For only two people, we generate a fair amount of laundry and are lucky enough to have laundry in the house (still appreciate that after 20 years or so). We have a divided hamper upstairs--one side for lights, the other for darks. We also have a laundry shoot on the first floor. When I take laundry up to the bedroom, I then take down the dirty clothes, already sorted. In the basement, I sort through the chute laundry, then do the following loads: lights, darks, bedding, bath towels. When the laundry comes out, I take it to the couch and sort it as a set up to fold--shirts, stuff to be ironed, underwear and socks, pants/shorts, etc. Then I fold these in order and put them in the basket for each person. Makes it so much easier to put stuff away and start the whole process again.

I actually like doing laundry; even though it is endless, you can see and smell the results and I love putting away and putting on clean clothes and getting into a freshly laundered bed.

I'll probably catch hell for this, but as apartment dwellers, my boyfriend and I try to cut laundry costs by doing as little sorting as possible. Pile #1 for hang-dry clothes, Pile #2 for dryer clothes. Toss each into a laundry machine, when done, hang one basket and toss the other in the dryer then fold and put away when done.

Washing jeans with t-shirts and button-downs? Yup. Washing underwear, socks and pajamas with towels? Yup. The only time things get separated more than that is if I need to add bleach to a load of dirty whites.

I only do laundry for 2 people, we keep 2 laundry baskets in the closet - 1 for whites, 1 for colors. Delicates that require handwashing are cleaned immediately after use. We do laundry when the baskets start overflowing, usually every week to 10 days. Whites only make up 1 load (which includes our bath towels). Colors are 2 loads, one being pants only. I fold clothes while still warm from the dryer to prevent wrinkles (and to enjoy that fresh laundry smell). Tshirts, underthings, & socks are stored in dresser drawers. Workout clothes & PJs are stored in chest at the foot of the bed. Work tops & pants are hung. My clothes are separated by pants, then tops sorted by color. We use a separate closet for my husband's pants and our shoes. An extra load is ran when we wash bedclothes.

I'm in the category as Aimsly. If I sorted the clothes, I'd be doing two to three many times as I do now. Currently my categories go shirts and pants as one load and towels, undies, socks, pajamas as another.

@ Aimsly - Washing jeans with t-shirts and button-downs? Yup. Washing underwear, socks and pajamas with towels? Yup.

This seems like a very sensible idea to me, is there some school of thought that you shouldn't do this?

(I speak as a person who only bothers with "white" and "everything" else washes)

I want to participate in the laundry shoot on the first floor...sounds like a hoot. Do the neighbors mind the noise?

Aimsly, that is what I do as well! My husband and I live in an apartment as well and sorting laundry creates more work, not to mention all the water and energy it wastes.

sort?? what is this sorting you speak of? If it's cloth, it goes in...

Maybe the neighbors help with the laundry shoot on the first floor...sorry, I'm still laughing. Delightful fun.

I launder for two, and am deliriously pleased to have a tiny laundry room AT home and UPSTAIRS near the bedrooms! (We had this setup in our old house and found out how nice it is, so I advocate for the design if you ever have the chance to build!)

We have laundry baskets in our closets which serve as hampers. I take them to the laundry room, dump them on the floor, sort into my two or three batches, and fill them with the finished laundry to return to the proper bedroom. (Socks and underwear on the bottom, then folded jeans then pants, then folded knit shirts then folded fabric shirts -- heavy or no-worry stuff on the bottom, things that might wrinkle on the top. Items on hangers draped across the basket last.)

I wash once a week on the weekend. I do whites in one batch (which includes towels, underwear, some t-shirts and other tops, usually.) I don't wash sheets every week, but when I do them, they are bulky enough to form their own batch (as whites). I do one or two batches of darks, and that includes jeans, mid-tone colors, even some pastels. Many weeks, though, since we are moderate in building up our laundry, it's only two batches.

I TRY really hard to get to the dryer within a few moments of the batch ending. If I fail, I run the 20 minute warmup cycle to dodge the bullet of ironing. I have hangers on hand for all my tops and shirts, which I shake out and hang while still warm, so no ironing needed. (I have one of those wire shelves over the washer and dryer for detergent and stuff, and the front lip serves as a hanging bar.) Socks and underwear go into their piles on top of the dryer as I unload the machine.

I fold his t-shirts and "dress" shirts since he refuses to bother with hangers. (He's a software engineer, and wears long sleeved shirts over T's as jackets, not buttoned or with ties. It makes a big difference on the level of neatness required!) I also fold the jeans and pants immediately.

It's an easy matter to take my hangers of tops to the closet and hang them, put my folded pants on their shelves, put my pile of socks on the dresser for matching into pairs later (or just in the drawer if I'm lazy), etc.

For me laundry starts with shopping. I have very few items that require dry cleaning or hand washing, nearly all of our clothes are no-iron wash and wear. I look for fabrics that don't require a lot of maintenance. I have an iron and use it when I must, but I hate that and avoid it if at all possible. Clothes that turn out to surprise me with their needs are dontated to charity! New things that might leak dye in the wash are washed separately, but we try to not buy that sort of thing -- I'm fairly good at being able to tell dangerous color/fabric combinations for that.

Most of my life I had to use laundromats or apartment complex laundry rooms, and I still tried to do as much of this as possible then, although it was harder. A rolling laundry basket helps.

I just sort clothes by temperature, since I have some white underclothes that require cold. There's also only one of me, so it's not a big deal to make piles in front of my washer when I get around to it.

I am alone I guess in neurotic sorting.

I sort blacks, whites, reds, OTHER colors, jeans, delicates, bedding, bath towels, OTHER towels...

Then, I sort clean clothes into hanging, ironing, and personal piles of socks, undies, shirts, pants...

But I never do anything less than a full load of laundry, so sometimes red items are in the laundry room for 6 months :)

I sort lights from darks. Delicates of all colors go in together. Sheets and towels each get their own load (hot water for sheets, warm for towels). Everything goes into the same hamper and then I sort on laundry day.

I have actually taken two loads of laundry to professional cleaners for fluff and fold this week because I've been so terribly busy at work. I don't intend to make it a habit because it's REALLY expensive and I actually enjoy doing laundry. That said, they did a great job and the time savings has helped my mental health immensely.

I just have the fuzzy cats in a separate load.

AT readers have discussed small laundry rooms before, but here's my problem, and I'm open to suggestions: We have a small laundry room, one of those pass-throughs from the garage to the rest of the house. There's very little floor space--no room for a sorter, and the room has three doors. When I sort my laundry, it ends up in piles down the hallway. When we have house guests who stay long enough to do laundry (e.g. during the holidays and during the summer), we walk around mountains of dirty clothes. P.S. Laundry might be the only chore I like.

Aimsly, we are on the same page. There's one load of cold and one of warm, and if it would all fit into one washing machine, I'd just do it all on cold ;)

It also cracks me up how much some people have to say on a subject this mundane

Clothes in cold water (most of my clothes are similar colors anyway) and sheets and towels in hot. I hang a lot of clothes up to dry; everything else goes in the dryer. No problem.

akay: I agree with your comment regarding how much people have to say about a mundane topic like laundry! Who knew it would spark such interest?

The thing is, we all have to deal with it no matter how mundane it is. Therefore, we all have an opinion on how to do it. The trick is finding a solution that makes your life easier and removes a little stress.

I happen to have the problem that smellofsawdust mentioned where the laundry piles seem to migrate down the hallway. My laundry room is tiny so when I sort I have piles everywhere and it can take me days to get through laundry for 4 people. I still don't have a great system so I am open to suggestions!

Sheets and towels together, since those get bleached; lights/whites/"unmentionables" together; jeans in a load (since those go on construction sites, they tend to get pretty dirty, and I don't want to tear up the unmentionables); and darks go in a load. Reds/oranges/pinks go in a load together. All of my loads, except towels and sheets, get washed on cold, though. But that's the sorting just prior to washing. The sorting starts at the end of each day when I undress, and that's when dry-cleaning goes in one hamper and washing goes in another. That way, my dry cleaner doesn't end up dry-cleaning "unmentionables" and I don't end up paying $1.50 for it.

smellofsawdust: I suggest installing a wire shelf above the washer and dryer and use that for storing laundry supplies and hangers for clothes. Get some laundry baskets all the same size. Sort in another room with more floor space, then bring the loaded baskets and stack them if needed to reduce the space your piles take up. (Or put one loaded basket on top of the dryer, the empty basket that held what's in the washer now nested with it, rotating as things come out of the dryer...) Wash one batch per evening instead of all at once. (Mainly keeping the mess elsewhere until ready to do the actual wash.)

Kind of the "just in time" system!

My laundry basket is a pretty wicker one upstairs in the bedroom. My ideal laundry situation (ideal because most weeks I don't do this, but when I do it makes me very happy) would be the following:
Laundry baskets get full, I sort them into piles on the floor:
hot wash darks, hot wash lights, delicate darks, delicate lights, towels/ sheets, pants/ denim/ very heavy things.
And then I just bring them down one pile at a time. The loads aren't massive, and I'll do it on a day when I'm home pottering in the kitchen, or writing. So when a load finishes, I either hang it up to dry, or throw it in the dryer, and bring down another one. When a dryer load finishes, I sort it into piles on the dining room table. By the end of the day I have a whole bunch of sorted clean laundry on the table, and a whole bunch of stuff hanging up all over the living room to dry... which I usually fold the next day. And then I just put it all away. Once a month I'll retrieve the big pile of things in the 'ironing' pile. And I'll put something good on hulu and iron. *shrug* It might take all day, but very little of the time is actually spent doing laundry, so I get a helluva lot done when I do it... sometimes I'll write a big to-do list (or WANT to-do... like cupcakes and pannacotta and bread and drawings) and just make my way through it while all the laundry is being done.

Laundry chute--that's what I get for posting before I finished my morning caffeine. Glad to give people a few laughs!

@ LowBrowLawnParty, I'm with you in the neurotic sorting: blacks and jeans on their own (prevents fading), reds (I have a lot of reds/pinks), other colors, whites, towels, sheets, delicates. My condo has a tiny washer/dryer where four towels equals one load, makes my sorting feel a little less neurotic. The laundry basket has 3 compartments: darks, whites, everything else - makes doing a quick wash much simpler because I can just grab the darks or whites compartment and load it in while I run out the door.

I only do laundry for one and I do it when I notice the bag over flowing or I think to do it- or discover I have no clean underwear. All laundry goes into a big laundry bag from Target (a bright green and white scroll pattern with pink cord) which is theoretically supposed to be in the closet, but always seems to end up somewhere on the bedroom floor. I pull out what i need washed according to the what is inside: usually this means a light load and a dark load, but sometimes also includes a bright load. I have to plan, because while i have a washig machine in my condo, the dyer is broken. So I hang dry in the shower (I put up an extra tension rod to hang hangers from), which can take up to a day- so i have to plan my showering schedule accordingly. But I do save quite a bit on energy by not using a dryer. I avoid any items that need to be dry cleaned, and have an aversion to hand washing- I usually stick those items in a delicates bag and toss it in the regular wash.

I'm in the LowBrow and WrigleyHogs camp.

I could go on and on about laundry. I secretly love it, because I like the folding, sorting and stacking. It's part of my OCD nature. But I hate that there is always so much of it. I have a house of 4 people, and my husband seems to generate enough laundry for two grown men, so it feels like there are more than 4 of us in the house.

And I don't let him do any laundry unless it's ONLY his own clothes, because he ruins my stuff.

Anyway, my short answer for Misty is to get a lot of laundry baskets, and do the stacking system that SherryBinNH recommends. I do something similar to this, and it helps keeps things organized, and somewhat tidy. I don't have a whole laundry room (just a closet), and I end up sorting and folding a lot of laundry on my dining room table. But when I need to put things out of sight, I stack up the baskets and tuck them into the closet.

As for sorting, I tend to put all the kids' clothes into one or two loads (depending on how much there is), and wash most of my own things separately on the delicate cycle (and I hang almost all my own clothes to dry, so they don't get ruined by the dryer). Husband's clothes generally get washed in the "work clothes" load and the "everything else" load. Sheets go in their own load. Towels in another.

Did I mention I have OCD?

I only detest laundry because being an urban dweller I have no laundry 'room' and have to wash at the local laundromat. As its such a task I prefer to go once a month (for shame..). So for one person NEEDS two laundry baskets, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. Having two stops crazy overflow.

Also having a 'pretty' laundry bag (http://www.indiarose.com/shop/detail_all.php?prod=DWbg) in the bathroom, makes it less embarassing when guests come around.

The washing is a simple enough task but my problem is the sorting. I hate to sort in the laundromat..there is ALWAYS some dodgy guy eyeing my threads..and dare I say, imagining me in it. Hence I stuff everything in the laundry bag and run home, only to completely overrun my living room with sheets, clothes and what not. It literally takes an hour..for one person. If anyone has a super trick to 'sorting and folding' in a quick and easy way please let me know, because that part drives me batty.

saer
http://cravenmaven.wordpress.com

I really, really hate to do laundry. Partly because my laundry room is in the basement, and so it's rare that things get moved from one floor to the next in the process (dirty to clean) any sooner than a week. My biggest peeve though is putting the clothes away (I also hate unpacking after a trip for the same reason). But generally, towels and sheets go in together (colored), whites go it alone no matter what the article we're talking about, and then everything else is likely to go in together. Everything gets washed on cold, and I do laundry about once a week (sheets included). Most stuff gets hung on a clothes rack to dry to conserve energy. My boyfriend also washes his clothes at my house, which sometimes prolongs my process if he throws a load in before i can get that next load of whatever was on the floor in. But seriously, I can wash, dry, and fold everything between Saturday and Sunday and it can stay that way in the laundry room until at least Friday of the next week!

All my laundry ends up in one hamper, but when I wash I sort by color: Whites, Reds, Blues, Grey/Blacks & Browns...

All my towels are white - so they go together.
White clothing is separate from white towels and white bedding.
When I wash sheets, they go in as a set by themselves.

Two piles: hang-dry and dryer. I always wash on cold and rarely use bleach anyways (I use my own detergent & pre-wash recipe and I find I don't usually have the need).

I have a love-hate relationship with laundry. I love to do it, but since I don't have a washing machine at home, I have to do it at the Laundromat (fortunately downstairs) which I hate doing. Its always busy, full of screaming kids running around, and I just hate it. So....I drop off my laundry now, and let them do it for me. All my clothing is wash and dryable, anything needing special attention gets dry cleaned. I've rarely had things ruined, and everything comes back folded like origami. Sheets towels and blankets? Miraculous. When I am on vacation, I love to do the laundry and hang it out to dry. My husband thinks I'm nuts,

For us the horrible-ness doesn't come so much in the washing, but in the later folding. So, do to space constraints, we keep one basket for all dirty stuff (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom items combined), separate whites out then do two washes.

But my newest folding efficiency breakthrough has come in the form of sorting -- I dump all the clothes on the bed, then sort into piles: "squares" (napkins, towels, etc), his shirts, my shirts, his pants, my pants, etc. Then I circle the bed, folding each pile to conclusion. When one pile is folded, it is immediately put in the appropriate drawer. The sorting makes folding easy because I can repeat the same motion over and over until a pile is finished. I don't have to think about it and it goes by faster.

I sort laundry into lights (whites light colors), rough (towels denim), and darks (all other dark colors). I do laundry about every 10 days.

I design apartments for a living, and take seriously the issues raised here! (I wish all my clients took ME seriously on this issue!)

I prefer W/D near the bedrooms rather than in a kitchen or basement (who in their right mind wants a basement laundry in new construction??) Even placing laundry within the master closet (for a one bedroom) or in a bathroom can be nice.

In small houses or apartments, I greatly favor stacked washer/dryer units. There are high quality units available. Even if you have room for side-by-side, I would rather save the space for a small broom closet / cleaning supplies cabinet. Stacked W/D with a small base cabinet and countertop, with shelves above, is my ideal.

In the bedroom, I think a chest or bench at the foot of the bed can make a nice place to stash dirt laundry.

Does anyone else not do their partner's wash? I would never let him do mine - it'd be ruined - and I refuse to do his on principle - I guess it just pushes my feminist buttons as no other household chore can do.

Oh, I am sort only to make sure the delicates are in lingerie/sweater bags, everything else goes in together on cold. Easy!

"Whites - Lights - Brights - and Darks!" -that's the little song that I sing when throwing the piles of dirty laundry into smaller, more manageable piles. Because I procrastinate and the small piles become BIG piles. From the piles I sort into hand wash, dry clean, etc. I hate laundry. Ugh.

I'm also an apartment dweller. To save costs and trips up and down stairs I just seperate the dark and "others". Sometimes the dark and "others" get thrown together if there is enough room in the wash.

I can't imagine doing laundry once a month ewww.

I hate folding and hanging stuff up. Somewhere on the AT site (cant' find the link) there is an article on how to hang t-shirts up super quick - I've adopted it for both dry and wet shirts.

I throw all my clothes into my hamper, then sort at the washer according to lights and darks.

i do laundry for 5, one of whom is a serial pants-wetter. i hate laundry, but i can't relinquish control of it because nobody else would do it right. i get twitchy when the towels are folded wrong.

Here is a sorting tip for delicate items like bras or other items that need special treatment. (I launder mine in the washing machine in cold water, but hang them to dry.) Keep a few of the zippered mesh lingerie bags wherever you get undressed. After you take off your bra, immediately refasten the hooks-and-eyes and put the bra directly into the mesh bag. When the bag is full, zip it and drop it into the hamper (my bags hold three bras). This way, the bras are easy to spot and launder correctly, and the rule is--no mesh bags go into the dryer. I do the same with my knee-highs.

i have a very tall husband, which creates very short tees if i wash them the wrong way.

i basically wash all of his tees separate from everything else, so they can be washed cold and tumble dried on low.

towels/blankets/rags/socks go in 1 load.

husband's tees (all colors, if there's too many, then it's blacks & colors)

jeans/colored tees (sometimes separated by warms & cools)

whites are separate but there are never that many, so it's an itty bitty load

finally...husband's gym shorts...these random dri-fit blend things are a nightmare if i dry them on high. they come out like little fireballs that scold my hands...so these are also washed separately on warm, dried on low.

we live in a 600sf apartment with a closet that is filled TO THE MAX with clean clothes. i am still trying to find an alternative place to throw our dirty clothes that is pretty and functional. don't have enough room for a real hamper/basket/etc.

i am in love with this huge laundry bag i saw a few weeks ago on AT. it looks like a giant ruffled skirt with a strap, and can be hung up in the bathroom on a towel hook. now i can't find the link.

any idea where i can find this?

whoa...nevermind. just found it above. someone posted the link of the bag i've been looking for.

how convenient!

and for the record, i think i might be the ONLY person that absolutely LOVES going to the laundromat.

i don't have to at this apartment, but i have at all previous places...i just love having some time to myself to sit and read and have a cold drink. also folding clothes at the laundromat is so nice...because when i get home, it's a simple thing for me to put them back on the shelves (not many hanging things) and move on with my day.

I can't be the only person with pets!

My clothes are first sorted into furry/not furry. The furry stuff (pet beds, pet blankets) gets washed and dried by itself. The not furry stuff is sorted into 1. dark clothing 2. light clothing 3. towels and bathmats 4. sheets. I wash towels and mats by themselves because they need more drying time, sheets and blankets by themselves because large items will ball around small items and never dry. Because I use duvet covers, one set of bedding is a full load.

I have a washer, but no dryer, so some things can be washed and hung on a clothesline at home. Usually that means towels and sheets; clothing requires extra ironing if line-dried. Furry stuff needs a dryer dryer sheet to de-hair, so it and the clothing have to be carted to a laundromat. I put bras and fragile stuff in mesh sacks, machine wash on delicate, and line dry.

More on the furry laundry: there is a lot. There are usually five cat blankets deployed at all times: on our beds, on the couch, in pet beds. I change the blankets weekly; I don't want a dirty pet blanket in my house. I bought a bunch of the microfleece throws at homedecorators.com -- good stuff.

I do laundry about every two weeks, and split the task over two or three days because of disability; if I tried to do it all in one day, I'd be in a lot of pain. I sometimes use a wash and fold service for clothing, sheets, and towels, but never for bathmats or pet blankets because they charge extra for those.

I mostly hate laundry, but I hate dirty clothes, towels, and sheets more.

ajh, I do the same thing: sort, then fold. It really speeds it up.

Doh! Not homedecorators -- I get microfleece throws from domestications.com.

laundry is my favorite housework. mostly because the machine does all the hard work and i still get a feeling of great satisfaction in the end.

i separate lights from darks and delicates from more sturdy clothes, and wash in warm or cold water depending on the fabric or color.

sheets, towels & cleaning rags get washed in hot water separately from clothes.

certain items (sweaters, things that may shrink or pill) i hang to dry.

i used to dread folding & putting everything away, but now i love just getting it over with as quickly as possible (like, as soon as it comes out of the dryer) so everything stays neat.

i've been using method's laundry detergent for the past few months and like it, especially how it's dispensed in a pump.

back in november i bought whirlpool duet front loaders (washer & dryer) and love them. have even seen a decrease in my water bill.

Laundry is always a task! I also live in a NYC apartment and don't have a laundry room in my apartment. You lucky people that do! My husband has a basket and I have a basket. There is also a seperate basket for sheets and towels. My husband actually washes his own clothes now (before I washed all the clothes and almost had a breakdown because it was overwhelming me!). I wash my darks seperately and my colors seperately. I don't have a lot of whites, but I usually asks my husband if he could wash my whites for me since their are so little. I also wash my towels and sheets together in hot water. I try to do laundry every 7-10 days, if not it WILL become overwhelming and very frustrating. Thank God we just recently moved and we are now on the 2nd floor and have 2 laundry mats on our street, with 1 being right beside us.

@home body -- your statement is shocking. Fuzzy cats are dryclean only. It's worth the cost, and they return crisp and nicely folded.

I presort everything. I hate handling dirty things. I have laundry hampers for kitchen (white) towels, one for sheets, one for bath towels, one for outer clothes, one for under clothes, one for socks, and one for napkins. I have huge amounts of everything, so I wait until each basket is full before I wash. For instance, I have 72 kitchen towels, so I only have to wash every couple of months. I have a rack under my sink to dry towels before they go into the laundry basket. I have four sets of sheets, and 56 pairs of socks. I am OCD about one type of dirty thing not touching other type of dirty thing. I'm not OCD about anything else, just things that go into the laundry. But it does make laundry day easier because there is no sorting clean laundry either. I only fold and put away one type of laundry at a time. I know it's weird. Instead of having so many baskets, I primarily use large paper shopping bags with handles. Not only can I line them up on the floor of the closet or pantry, when it is laundry day, I can grab the bags by the handles, and I'm good to go.

@aprilheartsaaron --

If when you say T's. you're referring to your husband's undershirts, I highly recommend undershirts from Brooks Brothers - They're super-long!

We throw our clothes into hampers. When it is time for sorting I haul them into my husband's study and take over - (he never uses this room opting to work on the couch most of the time.) I sort into colors and whites, dyer and hang dry. Then I try to do as many back to back loads as possible. If I hammer it out, it gets done - if I space it out it never happens.

I HATE laundry. I fantasize about owning a handful of black tee shirts, a pair of jeans and couple dresses, plus a towel per person, so I will never have to see the awful pile of laundry. I think putting it away is the worst. So tedious. Give me dishes or even cleaning the bathroom over laundry any day.

I am a mediocre cook, a so-so housekeeper, but I am obsessive-compulsive about laundry. Fortunately, my husband and I have plenty of room for our clothing, and good hamper space. I won't bore you with details, but when Husband leaves the house each morning---he looks perfect. I take exceptional care with his shirts and trousers (all Jos. A Bank). He only gets one chance to make a good impression, so I do everything I can to aid him, and if that means extra devotion to his clothing, then I give it. I've been known to press his undershirts so they will lie totally smooth underneath his dress shirt.

My best laundry tip: buy a bar of Fels Naptha® Laundry Soap to pre-treat collars and stains. It works far better than any spray/stick treatment, and it only smells soapy---not that lingering oily odor. It's an old-fashioned product and not easy to find, but ACE Hardware stores stock it or you can order it online. Well worth the effort.

Amen! @ SunnyBlue re: Fels Naptha Soap. I actually use it to make my own liquid laundry soap. I got a wild idea to try it during a long winter a couple years ago, then was so pleased with the results that I've done it ever since! It's environmentally friendly, works better than anything I've ever bought, and only requires a little bit per wash, so I've only had to make it about twice a year (takes about 10-15 minutes at this point) to keep us supplied, at a cost of perhaps less than $10/year. The downside is that there is a 5 gallon bucket of it in the laundry room, but I guess I could put some in a smaller container if it starts to bother me too much.

I sort our laundry as little as possible, keeping in mind that we have a few items that might bleed color or be too heavy to go in with certain other items. Also, some things like our bath rugs that tend to get everything else linty usually get the washer to themselves.

We have 2 IKEA Knodd garbage cans that we use as hampers -- one in the main bathroom, and one in the bedroom. (Click here for a pic) I think they're practical and pretty, and they have a lid which is a definite bonus!

I can't tell you what happens after I throw my clothes in there ... my husband takes care of washing/folding/ironing/putting away the laundry. Yep, I'm one lucky lady!

Sort whites, dark colors, light colors, towels, sheets, and hubby's colors. Yes, that's around 8 to 10 loads a week for 3 people! We each change 3x a day (work/school, home, PJ's) and my eight year old is not always spot on with the potty issues. But, my husband is the worst about leaving paper, tissues, pens, etc in his pockets, so his stuff gets done separately.

I adore doing the laundry though. The laundry room is the only place where no one bothers me because they know I will put them to work if they do! There is something therapeutic about folding laundry for me. Putting it away is another story. Each person is responsible for their own on that front.

While hoping not to get murdered, I just do all things that go in the laundry on warm water. Hot seems like a waste but something about cold doesn't scream clean to me. Considering between me and the fiance we only have less than a five items that are whites (that aren't underwear) they tend to just get thrown in with everything else because it would be ridiculous to put only five things in. I haven't seen anything get ruined yet after several years of doing this.

I just started using these papery sheets that stop dyes from mixing (no doubt not ecologically sound). I find these useful but wouldn't put in any whites that were important to keep pristine. I still sort vaguely into lights and darks.

I wash stuff as and when I think about it and then I choose whatever needs doing most so my loads might consist of lights / darks / pink&red / sheets / towels / dog towels / dog bedding. Every so often I chuck in a load of other random stuff like fleeces or coats or dressing gowns etc.

It's all a bit random but it works for us.

My husband and I do laundry seperately most of the time as I'm allergic to tide and we got a LOT of it from my parents (so he uses it for now). I use cold on all my clothes to save on electricity since my clother are never THAT dirty anyways. Depending on how long I've procrastinated, it can range from everything in one load to whites, colors, reds. I will wash my towels with my clothes (which load depends on the color of the towel). Bedsheets get their own load unless I don't have many whites. I just kind of go with it. Whatever fits in the washer without overstuffing it gets washed as a load.

Does no one here hang their laundry to dry? We do a light load, dark load, and bedding load. We use a couple of wooden drying racks, and the dryer is reserved only for sheets, which are impractical to dry in our small space.

I guess I'm manic and crazy. I wash most every day, usu. abt 2 loads (there are 5 of us):

1) jeans
2) whites (mostly socks)
3) light greys, tans
4) reds
5) mid-range and light cool colors
6) mid-range and light warm colors
7) darks
8) towels
9) whatever bedding I couldn't add into the other loads to round them out, but I separate these by color-type as well.

I wash some loads before they're full or I'd never see those clothes again.

I lay everything out flat on the back of my couch into piles by person. Everyone folds and puts away their own.

I hate the laundry but I'm still a little obsessive about sorting everything. I got it from my mother, lol. There's a pile for whites, bright colors, dark colors, jeans, and sheets. Sometimes I'm tempted to throw everything in but I'm always paranoid about ruining my clothes. I do my best to keep them looking good so that they'll last me a long time. I usually wash clothes with cold water or warm water if they're really dirty. I use hot water for my sheets because I have pets that sleep in my bed.

It took me two decades to come up with my formula. Of course, during those two decades, we raised children and they are a formula unto themselves!

For my husband and myself, everything goes into the hamper which we keep in our closet. Dirties to be washed are topped with their now-empty hangers, tossed downstairs in their net bag and joined by the dirty towel from the powder room and the dirty towel and dishcloth from the kitchen. On to the laundry area they go where they are sorted into piles of my shirts, my pants, my delicates (which are zipped into a protective bag), his shirts, his pants, and finally, all of the remainder (socks, wash cloths, etc.). If there are enough of one named item to make a load, in they go. If not, then they are combined (usually in terms of shirts, pants) and they are washed together. Dress socks, by the way, do NOT go in with towels, etc. The nasty lint they harvest from the towels is awful!

I set my timer to go off with sufficient time to hang/fold before the dryer stops on its own. Dress clothes (those articles of clothing that need to be hung up/folded immediately to avoid wrinkles) are done first. That way, the last load--undies, socks, etc.--can just be dried and left in the dryer if needed after it has gone through its cycle.

When it comes to the last load, I've made a game out of folding them. I take out one of one type of article (sock, wash cloth, undies, etc.) and then as many of that type as I can see without moving anything else and create a pile. Then I go on to another type. When I find an article like the first, I begin pulling those out and putting them into their pile. This goes on until the basket is empty. I then start stacking things to be folded in prep for folding them. I find that it saves time to do one movement and then go on to the folding movements after all of that article-type have been laid out. It's all part of the game because if I make it fun, then the work gets done. Stacked back into the basket, the clothes are now ready to take upstairs to be put away. I have, by the way, left napkins, powder room towels, and kitchen towels on the top of the basketful of clothes. That way they don't get taken upstairs only to be taken down again.

To further the game, I've made it a Rule that laundry isn't done until the clothes are put away. And that means the basketful of clothes as well as the hanging clothes. It works! While I don't really like doing laundry, I like having clean clothes that are prepped and ready to wear/use.

There. I feel better already. So clean. So fresh. So DONE!

we have a hamper in our bedroom, one in the kids' room, one in the linen closet. the only rule is that linens all go in the linen closet hamper, and we don't use paper towels, so it is a ton of linens.

I do one load of laundry a day, for 2 adults 2 kids and some assorted guests and animals that allows me to be on top of it. I just go for whatever hamper looks the closest to overflowing and decide what is the most desperate need- light clothes (pastel-loving fairy daughter), dark clothes (skinny old black-clad gothy husband) mid-range (the boy and I ) or linens, which are all close enough to white that they all get bleach and the sanitary cycle.

I put the laundry in the washer in the morning, the dryer in the evening and then fold it and put it away after the kids go to bed, or it will be scattered from one end of the house to the other!

DIrty stuff sorted like this:
white 60 degrees Celsius - underwear, towels, bedlinen
white 40 (there's very little of it though, so mostly hand-washed)
coloured 60 - underwear, towels, bedlinen, the occasional t-shirt that can take higher temps
coloured 40 - husband's work clothes (don't want cat hair on them so they are washed separately) and my few "nicer" items
coloured 40 - everyday clothes

Wash bags are used for delicate 40 degree stuff.

I sort into clean and dirty. Usually. The boyfriend and I do our laundry separately, so there is no fighting about whose turn it is. I hate folding, and I hate hanging even more, so I usually end up wearing things out of the basket without ever putting them away...

@ultimatemcgee I've never had a dryer always line dry after over 40 years of home making but I thought we were talking about sorting the wash here.

ultimatemcgee, I have a clothes line outside, about sixty feet long. I'm quite lucky that way -- or I will be when it stops raining! I can do a load while I get ready in the morning, hang it out, and it's dry by 6 p.m. Line dried items can be stiff; to prevent that, I add 1 cup of white vinegar to the wash cycle. I don't use fabric softener.

@ultimatemcgee -- outdoor clotheslines are prohibited in most US urban apartments & suburban neighborhoods.