Laundry, the ongoing battle

Bevv · 01-29-2002, 05:58 PM

There is just Hubby and me at home, and you would not think that we would be constantly doing laundry.. but sure seems like it.

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week?

Do you line or machine dry?

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures?

Do you use home made laundry detergents?

Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less?

Spill all your laundry dirt

)

My details follow

Bevv · 01-29-2002, 06:03 PM

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week?

)I wash clothes when the laundry hamper runneth over, or when I am in the mood

Do you line or machine dry? Machine dry

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures? moslty cold water, sometimes warm for whites

Do you use home made laundry detergents? Have not made that leap yet.. still purchased laundry detergent, with sales and coupons

Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less? I use about half the recommended amounts with no aparent change in softness or cleanliness

Spill all your laundry dirt

)

bamamomto4 · 01-29-2002, 06:14 PM

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week? I wash just about everyday.With 5 people in the house,if I miss a day,It seems the laundry will triple!

Do you line or machine dry? During the summer I "try" to line dry sometimes,but not as often as I should.Most of that is just pure laziness LOL During the winter I machine dry.

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures? I use warm for most loads but the during the summer I use cold.I don't know why I think my clothes have to have warm water during the winter LOL
I always use hot for whites.

Do you use home made laundry detergents? I to have not ventured into making my own detergent so i buy mine with sales and coupons also

Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less? I use the recommended.Since I began my need to be thrifty lol I have cut back some

OK--There's my dirt on the laundry!!

CountryMom · 01-29-2002, 09:28 PM

I wash clothes everyday. Usually just a load, but sometimes two.

I have a clothes line in my laundry room, so I line dry the big stuff. The towels and jeans go into the dryer after they are dried to fluff them a bit.

I use warm 99% of the time.

I buy Tide on sale and/or at Sams. Sams ususally has the best price.

I use half the recommended amount.

TAMA-TOE · 01-30-2002, 02:03 AM

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week?
I try to do laundry every Mon and every Thrus. but due to dks and mostly ds: if he has riped something off and then decides he needs it back on, don't look for the one you just took off go get something quickly found out of the closet or drawer

I have a laundry sorter in the laundry room so I try to keep the hampers around the house emptied into this, that way when I have a full load of colors, darks etc I can see that I do and get them done.

Do you line or machine dry?
I machine dry, as some of you know I am a recruiter's wife and the demands of dks and house just doesn't leave me enough time to line dry. Occasionally on my slower days during the summer I will line dry. In the winter is out of the question, I tried it and it took days for anything to dry, plus ouch my hands hurt from the cold air and wet clothing. We now have Walley, don't know that line drying outside with him is going to go over well.

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures?
Cold for darks, jeans, colored towels, sheets
Warm for lights
Hot for whites and white towels

Do you use home made laundry detergents?
I was gonna once but couldn't find the stuff I needed in the store and forgot about it and/or gave up too easy. I found some Sears laundry det. on clearance for 4.00 for 85 loads and stocked up buying 5 boxes. This will last me for quit a while before I have to purchase or make more.

Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less?
I use a scoopful, the box says use two scoops for heavily soiled clothing and one scoop for norm. I have dks that don't think nothing about how those stains come out of their clothing the next time they put it on.

Michelle · 01-30-2002, 09:59 AM

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week? I try to do 2 loads a day. If I miss a day, it seems to multiply ten-fold LOL

Do you line or machine dry? I just bought a 20 ft retractable clothes line at Home Depot on Sunday. I am going to calculate the savings from using the line rather than the dryer. I've got an Excel spreadsheet keeping track of the number of loads we've washed and if we've used the line dry or the gas dryer. I must say that the line dry takes a lot longer because I can only get a load or two on the line and then I need to wait for the clothes to dry before I can hang another load. BUT if I see any savings whatsoever by doing it this way, I will continue to do so.

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures?I always wash in cold for some reason.

Do you use home made laundry detergents? Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less?

I have been researching this and may find the time soon to make a batch. I have a few concerns though that seem to make buying detergent on sale and with coupons a better value right now. I use slightly less than what is recommended.

MicheleMomof3 · 01-30-2002, 12:50 PM

Do you wash loads of laundry every day, or only certain days of the week? If I dont do a load a day then theys eem tobe romantic with each other and over night it multiples!

Do you line or machine dry? I machine dry now. I had the same problem with only getting one load at a time on the line. Then it takes all day to dry. With the warm weather in Florida you would think it would dry quickly. But in the summer time when it warm it also rains every afternoon. So I got frustrated quick. We purchased a used gas dryer for $40. We dont have natural gas, we use propane. We hooked a small 10lb. gas grill tank to it and I get about 40 loads dry out of it. Since we have a family member who works in the gas business its only $3 to fill it. Much cheaper for us.

Do you use only cold water, or different tempertures?I wash everything in cold so theres not an off chance of colors bleeding, especially new things. I will use hot for the whites. Especially Dd and Dh's socks!

Do you use home made laundry detergents? I tried it before and used Ivory, it sucked,lol If I could get Fels Naps I would try it again.

Do you use the "recommended" amounts or less? I use a cheap liquid brand and cut it in half with water. Works very well.

~Michele~

Jerseygirl · 01-30-2002, 01:55 PM

On average I do laundry 2-3 times per week, use less detergent of a name brand detergent--whatever I can get for less than $2 for a lg bottle, and I hang dry-put the dryer that came with the house out in the garage, it wasn't hooked up and is electric and I am so trying to save wherever possible. I use cold water for everything except white socks and his white briefs and my kitchen towels, they all get hot and bleach.

milach · 01-30-2002, 02:31 PM

I do laundry either on Sat. or Sun. Typically I do 3 loads a week, unless I have dirty sheets, used alot of towels 1 week or what have you.

I line dry. I have 2 drying racks- so I am able to dry all of our socks, undies, shirts, all ds' clothes (he's only a size 2T). I use the dryer once a week to dry all the big things like sheets, jeans, multiple sweatshirts. When I do use the dryer, I dry on low for about 1/2 the cycle (sometimes less). In the summer, everything gets hung outside. I've slashed about $40 off my electric bill doing this.

I keep the water temp on warm. Hot is a waste of money, and cold water doesn't rinse out all the soap suds.

I don't use homemade laundry detergents (actually, I never thought of it!). I've been using Seventh Generation, which is an all natural detergent, and contains no phosphates. I figure it will extend the life of my septic system if I'm not dumping all those chemicals and detergents into it.

I try to use 1/2 the recommended amount, unless dh throws something really greasy in there, then I use the full cap full.

Laura

MANDERS · 02-19-2002, 12:30 AM

I do laundry about twice aweek.But about 11 loads a week.usually on mondays and fridays.For some reason it seems we wear more clothes during the weekends than the whole week.

I line dry outside in the summer and inside in the winter.I hang them up on door jams,cribs,shower rods,etc.

I use cold water on everything unless I am soaking to get major yucky stuff out(usually once a month.

I buy Purex,after coupons I can get it for $1.95 for about 100 loads,I half mine so that is 200 loads.I also buy the wal-mart fabric softner and dilute it with water,don't need dryer sheets I don't use my dryer.

But if you do use them tyr cutting them in half or fourths.

audpodge · 05-21-2002, 10:27 PM

I do laundry about every other day. I wear a uniform to work and so does dh. I line dry whenever possible. Living in Tx makes this really easy. Sometimes by the time I get to the end of the line, the stuff at the front is already dry. I use cold water for everything and avoid buying anything that it white. I just made my first batch of homemade detergent and the jury is still out. It didn't gel like it was suppose to? I dunno, we'll see. I use white vinegar in a downy ball as a fabric softener.