Empty washing basket

Yes, quite often. Only 2 adults. Pretty frugal with laundry generally- 2-3 loads a week.

i’m no shining example of perfection (trust me) but equally I have to be somewhat organised as otherwise it just descends into chaos.

what works for me is utterly lazy and the easiest route out. I put one load on before bed, every night, on a timer to finish at 6am. I get up at 7. And I’ve perfected over several years the precise art of dealing with that wet laundry according to weather, whilst eating my toast.

warm but not reliably dry - clothes horse in a sunny window. Dry - washing line. I do the pegging or hanging while eating my toast. I gather it back in every night after work. 5 mins in the dryer, folded and done. Repeat. Everyone puts theirs away on a Sunday.

weekends I do more because there is no way we’d survive on 7 loads a weeks here and I’m in awe of anyone who does! Per week - 4 beds, 4 bath sheets (more if it’s period weeks, it can be a towel a day, I can’t understand what anyone else does to avoid this mess), hand towels, bath mats, 10 school shirts, 5 work shirts, rugby kit, football kit, cricket kit, swimming kit, menopausal hot sweat pyjamas, and that’s before ‘regular’ clothes….

My washing basket is always empty. My children don’t believe in putting things in them, they believe that dumped on the floor inside out is perfect reasonable

We're a family of 3 and a big wet muddy dog. I tend to do dd wash, mine and dh wash (we wear mostly dark), bedding & towels and finally dog towels & toys each week. So 4 loads a week. I regularly see the bottom of the wash basket.

@HappyAsASandboy

I dont try to 'finish' the laundry.

Don't care if the basket is full.

But I also dont waste my time doing unnecessary laundry.

Reading these (and showering posts) always reminds me that the environment is fucked

It's quite depressing

There’s only 3 of us (2 adults and a toddler) and it’s never done. We don’t have a dryer so it’s even worse in the winter but when it’s warmer I can usually get through a bit more of it as stuff only takes 1-2 days to dry rather than 3-4 when it’s freezing 🤷‍♀️🙈

It doesn't exist for more than a few hours at a time.

If you manage to empty [all] your washing basket[s] and wash it all in one day, at bedtime there will be more in the basket because of the clothes were all wearing while the washing machine was going. In our house, that's 6 sets of clothes, plus cleaning cloths/flannels/towels. There's easily another load of washing at the end of a wash day, though I split by lights/darks/towels and sheets, so there's actually the beginnings of several more wash loads rather than one full load.

I guess if you washed mixed loads, you could get to a point where you stick mixed load on at bedtime and finish the day with an empty basket, but by the morning there'd by pjs/towels/flannels/cleaning cloths again .....

I used to feel drowned in laundry because I was trying (and failing) to finish it. Now I accept that it is a continuous process and I only need to keep up.

Apparently some people barely change their bedding or towels and wear the same clothes for numerous days - I can well believe they see the bottom of their basket.

For me, with 4 DC there's always something lurking in the baskets, normally least popular clothing which gets left in preference of something else. All 6 of us have completely new outfits daily and also fresh towels daily. I could get empty baskets but personally I'm not that bothered if they sit at 1/4 full.

2 adults, 2 children who keep picking up fking worms from school. I swear I do more laundry than we have clothes/bedding. It’s endless.

Just me and DH, both work full-time, leave at 7.30am home at 7pm. I got overwhelmed with it all, especially at weekends. I spent a few hours at the laundarette with all the washing, 4 loads and dried it all there. I gave everything that needed ironing, to a local ironing service. Cost me a bit! I now put a wash on every other day, even just a half load and iron that wash as soon as its dry. Ironing takes 15 minutes and I now have more time for me at weekends 🙂

I do a load probably every other day. When Both ds's were younger they both played football. So that's 3 times per week. Then bedding. Towels. But it goes on, dries, is put away.

What's the problem?

@Muststopeating

I hardly think being able to put clothes in a washing machine and push a button is worthy of smugness.

Nor is it something which takes a lot of time.

Although quite what that has to do with education levels I'm not sure

They do get empty occasionally. Mostly just before DD pukes over me, the bed, and 2 dozen stuffed animals.

I didn't mean to write believe. Of course if you do you do!

If you don't have whites then it probably doesn't matter as much but we have a lot of whites/lights and they go dingy and grey if not separated. And I wasn't questioning your methods just interested in how much that helped speed things up!

One toddler really doesn’t make much washing though, their clothes are so small My two teens, if they have worn school and also PE clothing, can fill a load in one day between them, before DH and I wear so much as a sock. And DH wears cycling gear to work every day, so that’s another two outfits. I’m very abstemious, with my one outfit a day.

It's the largest part of my daily routine closely followed by dishes, I do laundry every day, got used to it years ago!

Brain fart... But no need to be smug!

And to the PP who said (rudely) it's just about being organised... I COULD do it if I really wanted to, but I don't want to!

Life is too short (and I spent too much time and money on my education) to spend so much of it doing something so dull!

People who believe they do... Are you of the bung it all in together type (like my MIL)?

I don't believe I do, I actually do. But I do bung it all in together. Does that somehow mean it doesn't count in your world hence "believe"?

I do separate whites, only started doing that when I had school polos to deal with as I own hardly any other white things but that's one extra wash a week. Never seen the point in separating anything else.

I do 2 loads a day and this leaves my basket empty for a while. The 'put away later' pile however is NEVER empty 😂😂😂😂😂

@Muststopeating

Believe they do?

No, they just do.

I separate into lights and darks.

Full load only

YABU... Laundry baskets don't even have a bottom as far as I'm aware!!

People who believe they do... Are you of the bung it all in together type (like my MIL)?

I am most certainly not and there at least 4 different washing types in this house which must all have their own load... But I almost never put on a half empty wash (cos polar bears) so yes, I am also my own worst enemy.

(3 kids under 6)

I do, currently have no washing. All uniforms done however this will change by tomorrow evening. I change the bedding once a week and towels every 2-3 days. But I do a wash everyday and I tumble dry as much as I can get away with.

Yes of course

2 adults 2 teens.

Wash 3 or 4 loads a week.

Don't wash clean clothes or toweks/bedding unnecessarily

often - I wash everything in the basket every other day - towels and bedding every week - so it never gets too unmanageable - often things work for a few hours get washed the same day - 30 min quick wash

2 teens and one adult (one teen seems to get through 4 pairs of sock, 2920920 pants and 50 t shirts a day!)

Washing basket goes on the upstairs landing at night for everyone in the household (4) to put their clothes in. Over the morning we do 1 - 3 washes depending on what is in the basket. Delicate clothing is hung up but the rest goes in the dryer.
Clothes folded about 6.30pm and put away upstairs.
Empty basket back on the landing.