As Dadoes said chlorine bleach should only be added the last 5 to 6 minutes of the wash cycle.

I agree with being careful what goes in the dryer. There's a lot of stuff I hang to dry or lay flat.

4 capfulls of Downy and Purex....I would think the fabrics would br sticky, gummy. They would be if I did that. As for people's comments that your clothes smell so fresh I know a lot of people enjoy heavily scented clothes I think people associate the perfume of fabric softener with clean. I am not trying to sound rude just commenting on your procedures.

I don't want people to smell my fabric softener. I want them to smell me.

Sounds like you spend your day in front of the machines, making changes, pausing, resetting. Whew. I prefer to set it and forget it until it chimes.

I would not want to be hanging up all my laundry-sheets, towels etc. in addition to my underwear flapping in the wind. As long as things will last for a few years, I am more than happy to use a dryer.

Also, I am so much more interested in a person's soul rather than if they can afford the finest clothes. I have some really nice dress and casual shirts yet one of my favorite things to wear in the cold months is a sweater I bought many years ago (well, decades ago) in a Kmart.

armjim, my favorite pair of pants EVER came from Kmart!! LOL. I have owned them for 15 years now, and at present they are a trifle too snug — which I hope to correct. But I will never throw them away. That said, I tend to be a Lands End customer these days. Our Kmarts are long gone.

I can't imagine judging someone on their clothes, I try not to judge people period. Some of my favorite clothes are cheaper brands. I don't worry about ruining them because I have not spent an arm and a leg on them. I have had a few pieces that I wished would never wear out but I have actually gotten rid of some that I got sick of seeing on me!

I judge people on how clean their clothes are and how they smell. I had a preschool teacher come in to the pharmacy yesterday. Her shirt was a light color and was very dingy, stained, and had a hole in it. This is absolutely unacceptable. If I were her boss, I would be having a discussion about it. Some of my favorite clothes are no name or cheaper cost.

4 lids of Downy?! Oh my. There are a few things that we do not dry, but a majority of items are put in the dryer. One thing I love about timer top loaders is that you can create your own soaking phase. I find that this is a serious help in TLs. I wish my Duet had a soak option that would create a soaking phase during the wash. Some of the newer Kenmores have it, but it is 30 minutes long (only), and the LG/Kenmore machines do not use hot water washes. It will add cold and reduce the temperature down to 40C.

You all make good justifiable comments from your perspective and the way you prefer to do laundry...if we were all the same it would be a hell of a boring world. To reply to a few comments...no .....soaking my whites in Clorox- underwear, etc does not effect the elastic or fabric that I notice...and I do notice all.....and no .....4 cap fulls of downy DO NOT make my clothes gummy because I DO NOT use very cold water in final rinse. Downy to be most effective, needs to be used in a neutral temp water or warm and hot depending on what you are laundering...but never very cold water- it will not mix into clothes well if very cold water is used.. I never use Downy in my towels....why?....while using Downy makes towels feel soft it really greatly cuts down on ability to absorb water...try towels without Downy and you will see difference immediately and I do feel you will even like it better with no Downy .....if you try it once, however...to each his own, I understand. I do use dryer for bed sheets, towels..

Oh, I DO NOT of course, solely judge people on how they smell or exactly what clothes they wear- that would be ridiculous, however in the business world....first impressions do carry weight. Sure, I have cheap clothes as well to wear around house and for working in yard outside, etc, etc. Perhaps commentor thought I was saying get best in all clothing for everything one does. Oh, by the way, anyone else have this particular issue: I tried washing clothes inside out and here is what I discovered, at least from my experience.....the lint, etc, in wash seemed to gather on the sides and almost everywhere on the sides of the clothes once I turned them correct side out. So turning inside out purposely to wash clothing was a disaster for me....maybe it is due to the type of agitator that came with my washer?....it seemed to be like a vacuum effect that lint and etc, was possibly being carried to the inside of my clothes when washing....or maybe I need to buy some type of EFFECTIVE lint trap device to actually put in wash WHILE WASHING....can anyone recommend a good in wash lint trap that actually works well for you? I have gone online to read about this....and yet there seems to be no consensus as to one that is a stand out product that works great and can be used over and over again. I get a lot of lint from my "Sweats" as I call them...tops and bottoms and especially..... terrible lint!..... on 1st ever wash after wearing from brand newl Oh, how I miss my mothers old washer that had a "lint dish" that sat on top of agitator and recirculated water from wash water itself was constantly flowing through this lint dish with tiny holes in bottom to catch ALL the lint, etc. Wow...that washer method worked so well! Would appreciate any lint removal comments and thank you for reading this.

I installed a Lint Luv R - http://environmentalenhancements.com/Lint-LUV-R-product-reviews.html a year ago. It seems to work well. I use it to avoid blocking drainpipes with lint build up It also screens out synthetic microplastic particulates that contaminate water eco systems

Mesh lint traps and pantyhose caused a fountain of water to erupt in my washer discharge stand pipe by my new utility sink in the basement.

The only precaution is to install it where you can empty it after your last load of wash, otherwise it develops a foul odor. I clean the stainless steel screen with a paper towel to remove the lint. In the warmer months I blast it with a stream of water from my garden hose.

If I had a huge laundry room, I wouldn't mind hanging the majority of the clothes to dry. A lot of times, I'll partially dry clothes then hang them up to finish drying. My biggest laundry complaint would be dark clothes fading. My son works at the Ralph Lauren outlet and has bought several shirts, light sweat shirts, and they ALL fade very quickly. OR how I am washing them is fading them very quickly. I assumed since they Ralph Lauren is supposed to be better quality/high end they wouldn't fade so much.