Clothes everywhere! How do you organise everyone's washing?

[Jemster]

Here's the situation.

DS 6 has small washing bin in his room. Bought for him to use only. He doesn't put anything in it, just drops clothes in floor no matter how many times I've asked him. How do I get him to do it?!

DH's wardrobe is in DS's room so he ends up shoving his stuff in DS's washing bin, result overflowing mess.

DD 2 has a basket in her room which works fine but gets full up quickly.

Another basket in our room rammed with towels, sheets, my stuff.

There are piles of washing everywhere waiting to be done. DH and I just randomly shove them in in between being at work. Always tons of stuff drying and stacked up to be put away.

Please tell me how you organise yours as this is such a mess and can never find anything.
I know it's not rocket science but organising doesn't come naturally to me and I have a chronic condition which can mean I'm in pain and exhausted so find it hard to keep on top of things.

[Softlysoftlycatchymonkey]

Were the same . The only thing that works if I pick up daily and wash it.

Towels get hung up and dried if they have only been used once.

God forbid if I don't do a wash for just one day as it looks like all the wardrobes have sneezed and spewed clothes every where!

People not putting their clothes IN the dirty basket would send me in to a rage. It's one of the 'little' things I have choosen not to let effect me any more ....

[Softlysoftlycatchymonkey]

Why don't you ask dh to put a load away each night?

Have one big wash day this weekend- plough through it all.

Then you do a wash in morning and let him put it away T night time.

[BikeRunSki]

DH and I have a little ensuite shower room for our washing.
The dc (5, 2) put their's in a washing basket on the landing between their rooms. There is a seperate washing basket (plastic wastebasket) there for whites, mostly DS's school shirts.

[Thumbwitch]

DH has one laundry basket in the main bedroom. He scatters his clothes around the floor mostly until I tell him I need his washing, then he puts it into the laundry basket.

DS1 (6) has a laundry basket in his room but he rarely puts anything into it because he's been fully conditioned to leave his clothes in the bathroom, where the main laundry basket is. This is where all DS2's clothes end up as well, because it's where his nappies get changed (he's 19mo). DS2 is already adept at putting all the clothes into the laundry basket, even the ones I don't want to go in.

Towels stay hung up until it's wash day, when I go around and collect them. I refuse to wash towels after one use, it's such a waste of resources and ruins them far quicker. So they dry on the hooks until they need washing.

I take the sheets off the bed and straight to the laundry - don't do all the beds on the same day!

I tend to only do washing at the weekend, or over night if it's needed before then, because we have a smart meter on our electricity which means it's cheaper by far between 10pm and 7am.

[BobPatandIgglePiggle]

Only 1 basket here - outside the bathroom. Washing goes on overnight then emptied on a morning.

Putting away is our problem - I hate doing it!

[Passthecake30]

I put the kids washing in the one basket that we have, that way if anything is wearable again I put it on the top of their drawers to be worn the next day. Whenever I have enough for a load I put one in. Thou if its raining and a dry day is expected in a day or so I save it up.

Dry clothes get put away or into the one ironing basket.

[HSMMaCM]

Two baskets is the bathroom. A white one for whites and a coloured one for colours. Towels hung on back of bathroom door and reused until there's a chance to wash them. Sheets only removed from beds if they go straight into/beside the washing machine.

My problem is after they're washed and no one puts stuff away!

[Chumhum]

We have two baskets in our bedroom, one fo whites one for darks. The dc use these, they don't put their clothes in everyday so there are days when they have clothes on their floors. Once the washing is done I have two of www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/S79903483/ these each person has their own basket plus one for towels. The baskets live in the utility room so as soon as clothes have left the tumble dryer or have been hung they go into the baskets. Everyone gets their own baskets and puts away.

[fuzzpig]

I am only just getting a handle on this.

We now have just ONE laundry basket, in the bathroom. All clothes, towels etc go straight in there. DCs (4/6) are pretty good at putting their stuff in, but if they forget I make them to do it right away (rather than grumbling at them while doing it myself - which is what DH does ) - they seem to learn faster that way especially if it interrupts a game!

I do a wash as soon as it gets full, providing there's enough room on the airer as otherwise it all mounts up. We don't have a tumble drier so obviously it's easier now the weather has improved but even a day of rain (like this week!) can set it back a bit.

I am gradually getting the DCs more involved, sometimes I get them to hang out the wet stuff or take the dry stuff off. They particularly like pairing socks especially when they can race each other!

They are now in charge of putting all their own clothes away (except uniform which DH hangs as soon as he's ironed it) - again this was done gradually, they started with just underwear/socks/jammies.

A small note - the main thing that really helps you keep on top of laundry, IME, is simply having less clothes. I'm much more selective when buying now, and the clothes we have get much more wear, but it's far far harder for it to build up dramatically as we simply have to keep washing it.

[cosikitty]

I have a laundry bin in each bedroom. I tend to put on a wash every evening and hang it out the following morning. Towels only get washed once or twice a week when I clean the bathroom and I put them in the wash when I get out the clean set. Same with bedding, change the beds once a week, putting straight into machine. I then save all the clean washing and iron and sort it once a week back into wardrobes or linen cupboard.

[Greenrememberedhills]

Fuzzpig, that's a fantastic system.

[Monopolice]

Things that have worked for us-

1. One, divided laundry basket in bathroom. if it's not in there, it doesn't get washed. Clothes hangers also go in it and get brought down and stored in the utility room.
   

1. Each person has a crate next to the tumble dryer/airer. I put dry clothes in the correct basket, and put it in their room when it's full. Until they empty it and bring it down, they get no more clean clothes and I get a teetering pile in the utility room
   

1. Everything that will end up on a hanger, is put on a hanger to dry.
   

1. Towels and sheets are handled separately. I wash and dry them and DH puts them away. He watched some YouTube tutorial about Japanese towel folding and now it's his job. Tbf the towels now take up half the space but he still refuses to leave a towel elephant on my pillow
   

1. If the DC just throw the contents of their floordrobe inside out clothes in the wash, I'll wash it but I'm not wasting time turning it the right way round. So it goes in another basket to fester until DH they cave in and sort it.

[Monopolice]

Or what Fuzzpig said. I do at least a wash a day because if the basket is 3/4 full one day, it'll be overflowing the next.

[Nocomet]

The only way is to have central laundry basket/s, well trained family who use them and wash, hang to dry and put away every day. Again with family helping.

However, I have rebelious family who scatter washing all over the house, fail on the simple task of putting dark stuff in one basket and light stuff in another. If I moan at them they tidy by putting clean/worn once stuff to wash .

I fail to be bothered to set washing going, take it out, or hang it up (although DH is good at this, our indoor line is high and he's tall).

No one can be arsed to put washing away (DD2's lap top vanishes after the pile has been there for a week), but in truth I'm not much better and DH doesn't know where his washing goes.

ie. we are all hopeless. We need less clothes, less laziness and no dinning room and smaller bedroom, so we couldn't ignore piles of clothes for so long.

A DH with cold feet who kept his socks on would also help!

[newlark]

We have central laundry boxes - just 3 large plastic crates (coloureds/whites/delicates) which sit in a row on the landing - everyone puts their own clothes in the right box (ds not fully trained yet but occasionally manages). Each box holds 1 load so as soon as a box is full I put that wash on using the plastic box to carry it down to the washing machine and then to carry it back up to the airers in the spare room if wet or to the line outside when dry. Clean stuff is sorted into piles in the spare room and dh or I generally put away in the right room

[fuzzpig]

Is it just me who doesn't bother sorting laundry by colour?!

I only ever do an all red/dark wash if there's something new that might bleed. Apart from that the only thing I wash separately is my bras (gentle cycle) and towels (hotter and without fabric conditioner. All colours and whites go in together!

[Nanny0gg]

One central laundry bin. I've always kept it on the landing.

If you help your DC get ready for bed you tell him to put his clothes in the laundry. Do every time till it becomes second nature.

Laundry is sorted into the piles I wash together. If not enough for a load, goes back in the bin.

Make sure, for a family of four, it's a good sized bin.

Towels are taken off the rails when I want to wash them.
Sheets are taken off the beds when I want to wash them.

As soon as the laundry is dry, it's either neatly folded into the ironing basket or folded to be aired or put away in piles for each person. Do that for 10 minutes a day and it won't build up.

Buy fewer clothes!

[Nanny0gg]

Is it just me who doesn't bother sorting laundry by colour?!

Um, yes?

Whites will go grey if washed with colours, even if you use a colour catcher, ime.

[fuzzpig]

Our whites (school shirts and work shirts) are still white though :o

[RhinestoneCowgirl]

DC are 5 and 7. There is a laundry bin in the bathroom and one in my room. They're pretty good at putting stuff in the laundry bin, but I occasionally find stuff under DS's bed.

They do like to shed socks around the house like little wormcasts. I draw attention to these by loudly exclaiming "There are socks on the floor" or sometimes just bawling "SOCKS!" until they get picked up and put in the wash.

I sort clean clothes and put them at the end of their beds to put away. This reasonably successful with the DC but not so much with DH.

I agree that getting them involved in hanging out wet washing is good, also sorting. I have threatened DS that he will be getting a washing machine tutorial very soon...

[hedgetrimmer]

we have one big washing basket at the top of the stairs and 2 big ones in our utility room.I have a few smaller ones floating around for clean washing.

I do 6 lads a day,dry it all and put it away at bedtime while dh is bathing the kids.

[mummy1973]

No laundry basket here. Kids check their clothes at the end of the day and dirty clothes get thrown at the top of the stairs for me to bring down when kids in bed. Husband brings own dirty things down and shoved in the machine (not put on just shoves in). So in the evening I look to see if I have enough for a dark or white wash. Bedding and towels get washed as soon as they are changed.

[BackforGood]

If they've got easily accessible laundry baskets in/near their rooms, it's imperative you train them to put stuff in, now while they are little. Stand over them when they get undressed and insist - it's definitely worth putting the time in now, to save you hours over the coming years.

I then collect all laundry automatically on my way down to breakfast in the morning - put a wash on as and when there is enough for any sort of a wash.
Tumble drier is your friend, then you don't have stuff drying all over the place, and it all goes away on the same day. No ironing either - win, win.

[SquallyShowers]

Its a mission, but we have a system that works most of the time.

DH and I have our own laundry baskets in our bedroom. We are each responsible for washing, drying and putting away our own clothes, although will 'help out' with the other one's if one of us is very busy.

Kids have a laundry basket each in their rooms. 5 yr old is trained to put her stuff in and very good with it. 9 yr old is Aspie and struggles, so I go in and check his room every evening and point out socks on the floor, jeans stuffed under the bed etc and make him put them away! DH and I share putting clean kids clothes away, but am going to train them to do it themselves this summer holidays!

I do towels and bedclothes once every 7-10 days or so, straight in the machine, straight upstairs.

[EATmum]

We have -ridiculously overpriced but works-- canvas bags labelled for white and colour clothes. DDs all put their things into the right bags, and DH and I grab a bag when we're going past and tend to put one wash on each day (2 adults, 3 children in our house). 6 folding boxes next to the dryer labelled for each person plus one for towels/bedding. When filled they go to each bedroom for putting away. Theoretically.