How do you ‘do’ your laundry? Practical help

[mofro]

I know this might seem like a silly question but still worth asking :-)

We have a washing machine and tumble dryer in our internal garage and do 4-5 washes a week. 23 are a family with 3 teenagers and everyone does washing. Generally kids do their own clothes once a week and I do mine, DH and any family stuff one or twice a week too.

Washing goes from washing machine to tumble dryer and then into laundry bags and taken upstairs or left in the garage.

In an ideal world, the laundry bag with the clean washing would then get put away…

In reality, because the washing machine is in the garage, sometimes we forget so the clothes stay in the washing machine for an extra day, or stay in the dryer for an extra day – even if they’re not fully dry!

What’s your washing and drying system? Do you put your clothes away straight away? Better to do full family washes instead of separate washing?

Thank you. 😊

Full family washes. If you want them to do some washing themselves they should sort and wash from the “family” laundry basket. Otherwise it’s just wasting water and energy.

I do 2-3 loads a day. Wash and then hang stuff on the airer and on hangers around the house. I take the stuff from the airer and Chuck it in the dryer to finish it off - cuts costs down a bit rather than drying from wet- and then I fold and put on the stairs to take up next time I go. Towels and bedding I don’t have anywhere to hang so I dry them in the dryer.

I fold directly from the dryer and put it in the correct pile for each drawer it belongs in, then put it away straightaway.

I can’t see how everyone doing there own is an efficient system . In our house ( 3 adults) I do all the washing , and probably do a couple of loads every other day , it gets tumbled and put folded into laundry basket , anything that doesn’t tumble is hung on the drying rail and gets folded at the next wash . Anything that needs ironing gets put in the ironing bag to go to the ironing lady on Monday . Once the laundry basket has been taken upstairs the separate piles are put on a bed and whoever’s they are puts them away .

I do whole family combined. I then sort into loads whites/pales, Bright colours, darks and delicates (bras and delicate tops). Wash put on when reaches a full load.
They all go on at 40, longer cotton wash for dirtier things, easy care wash for normal dirtiness.
Stuff straight out on line or airer, then put away straightaway when dry. If anything needs ironing it gets done fairly quickly and put away.

I do laundry most days but I'm hoping to do less when we move and have more space.

I do full loads and then hang what needs to inside and tumble the rest. If the weather is dry I hang stuff outside. But I put everything away the instant its dry.

I get what you mean though dragging stuff upstairs. Laundry is never ending.

I struggle with the putting away too.

Wash and dry in the utility room and folded by person. Once or twice a week the folded piles go to bedrooms, where the clothes stay in piles and get picked out of and worn again....its almost pointless having wardrobes.

Watching for tips.

I feel like I do a hundred washes a week. Mostly when kids are at school as I wfh. Straight from washing machine into drier minus some things that get hung up to dry. Then into one big pile, carried upstairs and split into smaller piles by child/adult and put away.

Not unusual for the big pile to sit for days though 🙈 Then I’ll lose my shit and demand it all needs sorted as I can live like this. Then repeat 🤣

My dh does all the washing and drying for the whole family. Then dumps it all on our bedroom floor… I then sort it it all in to separate people piles. Those seperate people then put their own piles away. DC are 8 and 12.

Same as @Mabelface it goes away as soon as it’s dry.

5 Full loads of family washing once a week - 2 adults, 1 child

DPs work overalls
Darks
Whites
Colours
Towels and sports

Once dry, taken upstairs, folded and left on beds to be put away (although DP will iron his stuff first)

I wash, remove it. Hang it to dry. Put it in a pile for sorting. I don't sort and we use the pile as a giant communal wardrobe

@Yellow85

I feel like I do a hundred washes a week. Mostly when kids are at school as I wfh. Straight from washing machine into drier minus some things that get hung up to dry. Then into one big pile, carried upstairs and split into smaller piles by child/adult and put away.

Not unusual for the big pile to sit for days though 🙈 Then I’ll lose my shit and demand it all needs sorted as I can live like this. Then repeat 🤣

This ^^

Full family washes here too (although it’s just me, DH and baby). Our upstairs is a conversion and is very warm year round so I have a couple of airers up there that everything gets hung on to dry. Usually dry by the next day. One of us will then fold it all and put it away.
We have a 1year old, I’m back at work and DH works away from home so sometimes a few days will pass with no laundry done and I’ll need to do a bit of a catch up. Then I’ll do a couple of wash loads, hanging up the clothes etc to dry and do a quick tumble dry of all baby’s bibs/muslins, vests, pyjamas, bath towels etc just to quickly get caught up without having laundry hanging everywhere 👍🏻 Means I can get it all organised and folded away while he naps.

Well I came on here for tips, only to find everyone else is in the same great big pile of clothes / losing shit cycle!

Our washing machine and dryer are in our garage too. I only use the dryer for towels / bedding and I do those as the first load on a two-load day so I empty the dryer when I go back in to grab the second load from the washer. Clothes are dried in the house on a lakeland heated airer.

Family loads here, but if it's not in a laundry basket, it won't get washed - I won't pick up from floors. This has led to tears but DD still leaves clothes over her floor, so the message isn't quite getting through! I give a warning if I can see lots of clothes on the floor - "I'm putting the washing on in 5 minutes, only clothes from the basket are going in" - or I leave the laundry bag with her and tell her to fill it with darks or lights. She's 13.

We do our own. 2 parents 1 adult DC ( about to leave )
No less efficient as we only wash full loads.
As its out in the garage get them to set a timer so they remember to unload..its part of being an adult .
Dumping laundry on the floor?
No way!
Everyone is responsible for their own from teens , no drama.
If you forget it then you wont have clean clothes.
The handmaidens will be frothing though

I wash darks when there is enough for a load which is usually once a day but not always. Whites I do once a week as there isn't enough for a full load otherwise. Towels and bedding get done every few weeks when weather is dry enough.

All family stuff is put together (2 adults 2 teen DS) but we share out the loading unloading and hanging on the line bringing in.
Only use the dryer if absolutely necessary as have a big airing cupboard. Usually use it to finish off smalls if weather not dry enough.

Clean dry clothes sorted by whoever brings it in off the line (immediately) and put in room for owner to put away or ironing basket if needed.

DH does all ironing once a week on a Sunday morning and is responsible for putting it in correct room. He is good at ironing but so bad at working out what belongs to who so we regularly find things in wrong wardrobe which winds me up.

Occasionally I will forget that there is clean washing hanging in the airing cupboard for a day or two.

Large linen basket in family bathroom. 3 adults here at present and about 6/7 washes pw. Gets sorted into hot wash all lights or whites (towels, tea towels, DH hankies), medium hot (bed linens), 30° darks - mostly mine and dd's outer clothes, 40° (mostly pants, socks, nightwear), 40° pastels, 40° DH's shirts.

Towels, bed linens, DH shirts, go into the tumble dryer, everything else goes on a clothes horse in the spare room. Stuff that needs ironing goes into the ironing basket for the cleaner - there is a lot. This generally gets put away on a Tuesday evening.

Stuff that doesn't need ironing goes into a laundry basket downstairs; tumbled Stuff. The upstairs stuff goes into a separate laundry basket upstairs. Once a week I sort, fold, and separate into ownership piles - usually on a Sunday.

Overall, I reckon I spend about 90 minutes a week on laundry.

Cleaning cloths are washed weekly at 90° with Ariel Bio to keep the machine clean and sweet smelling. Everything else is done with Persil non-bio.

I rarely use the washing line because I just don't have time to peg, de peg, keep an eye out for rain and that includes in the summer too.

1 adult, 3 teens. One colours wash done each day, whites washes done once midweek and a couple of extra done at weekend for towels etc.
Clothes are either hung on line before work or put in radiators, airer and banisters in evening. Whites are tumbled dried.
Tumble drier used where needed too.

Thanks though OP you reminded me there was a load to put through 😁

I'm kind of forced into the putting away because both the washing machine and the tumble-dryer beep when they're finished.

And they will

not

fucking

stop

beeping

until they are switched off/emptied.

Otherwise it's fairly as-and-when. DH and I are both licensed to operate the washing machine and dryer so we both just sort and chuck loads on when the washing basket looks full-ish. I sort into whites, 40 darks, 30 darks, gym kit, towels and bedding, and cleaning cloths.

I long to have one of these 6-category laundry basket folding stations…

When the kids were younger I used to throw the dry clothes on my bed and we’d all reach in, fold our own stuff or large things together and put it away. Now there’s only one I generally do everybody’s and DC helps with other things.
I wash by colour (white, pale, bright, dark) and buy recognizable types, so DH has white boxers, DS has coloured. Bedding and towels go in with everything else. I have a tumble dryer but normally just use the pulley airer. Shirts and dresses on hangers to reduce crumpling.

I think a good trick is to fold everything consistently, so I ninja-fold (not iron) tshirts, the towels and pillowcases are all folded the same size, socks bundled into pairs (left on the octopus if they don’t have a twin) and pants into Marie Kondo squares. That way people are more likely to keep drawers neater.

I HATE ironing so I leave things on hangers on a clothes stand until they become urgent, then I do an hour a week max.

Pic

2 baskets in bathroom for lights and darks. 1 basket = 1 load (10kg machine)

What goes on a hanger when dry gets dried on a hanger, rest goes in tumble dryer.

Each person has a shelf in the utility room which their dry stuff goes on and they are in charge of emptying it.

Each person's clothes needs to go in together (obviously sorted into lights / darks etc).

There's three of us and I'm always washing, 2/3 loads a day. We don't have enough clothes for a week and I never like to leave it just sitting there. I usually line dry, dry on the airer in the week if its wet.