Do you have a hamper?
By SomeCowgirl
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
United States
August 15, 2010 4:09pm CST
Growing up, we would throw our laundry on the floor of the bathroom to be put into the washing machine once we got enough for a load. Well that was at my grandparents, I think we'd take the laundry to our room at my mom's house, though I forget exactly. I did buy a laundry hamper a while before I moved out of my grandparent's house and in with my husband, but I never used the hamper for dirty clothes, nigh, instead I would us it for clean clothes that I'd fold up, or just toss on the side so that I could grab it to where the next day, or the day after that before washing again.
Now we have a hamper outside of our bathroom, so we use it when we get out of the shower. We have clothes behind our door, that's where we keep clothes that can be worn again. We usually take those from behind the door and put them in the hamper after a shower or two.
In any case, do you use a hamper, or where does your dirty clothes end up?
5 people like this
25 responses
@besthope44 (12123)
• India
22 Aug 10
Well i have a hamper and use it for washing clothes.
2 people like this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
Hamper's are nice but sometimes bulky. We have a round one in storage that we will use when we get our own place. We have a square one now that we use for our clothes.
Cream97, I've also used a hamper for clean clothes, you can fold them up and it's amazing how much clothes can fit in there and stored away.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
8 Sep 10
Well this is a small red basket at that, but even sooo.. and I can't say much as I do remember just throwing it in the general direction of the basket, of course as I said it seemed rare that there was a basket to put stuff in as is.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Laundry baskets come in handy too and do just the trick as well. I remember my grandmother did sometimes use a red clothes basket to put clothes in, but most of the time it was just to gather it from the floor, rarely do I think it was used in the bathroom etc.
@cream97 (29086)
• United States
7 Sep 10
Hi, SomeCowgirl. I used to use a hamper to put all of my dirty clothes in. Now I use a cotton sturdy long sack. My husband bought this for us about less than a year ago. Three years ago, we had a gray and a red dirty clothes sack. I really missed these two sacks.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
I like the sacks as well as when going to a laundry mat it is much easier to use then laundry hampers, laundry sacks and a clothes basket work just fine and maybe easier to stow away until wash day. We have one full of clean clothes hanging on the back of our door it's socks and underwear that we couldn't fit in our underwear drawer. My husband and I share a chest (or is it called dresser? whatever the one is without the mirror) becuase we have no room for separate ones. Now I remember growing up having a separate lingerie chest then the chest for my regular clothes, but here I am getting off subject! 
@celticeagle (168126)
• Boise, Idaho
17 Aug 10
Good question. I remember hampers when I was young but haven't even seen one in years. I have a spot at the fit of my bed where my dirty clothes go. We usually have laundry baskets that we have in each room and use as a hamper. That is how we do things around here. Happy 'lotting.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
8 Sep 10
Functionality is the next best thing. Usually I find real neatness doesn't last too long before it's back to a mess, but if it's a functional mess that's all you can hope for.
@celticeagle (168126)
• Boise, Idaho
8 Sep 10
Ya, I wish I could have neatness. I am just thankful for functionality! LOL
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
16 Aug 10
LOL, I have a hamper and a bunch of laundry bags! One hamper just doesn't hold anything. When my kitchen is built I'll have one for dish towels as well and maybe one for cleaning rags.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
8 Sep 10
My grandmother did that I don't think either, and then my mil doesn't do that. I don't think I will now that I think about it, now my mom just said "throw it all in", or maybe it's just she never properly taught us. My sister and I did our laundry for the most part for as long as I can remember as my mom wasn't able to.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Can't forget dishcloths and towels, as well as cleaning rags. Here we just put it in a little bucket or well I've not paid attention to what it is, under the sink. When we'd wash our dish towels and rags as a kid we'd just take them from the kitchen and into the wash with the other towels and wash cloths. I wonder now if that was what caused a lot of the wear and tear of all the towels and things.
Our hamper holds all of our clothes, but we don't really go out all that much and clean our clothes once a week, but when I was working as well we did have quite a hefty hamper and lots of clothes to clean.
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
16 Aug 10
I wouldn't mix the kitchen stuff with my other wash or with cleaning rags for a lot of reasons. Stains from transfer are at the top of the list and then there's the chemicals in cleaning stuff. You just never know...
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
15 Aug 10
Hiya Scg,
Our dirty clothes end up separated in to dirty, then very dirty which I wash altogether and separate from the others that are not so bad. The really dirty things get a pre soak and then a longer cycle but I use less soap powder too.
They all get washed but towels like big bath towels and sheets go on their own apart and the very smelly socks and undies too.
But I always wait till I get a decent pile of each to use the washer or wash them by hand if there are not enough after all they are only small things. We don´t have a hamper though never have had one.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
15 Aug 10
We do all our separating in the floor right in front of the hamper, clothes we're not about to wash go back in the hamper. I've washed small things in the sink too, but not by choice, there was a time I was living with friends and our washer gave out, so there I was washing clothes in the sink! 
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Hmm as for how many clothes we usually have, we usually have three or four days of work clothes from hubby, and a pair of pajamas from each, socks, and towels, wash cloths... It takes about a week for us to get a load to be washed.
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Hmm as for how many clothes we usually have, we usually have three or four days of work clothes from hubby, and a pair of pajamas from each, socks, and towels, wash cloths... It takes about a week for us to get a load to be washed.@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
16 Aug 10
Hiya Scg,
I have had to wash whole loads by hand for seven months and I had to drain them all off by hand too as the Woman downstairs would have reported me because living in a Flat here you just can´t put wringing wet clothes outside on the line without a whole load of protests so I used a saucepan and a Colander and put the rinsed clothes in there to drain off one at a time and I could only do this and night and when she had no clothes on her line.
So I could do it again but it would be hard going for that reason that you are not allowed to put soaking wet clothes outside anywhere.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
very inconvenient! I would surely go mad if I had to do all my clothes like that!
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
My sister and I got to pile ours altogether in the bathroom growing up. Same with when we lived with our grandparents. My mom had a hamper but it was used for her and my dad, we put our clothes in it only when we were toting the clothes to the wash.
@Rainegurl (2156)
• Philippines
16 Aug 10
We have a hamper by the bathroom door 
I grew up having a hamper. Each of bedroom had a hamper where we could put in our dirty clothes. Some of us in the family have enough discipline to use it, some are not
Once or twice a week, the dirty clothes are collected from the hampers and go to the laudry.
Have a nice day! 
I grew up having a hamper. Each of bedroom had a hamper where we could put in our dirty clothes. Some of us in the family have enough discipline to use it, some are not
Once or twice a week, the dirty clothes are collected from the hampers and go to the laudry.
Have a nice day! 1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Using a hamper does keep the bathroom or bedroom from looking like a pigsty, and trust me growing up the bathroom could definitely look like that. Of course at times I was the one responsible for cleaning the clothes, and so I can't speak much without seeming a hypocrite.
@robertjvan (289)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Always had a hamper, at Mom's House growing up or when I was living on my own.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
That's good, I didn't always so bathrooms were used as it's own laundry hamper in a way.. clothes on the floor in one corner.
@sender621 (14893)
• United States
16 Aug 10
My mother had a clothes hamper in all of our bedrooms when I was growing up. It made it easier for her to collect the laundry,. This is a habit I have taken with me to my own house and family. When i am ready to do the laundry, I just check the hampers and sort the clothes from there. Hampers are laundry timesavers.@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
That does seem like it would make it easier. I remember when I was fairly young, we would pile our clothes in the bottom of the linen closet of my grandmother's bathroom where she would take the clothes once there got to be a lot of them, and washed them. Then it gradually ended up in two bathrooms, this after they added on to the house for my great grandmother. I took over the duties of washing clothes (and I procrastinated a lot) when I moved in for my high school years.
As for them being timesavers, I agree but disagree. It seemed like the pile worked just as well and you could sort the things quickly by throwing them into different corners of the room.
@bounce58 (17385)
• Canada
20 Aug 10
Yes, we do. In fact we have two. One each in a couple of rooms in the house. My problem with this is that I have two young boys, who couldn't seem to shoot strait. Often I would find the dirty clothes barely hanging on the hamper, if not out and around it. Often I end up picking these clothes during my coming and going to the rooms.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
Now when I was younger we had one hamper, but mine and my sister's clothes usually ended up in the bathroom piled up. At my grandmother's it was the same way. It made the bathroom look much smaller and some are small enough as is.
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
17 Aug 10
I do not have a hamper. I had one before my husband and I got married, but not since we have been married. We have a laundry basket that is reserved for dirty clothes. The only problem is that both my female cats keep laying on the dirty clothes. I never thought of buying a clothes hamper.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
I only bought one becuase it was on sale. I can't say it's ever been used for dirty clothes. We have one here we use, and when we get our own place we will use the one I bought as we still have it, just put up in storage with yarn and something else I think in it.. Crochet stuff.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
7 Sep 10
Seems like a good place to put it as any.. right next to the washer so you don't have to bring load by load or little by little to it. Sometimes the hamper can get real heavy, jeans and towels in it.
@cyberprofit (19)
• United States
16 Aug 10
I think a hamper is a good thing to have.When our kids were younger we kept a hamper in each of there rooms for dirty clothes,it worked great at keeping clothes off the floor.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
When my husband and I have kids we may do the same, and teach them from a young age to put the clothes into the hamper right away. Growing up I always just dumped mine on the floor, and that can really make a room look dirty, just because of clothes on the floor.
@GardenGerty (160879)
• United States
16 Aug 10
I have a hamper outside the laundry area (sort of in the kitchen) as i decided I wanted the space in the bathroom. We have hampers in our bedrooms as well. No that is not how I grew up. In one modern house we had a vanity sink and we just opened the door and threw it in there. In another house we had a hamper in the hallway that we all used. In another house it was in the laundry porch. I have a big house but it is still crowded with junk. I am glad we have room for hampers.
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
We had room for hampers, but never used them. I actually want to scratch that, as I do remember my mom having a blue hamper, but I forget where we had that. I still think we took clothes to our room to throw in the floor, atleast my sister and I did. My mom and dad had a hamper in their bathroom they used.
Now I don't think I could stand seeing a big pile of dirty clothes in the floor of the bathroom like at my grandparents, or in our room like at my parents.
A laundry porch huh? Like a porch with the washer and dryer, kind of like a screened porch? Sounds nice, I like porches such as those.
@marsha32 (6631)
• United States
16 Aug 10
I have one of those pop up hampers for my 13 yr old to put her dirty clothes in...but she still will put them on the floor right next to it...or leave them in the bathroom floor. She is a slob.
Otherwise I have 2 baskets beside my bed, one for light colors and one for dark colors. I know where they are and where my dirty clothes belong!
Marsha
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
I definitely want to have two hampers when my husband and I have our own place, we can separate the lights from darks easier, and grab and go. The pop up hamper's are nice but one's I've seen are two small and don't hold a load of clothes even, maybe they're are ones that are taller now from when I last saw one.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
16 Aug 10
We actually have two hampers. One for white clothes like underwear, socks, wash clothes, etc., and one for colored clothes. This actually works pretty well. As long as we separate our clothes and put them in the proper hamper when we take them off, we don't have to spend our time sorting laundry into piles. All I have to do is walk into the bathroom, grab the hamper I need, and dump it into the washer. You would be surprised how much easier this method makes the laundry to get done...
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
That isn't a bad idea, we really have no room for another hamper, unless we put one atop the other. We have a round hamper that isn't very heavy but we put that in storage with some of our things in it, or I'd say we would do this. I am sure it cuts time down on laundry. I try to get in the habit of adjusting the laundry knob to the setting it needs to be on before and after I do my last load of laundry so that the next time it's used, it's ready.
@maanrodriguez (604)
• Philippines
16 Aug 10
hampers are abound in our house. my mom is a bit anal about this and I think I got it from her as well. LOL.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Hampers keep things organized and tidy though, so I suppose it's a good thing. We have the one hamper, but I wish we had two. When hubs and I do get our own place I think I'll have a hamper for whites and a hamper for darks as another user here has.
@jerikjames (1041)
• Philippines
16 Aug 10
I have my own hamper! And my mom would freak out every weekend to find it full of dirty clothes! Well, that's bound to happen right? Hampers are bound to be filled up by clothes, so it makes me wonder why she freaks out. Maybe because she's the one doing the laundry. Haha. Anyhow, hampers are neat way to organize your dirty stuff. It's like a garbage can where you get to throw your trash, though the dirty clothes you throw in it will be washed and will be clean again. 
Well, that's bound to happen right? Hampers are bound to be filled up by clothes, so it makes me wonder why she freaks out. Maybe because she's the one doing the laundry. Haha. Anyhow, hampers are neat way to organize your dirty stuff. It's like a garbage can where you get to throw your trash, though the dirty clothes you throw in it will be washed and will be clean again. 1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
Hampers are nice and definitely keeps the floors from being full of dirty clothes, it also helps with organizing as you can figure out what's clean and what's dirty if the floor is clean of clothes! 
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There were times I had to do the laundry for everyone in the house, when I was growing up, so I can imagine your mother's reaction! 
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There were times I had to do the laundry for everyone in the house, when I was growing up, so I can imagine your mother's reaction! 
@lindaharding627 (1442)
• United States
16 Aug 10
We have two hampers but we have found that its easier for us to separate clothes in piles in the hallway. That's where the washer and dryer are located because we live in a mobile home. The hamper is currently holding my sons folded clothes because he does not have a dresser in his room. The other hamper is in his room and he puts toys in it instead of dirty clothes.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
16 Aug 10
We separate our clothes in piles in our hallway too, if you can call it that. It's just an open area between two bedrooms and the bathroom, which is connected to the den... Yep we live in a doublewide!
I've had to put some of our underwear and socks in a laundry bag because there was no room for it in the dresser drawer, so I know about having to supplement something else for a "dresser". For the longest time my clothes (I moved in with hubby and his parents) were in the floor in a laundry basket.
We have to carry our clothes from one side of the house to the other to wash them.
