Belated Friday Five: Laundry!

Feeling lazy tonight, since we just got back home from a fun-filled Thanksgiving weekend in LA. So, since I didn't do a Friday Five yesterday, I thought I'd make up for it by doing it today, and keeping it low-key with a relatively simple set:

1. Washing machine: front-loader or top-loader?
2. Detergent: liquid or powder?
3. Rinse cycle: fabric softener or another additive?
4. And then: clothesline or dryer?
5. Do you fold things straight off the line or out of the dryer? What do you iron (or have someone iron for you)?

1.  Front-loader. They seem to clean more thoroughly than top-loaders, so we're die-hard front-loader users. Fortunately, all the communal washers we've used in our years of apartment living, prior to purchasing our own set, have been front-loaders.

2. Liquid. I feel that it dissolves and is distributed more evenly and cleanly than powder.

3. No additives. The only thing I ever add besides detergent is an occasional splash of bleach, when washing the whites. I do throw in a dryer sheet to keep the dryer load static-free, but that's about it.

4. If we had the space for it, I would totally get a clothesline set up and dry my clothes naturally. It saves energy and is much easier on the clothes. Unfortunately, that isn't an option for us, so I make do with dryer use for hardy clothes like undergarments and jeans, and then hang up clothes that I want to preserve longer (such as Todd's school uniforms-- so expensive!) onto clothes racks and from the shower curtain rod.

5. Only if it's regular clothing like shirts and pants that I don't want to wrinkle. Underwear and socks have been known to sit in the hamper for a few days until I find the time to fold them. I typically only iron my cotton dresses, and since I don't wear dresses THAT frequently, I don't wash them that often either, and hence don't have to iron them regularly. Thank goodness! ;-)

How about you?