# Who puts away the laundry when a mixed load is clean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774 "2014-02-07T18:00:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/41 "2014-02-08T14:19:29Z")
> [@overlyverbose](#): > > I refuse to do my husband’s laundry - way too complicated. Socks and underwear must be washed separately at different temperatures, sometimes with a hot soak. I’ve never been able to understand laundry systems. I throw everything in together and it works for me. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/42 "2014-02-08T14:42:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’ve never been able to understand laundry systems. I throw everything in together and it works for me. Me, too. I do have exceptions: new, bold-colored clothing that might stain other clothing so is washed separately; kitchen laundry (dirty towels & washrags), which get bleached and washed in hot water; and excessively-soiled clothes (super muddy or situations where my daughter had an accident after getting too wrapped up to remember to go to the bathroom in time). All “normal” laundry gets tossed in together on warm. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/43 "2014-02-08T14:58:57Z")
My laundry consists of levis, sox, underwear and t shirts. I think I have done 3 loads in my life. Something I don’t often think about. I do other stuff to make up for stuff I don’t do in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/44 "2014-02-08T16:26:37Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Really? I don’t think Infovore was saying he/she shares a towel with spouse between washings, but that there is a common pool of towels to chose from after a shower. they are used, once or more, and then laundered and put back in the pool. Do you have towels that are only for your use? Hell, ours get used by whoever grabs one, and even on the dog now and then. Yes, exactly! We don’t share towels, but we both take 'em from the same linen closet and they go into the same hamper when they’re dirty. Then when the hamper fills up, whoever notices first does a load. Although each of us does have a couple of “preferred” bath towels that the other person doesn’t use unless nothing else is clean. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/45 "2014-02-08T16:54:41Z")
Everyone who can open a drawer or closet door puts away their own clothes. Any other system seems very wrong to me. As for the rest, the person with the fussiest system does most of the laundry, clothes in the dryer gets removed by the person who put it in the dryer, and folded by its owner, and clothes hang drying get folded by the person who needs the hanging space. (I am the person with the fussiest system. My clothes last forever.) ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/46 "2014-02-09T00:02:20Z")
Single mom, two teens. Sometimes I fold it all, sometimes the kids do, but generally whoever owns the laundry puts it away in their rooms. Presumably in their drawers and other appropriate places, but there is no guarantee unless I do follow up checks. I’m just about ready to turn their laundry over to them; they’re both old enough. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/47 "2014-02-09T20:10:52Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Can I say, with all due respect, that I find this simultaneously baffling, slightly insane, and unutterably sweet? Thank you, Ulf. You have just described my mother to a “t”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/48 "2014-02-09T21:42:52Z")
Probably been said several times already. Mama would never trust me to run the washing machine and dryer – deciding what is washed in which fashion, etc…but I help fold the results, and put my own stuff away. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/49 "2014-02-09T22:19:38Z")
I do my laundry, my wife does hers. I generally change and wash the sheets; my wife generally did the kids laundry back when we had kids. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/50 "2014-02-09T22:25:54Z")
Sometimes I do the laundry, sometimes (\> 50%, I’m afraid) she does; whoever does the laundry USUALLY is the person who folds it; whoever owns the article of clothing puts it where it resides until next wearing. ---
**Author:** ![KermitTheFrig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/47e85d/32.png) [@KermitTheFrig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KermitTheFrig)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/51 "2014-02-09T22:40:23Z")
You didn’t have our option. I launder. The youngest family member sorts, folds and delivers the clean laundry to the proper places. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/52 "2014-02-11T01:12:32Z")
Our laundry is usually a mixed load. When it’s done, it usually comes out and sits in a basket in the living room until one of us gets annoyed enough by the sight (or in urgent enough need of fresh clothes) to fold it and put it away. I fold a little more often than she does, but not by much. I have no problem with her folding my clothes, and she’s never mentioned any problem with me folding hers. But I leave her folded laundry for \*her \*to put away, and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774/53 "2014-02-11T02:43:52Z")
90% of the time I fold it, but we always put our own away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-puts-away-the-laundry-when-a-mixed-load-is-clean/680774.md?page=2)