I’m training 6 dpw and generating a mountain of dirty athletic gear. Especially now when it’s not cold enough to be on the treadmill, but cold enough to be outside with an underlayer, gloves, a beanie…all adding to the shorts, top, socks…etc. When I do the laundry, I have two baskets, one for my clothes and one for mrs. giorgitd’s clothes, It’s astounding how much more laundry I generate than she does.
I’m not going to re-use dirty workout gear (yuck), so I don’t think that there are ways to generate less dirty gear. Are there? But are there tricks / strategies that you use to minimize the time required to go from the dryer to storage? I have contemplated a basket in my closet that the clean workout clothes just stay in an unsorted heap. But I think that sorting though the heap when it’s workout time will be slower (and more frustrating) than putting everything where it goes/I know where it is. Maybe LR stuff but…shrug…
I don’t put my workout clothes in the dryer, I hang them all up to air-dry. I’ve just accepted that with both of us training multiple times/week this will be a timesuck.
To add to that I walk into the shower with my bike shorts and jersey on or my run shorts and top on and it just gets hand washed as part of the showering process and then hang it up to dry. It’s a really useful process on biz travel too ! It really cuts down on laundry. My outer layers (tights, jackets, etc), I just hang up on a hook in basement after workouts and they are dry by the time I need them next unless I am working out in rain and mud. Working out in snow conditions, the outer layer does not need washing daily, just hang dry. Once per week, wash outer layers.
I go with the unsorted basket approach. All the clothes are tech fabric (no worry about wrinkles) and the stuff I’m using the most for the current weather naturally tends to be on top (my lightweight Castelli climber’s jerseys are at the bottom…not warm enough yet), so sorting through stuff isn’t an issue. The one exception are my socks; they are in my regular sock drawer.
As some have mentioned, air dry the tech stuff (mostly to extend the life of the lycra); and don’t use items (especially shorts) multiple times between washing unless enjoy saddle sores.
Similarly…I tend to drop mine into the sink and soak in some soapy water. Then rinse and hang dry on the shower head, and water handle(s). Once a week, they all go through a regular round of laundry…as the handwashing isn’t quite as effective as the machine. They all fit into a single load.
I machine wash everything and only air dry tri short bottoms and running socks. Everything else goes into the dryer. I’m already losing enough money with the time suck that is this whole ridiculous thing anyways.
Race kit also air dry, but that is infrequent.
I do my own laundry. I have no idea what happens with all the other stuff in the house.
I’m doing laundry about three times a week. Our pre war home has small closets.
Geez…every responder’s tolerance for this seems to be way higher than mine. FWIW…all my workout clothes get machine washed. They all get machine dried (yes, even the bib shorts). Those phases of the work are pretty easy for me because my robot machine slaves are generating the effort. But…the pile of clean, dry clothes that need sorting into…the sock drawer…and the towel drawer…and hanging the jerseys/shirts…and the bib short drawer…and the running short drawer…and the cold weather clothes drawer…and the headband/wristband drawer…I think that that is my time suck (sort of imposed by Mrs. giorgitd to keep things neat/hidden) and what I am trying to streamline. Maybe I just need one giant drawer/bin that everything can be dumped into. My summer project… I do air dry my race kit. I’m not a monster.
Yeah, you gotta keep things much simpler. I also wash all my shit together on cold. All of it. Work polos. Bib shirts. Under wear. Whites, colors, whatever. Towels. When I fold myself up and wash myself after a race.
And I have super easy to use and very rough sorting - maybe 5 total open bins in shelves in my closet. One rail for hanging things. Some stuff stays in the basement since I bike train down there.
