... to wonder what possessed DH to top up a dark load with my white underwear?

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

Exactly that really, DH decides to wash his gym kit, all dark colours, and then has a rummage for stuff to make up a load to go in. We have a three basket washing sorter, divided into whites/colours/darks and he chooses the whites to make up a full load. Why oh why? The man is Oxbridge educated, generally not an idiot, but wouldn't you think something, somewhere along the line, would have told him this was a bad idea?

Ah well, I'm going to use his credit card and replace everything that he's just ruined. Just like last time - no, dear reader, this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened. Under the vague guise of being 'helpful', the last washing incident involved a number of hand wash only Calvin Klein bras being given a thorough beating by our top loading, clothes destroying American washer (I'm not in the UK).

The sheer waste makes me so angry though - as well as knowing it's me who has to source a replacement for one of DD's favourite t-shirts that is also now a rather odd colour...

[NellyNoodle1]

Not long after I moved in with him I could hear 'oh no that's not good - oh no' coming from the kitchen. I peered around the corner dreading what I was about to see and he was just emptying the washer - luckily he had done his own whites but had decided to chuck a bright pink towel in with them, you know, to make up the load. When I asked him what he had been thinking he explained that he thought once something had been washed once it was ok to chuck in with everything else. He is an aerospace engineer. Doesn't bear thinking about.

[mousmous]

this is why dh washes his own clothes...

[PotteringAlong]

I don't separate my washing at all - I bung everything of any colour in together and just wash it. I'm also Oxbridge educated. Why is it a problem?! No one sees your ubderwear, just wear it! It can't be so ruined it's unwearable, surely?

[flipchart]

Bloody hell, even my 14 and 17year old splits the washing into whites, darks, towels and lights when they are asked to sort the washing out. There's been no mess ups.

[LastTango]

I've never separated a wash in my whole life !!

[Flipflops7]

Separation is great! You get loads more time out of your whites!

[MegTheCat]

Can you rescue them with colour run remover? (can't think of brand name)

[SoonToBeSix]

Dylon

[ifailatlife]

You're being unreasonable stealing from him.

[PrincessOfChina]

I don't separate wages really. I do of I have loads and loads to do but otherwise it just gets bunged on when there's a full wash waiting.

[Gruntfuttock]

I agree with the posters that recommended Dylon Color Run Remover. It's cheap, widely available, and it really works. Don't be vindictive and replace the clothes, just use that and it'll all be fine. We all make mistakes, but it's easily remedied.

[PotteringAlong]

30 degrees, non-fast coloureds, nothing runs! last tango I'm glad it's not just me!

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

We've always separated clothes for washes so that's not the debate really - 10 years of living together and it's just our norm I guess. I just don't know why you'd actively select white stuff to mix/make up a load - especially when there are baskets of other colours to pick from! And especially when there appears to be a trend of ruining clothing/putting non-tumble dry stuff in the dryer etc. It's part of a general trend of not caring really unless it's his stuff...

Don't worry, not stealing from him to replace. All money is joint so his card or mine, makes no difference really. I'll try and salvage what I can before replacing but it's galling that things are spoiled unnecessarily for want of a bit of forethought.

[deakymom]

my auntie uses those colour catcher things she did think it was weird they didnt come out of the wash but then the machine flooded the kitchen an there they were

[picnicbasketcase]

Unless all the dark stuff was new and leaking dye everywhere, your stuff won't be ruined, you're being a tad previous. I don't separate anything, unless it is something like a new pair of jeans that might run.

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

New navy and new red, sadly.

[bloodyteenagers]

Seems the day the laundry list was give out, I was absent. Anyone know where I can get a copy? Seems I should be separating everything, not just hand wash that I have been duped into buying. Ironing everything. What else I missing?

[Wibblypiglikesbananas]

bloody - I don't go as far as ironing! Just try to keep things as nice as possible for as long as possible by following washing instructions and using common sense . There is a part of me, perhaps inspired by reading the thread about the poster who has to organise everything, wondering if DH's 'inability' to wash anything without it shrinking/falling apart/coming out the wrong colour is part of a bigger issue. His stuff never seems to get damaged and he takes his shirts to the dry cleaner anyway...

[flipchart]

Over the years if a white pair of knickers has ended up in the dark jeans, undies and sock was they are never white again but a depressing grey.

It makes sense to group types of washing together. I didn't get a memo either but worked it out for myself.

[Mintyy]

Yanbu. I hate non colour-grouped washing! I have done a load of cotton shirts and blouses today, all pastel colours.

I have at least 10 different wash loads.

[HavantGuard]

It takes one unsorted wash to fuck up clothes permanently. I have bras that have survived years and are still pristine and one that was barely a month old when my mother decided to throw in with her washing when she was visiting. It is a mingy horrible grey. As is all her underwear.

[thenightsky]

Hmmm. I have a DH with washing blindness too. If I go away for a weekend I come back to whites and lights that have to binned. I still grieve for an amazingly bright yellow shirt that he made grey and grubby looking.

He also manages to use a whole box of calgon (40 washes) and a whole bottle of Ariel gel (42 washes) in a single weekend I'm away.

I now hide my dirty clothes in a carrier bag in the bottom of my wardrobe, under a lot of shoes, before I go away.

[Iffy2014]

I don't understand obsessive colour separation in washing at all. Perhaps it's pure luck, but I've never ruined a wash in my life, and I bung everything together except new jeans and new bright and dark colours. Then, when they've been washed a few times, they go in with the rest too.

Doing ten washes for different colours is a fucking insane waste of water and electric. You must have money to burn.

[hoppingmad]

Dh knows to separate the whites and colours and is generally pretty capable but he's not allowed to do the washing. It doesn't seem to matter how often we discuss it we still disagree what constitutes a full load. I like to leave space for water (he would say I half fill it) he likes to shoe horn 20 towels in at once so nothing really gets washed 'properly'

[sykadelic]

I don't understand the need to separate honestly. I do a load of clothes or towels. The only time I separate is if it's a new item and I'm worried about bleeding.

Maybe detergent in the UK is different... Our colours just don't bleed unless they're new.