1 washload per week per person- doable?

[BeingBooyhoo]

admittedly i have a huge backlog of washing so it will be as many washes as i can dry a day until it's cleared but is it unrealistic to aim for doing just 1 wash per person per week once i have the backlog cleared? there is me, ds1 (7) and ds2 (3). they both wear uniforms everyday, ds1 has 3 sweaters, about 10 pairs of trousers (my mum went a bit mad!) and 6 poloshirts. ds2 has 1 jumper, 2 poloshirts and 4 pairs of trousers (but gets covered in paint and needs washed almost daily). ds2 is also not 100% reliable on telling me when he needs a poo so there can be accidents some days. add into that, my clothes ( i try to wear outer layers a few times before washing) and bedlinen and towels. i have a 8kg washing machine. am i being unrealistic?

[MousyMouse]

doable I would say, esp with a big drum.

[BedHog]

Sounds doable to me. Presumably your DS1 doesn't need all 10 pairs of trousers every week? Assuming towels are hung up after use and not strewn all over the floor, and nobody wets the bed. 8kg is a big machine!

[SpanglyGiraffe]

No I don't think you're being unrealistic, but I couldn't do it. I'm a bit anal about washing & DS & I will only wear things once.
Definitely doable tho!

[MarianForrester]

No chance! Maybe per day?

[ChippingInLovesAutumn]

Well, it's probably do-able for clothes I suppose, but not really for bedding & towels as well is it? Or were they in addition to that?

Why are you planning this?

Frankly, I just shove the machine on when there's enough for a white or dark or coloureds wash - or a bed or the towels gets changed and I don't overfill it (according to MNers on the last thread I don't put nearly enough in it?!) I've enough to 'plan' without 'planning' washing

[BeingBooyhoo]

no he will usually get two days out of his trousers. i'm going to start really checking them and spot washing them before he puts them in teh machine as he has pe (so jogging bottoms) on two days so could probably get away with one pair of trousers a week and one pair of jogging bottoms if i was vigilant.

towels i'm a bit funny about. i used to use them more than once but i didn't like doing it so now we have one each per day. if you can convince me i'm being silly i'll try again with the re-using towels, because it would cut down alot of washing.

and no bed wetting. thank goodness!

[Myliferocks]

There's 7 of us in our house. 2 adults and 5 children ranging from 16 - 8.
In a week I do 1 white wash, 3 coloured washes and 1 towel wash.
I do bedding every 2 weeks and that is 2 washes.
What you are suggesting is perfectly doable.

[BeingBooyhoo]

i'm planning this mostly because we are being very wasteful when it comes to clothes. we are just bunging everything in the wash whether dirty or not and i am just overwhelmed with trying to get it all dried with the weather being so crap. i have no tumble drier and i cant put the heating on in my house as it becomes unbearable within half an hour because it's an old house and there's no thermostat.

i supposes bedlinen would be an extra wash so four loads a week.

thanks mylife. that gives me hope!

[MirandaWest]

There's me and two DC here. Probably average about 3-4 loads a week I think.

[DontmindifIdo]

You're being odd about your towels, but you will need to do a towel wash once a week anyway.

I would say with a family of 3 you need to be washing pretty much every day.

[SilentMammoth]

Clean towels every day?!?!

[BeingBooyhoo]

yes i know it's so wasteful. how often should they be washed? -weekly?

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Uniforms washed on a Friday evening with any darks. lights with towels after that load. Then bedding Saturdays. Sometimes do a midweek wash if any bed wetting has happened.

There is me, DD (5) and DS (almost 4)

[MousyMouse]

we change bath towels about every 5 days (so 3 each in 2 weeks) hand/kitchen towels more often.
everyone has their own towel and space for it so it does dry in between use.

[nextphase]

We probably do one load per person plus one load each week - so 5 loads for 4 of us.

Tho in the winter I do slightly less on the sheets and towels as I struggle to dry them all indoors.

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Oh, and I can usual get away with wearing my clothes more than once, jeans/trousers 3 0r 4 days running if not dirty. tops, 2 days. Suppose it is different if you work and need absolutely clean clothes on every day.

[MousyMouse]

what helps me is having a couple of large laundry baskets like this . one for darks and one for lights. if they are full I put a load on, which fits roughly with my 7kg mashine.

[BeingBooyhoo]

ok, i'm going to get a couple of those hampers in B&M and see how much we accumulate over the next few weeks being more vigilant. at the minute we have just being adding to the backlog and not washing as quickly as we accumulate. it's a nightmare TBH as we are running round looking for stuff that's buried in the bottom of the pile.

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

My main problem is putting away the clean stuff after! Then it piles up!!


Being, would it be worth washing a few in one day and then going to the launderette to use the dryers?

[LeeCoakley]

There's 5 of us. I never go near the washing machine during the week. At weekends I sort the laundry into 1 white wash, 1 40 degree colour wash, 1 30 degree colour wash (smart work clothes and more delicate stuff), 1 or 2 towel wash, 1 bedding wash. With 3 of you, perfectly doable.

[BeingBooyhoo]

we dont have any laundrettes like you describe where you have a row of machines and use it yourself. we have dry cleaners that do the washing and drying (and sometimes they will fold aswell) and i have used them in the past but it works out quite expensive. 2 washes works out about £12! i have been trying to justify taking a few loads down each week til i have cleared it but it's alot of money just for drying (which is all i really need, i know they do the washing part too)

[ChippingInLovesAutumn]

Lee - how do you do 5 beds in one wash??

I have a LG 7kg machine. On my double bed I have a fitted sheet, dble duvet cover & 4 pillow cases. I don't like doing all of that in one load - I'll usually do the duvet cover & pillow cases in one load and the fitted sheet with other fitted sheets in another load. Otherwise they don't get washed properly (IMO) and they get all scrunched up.

[ChippingInLovesAutumn]

BBH - it's a shame you don't have a laundrette near you. We have a FAB one down the road (that I used when my old machine packed in). The machines are a good size and you can just go in to do drying - the dryers are bloody enormous, run off of 5p pieces and are very very quick. If I've had people staying in the winter I'll sometimes take all the towels & bedding down to get them dried quicker and it takes less effort to iron the duvets

[BeingBooyhoo]

i know. i wish we did have them. i've been to so many different towns around my own and they all jsut have dry cleaners that offer a wash service, none of them are laundrettes.

there was one that opened in my town a couple of year ago but it only lasted a few months. not sure why it closed.