux shirts I always wash together when I go home my mother seperates (always has) I can't tell a signifcent diffrence :shrug

Deanna

[Iarwain]

Lights can get dingy from dye particles in dark colored fabrics. I do sometimes mix when I've got half a load of each but only if all the darks are really old things that won't liberate dye any more. I used to mix every load for a while (back when we only made one load a day) and use a thing called a Dye Magnet and that worked really well for me. The Dye Magnet looks like a piece of white terrycloth but it's supposed to trap and lock free dye in the wash water so it won't make the whites dingy. At that time it cost about $5 and lasted for around 50 loads and made a nice cleaning rag after it was no longer useful for its original purpose.

[thomer]

Judging by the condition of DH's undergarments :blush I don't think he'll care that they're dingy. We don't own any other white clothes.

Or maybe I will just stop buying white and go straight for the grey! :yes

I think I'm just going to combine - so much easier right now.

[hey mommy]

I only do it when I bleach my whites. Which I need to do soon b/c they're looking rather icky..

[jghomeschooler]

i haven't done all whites loads in years, :shifty
dh's whites get icky anyway becuz he uses gel deodorant :rolleyes so it doesn't matter to either of us. if it's his uniform he washes it separately himself. :mrgreen

[Ajani]

I separate them out, but I have white tshirts and such that I don't want to go grey.

[tempus vernum]

I separate too cuz lots of the kids clothes get so dirty and I do them on hot.

Interesting about the "dye magnet" :rockon

[hey mommy]

That Dye Magnet does sound cool. I've also used the Shout Color Catchers and they work GREAT. Even when red sock got in w/the whites, which are washed in hot water w/bleach. The whites came out white, the sock came out lighter red and the color catcher came out very pink.