But I DO Care

[Amanita]

My welfare friend is sorta like this. She has somehow made it into adulthood being clueless about these things.

[Boozy]

How do you make it into adulthood without knowing that you have to seperate your laundry?

When my husband lived alone, all of his casual clothes were green, grey, and blue, and some form of cotton-poly blend. So throwing everything together in the wash wasn't that big of a problem. His business suits and shirts were taken care of at a professional cleaners.

Now that our laundry is combined, I insist on doing it myself. He understands that I "separate" the laundry in some way, but it's a nebulous concept for him. The one time he attempted to do this task for me, he separated pants from shirts, tops from bottoms. Seriously.

[Greenday]

Other than separating by lights and darks, I know nothing about what goes with what.

[McDreidel09]

For me, it depends on where I am doing laundry. At school, where I have to pay for it, I separate colors and whites and hang dry the pants and nice shirts. At home, I separate the colors and the whites. Then, within the colors, I separate the hang dry stuff from the stuff that can be dried.

Bras always go into a lingerie bag so the hooks don't snag on the other clothing.

I guess it just depends on the person.

Btw Blas, I know someone who is 20 and still has no idea how to even do laundry. His mom does his laundry, so he never learned.

[telecom_goddess]

I taught my kids to do their own laundry years ago.....so they do their own and I don't have to mess with it and if they fuck up their stuff it's their problem .

As for my things...I really hate having ANYONE mess with my stuff. I'm fighting this with my cast iron pans right now...the kids use them and then don't treat them right and ruin the seasoning on them.

I have always liked my stuff the way I like it and where I like it and I don't like other people's stuff intruding on it either. I also hate being poked and prodded...that would drive me out of my mind after 1 day.

[muses_nightmare]

Now that our laundry is combined, I insist on doing it myself. He understands that I "separate" the laundry in some way, but it's a nebulous concept for him. The one time he attempted to do this task for me, he separated pants from shirts, tops from bottoms. Seriously.

Uh that's generally how me and the bf sort laundry. Occasionally whites get sorted out, but not usually as we don't have a lot of them. Anything more delicate or that is hand wash only I set aside.

We separate our laundry pants, shirts, underwear, towels, bedding. We have to go to a laundromat to do our laundry, so fiddling with colour and such costs us more. We've never had anything bleed, and if I think something will I'll just set it aside and wash it by hand.

As for people being assholes about people wanting to take care of their clothing, they need to realize that these things cost money. I find especially if you are female and "plus-size" as plus sized stores sell stuff for 3x the price of regular stores. Pants over a size 14 get damned expensive, even when buying from clearance racks, and pants, for me, are one of the hardest things to shop for, when I find a pair that fits well I want them to last awhile!

[Cat]

I never separate clothes....most of my work/street clothes are low quality, so it doesnt matter how I wash them.

Now my hiking clothes I spend $$ on, and I keep them in good condidtion. And I have a few jackets I am pretty careful of.

But yeah, people should respect your belongs, esp if it something you care about and worked hard to be able to afford. Just common courtesy.

[blas87]

I don't care much about my work clothes, just so long as they don't get prematurely destroyed (like a huge stain that won't come out or a rip or hole that is very obvious). I have a set "lifetime" that I set for my work clothes. Sometimes a beloved nicer shirt that is conservative enough for work becomes a work shirt when it loses its pazazz.

I know, I'm a freak.

[Andara Bledin]

How do you make it into adulthood without knowing that you have to seperate your laundry?

Usually, helicopter parents.

My ex's mother was a freak.

She did absolutely everything for him until the day he turned 18. And then, he was supposed to start doing everything for himself.

How the hell he was supposed to know how to do any of it or suddenly develop the discipline necessary, I will never know.

^-.-^

[Cat]

I don't care much about my work clothes, just so long as they don't get prematurely destroyed (like a huge stain that won't come out or a rip or hole that is very obvious). I have a set "lifetime" that I set for my work clothes. Sometimes a beloved nicer shirt that is conservative enough for work becomes a work shirt when it loses its pazazz.

I know, I'm a freak.

Not a freak...that is quite logical

[Greenday]

Hahaha, my 15 year old neighbor threw a small party last night while her parents were an hour and a half away in Atlantic City for the night. Party got busted. My mom had no idea what was going on with all the cops so she called over there to see if they knew and the girl told my mom and asked for help. I went over with my mom and she was like, "These mats are all dirty now and I don't know how to wash them!" Really? You're 15 years old and you don't know the basics of doing laundry?

[McDreidel09]

My mom had no idea what was going on with all the cops so she called over there to see if they knew and the girl told my mom and asked for help. I went over with my mom and she was like, "These mats are all dirty now and I don't know how to wash them!" Really? You're 15 years old and you don't know the basics of doing laundry?

LOL you didn't tell me THAT part of the story last night. That's pretty frikken hilarious!

[blas87]

I'm glad I'm not as big of a freak as I thought I was. Usually, people think I'm nuts for the way I make my inventory and my expected "lifespan" of my clothes.

[XCashier]

This one is kind of silly, but it's something that irks me about certain people that think it's funny to mess with my hair or the way my bf thinks it's funny to pull on my belt loops on my jeans.

And if you did the same to them, they'd be the first to cry foul and scream at you for not "respecting their personal space".

Why can't everybody just keep their hands to themselves unless invited?!

[XCashier]

How do you make it into adulthood without knowing that you have to seperate your laundry?

I don't know if it's some kind of mental block, or if they just don't understand that different fabrics act different ways in the wash. My husband was the same way. He used the compactor method of clothes washing (ie, cram everything in until you can barely close the lid!). Half his clothes didn't even get wet, let alone clean, and he wondered why his clothes were "crunchy"!

He's still not the greatest, but he's starting to understand why you don't wash my white silk blouse with the navy blue towels (okay, I don't own a white silk blouse, but you get the idea) and to not cram everything into one load.