Why do so many people not do their spouse’s laundry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is very inefficient and wastes a lot of water and energy if every person is doing their own laundry- that is a ton of partial loads.

I combine all the clothes for all 5 of us, separate colors and fabrics and wash full loads of darks, whites, reds, jeans, etc. I can't imagine every person doing their own. That sounds ridiculous.

And no one do I want DH touching my clothes. I have a lot of clothes that require hand washing, line drying, or delicate. Stuff would get ruined for sure if he did it.

You have 1 load of laundry for 5 people? That is weird.

Reading is fundamental. That’s not what PP said.

[Anonymous]

I actually like to do laundry. There's something systematic about it that appeals to me. My system has sort of gone off the rails since everyone is home, but I still do most of the laundry. I like sitting and folding, while watching a show, and making sure my whites are super white. I also like to iron so there's that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is very inefficient and wastes a lot of water and energy if every person is doing their own laundry- that is a ton of partial loads.

I combine all the clothes for all 5 of us, separate colors and fabrics and wash full loads of darks, whites, reds, jeans, etc. I can't imagine every person doing their own. That sounds ridiculous.

And no one do I want DH touching my clothes. I have a lot of clothes that require hand washing, line drying, or delicate. Stuff would get ruined for sure if he did it.

You have 1 load of laundry for 5 people? That is weird.

Reading is fundamental. That’s not what PP said.

I can read but she sounds obtuse. Everybody will have a full load weekly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is very inefficient and wastes a lot of water and energy if every person is doing their own laundry- that is a ton of partial loads.

I combine all the clothes for all 5 of us, separate colors and fabrics and wash full loads of darks, whites, reds, jeans, etc. I can't imagine every person doing their own. That sounds ridiculous.

And no one do I want DH touching my clothes. I have a lot of clothes that require hand washing, line drying, or delicate. Stuff would get ruined for sure if he did it.

You have 1 load of laundry for 5 people? That is weird.

Reading is fundamental. That’s not what PP said.

I can read but she sounds obtuse. Everybody will have a full load weekly.

You shouldn’t it you are sorting and washing by colors. Maybe if you dump a weeks worth of clothes all together into the washer, but that isn’t a good way to clean your clothes.

[Anonymous]

I do all the laundry in the house. Mainly because that way I can sort out clothing based on type of material, rather than the person who wears it. I benefit by getting a full load and the family benefits because laundry is taken care of. I actually don't mind doing laundry, folding clothes and putting it away.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. My relative washes every thing together - fleece, towels, bed sheets, jeans, underwear- and her clothes start looking old after a few times. Of course, she also buys a lot of clothes to replenish her ruined clothes.

My categories are - towels, bedlinen, bathmats, kitchen towels, fleece, cleaning microfiber towels, perm press, undies/socks, delicates, normal, comforters, knits. My towels, bedlinen, bathmats and kitchen towels are all white, so that I can use oxyclean and the hottest water on them.

Thankfully, I have two washers (front loading and a drawer) and so small loads can also be easily tackled.

[Anonymous]

I don’t do my husbands either. We have separate hampers. I never wanted him doing mine because he doesnt know that certain things need to be washed or dried differently. It works for us. He has never complained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is very inefficient and wastes a lot of water and energy if every person is doing their own laundry- that is a ton of partial loads.

I combine all the clothes for all 5 of us, separate colors and fabrics and wash full loads of darks, whites, reds, jeans, etc. I can't imagine every person doing their own. That sounds ridiculous.

And no one do I want DH touching my clothes. I have a lot of clothes that require hand washing, line drying, or delicate. Stuff would get ruined for sure if he did it.

You have 1 load of laundry for 5 people? That is weird.

Reading is fundamental. That’s not what PP said.

I can read but she sounds obtuse. Everybody will have a full load weekly.

You shouldn’t it you are sorting and washing by colors. Maybe if you dump a weeks worth of clothes all together into the washer, but that isn’t a good way to clean your clothes.

GMAFB!

Do you also crease jeans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In reading multiple threads I have heard a very common theme of people not doing their spouse’s laundry. What’s the thinking in that? Do you have separate hampers for each other’s clothes, or do you have to sort the dirty laundry to find yours? Do you find their laundry gross and that’s why you don’t do it? I do all the adult laundry in the house (the nanny does the kids’ laundry, well, usually she does, she’s not working now) and it would never occur to me to only do my half (or portion, not sure who has more but it may be my spouse). Granted it takes longer for me to fold it all and put it away than it would if I just did mine, but it seems inefficient to me to do it separately. So I’m just curious as to why this is a thing for so many people. Clearly my spouse can do laundry, we both did it before we got married, and they will sometimes do it now, but it literally never occurred to me to have us each only do our own.

I find it funny that you don't do your kids' laundry and why you care about anyone else's laundry duty.

The big question to you is why don't you do your kids' laundry? Why wouldn't it occur to you to do it?

[Anonymous]

In my house it’s everyone’s responsibility to do whatever it takes to run the house smoothly. So if a hamper is full and person X is available, person X washes the clothes, whoever they belong to, this includes my kids, my husband and my mom, who lives with us part time. If her bathroom is dirty, I wash it. If my husband’s hamper is full, my daughter washes it. If the trash is full, my mom takes it out. If dishwasher is done, my other daughter empties it. Floor is dirty, I clean it. It’s just how it goes. We all live there and we all want the house to be a nice, clean place, so we all have to contribute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP, you seem really triggered by this. We don’t do each other’s laundry because we consider it part of personal hygiene. Some things are better kept private.

And as soon as our kids are old enough, they’re also in charge of their own laundry. It’s about personal responsibility, hygiene and independence.

How so?

[Anonymous]

I don't do DH because he is a capable human being and this is one chore that can be done on his time, when he wants, how he wants and does not affect me.
If he needs something washed and i have room, of course i will throw the item in. But as an ongoing thing? Nope. I already do mine and the kids, cook for everyone and do most of the cleaning.
He does the mowing/shoveling as needed but overall chores still fall more on me and he knows it. HIs idea was to do his own laundry so he we are.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps many people in this thread are *ahem* rotund individuals and or live in apartments or small houses without full size washers. All the insistence that each person take a full load of laundry each week is very surprising. Or maybe they don’t separate whites and colors? My wife and I combined clothes in one week takes up one load of colors and half a load of whites. My kids’ laundry all colors combined takes up one load per week. I suppose if my waist size were 6 inches larger then I might see previous posters points more clearly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In reading multiple threads I have heard a very common theme of people not doing their spouse’s laundry. What’s the thinking in that? Do you have separate hampers for each other’s clothes, or do you have to sort the dirty laundry to find yours? Do you find their laundry gross and that’s why you don’t do it? I do all the adult laundry in the house (the nanny does the kids’ laundry, well, usually she does, she’s not working now) and it would never occur to me to only do my half (or portion, not sure who has more but it may be my spouse). Granted it takes longer for me to fold it all and put it away than it would if I just did mine, but it seems inefficient to me to do it separately. So I’m just curious as to why this is a thing for so many people. Clearly my spouse can do laundry, we both did it before we got married, and they will sometimes do it now, but it literally never occurred to me to have us each only do our own.

I find it funny that you don't do your kids' laundry and why you care about anyone else's laundry duty.

The big question to you is why don't you do your kids' laundry? Why wouldn't it occur to you to do it?

I don't do my kids' laundry because it takes a lot of time, not because it wouldn't occur to me to do it. I'm doing it now that our nanny isn't coming (yes, we're paying her, lest someone decide to jump on me about that), and it more than doubles my laundry since they have multiple beds and my husband I only have one, they wear pajamas to bed every night and my husband and I sleep in the t-shirts that we then work out in the next morning, etc. So I choose to spend my time, during normal times, doing things other than my kids' laundry. I'm not sure why that bothers you so much. And I didn't judge people who don't do their spouse's laundry - I literally just asked why some people don't do it. Have you never wondered why people do things differently than you? Or asked a co-worker if they like their Pelaton because you'd never thought about getting an indoor exercise machine? Or if your friend likes their minivan because you've only ever had SUVs? I mean, maybe you're just not a curious person.

[Anonymous]

We have a laundry chute in the hallway between all of our bedrooms. Everyone in our family (me, spouse, 2 kids ages 3 and 5) puts their dirty clothes and/or towels, sheets, etc down the chute. Every afternoon/evening either my spouse or I will take the laundry that has accumulated in the basket under the laundry chute and starts a load of laundry. We take turns with this task but it’s not on a schedule it’s kind of just whoever thinks of it does it. And then we both pitch in to sort/fold all the clothes, we each put away our own clothes, and we try to have the kids each put away their own clothes too for the most part but sometimes we put theirs away for them. We are not particular about wash cycles or how clothes are handled for the most part. If we have something delicate or that needs special attention, we just take care of it ourselves.