The Pet Peeve Laundry Habits of Others

[frigilux]

In the spirit of Jason's lament about his Mom's clothes-washing habits (as chronicled in the "I Love and Hate My New Elites" thread over at Deluxe), I'd like to launch a thread about what drives us nuts about the way other people do their laundry. We're more in-tune and exacting in our use of laundry appliances than the average person, so I know there must be plenty of grist for the mill.

I'll start us off: I hate it when people throw detergent carelessly into a toploader and some of it lands on top of the agitator. They don't bother to clean it off and the resulting crud builds up and encrusts over time. Back in the '60s, several of our neighbors had Kenmores with scrubber caps atop the agitator. They were notorious for holding on to errant detergent. I used to rinse off the scrubber cap on our 1960 Kenmore all the time. It was one of my pet peeves.

 

[toggleswitch]

1- Not measuring detergent or other addititves.
2- Whites with colors.
3- Kitchen towels with underwear.
4- Overloading the machine to the point it moans in pain; then crying about bad results

 

[spiralactivator]

1. Putting detergent in the softener dispenser.

2. Not following washing instructions on special fabrics. (My mom ruined so many of my rayon shirts by refusing to use cold water or gentle action)

3. OVERLOADING!

 

[gansky1]

Cold Water Washes.
Bounce, et al.
Too much liq. softener (slippery towels)

 

[petek]

My SO is notorious for overloading the washer and pays no attention to the cycle selector switch. I bought a box of Tide Coldwater two weeks ago for us to try out, standing right in front of the washer I pointed out to leave the temp selector on cold wash but within two days I go down and the warm wash button is pressed, so much for that.
When it comes to the dryer it's just as bad. In the roughly 15 years we've owned this one I have done 99% of my drying on the auto cycle, turn the dial to the dot and press start, so simple, works perfectly every time. Not for him, the dial is cranked either over to the furthest reaches of the "more dry" or barely into the "less dry" if not that, he's selected the time dry for about 5 minutes and clothes are left in the dryer sopping wet. I've given up because and I don't understand it. LOL

 

[Burpalator]

Not measuring detergent.

Powdered detergent thrown all over the machine.

Adding detergent until suds appear due to the misconception that enough has not been used if there are no suds.

Pouring detergent on top of the clothes.

Starting a pay washing machine to let the water and detergent "mix" before adding clothes, cutting down on wash time.

Refusal to learn and utilize other than the most basic of features/options.

 

[chachp]

- Over dryed towels! I hate scratchy towels. What the sense of spending good money on soft towels and then over dry them to the point of being scratchy.
- I agree with Gansky regarding Bounce. What's up with dryer sheets anyway? Don't they just leave a film on your clothes. I have never used them and never will without a court order.
- If you can't get your dish towels clean then throw the damn things out. OOOH, I hate dirty, dingy dish towels. Thank the Lord for Oxi-Clean!

 

[Brneyedgrl80]

I have to say that I am guilty of using dryer sheets. I love the smell of my Snuggle dryer sheets. I grew up watching my mom and grandmother use them, I'm sad to say there is no hope of ever getting me to stop using them... lol

A pet peeve of mine is people who fill up their liquid detergent/softner/stain remover lids so much it over flows onto the machine and they don't bother cleaning it up leaving a gunky residue behind.

Another pet peeve of mine (public use machines) is people who don't mind the time on the washer/dryer and leave their stuff in there all flippin' day.

 

[foraloysius]

Mixing whites and colors. I really hate that!

Dryer sheets.

Wet towels in the laundry bin.

Softener in towels.

Cold water washes.

 

[petek]

Where/what are all these whites people have? I don't think other than maybe one or two pair of socks there's anything white in our house laundry wise.

 

[dalangdon]

John does most of the laundry, as he is much more particular than I am (although I would never commit some of the faux pas I've read about here). He tends to go a bit overboard with scented fabric softeners, etc. I told him that the general consenus here is that dryer sheets are bad, and his reply was basically "when the guys at the washer site want to come here and do the laundry, they are welcome to leave out the dryer sheets" ;-)

 

[foraloysius]

Dan, is that an invitation? LOL

Pete, lots of white t-shirts and underpants here. Also a few white polo shirts and some white jeans. I easily could fill two washers with whites.

 

[user 12105]

My pet peeve is seeing improper use of water levels. I knew someone who would load the washer and not even pay attention to where the water level setting was. A full load on low water level.....not only careless, but will shorten the life of the machine quickly. That really p***** me off!!

 

[jasonl]

And...

I told my mom when I moved back with them (not by choice but because of Katrina), I wanted to do my OWN laundry. I need at least one hint of independance while I'm doing time. I have a laundry basket in my room that I keep my dirty clothes. A few days later, it's empty and wet clothes are hanging in my closet.

YAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! (That's Cajun for I'm extremely unhappy and I'm about to start doing some really bad things)

http://www.controllingparents.com

 

[DADoES]

But Momma is keeping you clean out of love.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

I hate underwear that smells like bleach. Any load with liquid bleach should get an extra rinse.

Fabric softner in towels? Not in my house!

Most people use too much detergent. Unless your water is amazingly hard you don't need anywhere near as much as reccomended on the bottle.

I'd like to have a word with the guy that invented the fabric softner bottle. It it's less than 1/3 full, it will dribble on the floor when pouring. I pour it over the sink. I suppose detergent bottles are the same, but I use the large Tide bottle with the spiggot so thats not a problem here.

Ken D.

 

[hoover1060]

how much is too much soap???

I grew up in a house with a water softner...my mother has always used Tide, powder when I was younger, now liquid.
In powdered form, never more than 1/3 cup went in a full washload, and with liquid I would guess she uses maybe 2-3 fluid ounces in a cycle.

I use liquid Tide(mountain spring flavor) and probably use between 1/3 and 1/2 capful per washload. I always try to do full loads.
Too much or too little?
just curious

 

[jetcone]

1) You are right and its only recently this has happend but the
Fabric Softener bottles leak like a sieve! They never did that a few years ago. It planned and it always happens after you tip them back then forward again--splurp all over the place.

2) Dried crystalline bleach on the washer tops which is always invisible; so when you set you dark corduroys down they get permanent spots in the MOST visible places

3) In a top loader too high a water level, nothing gets clean and everything just floats around

4) Overloaded front loaders that just ball around and nothing drops free.( The actual perfect load in a Westinghouse slant front is 9 pounds of socks. )

5) Dryer sheets

6) Messy agitators covered in dried on detergent overspill-- NEVER happens in a front loader my friends!

7) I hate boot gunk in a front loader. Its like an unchanged lint filter.

8) When I had roomates who consistently REFUSED to wash their nylons in a bag and TWICE --- YES TWICE they wound up wrapped around the pump impeller! And guess who had to fix it??

I LOVE LOVE LOVE

The smell of bleach with bakelite and rubber.

Bleach washing in a machine

Fabric softener in wool socks

Twice a year Fabric softener in towels

Chaging gears to high speed spin.

 

[jasonl]

Too much love

The only good thing about this is all this is done in love, but it's too much. Hardly any privacy, no independance. I can't even cook or do anything without them "helping" (read: doing it for me). And then they get angry when I refuse their help.

I might as well start wearing a diaper, sleep in a crib and cry for my bottle. And they just as well put bars on my window.

 

[maytagbear]

The good thing about living alone

and having my own machines is that I can do laundry as I please, pretty much whenever I please.

Some pet peeves:

I hate, hate, despise, abhor, and abominate smoking at coin-op laundries.

I hate it when people leave ill-mannered children at coin-ops. Quiet, older children who are reading/doing homework, or listening to headphone music are one thing, especially if they are transferring wet loads to the dryers, hooligans shouting and running are another.

I hate it when there are no coin-op dryers set aside for loads without dryer sheets.

*****

I LIKE fabric softener in towels, but only every other washing.

Maybe I am too suspicious, but I feel very uncomfortable if I have to use coin-op machines and cannot stay through the entire process. There were a few times at college when laundry rooms were "pranked" with substances ranging from acrylic paint to Kool-Aid to bleach. When I had to do laundry, I would take my clothes, chemicals, and homework, and make an evening of it. I know I prevented some mayhem just by being there.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[westytoploader]

I can count Mom's bad laundry habits on one hand...

1. Too much FS, or FS not diluted with water, gunking up the dispenser...I don't itch but it's slippery!

2. NOT CLEANING THE LINT FILTER...this happens with both the washer AND dryer! Can anyone tell that this is the most frequent occurrence? ;-)

3. Overloading...you can't overload a Power-Fin equipped OrbiTag.

4. Using too low or too high of a water level.

5. Not measuring detergent or other additives...just scoop 'em up and throw 'em in!

I think that doing laundry is an art form (LOL)...now you see why I'm the only one allowed to touch the WO-65-2 and the other vintage machines?

 

[westytoploader]

And Jon, I have to ask, were you itching or were your clothes slippery after Greg added a capful of that "syrupy" vintage Downy to the SQ? ;-)

 

[bethann]

#1 thing that grosses me out is a dirty washer! I've seen it at others houses. I mean come on people can't you see the grime on the caps and around the rim? YUCK!

Not taking out clothes as soon as their done washing and putting them in the dryer.

Not folding while there warm.

I really can't bitch about anything around here because I'm the only one that does laundry.

 

[rinso]

How to do laundry, according to my mother and SO.

*Even in a TL washer with a detergent dispenser, it is important to slop enough powdered or liquid detergent around to gunk up the tub rim cap, the top of the agitator, and the tub opening. You'll always have some spare detergent in case you run out.

* Always wash all loads, regardless of size, in a TL on the highest level of water possible, or whatever was the last setting someone else used.

*The reserve gunk in the fabric softener dispenser is not to be cleaned out. It is there in case you forget to add it to
the current wash.

*Fill all dispensers up to the word MAX in honor of our miniature schnauzer of the same name, who has since passed on.

*Pour in twice the recommended detergent and then snap the 2nd rinse switch off because the cycle will take too long if you use it.

*Wash all loads on the Heavy Duty cycle, regardless of fabric.

*Dry all loads on the highest possible temperature, regardless of fabric.

*The smell of smoke coming from the dryer coupled with a loud, shrill tone coming from that irritating thing on the ceiling, is a handy,convenient reminder that it is time to ask me to clean the lint filer since no one in my family can seem to locate it.

*Develop a notch in your hearing spectrum at exactly the same pitch as the end of cycle buzzer or beeper.

I finally solved part of the problem with my SO and I, by switching to a FL machine about 8 years ago. This change has not been without trauma,(it generated many opportunities for coaching and training) and he is adjusting well. My mother, when told of the value of properly using her new washer, just took a puff of her Virgina Slims and said, "That's nice
honey, but the thing in the ceiling is making that noise again."

 

[westtexman]

My little laundry rant . . .

I can't stand it when others:

1. Overload the machine. How can you expect the clothes to get clean if they are not even underwater?

2. Using too much detergent, and not using an extra rinse to get it out.

3. TOO MUCH FABRIC SOFTENER. Number one, I really can't STAND Downy unless it is in very small doses. This is especially true with towels. I love my Mom, but she uses Downy and LOTS of it.

4. Not cleaning the lint filter on the dryer.

5. NOT PRETREATING stains. Yes, detergents these days are wonderful, but can you really expect them to get out those greasy, dirty stains on that garment that has been sitting in the hamper for 2 weeks?

6. And last but not least, WEARING WRINKLED CLOTHES! I mean, come on people. How can you live with yourself when you walk out of the house after taking your clean shirt out of the laundry basket that it's been sitting in for two weeks? I don't care much for ironing, but I still do it every single day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year! (I have to have my creases!)

Tex

 

[mattywashboy]

i can't stand

cold water washes

people that run their washer on the shortest wash. My aunt has three young kids and washes everything in her Hoover Premier t/loader on the 3 min wash cyle, it fills up, agitates about 15 times, then clicks into drain.

The way modern front loaders take nearly two hours to complete a cycle when older front loaders take about half an hour.

People who don't use softner at all and then leave their clothes in the hot sun to go all crispy.

People who overload the softner dispenser and then bitch because theres no suds, resulting in them adding about 3 capfuls more of detergent.

People who own a dryer but never use it.

Cheap detergent that smells like toilet cleanser

Thats my lot
Matt

 

[joeekaitis]

When you take your king-size blankets and comforter to the l

. . .you can't use a laundry cart because others have parked their idle clothes baskets and chemicals in three of them, and kids are racing around the place in the other four.

 

[retromom]

Time to take the gloves off!

Now that my ungrateful adolescent has posted these outrageous charges, it is time to defend myself and add a few of my own pet peeves! LOL

I DO clean the lint filter and the agitator filters. I don't do it after each load, rather after each wash session. I have also been known to remove the agitator filter and wash it to remove any gunk and lint that have accumulated.

As far as measuring....it's like an old recipe. I have been doing it so long, that I know where the fill lines are for the appropriate amounts of detergent, booster, non-chlorine bleach, and fabric softener. I LOVE slippery, soft, and "loud" smelling laundry! So I don't dilute the fabric softener...throw me in the launderers lockup!

Contrary to popular belief...I do most of the laundry. My big pet peeves (Austin) are....

Leaving a load in the washer: Nothing like getting ready for a load of laundry only to lift up the lid to find yesterday's clothes spun and stiff against the tub.

Leaving a load in the dryer: I absolutely hate wrinkles, and leaving those freshly washed clothes in the dryer for hours increases the need for botox between my eyebrows! Get 'em out while they are warm and hang and fold them for goshsakes!

Underloading: We don't need a super fill to wash a few items, now do we. Why do you think they put different water levels on the washer!

Too much detergent: Someone (that you all know) has a tendency to put too much detergent in the washer resulting in massive suds rolling out of the standpipe onto the laundry room floor! OY

Mixed loads: Please don't wash the underwear with the dish towels. That just doesn't paint a pretty picture, does it?

and one final pet peeve.....someone that complains that they do all the laundry all the time - but really doesn't. ;-)

Venus -

exacting revenge on u-no-who

 

[toggleswitch]

lol FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.

You go Venus! Love ya Austin, but prob not a good move telling all! LOL LOL LOL

Petek: why so many whites?
White sox and T-shirts. Those of us who have to wear T-shirts under any other kind of shirt are the ones with sensitive skin. At certain times of the day, this is a good thing!

Another pet peeve: Those in the laundromat who "know it all" but have not figured out that Wascomats wash twice and rinse three times. Means you need to add detergent twice or load up the dispensers properly.

 

[toggleswitch]

yes Austin:

I am taking my own advice about telling all....