Joy & Austin 33: Pregnant Again

[Travelfan]

All this talk of college kids bringing home laundry is cracking me up. We just took our 19 year old son to college (about an hour away) this week.  He told me he will be coming home at least every 2 weeks to do laundry. Not for me to do it, he’s going to do it (he’s been doing his own since he was 7) but he feels the college laundry is too gross to use 😂 I think we let him watch Monk too much as a young child, he’s a bit obsessive with cleaning, he brought his own swiffers and Clorox wipes  to college!

[GuineaPigCourtship]

I brought my laundry home most of the time when I was at college - the coin operated laundry was expensive and there was like 2 machines for the whole dorm.  People would throw your stuff on the folding table to put theirs in if you weren't there as soon as it ended.  No thanks.

But I never needed anyone to do it for me.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Oh yes, everyone I knew brought laundry home to wash anytime they were visiting their parents. We were all tight on money and we would rather spend it on cheap beer, not coin operated laundry. 

[mango_fandango]

I washed laundry whilst at university, I didn’t bring it home. It was too far to go every week or two weeks. 

[fluffernutter]

My adult kids always bring laundry home. They like my "gucci products" (persil and bounce free lol) and extra large capacity washer and dryer. I haven't done their wash since they were kids though.

[HeartsAFundie]

When my son started college there was a local company that provided pick-up and drop-off laundry service to the students.  I actually thought it was a very clever idea.  And so did my son, who begged me to sign him up (and pay) for the service.  I told him that he was in college not just for academics, but to learn how to shift for himself-and that included doing his own laundry.   I further said that he was more than welcome to pay for the service himself with the money earned from his campus mailroom work-study job.  He predictably declined to do that and resigned himself to doing his own laundry while at school, except for the end of the semester when he would return home with a bag full of dirty clothes.    

I am sure his girlfriend with whom he lives is grateful that we never signed him up for the laundry service.    

[GuineaPigCourtship]

I'm curious how many people do laundry separately in their homes.  When I was growing up, we had communal hampers in the laundry room and bathroom and all the laundry got done together, sorted by lights/darks/red.  Everyone did laundry except probably my dad who certainly knew how but had other tasks he was in charge of.  I've never separated my husband's, my daughter's, or my clothes out.  When she's big enough to help, I imagine it will be the same but it sure sounds like a lot of people don't do it that way.

[AussieKrissy]

43 minutes ago, GuineaPigCourtship said:

I'm curious how many people do laundry separately in their homes.  When I was growing up, we had communal hampers in the laundry room and bathroom and all the laundry got done together, sorted by lights/darks/red.  Everyone did laundry except probably my dad who certainly knew how but had other tasks he was in charge of.  I've never separated my husband's, my daughter's, or my clothes out.  When she's big enough to help, I imagine it will be the same but it sure sounds like a lot of people don't do it that way.

yep I think most aussies are a communal hamper 

I don't know anyone else who doesn't, maybe tradies clothes may get washed separately due to possible toxins but I guess who ever has the turn next to do a load or needs something desperately puts the load on

I know my friend was pissed when her Step Daughter threw just her work pants and top in the wash despite a full basket there...

Quickly explained that not only was that a waste but that was not how families work.....

[Giraffe]

32 minutes ago, GuineaPigCourtship said:

I'm curious how many people do laundry separately in their homes.  When I was growing up, we had communal hampers in the laundry room and bathroom and all the laundry got done together, sorted by lights/darks/red.  Everyone did laundry except probably my dad who certainly knew how but had other tasks he was in charge of.  I've never separated my husband's, my daughter's, or my clothes out.  When she's big enough to help, I imagine it will be the same but it sure sounds like a lot of people don't do it that way.

I rent with two others. Mostly we each do our own when we have enough for a full load but it’s not unusual for one of us to add a few items if someone’s doing laundry a few days before we’re ready to do ours. 

[Travelfan]

1 hour ago, GuineaPigCourtship said:

I'm curious how many people do laundry separately in their homes.  When I was growing up, we had communal hampers in the laundry room and bathroom and all the laundry got done together, sorted by lights/darks/red.  Everyone did laundry except probably my dad who certainly knew how but had other tasks he was in charge of.  I've never separated my husband's, my daughter's, or my clothes out.  When she's big enough to help, I imagine it will be the same but it sure sounds like a lot of people don't do it that way.

When my kids were little we did everyone’s laundry together. When they were 7 & 8 I got them each their own hamper in their own rooms and taught them how to do their own. I still did my husband and mine together. A few years back my husband took over doing ours because he hated that I’d put a load in and forget about it for a day or two. 

[Mama Mia]

When my kids were growing up the clothes were usually mixed until they were old enough to do their own, then they’d have their own hamper - or shared with whatever sibling(s) they shared a room with, but towels would go in a communal hamper. Often though people would ask if anyone had items to throw in if they had a small load. That seemed to work better for us, at least when we lived in places with a washer /dryer. When we had to go to a laundromat everyone’s would go in together.  IIRCC they learned to run the washer and dryer between 8-11 somewhere, depending on the kid. The younger ones picked it up at the older end, along with most of the chores. Not fair, obviously, but the older siblings would often just add the littler ones stuff in with theirs. 

When I was a kid I distinctly recall being about 11 and my Dad asking me how to run the washer! I was appalled. He cooked sometimes, and I think did some other cleaning, but I’m sure not his share when he and my mom were together. His subsequent girlfriends seemed to demand he pull his weight more. 
 

 

[Keys]

It’s me, my husband, and our babe, and we do all of our laundry together, separated by colours and whites (we use a natural fragrance-free detergent, so fine for babe). Growing up, everyone’s laundry was washed together at my house, too. 
 

On the other hand, my friend who lives with her parents does hers separately, but she tells me she really separates her clothes, and so will only wash like-fabrics together (so different loads for jeans, cottons, etc). She said that she’ll often even wash one item at a time like a wool sweater, her rationale being to prevent it from being damaged by the other clothes. I could never do that haha. I do wonder if she’ll change that when she has her own home given the expenses of water and hydro. My roommate in university would wash her clothes every single day in the washer, so only a few items at a time, and it really bothered me 🙃

[neuroticcat]

I hire a cleaner quarterly and would do it more if we could afford it. I figure doing all the cleaning ourselves might save money but costs so many other ways. 
 

I taught my boys how to do basic household work in the summers when they were younger - cleaning bathrooms, mopping, cleaning a room top to bottom - so they would know how to do those skills. Now as teens they are responsible for their laundry but I don’t micromanage. I knew young men who never washed their sheets by choice. I grew up with a mom who religiously washed them weekly whether anyone slept in the bed or kit. As long as they know how to do it, I just don’t care.m beyond that and give them the option of either cleaning their own bathroom, hiring a sibling, or paying me to do it. IMO there’s no particular virtue in any domestic job and there are a lot of ways to get it done. 

[Audrey2]

My family did communal laundry until all of us were adults and even now when I go back to visit my mom she insists on me adding my clothes to her laundry so she can wash a full load. I always thought she kind of liked to do laundry plus she is really picky about separating colors and washing a full load. Growing up we knew that there were certain colors we either shouldn't buy or should buy a lot of because some colors hung out in the laundry waiting for more of those colors to join them than others. My job was to fold the clothes after they came out of the dryer. I also think my parents did this to save money so they wouldn't have teenagers washing two or three items of clothing so they could have their favorite shirt.

[Nothing if not critical]

I honestly wouldn't know how to organize our laundry if everyone washed their clothes separately? We'd either need a lot more clothes, or we'd have to constantly run the washer half-empty, which is a big no to me both for financial and environmental reasons. I sort my laundry by colours/temperatures, not by persons, because otherwise I'd never get a full load.

My kids do help with the laundry (hanging, folding, etc.), and obviously I expect them to collect their dirty laundry and put things into the correct hampers. They know what goes where and what to do with it. I don't mind being the one to fill and start the washer most of the time - that's the least part of the job, imho.

[Meggo]

2 hours ago, Nothing if not critical said:

I honestly wouldn't know how to organize our laundry if everyone washed their clothes separately? We'd either need a lot more clothes, or we'd have to constantly run the washer half-empty, which is a big no to me both for financial and environmental reasons. I sort my laundry by colours/temperatures, not by persons, because otherwise I'd never get a full load.

My kids do help with the laundry (hanging, folding, etc.), and obviously I expect them to collect their dirty laundry and put things into the correct hampers. They know what goes where and what to do with it. I don't mind being the one to fill and start the washer most of the time - that's the least part of the job, imho.

We have laundry baskets in the various rooms (so there is one in our room, one in the kiddos). But I don't separate clothes by person unless someone is REALLY out of clothes. And even then it's "oh - kiddo is out of pants, I should wash some..." but then it's "And what else can I wash?" 

And whites are always last because we don't have a TON of them so I gather them all for one load. 

[Cupcake79]

We do communal laundry. I’ve had the kids help from a young age. Same goes with other household chores like doing dishes, cooking, washing windows, vacuuming, changing tires and so on. Our 13-year old was surprised when she discovered that her best friend doesn’t know how to cook pasta. It was kind of an eye opener to her and she realised that we’ve been rather smart to teach her and her siblings basic household skills.

[fluffernutter]

@neuroticcat Do you mind sharing with me what you have the cleaner do quarterly? I have some difficulty doing some types of cleaning tasks, and while my husband cleans as much or really more than I do, he is frequently out of town and a lot busier than me. I'm wondering if an occasional deep clean would help us out. 

[libgirl2]

We each do our own laundry but I did do my son's when he was little. I usually do our sheets and all our towels but I have thrown them in the washer and either one take care of the rest. I never did my husband's laundry nor my ex-husband's. 

[AnywhereButHere]

We started off doing all our laundry together, but somewhere along the way, we evolved to everyone doing their own separately We'll sometimes ask if anyone has anything to throw into a load (or if anyone is desperate for clean clothes 😄), but most of the time, we're all on our own,

[Cupcake79]

But how do you ever fill the washing machine if you do separate laundry? I just don’t get it. Do you blend different colours? Our machine can do 9 kg loads and we separate white, red, dark 60 degrees, dark 40 degrees, light 60 degrees and light 40 degrees. Celsius. Delicates/wool separate of course. We do about 3-4 loads a week, sometimes more.

[Meggo]

51 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

@neuroticcat Do you mind sharing with me what you have the cleaner do quarterly? I have some difficulty doing some types of cleaning tasks, and while my husband cleans as much or really more than I do, he is frequently out of town and a lot busier than me. I'm wondering if an occasional deep clean would help us out. 

I would LOOOOOVE to have a cleaner back (we haven't found one we can agree on). So when I did have someone clean the house, she came every other week or so and did the following: she tidied, she did any straggler dishes, ran the dishwasher, dusted, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchen. Tidied our rooms, made the beds (and because she adores the kiddo - his animals were always set up in a different way), vacuumed the whole house, mopped the floor (the kitchen and living room are open concept - so basically the whole first floor got mopped). 
Sometimes - she would do things like "your laundry room is making me crazy" and she'd go through that and make it neat and tidy (and I nearly fell OVER when she did that because it was gorgeous). Or when we were out of town - she came in and cleaned our fridge out from top to tail (and put in a bit of milk for us so we wouldn't need to get that when we got home) 

So I would say quarterly cleaning (assuming said person doesn't also need to do the regular clean too that time) would be things like dust the baseboards, clean the tracks in the sliding glass door, clean the laundry space. Or focusing on one area of the house and REALLY going nuts in there. Like the bathroom - bleaching the grout. The kitchen - clean out the fridge and make it sparkle. BIG things that just don't get done all the time. My SILs clean houses (not mine) and they once asked me if I had a preference on how the walls got washed. Since it had LITERALLY never occurred to me to WASH my walls (outside of prepping to paint them) they opted to mop them. So ... maybe other people could add "mop walls" to the quarterly list? (that was 6 years ago and again - still haven't mopped my walls) 

[AnywhereButHere]

I separate by weight rather than color (although there is a red tablecloth that I make sure only goes in if I don't have any light colors in the mix), so heavier weight fabrics like jeans/towels/sweatshirt/etc... all go together. Stuff like leggings/pajamas/lighter weight shirts/non-red tablecloths 😂 all go in a load together. I'm pretty bad about staying on top of laundry, so by the time I get around to it there is definitely enough of each to make full loads. I'll also throw the communal stuff into my wash loads like kitchen/bath towels, sheets (which generally get their own load) and other random items. 

Husband is not picky and throws everything in together, so he always has full loads. Not sure about son, but I'm pretty sure he also just throws everything in together also.

Edited January 19, 2023 by AnywhereButHere

[Pammy]

I only did collective laundry when the kids were little. Once they can do their own, they are on their own, and I recently separated mine and my husband's laundry. Yes, we wash all types of one's own clothes together (except for my one cream sweater, which can't be in a load with jeans, so I put through a no-jeans-sweater-in load when I need to). Nothing runs but jeans and even the jeans run very little. The only one of us that really tends towards whites or pastels is also pretty anti-jean, so that works out for them.

I did need to upgrade my number of socks and underwear so that my laundry cycle is long enough that I don't reach the end of my underthings before I hit a full basket -- but even if that happens sometimes, I throw in a few towels and the load is good to go.

I find it a vast relief that I don't have to memorize, sort, and deliver others' clothes -- and that nobody has to do that. All of your clean laundry is yours, and nobody else is counting on you to keep up with their needs. When we did communal laundry the sort-and-deliver task was 100% mine, because I was the only one who could reliably keep things straight. It wasn't fun!

[fluffernutter]

Yeah @Meggo I guess I am picturing windows and sills, walls, baseboards, that kind of thing. Maybe a good wipe-down of the kitchen cupboards and stuff like that. This is worth a discussion at least.