<p>I absolutely LOVE this product for hanging up my shirts/sweaters to dry, instead of laying them on a drying rack. It looks weird, but it works fabulous for getting shirts, sweaters, etc., dry while keeping their shape. You don’t get the ‘shoulder hump’ from traditional clothes hangers.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/4772_hanging-garment-drying-rack.htm[/url]”>http://www.stacksandstacks.com/html/4772_hanging-garment-drying-rack.htm</a></p>
<p>Sons: do not wash jeans but two or three times in the life of the jean</p>
<p>Me: Put all the white laundry into one blue bag. Put all the colored laundry into another blue bag. Put the dry cleaning into a third blue bag.</p>
<p>Set the blue bags out on front porch on for launderer to pick up.</p>
<p>Leave check on the porch on Wednesday morning. Put away washed, ironed, hung/folded clothes on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Cost? 1/2 hour of my billable rate.</p>
<p>I just got a new washer a few weeks ago–wore the previous one out!</p>
<p>I am jokingly referred to as the “Queen of All Laundry” in my house! My rules supercede all others. Don’t even try to break them! I’m your typical type A laundry control freak.</p>
<p>I have six hampers–one for towels, one for sheets, one for whites, one for colors, one for darks, and one for undergarments. Anyone who sorts improperly is sorry! I wear special cotton-lined rubber gloves to do the laundry. I use a colorless, unscented liquid soap–I am allergic to many cleaning products. I use a dryer sheet for jeans only.</p>
<p>I turn all clothing inside-out. White socks, if stained, are briefly pre-soaked in diluted bleach. Stained underwear gets tossed. </p>
<p>I use fine-mesh laundry bags for all delicates and shirts. Woolite puts out the best snag-free bags. They even have a two sided mesh cylinder for bras.</p>
<p>I also like to sub-sort by fabric and category and color. All fleece together, all jeans, all t-shirts, etc. Separate loads for blacks, blues, pinks, etc. I use cold water and the delicate cycle for most items of clothing. I use hot water/cold rinse for sheets, towels and socks. I never wash underwear with anything else and I never wash mine with anyone else’s–we have lots! My D has joked that I have to send her to college with at least 100 so she doesn’t have to wash them at school! </p>
<p>As a rule, any shirt that costs more than $50 gets hand-washed.</p>
<p>Sheets and towels (which are all white) go in the dryer. I use the warm/delicate setting. All clothing is either hung to dry or laid flat to dry, and then “fluffed” with cold air for 5–10 minutes in the dryer. I have two expandable clothing rods on wheels and three standing drying racks in the laundry room.</p>
<p>I do sheets and towels every Friday–schedule permitting; clothing on Wednesdays and Sundays. I like to do laundry after midnight, mostly because I’m an insomniac. (However, energy consumption is lower at night and the cost goes down, as well.) I read while I wait for the cycle to finish. I actually enjoy the alone time and I find the quiet hum of the machine kind of soothing.</p>
<p>Just in case you didn’t think I was crazy enough–I should mention that I wipe off the bottoms of shoes and sneakers with a baby wipe (and remove any debris with a toothpick) on a daily basis. I have a pair of garden clogs that I use for the backyard chores and a designated pair of mules that I use to take out the trash or retrieve the mail in the front yard. You have to leave your shoes at the door in my house–but on the upside–the floor is pretty darned clean!</p>
<p>Wow,
I just separate into light and dark, usually use warm water and throw most things in the drier–no fabric softener, no bleach, no dryer sheets. Air drying would be better environmentally, but we have pollen allergies, so outside drying doesn’t work. I only use my iron to press colored leaves between sheets of waxed paper. Hasn’t had much use for the last ten years. </p>
<p>If you come to VT, you’ll see most of us are sort of wrinkly.</p>
<p>BABC - I thought you were crazy enough after the third paragraph. I’d take my hat off to you but I’m afraid you wold wash it immediately!</p>
<p>S called me from school to let me know that he actually used his hamper! The force field was broken!!</p>
<p>My son was sent to school freshman year with two pages of typed instructions on how to do laundry. I have always done all the laundry at home and he never seem to have time to learn before he left for school. I listed what items could and could not be washed together-ie red polo should only be washed with the navy polo, not the orange polo! </p>
<p>The second week of school I get a call from son giggling with several friends in the room, both male and female; seems the kids got a kick out of my directions! Of course even with what I thought was detailed instructions, I still would get a phone call asking if it was ok to wash his khaki’s with his towels or dark boxers with his light sheets!</p>
<p>college laundry method …</p>
<p>Pre-work … beg parents for more underwear, socks, and t-shirts so I do no have to do laundry as often</p>
<p>Step 1) Pile as much laundry as possible into a washer and let her rip on cold
1B - hang around reading while my laundry is going and hope I meet a cute girl</p>
<p>Step 2) Find all the dryers full, done, and no one around who owns the stuff … check out the cloths so I can guess who is least likely to kill me for removing their stuff from a dryer</p>
<p>Step 3) Chuck all my stuff into the dryer with one of the softner sheet things and let it rip
3B - hang around reading while my drying is going and hope I meet a cute girl</p>
<p>Extra Credit - avoiding a fight when the person who left their stuff in the dryer for a couple hours finally shows up and is mad because you moved their stuff so you could use the dryer.</p>
<p>(PS - I need to admit my grown up version of doing laundry is very similar except now we own cloths that actually are nice enough to hang to dry)</p>
<p>I’m with bethievt, and we don’t even look too wrinkly. 
I almost never use hot water: warm for lights and whites (which I do together), cold for darker colors. If there’s a new garment that’s red I wash it only with other red items, but only the first time - after that, the color is set. The only time I use a dryer sheet is when I’m doing sheets. I try to take things out of the dryer right away so they don’t need ironing, which I’m hopeless at: I wind up putting more wrinkles in, not taking them out. However, H is a terrific ironer, which is one of the reasons I married him.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school there is some web base application that tells you what washers and dryers are available. (And whether your washer or dryer is done.) As my husband noted, “Wow, that takes the sport out of it.”</p>
<p>Football season is upon us.<br>
We have two piles - “Green” and “Not Green”.</p>
<p>Is that “Packers” clothing and “Not Packers” clothing?</p>
<p>My best laundry tip is to use white vinegar instead of fabric softener. It gets rid of all traces of detergent, and does not leave the clothes smelling like vinegar. I don’t use fabric softener or sheets because my sons have allergies/sensitive skin. </p>
<p>I have a high-capacity front-loader, so I do large loads, sorted by whites/towels/sheets, darks, mediums. I always use the 2nd rinse. There are a few delicate things that I hang up to dry. I am a compulsive folder, and have been accused of ironing t-shirts and underwear because they look new after I fold them. </p>
<p>I also take my shoes off inside the back door, and my kids are trained to do this, too. I occasionally dip the soles of all our shoes into a bleach solution.</p>
<p>Six laundry bins - whites, really dirty whites such as socks, mediums, darks, towels and linens. Yes, things get turned right side out, with the exception of dark rinse jeans which are turned inside out so they don’t fade! Warm water/cold rinse for everything but the darks - those get cold water/cold rinse. Dirty whites get presoaked in bleach then hot water/cold rinse. Liquid fabric softener usually - dryer sheets for towels and sheets. </p>
<p>I hang up the better Ts/polos and some jeans to dry. For the jeans, I throw them in the dryer with a dryer sheet to release the wrinkles for a few minutes after they are dry, then touch up with an iron. Sometimes I will put nice but not brand new Tshirts/polos through the dryer for half the time and then hang up the rest of the way to dry - very few wrinkles that way and just need to be touched up with an iron.</p>
<p>I hand wash delicates. S has a few really casual button downs. For these I use permanent press cycle, throw in the dryer for half the time, hang and smoothing out the wrinkles by hand. They dry practically wrinkle free. </p>
<p>I have two long rows of shelving in the laundry room, where I fold and stack things and a long rod for hanging clothes right underneath that. I used to wish that I had a laundry on the first floor rather than the basement, but I think I like it better down there where it’s out of the way (out of sight out of mind for awhile, anyway!).</p>
<p>^^I have a laundry room on the second floor. My saving grace is a door I can close so no one has to see it!</p>
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<p>Heh. Sounds like my son’s wardrobe. Go Eagles!</p>
<p>You got it, Booklady!
Teriwtt, Birds vs. the Packers - Sept 9! Opening day.</p>
<p>Seriously, all our jerseys (2, 20, 36) go inside out, cold water, delicate, hang 'em up to dry. When we win, they hang outside - all week. Lose? They’re in the basement.</p>
<p>Watch out you clean freaks - the hygiene hypothesis suggests that keeping a house too clean and using all the antibacterial cleaners may be responsible for the increase in allergies. I subscribe to the notion that I am doing my daughter a favor by being a bit of a slacker when it comes to cleaning. With regard to laundry, I have tried to not use hot water but sheets and towels and such just don’t seem as clean - probably in my head.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that, cartera, and both of my sons have allergies, one of them life-threatening allergies. I am not really a clean freak, just like to save work by keeping outside dirt out of house.</p>
<p>I also hang the nicer knits that I want to keep that ‘new’ look, but my kids absolutely hate looking ‘pressed’…so I used Wrinkle Releaser spray instead of ironing for a lot of my hang-to-dry stuff. I’ve mentioned this product before as a college dorm room necessity, and it’s truly a great way to get the wrinkles out without hauling out the iron or making clothes look ‘overly’ cared for.</p>
<p>NYMom - I mentioned that in jest because I’m not sure I accept that hypothesis - after all , it is an hypothesis, but I did mention it to my MIL on occasion when she would freak out about my D, as a toddler, playing kissy face with the dog. I told her it was doctor recommended to ward off sickness. My shoes are pretty much parked at the door too - partly because it’s the only way I’ll know for sure where I left them.</p>