What is your laundry schedule/routine? How many times a week?

[Flingmoo]

I often get to the point where my two laundry baskets are overflowing. At the moment it's just me, DH and our toddler, but we have another baby due in 4 months and I want to get into a better routine before the laundry increases!

At the moment I'm really erratic with my laundry - no routine or schedule, I just do it whenever, and I just pick out whatever I think is most important to have clean first. This chaotic approach is not really working and I am now wondering if I should start some kind of schedule, washing darks or lights on certain days, towels on a Sunday or whatever.

So how do you do it?! How many people are you washing for, and how many days do you work outside the home, if any? Do you have a schedule or just wash stuff randomly? What time of day do you do it? I work 3 days a week but can probably do a quick wash in the evenings on my working days.

[gunting]

I have a rota zzzzz and we do our clothes Monday, Wednesday, Sunday and DS (1) clothes get washed on Saturday.

We do both sets of bedding on a Sunday too

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

We have two laundry baskets, darks and lights. I do one wash every two days, using a Colour Catcher in the lights wash. White shirts are saved till the weekend and washed with sheets on a Saturday . Dark shirts are saved and washed together every other weekend.

[SweepTheHalls]

One wash everyday!

[Jamhandprints]

2 children, me and OH. Massive pile of laundry. I do one or two loads a day but never get it under control, so....

[RandomMess]

5 of us and most of them do sports...

Have 4 dirty laundry baskets - dark, lights, red/purples/pinks, everything else (anything "special" which DH much not touch plus towels, bedding etc).

Tend to do one a load a day, or a couple most days - depends on whether drying outside.

With fewer people it would probably be a load every other day and would just do the fullest basket.

[jelliebelly]

Me dh ds(11) dd(8) - I do about 4 loads on a Saturday and that's it for clothes. Sports kit midweek and towels/bedding one load midweek. Tumble dry everything and pay somebody else to iron dh work shirts!

[Flingmoo]

I'm thinking of doing something like this:

Wednesday: Dark clothes
Thursday: Light clothes
Friday: Other stuff
Saturday: Sheets, Towels (2 loads)

Has anyone got one of this baskets that has sections for lights and darks?

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

2 adults, 2 children. 2 x karate kits, 4 x football kits, 3 X swimming kits a week. About 2 loads a day normally.

[CheshireChat]

I normally do about 5 loads/ week, however today for example DS leaked on his bedding and I've got that plus 4!! throws that he snuggles up in bed. Normally he has two but somehow he managed to sneak a couple extra .

The only thing about a rota is that you might not get full loads unless you have stuff like uniforms that are always the same.

Also, do you have a tumble dryer? If not, I really wouldn't plan on doing towels and bedding on the same day as it'll be a pain to dry them.

[busyrascal]

I do lights on Monday and Thursday as those are swimming lesson days for the dc. Darks on Tuesday and Friday. And I chuck some light stuff in with bedding at the weekend too.

[gamerchick]

As soon as I have a load. If I have 2 loads I do 2 lots of washing. I'm I'm ready to put a load of coloureds in the evening on I've been known to take away clothes they're wearing that will need washing.

I dislike a full laundry basket.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

What does your dh think you should do as a household to get on top of the laundry?

[Piffpaffpoff]

I do one load a day, even if it's just a half load. No tumble drier so have two clothes airers that are permanently full over the winter. If I don't do this, it gets backed up and takes me days to get through it due to the limited drying space.

Confession - I don't separate anything out apart from delicates. Everything else goes in together at 40. Not suffered any problems doing this.

[Flingmoo]

bibbitybobbityyhat I asked him but he didn't have any ideas, so I decided to enlist the advice of MN instead At the moment I am satisfied with the division of household jobs even though I do far more than he does as I only work part time.

Forgot to add I do have a tumble dryer and use it for everything at this time of year. So can do about 2-3 loads of washing a day.

It takes over 3hrs to dry the washing though, seems excessive to me - not sure if this is normal for tumble dryers or not.

[Flingmoo]

Piffpaffpoff I used to do that, and used colour catchers. These days I prefer to wash separately for some reason.

[pasbeaucoupdegendarme]

I do it as soon as there is a load ready. However, I try to set the washer to go off in the middle of the night as it's cheaper on our energy tariff. I do sheets as soon as I take them off the beds, so they don't sit around in the basket.

[FannyFanakapan]

I have 3 teens and a preschooler in the house. I wash several loads every day. I am a bit obsessive about towels and bedding, which get done every week. I also use colour catchers so we never have half loads.

[Sittingunderafrostysky]

Family of four, including a sweaty sporty teenage boy. I usually do the following:

Mondays - towels;
Tuesday - shirts and whites;
Wednesday - brights (include school uniform);
Thursday - darks;
Saturday/Sunday - lights, brights and darks again as needed.

Bedsheets usually on Sunday/Monday. Sports kit as needed.

I put a wash on each morning, and take it out when I get home from work, mid afternoon.

[jelliebelly]

You need a new tumble drier - mine dries a load in less than an hour

[cheminotte]

Me, DP and 2dc here. I wash Mon + Tues uniform on Tues eve, light wash Weds (mostly DPs work shirts, grown up darks Thurs, more uniform Friday, another dark wash Sunday evening. Catch up wash on Monday if needed. Work 5 days per week.

[trinity0097]

Bedding gets done in a Saturday morning, as the cleaner changes it on a Friday. Everything else generally over the weekend, as too busy in the week to do washing/hanging out.

Tumble dryer gets used for bedding and towels, the rest I tend to hang out. We have a uber warm airing cupboard with their boiler in, shirts and stuff go on hangers in there, the rest on an airer in the spare room. I also have a clothes rail I sometimes use to hang out wet washing on hangers, in the summer I hang outside.

[motherinferior]

We don't have a routine. One or other of us - usually him - puts a load on when it overflows out of the washing basket. Don't separate colours or anything.

[popcornpaws]

I do a washing every morning, the clothes from the day before, i never have a backlog as i always do this.
It usually requires just a quick wash
Towels done separately as i don't use fabric conditioner with them.
Bedding done when i change the beds.
I dont understand why people let it build it, its not like its a hard job to press a few buttons on the machine.

[Passthecake30]

One load everyday, usually alternate dark/light; with extras at the weekend for bedding and dp's grotty work clothes. 2 adults, 2 dcs

[CremeEggThief]

Just me and DS (14) here.

Monday: towels
bathmat, mop head, cleaning cloths

Mid week: woollens in winter (every other week)
Any clothes (colours and darks) when necessary

Friday : all clothes (colours and darks)
white school shirts

Sunday: bedding (alternate)
bath robes

So 2 loads on 3 days of the week and another 2 loads mid week, but not every week.