Laundry Day

As I talked about last post, I do laundry on Mondays.  I also already posted a little about my laundry habits, as I talked about soap nuts before... so this post will probably be fairly short.

When I was working full-time, I basically found that I was not able to do laundry more than once a day.  I was working a 2nd shift job, so my days usually consisted of: getting up, going to work, coming home, eating dinner, going to bed... and repeat.  It was at that time that I deemed Sunday as my Laundry Day.  After Steve and I moved to Michigan, I went back to school and did not return to work.  This opened up my schedule quite a bit, but I decided that dedicating one day a week to laundry worked for us.  I wanted to just keep it that way.  Laundry Day slowly transferred to Mondays, as most weekends we spend in Ohio, visiting family and friends.  After getting more and more into trying to conserve energy, saving money, and making this chore more simple, dedicating one day to laundry made even more sense.

Steve and I keep our dirty laundry in three locations:

1.  Laundry Basket - we have a laundry basket in our closet that we throw our dirty clothes and personal bathroom towels in throughout the week.

2.  Utility Sink - any cleaning rags, dirty dish towels, rags Steve uses in the garage, etc. -- the really dirty stuff you don't want to touch your clothes -- gets tossed in the utility sink in our laundry room.

3.  Plastic Bag - Our dog is pad trained, meaning she does her "business" inside.  We use reusable pee pads, which do not smell pleasant when they are dirty.  I used to keep them in a plastic bag tied up in the utility sink, but because the room is so small, it would start to smell like urine in our laundry room.  Yuck!  So I moved this spot out to our garage.  Because the area is bigger, the oder dispenses and is not as noticeable.

On Monday mornings, I carry the laundry basket to the laundry room and begin making my piles of different loads.  I wash everything, with the exception of Carmen's (my dog's) pee pads, in cold.  This is one way to save on energy.  Unless your clothing is extremely soiled, there really is not any reason to wash on anything but cold -- and honestly, even then, I have found that cold works just as good as warm or hot.  I use hot on the pads, because it does help get the smell out.  Because I wash everything in cold, I disregard color.  Yes, I wash reds with my whites, blues with my pinks, and everything in between.  There are a couple exceptions to this.  One is when I have a brand new red, bright/dark pink, or dark blue (like jeans) clothing.  These things can bleed, even in cold water, so in my first few washes of these articles I try to break my loads into "like" colors to avoid any mishaps.  The other exception is my white towels.  I got my beautiful, eco-friendly towels as a wedding gift and I want to keep them in their perfect white condition.  I usually make those towels into one load, but sometimes I'll bend and throw in a couple other items... but they are always white and only white.  Those two exceptions are basically my only color exceptions that I have.  Next, as I sort through all the articles, I make piles based on the fabric.  Here is another helpful tip!  A natural guard against static: washing (and drying) like fabrics together.  The static typically is brought about from the different fabrics rubbing all together in the dryer.  If you wash, for example, only cotton articles together you will not need to use those expensive, chemical-filled fabric sheets anymore!  Now, do not misunderstand, I do sometimes (usually in the winter) have static cling happening in my clothing, but this method really does help.

So now, our clothes are in piles based on fabric, not color.  For our household, we typically have a very large pile of cotton clothing.  This is perfect, because I (usually) only wash in large loads.  This is another energy saver.  By washing one large load verses several small loads, you save water and electricity/gas... plus, it's less trips to the washer and dryer!  Because I have a family of two and a dog, my weekly laundry is usually loads of:

1.  Towels and Sheets

2.  Cotton - tshirts, socks, underwear, etc.

3.  Other fabrics and/or Gentle Cycle load

4.  Pee Pads and other cleaning supply rags, etc.

I'm sure the rest of my laundry routine is much like everyone else's.  When the washer stops, I transfer to the dryer.  When the dryer stops, I mope all the way to the dryer, pull everything out into a laundry basket, fold the laundry, and put everything away.  I do try really hard to fold the laundry right away.  If I do not do it immediately, it is not uncommon for it to sit in the laundry basket for a couple days.  So the best method that works for me to to keep on it and not let it sit, even for a little bit.

I am still kind of testing this out, because I am really not sure if it works or how well it works, but when my clothes are in the dryer I throw three tennis balls in with the clothing.  Way back when, my mom told me that you should do this when you wash and dry a comforter and/or pillows, because the tennis balls help dry them quicker.  So one day I was thinking, if that works for that why wouldn't that method work on all laundry?  I have tennis balls that are dedicated for laundry.  They have not been touched by a tennis court or racket, nor have they seen the mouth of a dog.  I am not a germaphobe, but I do have some standards!  haha  So anyhow, I do throw those into my dryer with each load.  I figure it cannot hurt anything, so why not!?  If anyone else has does this and believes it works, I'd love to hear about it!

In the future, I would love to cut out the dryer portion of this process as much as possible.  I dream of days with clothes lines!  We currently do not have a yard, so I am not able to do this... and I do not really want clothes scattered everywhere throughout my home, so I'm stuck with the dryer for now.  Someday though, someday!

I feel that the main way that I keep my laundry simple and inexpensive is the products I use -- or lack of products!  I use:

1.  Soap Nuts - I use these to wash all our laundry.  I typically have to make a batch every other week, depending on how much laundry we have.

2.  Vinegar - On occasion, I fill a Downy Ball with white vinegar and put it in with Carmen's pads.  I do this to help get some of the odors out.  This would work for those of you who use reusable diapers!

3.  Oxygen Bleach - I use this as a laundry boost for Carmen's pads or heavily soiled clothing.  I use this in addition to the soap nuts.  I also use this as a stain remover.  (Warning: I have only tried on white clothing.)  I make a paste with the oxygen bleach and water, scrub in with a toothbrush, let sit (I've let mine basically dry), then throw in the wash as normal -- worked beautifully!

4.  Dish Soap and/or Peroxide - I also use these for stain removers.  Peroxide is amazing at getting blood out of fabrics, colored and whites.

5.  Laundry Bag - I use these for bras or other articles that I wish to be handled with more care.

6.  Tennis Balls - I use to "beat" dry.  :)

So that is my basic Laundry Room Necessities!  I feel that through the changes I have made in my laundry habits, I have saved my family a lot of wasted money and doing less towards the "carbon footprint" I will leave behind.  I still hate doing laundry, but having a more simple routine makes it less dreadful and I hope with time it will only get better.