Let's just discuss Laundry

[cindergretta]

How do you do your's? What do you use? Do you use an oxy-type cleaner? Do you ever use hot water? How do you get things soft again after they have gotten stiff and rough? How many risne cycles? Front loader or top loader? Line dry or dryer? how picky are you about stains? Do you use a pre-treater? Keep going until the stain is gone? Give up and toss the garment? Use it with the stain on it?

Share. Dish. Give the 411.

[rstump]

What do you use? Charlie's Soap or Biokleen

Do you use an oxy-type cleaner? Sometimes

Do you ever use hot water? Yes..whenever I can. I use the Sanitize cycle on towels & diapers.

How do you get things soft again after they have gotten stiff and rough?I don't hang anything other than blankets

How many risne cycles? One rinse on most items. 2 on diapers

Front loader or top loader? Front Loader

Line dry or dryer? Dryer

how picky are you about stains? Do you use a pre-treater? I use oxyclean spray stain remover.

Keep going until the stain is gone? Give up and toss the garment? Use it with the stain on it? A little of all....just depends. With stains...become play clothes. I toss it if bad after trying about 3 times...including an Oxyclean soak.

Not natural over here

Top-loading machine
Separate into three loads: whites, mediums, darks. I generally do not buy clothes that require special attention - "lie flat to dry" is my limit Towels & linens are treated as "whites" around here, even if they're colored.
I use Tide in every load (but way less than they "suggest" on the lid measurements) & Shout gel on stains. I have some OxyClean that I think I've used once? I want to use it more but never think of it.
Whites are washed in hot water, mediums on warm & darks on cold. Exception: If I can find Cold Water Tide, everything is washed in cold water. Only one rinse.
Whites are dried on high heat, mediums & darks are on medium heat. Yes, I use Bounce or the Target-brand equivalent in every dryer load.
I don't want to hang my clothes to dry, so I don't desire a wash line outside. I hated crunchy clothes when I was younger

ETA: Oh, stains that will never come out become at-home-only clothes & will be thrown out or made into rags when they're thoroughly worn out.

[cindergretta]

I am a stain nut. I obsess over getting stains out and if I can't, I feel really . Then the article isn't allowed outside the home. I have ruined some things by continually washing them and treating them.

I only use cold water to wash b/c my water only gets hot enough that it is uncomfortable to put your hand under, kwim? So it seems a bit pointless to wash with it and expect it to get the clothing any cleaner than the cold water.

I have a front-loader.

If I had that sanitize cycle (drool) I would totally use it on dipes, sheets, and towels.... <dreamy>

I use Tide w/ bleach alternative, Oxy-clean, and baking soda. I also occasionally use vinegar.

I don't hang dry b/c I hate that feeling.

I sort into white, light, dark, sheet/towel, and dipes. I also wash denim and heavy pants fabrics in their own load- the "jean" load. I also like to try to do S's stuff in her own load. (Not too hard considering the amount of laundry she generates. )

How much laundry do you do? How many in your family? Do you do laundry on a given days or days or as needed- read:all day, every day.

2 adults + 3 children = 6-7 loads of clothes per week
plus I usually wash all our sheets, towels & bath/kitchen rugs once per week, so that makes another 5 loads

I have a laundry center in our hallway (http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...9/Laundry1.jpg) so when a bag is full, I wash it. The household stuff is washed when I clean that room.

[RiverRock]

We have 6 people in my family. On average I do 2 loads a day in the summer, and 3 loads a day in the winter. I have a bed-wetter so that is probably an extra 4 loads of laundry a week over what I could be doing. I don't like to feel like a slave to laundry, so I usually give myself 2-3 days off a week from laundry, so some days I am easily doing 5 loads. Today is a 4 load day.

I'm a combo of biodegradable and not...I use Ecos to wash in my front loader. I soak in Oxyclean if necessary. I spray stains with Fantastic (works better than any stain remover I've tried, and hasn't wrecked any clothes in about 10 years) and let it set in for hours or overnight before washing,

Most laundry is washed with warm water. I try to line dry diapers outside, but often the weather doesn't cooperate. All other laundry goes in the dryer. I rarely use half a sheet of fragrance-free fabric softener, usually nothing. With diapers I add a vinegar rinse, sometimes with a bit of lavender or tea tree EO. We have a lot of laundry so every week I am doing the following loads: dark towels, light towels, whites, coloured, dark clothing, jeans (usually with dark towels or with table cloths or dark sheets), work clothes and diapers. Probably every 3 months I do a bleach load, but usually I just use a bleach pen for spots and rinse well before adding the items to a white load.

Stained clothes don't last long, they usually become rags or garbaged. There are exceptions, of course. Rstump and I might have the same machine, because I use the sanitary cycle for diapers, too. (LG extra-capacity front loader?)

[Drew]

How do you do your's?Sort into whites, darks, my jeans (which are washed inside out on gentle), DH's training clothes, bath towels, kitchen towels/cloth napkins, delicate, other stuff.

What do you use? Method HE. Usually unscented but sometimes the stuff in the blue bottle. I use bleach on rare occasions.

Do you use an oxy-type cleaner? I have an Oxy stain remover that I use on P's clothes. It's pretty great.

Do you ever use hot water? Yep, for bath towels, whites, and kitchen towels/cloth napkins.

How do you get things soft again after they have gotten stiff and rough? I don't really have an issue with this happening.

How many risne cycles? I always set for the extra rinse. I probably don't need to in most cases but the idea of lingering soap bothers me.

Front loader or top loader? Front loader.

Line dry or dryer? Dryer. Ours has a moisture sensor so it's pretty good about not running longer than necessary.

how picky are you about stains? Very when it comes to clothes. For towel and cloth napkins it's not as much of a deal to me.

Do you use a pre-treater? Only the Oxy stain spray when needed.

Keep going until the stain is gone? I'll try a few washes but if it isn't going away I'll usually give up.

Give up and toss the garment? Yep, I'll usually toss a piece of clothing that is stained. I keep a pair of jeans and a few shirts around for messy projects but that's it.

Use it with the stain on it? See above.

How much laundry do you do? 6 - 8 loads a week.

How many in your family? Two adults and a 2yo on the weekends (soon to be full time )

Do you do laundry on a given days or days or as needed- Usually on the weekend but sometimes I'll do a load during the week if need-be.

ETA- I like your laundry bags Katie.

[Lady TS]

Originally Posted by cindergretta

How do you do your's? What do you use? Do you use an oxy-type cleaner? Do you ever use hot water? How do you get things soft again after they have gotten stiff and rough? How many risne cycles? Front loader or top loader? Line dry or dryer? how picky are you about stains? Do you use a pre-treater? Keep going until the stain is gone? Give up and toss the garment? Use it with the stain on it?

Share. Dish. Give the 411.

5 person family--2 adults and 3 kids. On average, I do like 7-10 loads a week. Not every day, but probably 3 loads on a couple days a week.


Top loader.

Shout Advanced on stains(not set in/dried in the dryer)
Oxyclean sometimes--pretty much at random, but not usually used.
Dawn dishsoap--a squirt helps to remove buildup(which may be causing the stiffness/roughness in your laundry)

ALL Free & Clear, Purex Free & Clear or some other laundry soap free of scents and stuff
Vinegar in the rinse dispenser
No evil fabric softener

Sheets and towels get HOT water. In the cooler months, our outdoor wood furnace heats our hot water to scalding so I don't always put the temp on the washer on Hot then. In the summer, when our on-demand water heater is our method of heating water, I put it on hot all the time.

One rinse cycle.

I dry all my laundry in the dryer since being diagnosed with my allergies. I used to line dry outside in warmer months and hang some of them on a rack set over the furnace vent but no more

If I see a stain on the kids' clothes I try to spray it with the stuff before it even goes into the laundry. There are times that they eat something/wipe something on their shirt(that is usually greasy) that I don't see until I am taking them out of the dryer and folding, to which I go (especially if it is a new shirt) and promptly spray it with the Shout Advance. It took the greasy stains out of ds2's shirt that he had received for Christmas, and that was after it had gone through the dryer!

If it's a new garment, I am more vigilant about stain removal. If it's a hand-me-down or they are almost out of that size, I don't worry about it as much. They still wear it until they outgrow it(though I *try* to get them to wear the non-stained clothes when we are going somewhere.



RiverRock--Wow, Fantastic works for removing stains??? Who knew? Maybe that will be my next stain-remover purchase, because my current one is rather spendy!

[cindergretta]

I think I might be guilty of ***way*** over-rinsing.

I rinse, 2nd rinse, then rinse & spin, 2nd rinse, extended spin...

I get icked out if I think there is a hint of *anything* left in the wash.

(2 adults, 6 kids)

Laundry done as needed- 2-3 loads a day, although I am like a PP- I may do 4-5 on a given day and skip a day or two....

Fantastik? Maybe I'll give that shot.

[Drew]

I'm glad to hear there are people out there rinsing more than me.

[ShangriLewis]

Is your hot water heater turned down? When I had a FL I didn't like cold wash only. I use hot for whites and towels or everything doesn't get clean. We have a top loader now. It's small and you have to spin extra times or it doesn't get the water out. But, my parents let us pay cheap rent, so I'll suffer

My mom won't let us use powder, so I stopped using my Biokleen powder. It doesn't clump, but she doesn't believe me. She probably wouldn't know if I did it I'm using Arm and Hammer right now, but I hate that chemical smell. I have a sensitive nose and skin that is much worse when I'm pregnant. I guess I'll try the Biokleen liquid. I hope it works as well. I got the Ecos last time at Costco but my dh doesn't like the smell. That's the problem with boys they don't like smelling like flowers even when they are hippies.

I'm using spray and wash right now. It's lasted forever. I bought the Costco one a few years ago. I'm really good at catching stains I guess. That and my boys don't wear shirts often

We do at least a load a day. I hang right in the laundry room and socks, underwear, swim trunks (we have a hot tub), etc go in a basket and put away during the day or when it's full. I try to put it away right away or the cat sleeps in there. Nothing like cat hair on underwear :/

[illinoismommy]

Originally Posted by KatieMae

2 adults + 3 children = 6-7 loads of clothes per week
plus I usually wash all our sheets, towels & bath/kitchen rugs once per week, so that makes another 5 loads

I have a laundry center in our hallway (http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...9/Laundry1.jpg) so when a bag is full, I wash it. The household stuff is washed when I clean that room.

Yeah that. I have a laundry center too where laundry is pre-sorted.

I do one load a day, usually.

We use charlie's soap most of the time with the random usage of Tide. I haven't had any problems with charlie's soap.

For stains I use Shout.

[rstump]

We have 3 adults & 5 kids....1 kid is a teen so more like 4 adults and 1 newborn so generated a TON of clothes.

We do 3-5 loads a day on average.

[ArmsOfLove]

2 adults and 5 children; top loader washer and front loader dryer; I use fabric stain remover when I know there's a stain I use natural (Trader Joe's) soap, and vinegar if there's pee involved, and use cold water for everything (though in the summer there is no such thing as cold water in Phoenix )

[cindergretta]

Originally Posted by ArmsOfLove

(though in the summer there is no such thing as cold water in Phoenix )

I literally snorted when I read this.