What is folding laundry?

I bring ours from the line in a basket, unfolded, then have to hang it up or put it in the dryer for a little while because it’s never bone dry (we live by the sea) but then I fold it straight from the dryer/ airer and put it away or into the ironing basket. I have a friend who always has a full couch of clean washing just dumped all over it, and another one who has a full travel cot of it in her living room!

I wash by person- we each have own laundry basket as I find it much easier. DD’s washing is always filthy (nursery) and can all be tumbled so it gets a hotter, longer wash. Mine gets a quick colder wash and never tumbled. DH’s is a mix. Usually one load each a week when basket full, and makes it quick to put away as no sorting.

FFS. If I take clothes off the line and bring the whole lot in, it takes me less than a minute. I then spend up to 10 minutes sorting and folding it to put away later.

If I fold the clothes AS I TAKE THEM OFF THE LINE, it still takes me up to 10 minutes to do.

IT TAKES THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME. AND ARGH!!!! Who the fuck cares about how/when people fold laundry. (Yes, I'm commenting, but just because it's such an utterly stupid question and it's enraged me slightly).

I also CANNOT be doing with people who want to show off their housekeeping skills. Who cares. Fold, don't fold. Iron, don't iron. Have a special system for folding fitting sheets or get a life like the rest of us.

There. As you were.

Top tip: take washing off the line by "person" (if you're really clever you can also hang it out by person in the first place ) - so unpeg all of your stuff, quick fold in half and half again, and put in basket then unpeg the next person's stuff yadda yadda... it's already folded and sorted in the basket in the garden, take the sorted and folded piles to each room and put away/hang up.

@BogRollBOGOF I totally agree. Bending each time to remove one garment from the dryer to fold whilst standing would be hard on the back and result is substandard folding!!!
I fold and smooth on a table.

I'm struggling to see how a one-touch policy taken very literally would be more efficient. That would mean getting every dry item, taking it to the correct bedroom to fold and put away.

Even if you minimally pull each item out, fold and then put into piles to then put away, that's still adding lots of extra layers of movement. Great if you're adding squats to your life.

I don't see how it's less efficient to pull everything out into a basket and take it to a convenient place to fold.
Sometimes that might get delayed, for instance if laundry is needing swapping between machines shortly before going out. Some washing loads are more efficient to put away than others.

I favour separating a basket of clothes into piles of where they get put away. DS has a sliding wardrobe so one half is done at a time with the obscured half to put away put in another pile, then folded when that side is free. More touches, but quicker than constantly sliding doors and pulling out different drawers continuously.

What's more efficient will depend on the laundry set up, method and clothes storage.

@PrincessofWellies the rest of us can only aspire 🤣🤣🤣

@PrincessofWellies you dint wear pants or socks? Do you wear trousers? They'll need washing more if you don't wear pants.
You don't wear pants or socks?????

Actually I neither wear pants or socks so washing them is a moot point.

My point is the damage caused to the environment by continually washing clothes that aren't dirty, using precious resources and ruining the planet for our children I guess. That's the bigger picture. Probably not important to a self entitled person but it is to me.

Standing folding washing is such a waste of life too.

I can see as things come out of the dryer or off the line that regardless of how they are folded, they need to be ironed.

😁 I do sort out my drawers every few months, they stay neat for about a week then descend into chaos again. 🤷‍♀️

@OhVicIveFallen that picture makes me feel uncomfortable

Intriguing 😉

I'm with you OP!
I fold everything and sort it into piles as I take it off the line/airer (don't have a tumble drier) then deliver to the corresponding rooms for putting away. Only exception to this is if it's raining and I want to get it inside asap. I fold relatively neatly and almost never iron anything. If it's hung to dry neatly and folded when taken down it doesn't really need ironing... There's usually a suitable surface nearby for folding/piles.
I'm all for having a good moan about all the chores I have to do, but 'folding laundry' doesn't register as a separate chore to me!

This is one of my drawers but tbh they're all like this. Can't get worked up about it tbh. Not enough to actually bother folding stuff anyway 🤷‍♀️

I do sometimes struggle the close the damn thing though 😆

If you fold it as it comes off the line it doesn't need ironing

I'm with you OP,I cold as I go otherwise you make more work for yourself.

I was just thinking about this on the weekend. I fold off the line, my mum puts in a basket and brings inside to fold.

My method, as it saves sorting later, is wash things that get put away together in the same wash (dark/light dependent). When pegging, it is pegged by the drawer it's put away in - easy as that's how the loads are structured. Socks are paired as I peg. If I don't have the pair, I leave a gap for the second when it's found. If clothes go away on a hanger, they're not pegged they're straight on the hanger on the line.

Unpegging - unpeg, fold as walk back to the basket, place folded in basket by drawer (easy as that's how it's pegged), walk inside and it's super fast to put away.

Once you get the rhythm to hang like with like eg tshirts together, pants together etc it's really just pick the spot where it normally goes on the line and no thought needed.

My mum takes off line (hung in any old order), brings in, tips on bed, folds and sorts in to piles to be put away. Seems to take longer to me.

I don't iron until I'm wearing something. I prefer everything put away where it belongs, out of sight.

Mine gets folded as soon as it's dry but as we're a family of 7 I do (in my head) categorise it as a separate task

@SecondtimeMama29 I don't have a big table by my tumble dryer or line. I pull everything into the basket, take it to the table and sort and fold. Things that require ironing go back into the basket for later, things that can be folded are folded flat on the table. I smooth things out by pressing firmly along with my hand so everything is nice and smooth. I fold things shop style. I couldn't do any of this standing up. My dryer is down low also. Bending 25 times to take each piece out one by one would break my back!

Does it matter what people call the baskets.

To me a wash basket is the big tall one in the bathroom that all dirty clothes get put into.

I then use a small laundry basket to carry said clothes to and from the washing machine/tumble dryer.

Clean clothes then get folded and put into the ironing basket ready to iron.

@VisionsOfSplendour - You would be amazed at the things I get the butler to do. 😉

Folding laundry is another American chore that is creeping into the English language.

Tumble drier use is much higher in most of the US than here, and 'folding laundry' is an all encompassing term for what happens to clothing after leaving the drier and returning to the closet.