Laundry system: hamper, basket, or just a big pile?

[free4now]

Living alone, I'm finding that the most convenient place to put my clothes waiting to be laundered is in a pile on the floor next to the clothes washer. I finally ended up getting a fancy bamboo hamper so my apartment doesn't look like a college dorm, but I must admit that I only use it when guests are coming over. Most of the time, the pile on the floor works best for me:

- Putting sweaty workout clothes out in the open lets them dry quicker and prevents them from getting moldy inside a hamper.
- I can see what's out on the floor, making it easy to pick and wear a pair of jeans a second day if I choose.
- It's simply less hassle not to put things into and take them out of the hamper than to do so.

But there's something about having a pile of clothes on the floor that just doesn't seem right, so I'd like to find a system that looked more "proper". I'm about to try making more closet floor space available and storing them there, but wondered if anyone has better ideas.

What do you do with your clothes that are waiting to be washed.

[bbbamI]

I have a hamper in my closet in the master bedroom. When it gets full, I dump the clothes on the bed and sort.
I hang wet towels on the shower bar to dry, then I take the towel to a hamper in the laundry room. No sorting needed for the towel hamper.

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by free4now on the floor next to the clothes washer.

I didn't get a washer/dryer with my new house. I use a laundromat - about $10/month.

[CuppaJoe]

Photo op!

No, Free4Now I don't have a better technique, there is nothing better than the floor to see what's there. I keep mine in the closet, when I can no longer get at the printer, I know it's time to do laundry.

There are two washers and two dryers in the basement of my apt. bldg. five floors below me. I sling the bag on the left over my shoulder. It has a velcro pocket which holds the quarters and the vitally important dryer sheets. I just carry the bag on the right by its handles; SO calls it "the feedbag." I keep a huge box of detergent near the washers. There are more containers of detergent there than apts. so obviously many of the owners have long ago taken buyouts and moved, so in an emergency we borrow from each other. Honestly, I use that frugal technique rarely, and now have enough in the box to last into the next decade as the washers take only 1/4 cup detergent and I supplement that with the residual soap in the wash cloths.

[saluki9]

I just take mine to our main floor and throw it down the basement stairs. Through some miraculous process that I've yet been unable to explain it shows up cleaned, dried, and folded in my dresser.

I've never asked my wife if the same thing happens to her dirty clothes, but so far I wouldn't want her to feel bad if the same isn't happening to her.

[W2R]

My washer and dryer are located in a closet in the hall. Both my bedroom and my dressing room are less than a foot from that laundry closet. So, my dirty laundry goes directly into the washer when I remove it. When the washer has enough clothes in it, I pour in detergent and push the button.

I am going to miss that when I move north, if my ER home is not arranged like that. If I can't remodel it to be like that, then I will probably use a laundry basket. Sometime in my 70's or 80's, I would expect that baskets of laundry may seem much heavier to me due to the aging process. At that point, I will probably get some sort of wagon or cart to help me transport it.

Edited to add: Oh, and I have a stand-alone towel rack just inside the dressing room door, where I place my towels on my way out from the shower (which is in a small room adjoining the dressing room). I am one of those who chooses to use a fresh towel each time I shower, a little luxury that I acquired later in life. So anyway, when they pile up there and the washer is half full, I snag the towels (dry ones only), walk a foot to dump them in the washer, and then push that button. If there are too many to fit, the extra towels sit on top of the dryer with the detergent until that load is in the dryer, and then they go in the washer to wait for the next load.

[haha]

I have always used a laundry bag. whether I had a house with W&D, or an apartment where I had to go out of the apartment.

I do it often enough that it hasn't been any sort of problem.

Ha

[kyounge1956]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Want2retire My washer and dryer are located in a closet in the hall. Both my bedroom and my dressing room are less than a foot from that laundry closet. So, my dirty laundry goes directly into the washer when I remove it. When the washer has enough clothes in it, I pour in detergent and push the button. I am going to miss that when I move north, if my ER home is not arranged like that. If I can't remodel it to be like that, then I will probably use a laundry basket. Sometime in my 70's or 80's, I would expect that baskets of laundry may seem much heavier to me due to the aging process. At that point, I will probably get some sort of wagon or cart to help me transport it. (snip)

My w & d are in a hall closet too. I live in a townhouse and they are on the top floor between the bathroom and bedroom. So much more convenient than having them in the basement (and anyway, I don't have a basement). Put the laundry machines where the laundry is...what a concept!

I used to let the clothes pile up in the hall, sometimes sorted light & dark, sometimes not. Recently I have begun to put them right into the washer, regardless of color. None of my clothes are new enough for there to be any danger of dark clothes bleeding dye onto the light ones. If they were, I'd probably sort, but perhaps only by wearing all the dark clothes sequentially before starting on the light ones.

One of my ER goals is to build my own house, and it will definitely be designed to make this laundry method possible. About the only way it could possibly be more convenient would be to have the machines side-by-side instead of stacked, which would permit both of the doors to be at the "just right" height, but I don't think there will be enough space for that in my very very small ER house.

The only thing I need to add is one of those nets for air-drying sweaters over the bathtub.

[W2R]

Mine are side by side, too!

I hate dragging laundry all over the house, and I'm really glad I don't have to. I don't separate my clothes by color, although I have a few delicate things that I leave on the top of the dryer to wash separately.

If I wanted to separate by color, I would leave a laundry basket on top of the dryer and just pop my whites in there. But, I could care less about it.

[FIRE'd@51]

The last two homes I've owned have had laundry chutes. I just throw my dirty clothes into the chute and they go down to a closet in the laundry room, where they stay (out of view) until I separate them to do the wash. Wonderful invention - the laundry chute.

[hankster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE'd@51 The last two homes I've owned have had laundry chutes. I just throw my dirty clothes into the chute and they go down to a closet in the laundry room, where they stay (out of view) until I separate them to do the wash. Wonderful invention - the laundry chute.

Yes they are! Ours is in the bathroom so it's really handy. At bath time, strip off the dirty clothes and toss 'em down the chute where they drop into a hamper on wheels where they're ready to be moved about 15 feet to the washing machine.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki9 I just take mine to our main floor and throw it down the basement stairs. Through some miraculous process that I've yet been unable to explain it shows up cleaned, dried, and folded in my dresser. I've never asked my wife if the same thing happens to her dirty clothes, but so far I wouldn't want her to feel bad if the same isn't happening to her.

I'm no longer allowed to touch the laundry in my house. Not since the great blue jean disaster of '06. Apparently finding size 1 blue jeans in stores is a major pain, and then finding the right size 1 blue jeans that fit a certain blond chick's little butt in the right manner is a monumental task. I'm still not sure why it was my fault - it was our son who left a pen in his jeans - all I did was neglect to check the pockets.

Back to the OP - ours is a weird hybrid system of dirty clothes in hampers and on the floor. Since I'm not allowed to do laundry I have elected to not complain and just roll with the system. If the hampers are in my closet I know which one is for dirty laundry and which is for dry cleaning. When they have been removed for some reason I just toss the clothes in a pile on the floor - because the 8 hampers in the laundry room comprise a totally different system that is way too complicated for me to use. I bought the hampers years ago with the idea that everyone could do their own laundry. I know, what the hell was I thinking. The blond chick is a control freak when it comes to the laundry so I think I'm actually the only one who even has hampers in his closet anymore. I'm not sure what she does with her clothing when it's dirty, and she has something worked out with the boys that I know better than to get involved in.

[FIREdreamer]

We have 2 hampers, one of whites, one for colors. And much to my wife's dismay, I still pile some of my clothes... on top of the hampers... Socks, underwear, shirts and undershirts, always go in the hamper, but jeans and sweaters can often be worn more than once before being laundered so I don't want them to get wrinkled and smelly with the rest of the laundry. My wife doesn't get it though... she thinks I am just being lazy.

[thefed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREdreamer We have 2 hampers, one of whites, one for colors. And much to my wife's dismay, I still pile some of my clothes... on top of the hampers... Socks, underwear, shirts and undershirts, always go in the hamper, but jeans and sweaters can often be worn more than once before being laundered so I don't want them to get wrinkled and smelly with the rest of the laundry. My wife doesn't get it though... she thinks I am just being lazy.

I knew I wasn't the only one!! I dont know why I dont return a pair of jeans or sweatshirt to the clean clothes drawer/handers...but they seem right at home on top of the hamper...then if I desire to wear them again I grab em...usually the wife just yells at me and washes them.

She's onto my scheme now though, and on occasion a truly dirty garment doest make it ALL the way into the hamper and she'll exclude it from the laundry in a meek attempt to thwart my habit. "but you said if it's ON the hamper you are going to re-wear it" baaah....


For the record, I might wear a pair of my work pants to clean ducts foronly 3 hours and have lawn care or more ducts the next day....so I just re-wear em if it wasnt a dirty day. no 2-day underwear or socks though

[Bestwifeever]

All of the above in the bedroom? It's the progressive laundry experience...

Careful with the pile system if you have animals who sleep in the bedroom. One day you might pull out a sweater to wear while it's still a little dark out and realize when you get to work and actually look in a mirror that there's something icky near the collar in the front that your pet decorated the sweater with....

[Khan]

Several pillow cases in the hallway (dark stuff, light stuff, white stuff); a full pillow case is a laundry load. A laundry basket to carry clean to clothesline or drying racks.

[samclem]

A triple hanging-mesh-bag hamper thing in the bedroom. A bag for whites, reds/yellows, other colors. It works okay for the two of us.

saluki9: You are a brave man. I've got this post bookmarked for the day your DW logs in . . .

[saluki9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem saluki9: You are a brave man. I've got this post bookmarked for the day your DW logs in . . .

That's ok, don't worry about me. My stay at home wife feels the same way about the checks that find their way into our joint checking account every two weeks. It's like mutually assured destruction.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem A triple hanging-mesh-bag hamper thing in the bedroom. A bag for whites, reds/yellows, other colors. It works okay for the two of us.

Like this?
Supreme Chrome Laundry Center


Works great except everybody else in the family just drops thier stuff on the floor next to it.

[KB]

I do the laundry basket in the closet and wet towels over the shower door to dry. Then I toss the dry towels into the laundry basket. I do sort on the laundry room floor.

If my kids are home, I usually have a full load of towels. Then I collect them in a second laundry basket.