Why do people get obsessed over laundry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do all our laundry. I fold it as it comes out of the dryer, and then I put everything away.

It’s a never-ending, mind-numbing time suck.

I’m actually floored by people who don’t feel this way. Are you just dumping it all out on the bed or something?

NP and I agree with you. And this is just routine laundry, not laundry from random swelling, events, sicknesses, etc. And not including sheets/pillowcases/bedspreads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming you don’t have kids?
We go through one load a day. Moving it from washer to dryer, then folding it, sorting it, putting it away. Not Terrible, it’s like 20-30min a day total time spent. But let’s say you go on a 3 day mini vacation. Or you get the flu and so 3 days. Suddenly you are 90 minutes in the hole. Now imagine that happens every other week- for some reason, ever 14 days, you have to skip a few days. That means you are not infrequently staying home on a Saturday so you can obsessively switch over laundry loads, fold, sort, put away, then repeat an hour later all afternoon.

I have 2 20-something DSs who did sports and I never stayed home to do laundry. DH does his own and mostly did kids until teens. He does towels and I do sheets.

[Anonymous]

I’m pp and we don’t sort because we don’t mix laundry. Still, IDK how you’re staying home several Saturdays in a year just for laundry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you guys have a lot of “special” laundry? I feel like I have so much!

Wool socks. Wool sweaters. Wool everything in winter. Kid coats.

Things with oil stains.

Swimsuits and pool towels all summer.

Actually part of it may be that I don’t like to dry clean anything I don’t really have to. But, I’m also not usually overwhelmed by laundry. I’m often ANNOYED by laundry. But never obsessed.

My brother got divorced and non of his white things are white any more, the kids clothes are all dingy and they can’t have wool anything. They’re fine! But I don’t want to do it that way.

Swimsuits go with regular laundry.
Pool towels go with regular towels.
I can't remember the last time we had oil stains (or blood or wine), but stains are pre-treated, then everything goes into the regular laundry.
We have lots of woolens. They go into the regular laundry. Wool is a very resistant fabric. The delicate wool is air dried.
I wear fancy hosiery - it goes into the delicate bag with my fancy bras and then air-dried.

I have a large top loading non-fancy washer and set the clothes at delicate/warm/light soil, because top loaders are known to be hard on clothes. Clothes are dried slowly at a very low setting. That way, it's all washed/dried perfectly, instead of being mauled, and it means I can throw everything in there. Bedding and towels are washed and dried on regular/hot cycles. The dog's messy towels and my washable rugs are on extra long hot cycles.

Sometimes my horse-back riding kid comes home with more mud than fibers on her clothes and those get their own wash, but usually they don't let horses and riders muddy themselves too much.

I've been doing this for decades and it's never been a problem. I rarely dry-clean clothes, because 1) we don't have many of those, and 2) lots of "dry clean" items can actually be washed on delicate at home.

I'll let you do you on the rest of it, but the bolded is a problem. Wool is great, but you're making felt doing that. water+agitation = felt, and it goes even faster if you add soap. Throwing your woolens into the washing machine will felt them, resulting in garment shrinkage.

Wool is naturally antimicrobial, and can go through several wearings before needing a wash. That's how you save time. Don't spray them with perfume or wear them over heavy body lotion and you can wear them a few times. If you need to, you can even put them in a bag in the freezer to freshen them up. When they're in need of a cleaning, soak them in warm water with a wool wash (don't swish them around!), and then a couple rounds of soaking in clear water. roll them in a towel, gently press out the water, and lay flat to dry. If you really want to save time (and water), there's a wash called SOAK that doesn't need to be rinsed.

Yes, I know all that. I grew up in Scotland, with sheep and wool. As I said, they are washed on delicate. They are also not washed often, except the socks, which hold up extremely well in the wash (but the socks are not 100% wool). I don't know why you're trying to find a problem, but there isn't one. I wasn't the one who complained about laundry.

That's actually not at all what you said. "We have lots of woolens. They go into the regular laundry. Wool is a very resistant fabric. The delicate wool is air dried." <-- that's what you said. Your retcon'd quote wouldn't have gotten the reply you did, and you're clearly not a Scot, because there's a respect for the cloth and the craft that's distinctly lacking in your demeanor.

Your laundry isn't my problem, nor is your attitude, so we're good here. I mostly posted better info so that smarter people wouldn't read your nonsense and how it has allegedly "never been a problem", try things your way, and ruin their good wool. Best of luck to you, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you guys have a lot of “special” laundry? I feel like I have so much!

Wool socks. Wool sweaters. Wool everything in winter. Kid coats.

Things with oil stains.

Swimsuits and pool towels all summer.

Actually part of it may be that I don’t like to dry clean anything I don’t really have to. But, I’m also not usually overwhelmed by laundry. I’m often ANNOYED by laundry. But never obsessed.

My brother got divorced and non of his white things are white any more, the kids clothes are all dingy and they can’t have wool anything. They’re fine! But I don’t want to do it that way.

Swimsuits go with regular laundry.
Pool towels go with regular towels.
I can't remember the last time we had oil stains (or blood or wine), but stains are pre-treated, then everything goes into the regular laundry.
We have lots of woolens. They go into the regular laundry. Wool is a very resistant fabric. The delicate wool is air dried.
I wear fancy hosiery - it goes into the delicate bag with my fancy bras and then air-dried.

I have a large top loading non-fancy washer and set the clothes at delicate/warm/light soil, because top loaders are known to be hard on clothes. Clothes are dried slowly at a very low setting. That way, it's all washed/dried perfectly, instead of being mauled, and it means I can throw everything in there. Bedding and towels are washed and dried on regular/hot cycles. The dog's messy towels and my washable rugs are on extra long hot cycles.

Sometimes my horse-back riding kid comes home with more mud than fibers on her clothes and those get their own wash, but usually they don't let horses and riders muddy themselves too much.

I've been doing this for decades and it's never been a problem. I rarely dry-clean clothes, because 1) we don't have many of those, and 2) lots of "dry clean" items can actually be washed on delicate at home.

I'll let you do you on the rest of it, but the bolded is a problem. Wool is great, but you're making felt doing that. water+agitation = felt, and it goes even faster if you add soap. Throwing your woolens into the washing machine will felt them, resulting in garment shrinkage.

Wool is naturally antimicrobial, and can go through several wearings before needing a wash. That's how you save time. Don't spray them with perfume or wear them over heavy body lotion and you can wear them a few times. If you need to, you can even put them in a bag in the freezer to freshen them up. When they're in need of a cleaning, soak them in warm water with a wool wash (don't swish them around!), and then a couple rounds of soaking in clear water. roll them in a towel, gently press out the water, and lay flat to dry. If you really want to save time (and water), there's a wash called SOAK that doesn't need to be rinsed.

I love soak. It’s absolutely lovely. I also use kookaburra detergent for woolens.

I can smell this comment.

[Anonymous]

Try not having an in unit washer and dryer. I do have a tiny one, but it's so much work it's easier to just go pay at the apartment one, a good walk away outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nowadays some people like to make a big deal out of everything they need to do.

.

This^.

[Anonymous]

I love doing laundry! I’m always on top of it. It’s my favorite chore and I’m very good at it. My 7 year old folds all socks.

I only do 2 loads at a time. Only doing 1 load means I’m running to all 3 kid bedrooms and dh and my drawers to put things away. There’s more economies of scale doing 2 loads and putting things away only once. I air dry all shirts.

Wish I never had to cook or do dishes.

[Anonymous]

I wash and dry our laundry but I have a housekeeper who comes 1×/week and she folds it and puts it away. Life changing.

[Anonymous]

People need to do their own laundry. This communal nonsense is men hoping women will do their laundry for them. No. Laundry should be your own responsibility. Part of grooming and taking care of yourself. (But of course, do your kids laundry until they are old enough to do it themselves)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you guys have a lot of “special” laundry? I feel like I have so much!

Wool socks. Wool sweaters. Wool everything in winter. Kid coats.

Things with oil stains.

Swimsuits and pool towels all summer.

Actually part of it may be that I don’t like to dry clean anything I don’t really have to. But, I’m also not usually overwhelmed by laundry. I’m often ANNOYED by laundry. But never obsessed.

My brother got divorced and non of his white things are white any more, the kids clothes are all dingy and they can’t have wool anything. They’re fine! But I don’t want to do it that way.

Personally, I refuse to buy any special clothing that requires special treatment lol. No dry cleaning, no ironing, none of this delicate stuff. But I'm pretty poor, obviously I'm not buying incredibly expensive items that fit this box.

Women's business clothing often requires special care to stay looking new enough to be professional. Blacks remaining crisp instead of rubbed and graying (so different pieces match). Blouses often require stain removal (ink, sweat, spatters of tea, yogurt, whatever). Pant suits and skirts are often dry-clean only. Clothing quality in mid-priced lines is typically much poorer than 30 years ago because of competition from fast fashion. Buying frequent replacements is worse because I'm a hard to fit body type and have to look hours for pieces that fit or will alter well.

I look for durable, washable fabrics and treat the items gently. Usually that means color-sorted delicate wash and hang to dry or lay flat to dry. Drying flat gets in the way and creates long queue times because I can only dry a few pieces at a time.

Pilling is disastrous because it takes a long time to clean by hand and since my best battery-powered pill shaver broke, the replacements don't work as well and sometimes cut threads.

A good drycleaner is hard to find. I have a good enough one. But they mis-pressed my son's new black suit and made it shiny in patches. Broke a working zipper pull off my husband's wool outerwear jacket. They also refused to clean some garments that had no mention of dry cleaning on the tag. They also don't get stains out of wool that I can get out with Woolite.

I separate lights from darks. Primarily because blue jeans bleed so much now. They didn't use to. But about 15 years ago, with 4 jeans wearers, the dryer started turning blue wherever it had plastic components. The final straw was when I started to notice blue jean dye from the dryer transferred onto white and light-colored items washed separately. Dark wash jeans are an excuse for crappier dye and colorfastness.

I don't want more laundry work. But the fashion industry keeps making it for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t you guys have a lot of “special” laundry? I feel like I have so much!

Wool socks. Wool sweaters. Wool everything in winter. Kid coats.

Things with oil stains.

Swimsuits and pool towels all summer.

Actually part of it may be that I don’t like to dry clean anything I don’t really have to. But, I’m also not usually overwhelmed by laundry. I’m often ANNOYED by laundry. But never obsessed.

My brother got divorced and non of his white things are white any more, the kids clothes are all dingy and they can’t have wool anything. They’re fine! But I don’t want to do it that way.

Personally, I refuse to buy any special clothing that requires special treatment lol. No dry cleaning, no ironing, none of this delicate stuff. But I'm pretty poor, obviously I'm not buying incredibly expensive items that fit this box.

Women's business clothing often requires special care to stay looking new enough to be professional. Blacks remaining crisp instead of rubbed and graying (so different pieces match). Blouses often require stain removal (ink, sweat, spatters of tea, yogurt, whatever). Pant suits and skirts are often dry-clean only. Clothing quality in mid-priced lines is typically much poorer than 30 years ago because of competition from fast fashion. Buying frequent replacements is worse because I'm a hard to fit body type and have to look hours for pieces that fit or will alter well.

I look for durable, washable fabrics and treat the items gently. Usually that means color-sorted delicate wash and hang to dry or lay flat to dry. Drying flat gets in the way and creates long queue times because I can only dry a few pieces at a time.

Pilling is disastrous because it takes a long time to clean by hand and since my best battery-powered pill shaver broke, the replacements don't work as well and sometimes cut threads.

A good drycleaner is hard to find. I have a good enough one. But they mis-pressed my son's new black suit and made it shiny in patches. Broke a working zipper pull off my husband's wool outerwear jacket. They also refused to clean some garments that had no mention of dry cleaning on the tag. They also don't get stains out of wool that I can get out with Woolite.

I separate lights from darks. Primarily because blue jeans bleed so much now. They didn't use to. But about 15 years ago, with 4 jeans wearers, the dryer started turning blue wherever it had plastic components. The final straw was when I started to notice blue jean dye from the dryer transferred onto white and light-colored items washed separately. Dark wash jeans are an excuse for crappier dye and colorfastness.

I don't want more laundry work. But the fashion industry keeps making it for me.

Insomniac and laundry freak here who had to check the timestamp and see if I nodded off while typing this because I could have written it.

I agree that the worst source of laundry make-work is cheap fabrics and poor quality clothing. I also have a weird body so when I find clothes that work, I treasure them. But all of my clothes seem to be incredibly high-maintenance if I want them to last more than two seasons. 25 years ago I used to be able to make simple stuff from even Target or Old Navy stay good-looking even when using heavy-duty laundromat washing machines. Now I can finally afford nicer clothing and if I so much as breathe wrong while switching it from the washer to the drying rack it still might fall apart.

The crazy thing is that I have oxford cloth shirts, sweatshirts, and towels from literally 1965-1985 (hand me downs and elderly relatives that kept everything for good and stuff from older cousins who abandoned wardrobes after college) that are still going strong with normal wear and washing. I have towels from freshman year of college that are in better shape than “fancy” ones I bought last year.

[Anonymous]

Hello insomniac friend! I am PP.

I actually bought a fun handmade T-shirt at a craft fair before X-mas. Washed it once (no dryer) and the letters started to peel off. Will never do this again.

I know what you mean about towels. I have some from my wedding registry that still look pretty new after 30 years. New ones are mostly good for 3-5 years. I hate mail ordering towels because it's hard to match colors and understand textures.

Also see the epidemic of "belly button rot". The pinholes at the bottoms of T-shirts these days due to cheap cotton fibers/thin weaves.

[Anonymous]

Figure out what camp you are in when comes to laundry. One day do all the laundry in the house or do one load everyday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of four (now 3 most of the time as one kid is in college). I’ve always done laundry once/week on weekends.

This is the way to do it. I can’t imagine doing it every day.