I wash all my clothes inside out. Why? Because my DM told me to do it that way, and I can't see any reason to not do it like that.

Dances, I dry my jeans long enough to be sure they are dry; if the pockets or waist band are still dampish I hang them over the hanger and leave them hanging on the back of a kitchen chair till they are dry.

I got a chill just thinking about you sticking your arm into a cold, wet pant leg!

Sue

Some good pointers, but what I really want to know is how Dances gets her DH to do his own laundry, lol!

I never wash clothes more than 4 minutes unless they are jeans that I have wore working in the garden.

I usually turn any shirts that have logos inside out to wash and dry, most regular clothes I do right side out in wash and dry, some that have dangly belts or metal things I put inside out so as not to clang around.

Just got my new FL Samsung washer and dryer about an hour ago so will be trying them out with a few loads tomorrow. The guys that delivered and set up did run both empty and I could not even tell they were running, huge difference from the old ones.
I read on the Samsung site for the FL's it is best to add some towels with things like sheets or comforters that would normally wad up to keep that from happening. Even my old ones had a tendency to do that though.

My husband started doing his own laundry also, every Sunday night he does everything for the week. It is a big help.
I do all the rest, and my cleaning lady does the sheets when she changes them out.

My DDs new front load washer takes forever to do a load. And her dryer doesn't get the clothes completely dry. The seams and cuffs are still damp. Her MIL and SIL both got new machines, all them are different brands, and they have the same problem. I think this "green" thing is going to far when the dryer doesn't get the clothes dry. I am keeping my old machines as long as I can. My washer completes a load of washing a good 25 minutes faster than hers.

I love my front load washer (Samsung) but I have kept my old drier. I don't do the matchie thing with laundry appliances.

I agree about the green thing going too far. My rant is what they have done to dishwashers. Old ones had a one hour cycle that left your dishes clean,dry and too hot to touch. New ones take forever leave "sweat" all over the place unless you open the door when the cycle ends. How does an appliance running over two hours save energy?

I got my dh to do all the laundry when I turned a pair of slacks pink.... 30 years ago... they probably don't fall for that now.... and now I always have some 'color out' packets... occasionaly he makes a similar error...

How do I get DH to do his own laundry. Well. Let me tell you a story.

Long long ago, in a house not too far away, a new husband told his wife that she does not fold his clothes the way his mother did. From that time on, that husband folded his own clothes.

Not long after that, he mentioned that she did not wash the clothes the way his mother did, and tried to give her pointers on doing it "the right way". And he has been washing his own clothes ever since.

Pretty simple really.

He will also do towels, and DD's clothes as long as it doesn't involve "girlie undies". But that stems from the fact that I am not supposed to bring laundry up and down. Plus that way I don't change the settings on the machines and mess him all up - BWA HA HA HAAAA!

Dances.

We used to rent in a two-family house. The upstairs neighbor was a dry-cleaning teacher in a local trade-school. She told me she took her jeans to work (dry-cleaning school) and had the students clean them for practice. Now that we know dry-cleaning chemical fumes can be toxic, I'm not so sure that sounds like a good idea.

In case you hadn't noticed ... that Dances is one sharp cookie.

Hi Jannie,

And is your neighbour still alive and kicking?

o j

Other than socks/whites, I wash everything inside-out. And I don't use bleach. I use a scoop of Oxy-clean with the detergent, and hot water. My whites are nice and bright.
DH does ALL his own laundry. When we were a young family he said he was a big boy and I wasn't his mommy, I was the kids mommy. (that reads a little snotty, but it was really sweet) So I take care of myself and the boys. He does some of their laundry too sometimes, but when he's doing whites he makes it smell like a hot tub. Drives me batty. The boys are teenagers now, so they are doing their own from time to time.

I like doing laundry. Hubby likes ironing, so that's how we do it.

Mom and step-dad recently got a new LG front load washer. It's a huge thing, computerized. I did some of her laundry when she was in the re-hab hospital for a couple weeks, and added my clothes as well, as we were there. It was a long wash, at least an hour long. Was definitely quiet. I really can't see why they have to wash that long though. It's not like we farm.

OTOH the pay washer here only runs for about 24 minutes, which to me is not long enough at all. Even though I use liquid detergent, and not a lot.....and 99% of the time, it's the homemade, which doesn't make suds, I get white soap film on our clothes, more often that not.

I just turned my black long sleeve tactical shirt right side out after washing (prolly the first time I washed it inside out...).

Had lint all along the sleeve, where it was in a fold, and the sides. Of course, I didn't have my glasses on, when I turned it, and put it on. Then, YIKES! I had to wipe it down to get all the lint off.

Usually I wash and then hang my laundry out to dry, but with the high pollen count, I had used the dryer.

Guess, in the future I have to remember to turn it right side out before tossing it in the dryer.

Moni

You can't blame the Feds or the energy people for a dryer not drying. That's pilot error, not regulations or the dryer, assuming the dryer is working properly. Dryer design hasn't changed that much in the past 50-60 years. Yes, there's a few that reverse tumble, there's a topload version, there's a lint cup instead of a filter but for the most part, they're not much different than what those used decaded ago. In case you didn't know, there is *no* energy star rating for a dryer (or a cookstove for that matter) since they don't vary that much on energy use. Dryers basically do three things:
1) They tumble clothes;
2) They heat the air (most of the time unless you're just air fluffing); and
3) They vent out the humid air.
That's basically it. Dryers are simple machines and all work basically the same and that's why I cannot understand someone spending $1000-$2000 on a dryer! I shop for capacity. The larger the drum the better. More room=more capacity and the general rule is 2 times the washer capacity to allow room for fluffing, tumbling and air circulation. I'm amazed at some of the large capacity washers being paired up with a "matching" small dryer. If the dryer is undersized and you put in too many clothes, it takes much more time to dry so it's important to match the load size.

When my dryer doesn't get the clothes dry enough, I simply add a little time. My current dryer has a moisture sensor to sense when clothes are dry but will be fooled with different clothes weight in there, for instance heavy towels mixed with lightweight t-shirts. But that too is adjustable. There's an energy saver mode to "underdry" it a touch. This is also a good thing to do if you have static electricity issues. You don't need fabric softener sheets if you don't overdry and roast your clothes. Plus it's better for the clothes too. I haven't even run the humidifier here this winter and though the air is dry and static is in the air I have no static issues in the clothes. The worst I've had is a touch of one and one good shake as I pull it out takes care of it. And a couple of my work shirts are poly and some t-shirts are blended so they could easily have static problems. Each dryer is a little different, but it didn't take long to get used to this one. One thing that's important is to not overload a dryer. That can cause uneven drying. A clogged dryer vent is also a possibility especially if you notice it taking longer to dry.

Reminds me of when we went to see a friend's new place. Beautiful spot right on the Mississippi river. Single guy, bought a 5 bedroom, 3 bath place! LOL When we got there he was doing the laundry for the first time, having just moved in and he commented on what a poor dryer this one is and he'd have to get a new one. It wasn't drying right, etc. Went to the basement and it was like a sauna. He said his last load took 2.5 hours to dry. I asked if he had checked the vent and he goes, "the what?" LOL So we went outside and pulled the wads of lint, bird nests and other stuff out of the dryer vent.

IDK, but to me putting an arm in the leg or a sleeve doesn't bother me. What's the difference of doing that or putting your hand in a load of cold wet clothes when you transfer it to the dryer?

I turn jeans inside out for washing and drying. I don't wear logo shirts. I think they look tacky. I'm not into being someone or something's billboard so I don't wear that stuff. Plus for t-shirts I use pocket Ts.

I never thought about the hair issue but my jeans don't hold hair so for me it's not an issue. For drips and spills, as long as there's sufficient room for proper agitation I've never had a problem with it cleaning, plus now that I switched to Tide Free it seems to get the stuff with less effort and additives too.

I do see a big difference though on the cuffs by washing inside out. Not sure why but they don't fold over and curl like they did washed the other way.

There's a lot of arguments on FL vs TL washers. The theory on why they take so much longer is that it's "gentler" on the clothes since it's supposed to lift the clothes and drop them against each other rather than an agitator moving them submerged. However the more gentle you are, the more you have to do it. (Sort of like discipline in some ways! LOL) And if you have a heater in the washer it's going to add a lot of time. Some can go several hours on a wash cycle by the time it heats up the water.

Jasdip, how hard is the water in your area? You might need to use a water conditioner if it's hard water. Many commercial detergents add water softening to the formula so you might need to use something like Calgon to soften the water. Do you use Borax in your recipe? That will act as a bit of a softening agent. Also if the water isn't warm enough to dissolve the detergent it can leave deposits. Maybe try dissolving it in a jar of very hot water before adding as a test. My other thought is that there could be a residue in the washer. Maybe it needs a good cleaning cycle or two to clean it out. Apartments never really maintain the washers and most people using the machines don't really seem to care so it makes it bad for the others. Or it could even be you have a soap buildup in your clothes. Just some thoughts.

FWIW my top loader has short, normal and long cycles and as I recall they're about 15, 20 and 25 minutes which are plenty long for me. I've never really had an issue with it being too short. Often I try to use the shortest cycle I can that I'm confident will get things clean. There's people who claim going too long can actually start putting the dirt back into the clothes too so too long a cycle isn't necessarily better. I tend to look at the water, if it's extremely dirty, I question whether the surfactants can keep it out and are you washing in dirty water? So on really bad loads, like when I used to camp a lot or get good and mucky, I'd change the water. Run a short cycle, spin, rinse, spin and start another cycle though I haven't had to do that in a long time.

all of the info I have been reading in preparation for my new FL's I kept seeing the problem that the clothes is not dry, from the website for my dryer it stated that if you were used to using a Normal dry on your old top loader to now use a higher dry cycle like Extra dry and if you are using the sensor drying and have mixed loads with light weights along with heavy weights it will sense the dryness of the light weight stuff first so separating in to likes would work better or just use a manual time setting.

I NEVER use the high/extra high temp with my front loader on anything. It just bakes in the wrinkles. Mine dry on the medium-low setting. I just run it a little longer and I remove the lighter weight items after about 15 minutes. That's usually all it takes for them. Everything comes out great. I dry the towels on medium.

the only hint I have is to turn your clothes right side out when you take them off. It is a lot easier than having to do them all when you want to wash them. Teach everyone in your family to do it.

I wash clothes the same way they are put in the hamper for the most part and fold them that way also. I wash many items inside out - decorated on the outside, some t-shirts/shirts with decor. jeans - right side out in the washer & the dryer, or however they are put in the hamper. Cold water wash & rinse for everything.

I do all of the laundry - my very DH does 98% of the grocery shopping and the cooking (chef by trade...). He puts away his own clothes - I put his folded clothes in a laundry basket next to his dresser and he puts them away. He does his own ironing.

All this stuff is interesting and good but I want to know why sometimes my t-shirts and sometimes even pants turn inside out by themselves. If this sounds strange, it does happen, it may not be every shirt but it is strange and I want to know if it happens to anyone else or am I crazy. And if it happens does anyone know why?

I admire all you ladies who can do the laundry and just take it in stride, personally I find it way to complicated for me...by example...

My mother taught me to put all the whites in one load, colors in another and jeans and work clothes in another..... OK...here is my delema....if the underwear has streaks,,does it go in the whites or the coloreds???

I separate into 4 types of loads. White, medium colors, dark colors and towels. If something is white with stripes or a collar in another color, I usually put it into the medium load, but I might use a Color Catcher sheet if I am concerned that the white might absorb some color.

What I really want to know is where do the socks go when you put them in the dryer?

LOL, Lazypup (re: the underwear)!!!!

Wildchild...I HATE my front load washer (Samsung). It is the worst thing I have bought. DH sometimes does his own wash since I can't seem to get it clean smelling. He will put it on Sanitize for over 2 hours!! Its still stinks to me.
give me my old top loader and it will still smell Laundry isn't my best thing to do.
I don't turn things inside out either.

To do less laundry, I make my family hang towels to dry over the bathtub. Then I throw the towels in my dryer for a quick 15 minute run with a scented dryer sheet. I re-fold the towels and put them back in the bathroom. I do not do this with washcloths.
All together now: Ewww. yuck!

I sure blew it 52 years ago. DH does nothing . I mean NOTHING. When I tell him about all the other husbands who vacuum or load the dishwasher, do laundry, or grocery shop, he just says "I pay the bills!" After 52 years, I don't think I will change him.

georgysmon....on the other hand, you are still maried after 52 years in an age when 50% of all marriages end in under 5 and 85% end in under 10yrs.

Here's my trick for those of you who have slow-drying dryers.

I have a couple of old towels that "live" in the dryer. They help to absorb moisture, and clothes dry faster.

They look kind of dingy, since they are in there with lights, darks, etc, but I use them only for the energy savings. :)