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

[Anonymous]

We have separate hampers. My DH does his own. I do mine and the kids. We never had a discussion about it, it just evolved naturally. Neither of us have an issue with it. I have on a rare occasion done his when he has been swamped at work with a big project or deadline.

[Anonymous]

We all have separate hampers and we all do our own laundry. Some of us are much better at this than others. Mine gets washed, dried and folded/put away promptly. He leaves his to get moldy in the washer, then wrinkled in the dryer until I yell at him to move it, where it then sits in a hamper for another week. He also wears like 7 outfits a day, I have no interest in dealing with that. I handle sheets and towels and other stuff, along with mine. And that’s more than enough.

[Anonymous]

Separate hampers. DH and I used to share but he is very nitpicky and one day asked me to air dry all the new socks he got because that’s what the instructions said, and I said I’m not going to pick out all your socks to air dry them. So we do our own laundry.

[Anonymous]

It’s something SAHMs say so they can feel like their husband is doing something around the house.

Personally it’s so much more efficient for one spouse to do the family laundry, one spouse to make lunches, etc. You can trade off tasks or weeks but everyone doing everything individually is not very productive.

[Anonymous]

I find this thread so funny. It never would occur to me that my husband and I would do our own laundry. We have four people living in the house, two teenagers and two adults. Each and every one of us does all of the laundry when it’s our turn. So when it’s my turn I do everyone’s laundry and same with everybody else in the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s something SAHMs say so they can feel like their husband is doing something around the house.

Personally it’s so much more efficient for one spouse to do the family laundry, one spouse to make lunches, etc. You can trade off tasks or weeks but everyone doing everything individually is not very productive.

And here we have the potshot at SAHMs. Could you start your own anti-SAHP thread? We are talking about something else here.

[Anonymous]

When DH exercises, he sweats profusely. His stuff gets SOAKED. I don’t want that mess commingling with my not-so-stinky laundry and I don’t want to touch it, so we have separate hampers.

[Anonymous]

Separate hampers and we each wash our own for many of the same reasons already listed in this thread. If I ddI t have to wash my children’s laundry though, maybe I would
Wash his.
But since I have to do theirs and mine, he can do his.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find this thread so funny. It never would occur to me that my husband and I would do our own laundry. We have four people living in the house, two teenagers and two adults. Each and every one of us does all of the laundry when it’s our turn. So when it’s my turn I do everyone’s laundry and same with everybody else in the house.

That would drive me crazy to sort and fold for everyone. We have four people in our household - three do their own laundry and the parents take turn helping the youngest.

[Anonymous]

I do everyone’s laundry, but I usually don’t fold his. All those slippery running shirts drive me nuts.

[Anonymous]

This is so odd to me! DH and I have separate hampers but I wash everything. I combine his darks and lights with mine. I wash and fold and leave his on the dresser.

How would you have enough for a load if just doing for one person? Do you just do small loads or mix your lights and darks? I’m so confused by this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s something SAHMs say so they can feel like their husband is doing something around the house.

Personally it’s so much more efficient for one spouse to do the family laundry, one spouse to make lunches, etc. You can trade off tasks or weeks but everyone doing everything individually is not very productive.

And yet op says her nanny does the kids clothes. So WOHMs feel like their nannies are doing something around the house? It just seems weirdly ironic to say it’s somehow superior to do your spouse’s laundry, when someone else is taking care of it for your kids.

[Anonymous]

We have separate hampers, the kids do too. AND I do all the laundry. I prefer to wash each person’s stuff separately. Then I dont have to sort when I’m folding. I tried this years ago on a friend’s recommendation and really liked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is so odd to me! DH and I have separate hampers but I wash everything. I combine his darks and lights with mine. I wash and fold and leave his on the dresser.

How would you have enough for a load if just doing for one person? Do you just do small loads or mix your lights and darks? I’m so confused by this!

LOL you don't think single folks wash or have enough to wash or it is just something couples or folks with children do?

[Anonymous]

I wash and dry everyone’s laundry. My husband folds a lot of laundry while he is watching sports. I also fold laundry as needed. He takes it all upstairs and puts the clean laundry away for the two of us. Our kids put their own away.