Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

How do you ‘do’ your laundry? Practical help

130 replies

mofro · 17/10/2021 10:11

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. 😊

OP posts:
MerryMarigold · 18/10/2021 21:19

I think the damp is compensated by the central heating which is very drying

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 19/10/2021 08:07

@steppemum

Out of interest. Do you think putting clothes on airers etc causes damp in your house? Surely all that water in wet clothes has to go somewhere.

yes is can be a real source of damp.
We hang it in the utility room, and we have an extractor fan in there, and the door is kept shut. That way all damp stays in there.

Yes,it's terrible for the house, it's like throwing buckets of water at the walls and expecting the central heating to be able to dry them out.
Classicblunder · 19/10/2021 12:55

I think the level that you heat your house to makes a big difference. Our house is always 21-23 degrees and we have dried laundry inside for years without a speck of damp or mould. We also do an extra spin cycle which helps a lot

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Home improvement
Marelle · 19/10/2021 13:03

Everyone has a laundry basket in their bedroom and is responsible for fetching their dirty clothes from their basket to the big basket in the utility room. At some point whoever can be bothered will fill the washer. Whoever notices the washer has finished will move the clothes to the drier. Whoever notices the drier has finished will pile the dry clothes on the worktop. They stay there until I can be bothered to iron them, and I put the ironed clothes on the beds for people to put away.

MerryMarigold · 19/10/2021 17:49

We only heat to 18 but our house is very open plan. Likewise no mould anywhere! I also have a heated airer.

homeonthehill · 19/10/2021 17:58

Hang on.... there are people out there putting washing away once it's dried? Doesn't it stay in the basket, on the drying rail, in a pile on the stairs for minimum 3 business days?

Yellow85 · 20/10/2021 09:11

@homeonthehill

Hang on.... there are people out there putting washing away once it's dried? Doesn't it stay in the basket, on the drying rail, in a pile on the stairs for minimum 3 business days?
Yup. Said basket is also invisible to all other household members except me. Magic huh?!
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:33

@Sgtmajormummy

Pic
Love this!!
OP posts:
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:34

@homeonthehill

Hang on.... there are people out there putting washing away once it's dried? Doesn't it stay in the basket, on the drying rail, in a pile on the stairs for minimum 3 business days?
Only 3 days? More like 30 in my house 😬
OP posts:
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:37

@Twillow

OP what about one of these signs saying Washing machine is on/washing machine is empty? ]]
Great idea @Twillow but we’d end up arguing over who didn’t change the sign 🤣🤣
OP posts:
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:38

@missnevermind

Family washes here. 4 adults 2 preteens. All washing into large washing baskets on landings. If it's not in the basket it doesn't get done. No drama. Husband is the worst culprit. Have a 12 kilo machine. It's a godsend, after the first one their was no going back. All washing brought down on Friday night first lot of darks go in overnight. Saturday morning that goes in dryer and 2nd lot of darks goes on. Saturday afternoon that gets booted to the dryer and the whites go on. Sunday morning the last lot of darks and and last min stragglers goes on. All sorted and folded into person baskets ready to be carried up and put away Sunday night by their owners.
I like Thai. Nice and simple for all Involved 👍🏽
OP posts:
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:42

@Classicblunder

We have a laundry basket per person and wait for a full load before doing it - I find it much much easier for putting away than having to separate it all. Every time we go on holiday and do joint laundry, I am reminded of how annoying that is.
Yes @Classicblunder we all have a washing bag each so kids do theirs once a week and then I do another 1-2 loads of mine and DHs

Works so much better than mixing it all

OP posts:
Original poster
mofro · 20/10/2021 22:44

@SilverTonguedDevil

When we wash clothes we always put them through the dedicated spin cycle twice as that removes excess water a lot quicker and cheaper than a tumble dryer. I'm surprised nobody else seems to do that or at least hasn't mentioned it.

Apart from the first wash of dark or coloured items we rarely separate into lights/dark/colours, seems unnecessary.

If you hang clothes carefully and flat on a regular clothes rack, they will usually be dry in 24 hours.

@SilverTonguedDevil good thinking Batman! Don’t want to stop using my dryer but makes sense to double spin - only 11mins on ours
OP posts:
LockdownCheeseToastie · 20/10/2021 22:46

These threads appear all the time and I still don’t know how families of 5 can only do 4-5 loads per week. Our bedding is four loads (1 superking, 1 king, 2 doubles), towels 2-3 loads, 2 loads of tea towels per week before we start on clothes (at least one load per day, often two). Basket on landing so everyone’s clothes go in together.

weegiemum · 20/10/2021 22:58

We are 4 (almost) adults.

Ds (19) has been doing his own laundry for several years. He likes it all to stay together and not get mixed up with everyone else's clothes. He's got it down to a fine art about how much is in his box for a full load. He washes, tumbles and puts it away without any help.

Dd2 (17) bungs hers in the basket in the bathroom (when it's not just left on the floor in her room) and I wash it along with ours. I know the done thing is to separate it out but I tend to do mixed loads (1hr wash on our machine). No one wears much white now there's no school uniform.

I probably do 6 washes a week of clothes, 2 of bedclothes and one of towels (they go on the longer wash). It's hung on the airer if dh gets to it first but I have a disability affecting my hands and find hanging it up difficult and painful. So I use the tumbler.

We don't iron. Both ds for work and dd for college/work have uniforms that don't need it. Dh is a doctor and has built up a great collection of tops that don't need ironed. I iron for weddings and funerals only.

RampantIvy · 20/10/2021 23:01

@megletthesecond

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.

How come you are creating so much washing when there are only three of you?
DriftingBlue · 20/10/2021 23:05

Each person has a bin for lights and darks. It holds one full load. When it’s full, it’s time to wash. I like not mixing the clothes because it makes it more likely things get put away quickly. Occasionally we will combine if necessary because someone needs a particular item cleaned but doesn’t have a full bin yet.

DH washes his own and rarely puts his laundry away. He mostly just digs through his pile of clean clothing that I try to ignore.
Dd isn’t tall enough yet so I still wash hers. Since she needs clothing ready for school, I always do hers on the weekend and make sure it gets folded by one of us and put away by her.
I try to stay on top of folding my own clothes plus the linens. Sometimes I end up with a massive pile and just pop in a movie and get to work.

Cutemob · 20/10/2021 23:09

Work out how long your washing takes to wash or dry. Set a timer on your phone to remind you. Use voice command to do this, it's easier. If you know you'll be out at work set timer for when you know you will be home. Obey timer without fail or clothes will stink Grin hth.

Cutemob · 20/10/2021 23:15

Also I don't get people doing just 1 wash for all clothes, all colours? I literally separate pinks, light colours, dark colours, probably have 5 or 6 different colour coded washes (we wait till have a full load of each before washing). I mean I'm probably verging on overkill but I couldn't put black in with yellow, it'd totally lose its vibrancy of colour, no?

RampantIvy · 20/10/2021 23:18

I separate out whites, lights and darks. I don't separate out by person. That's just silly, inefficient and wasteful.

Classicblunder · 21/10/2021 06:14

@Cutemob

Also I don't get people doing just 1 wash for all clothes, all colours? I literally separate pinks, light colours, dark colours, probably have 5 or 6 different colour coded washes (we wait till have a full load of each before washing). I mean I'm probably verging on overkill but I couldn't put black in with yellow, it'd totally lose its vibrancy of colour, no?
I wash all colours together. Nothing happens.

If I think colour might run, I will wash it separately the first time to check but that's it for colour sorting in our house.

Thatsplentyjack · 21/10/2021 06:24

We don't have a utility room or a dryer, one washing machine and one airer because that all we can fit in, and even then the airer gets in the way. I have a dehumidifier that's used solely for drying washing now.
Usually do one clothes washing a day. Separate white/darks/light colours/towels/bedding and football/work stuff because general that's filthy/stinks.
As soon as a washing is dry I put it away and hang a new one up. Towels and bedding and any really big items of clothing like big hoodies go over the doors which I hate but have bo other choice.

Classicblunder · 21/10/2021 06:57

@LockdownCheeseToastie

These threads appear all the time and I still don’t know how families of 5 can only do 4-5 loads per week. Our bedding is four loads (1 superking, 1 king, 2 doubles), towels 2-3 loads, 2 loads of tea towels per week before we start on clothes (at least one load per day, often two). Basket on landing so everyone’s clothes go in together.
2 loads of tea towels a week?! How is that possible?

We do a load per person a week and then one week towels and one week sheets. The kids have a full set of clean clothes every day but they are little so their clothes are small. My DH and I rewear trousers/skirts but clean top every day.

MacMahon · 21/10/2021 18:53

Three loads a week. One of darks, one of lights and a.n.other (bedding or towels or whites for example). I much prefer summer because you can get a load washed, dried and put away in the day and everything feels better when it's been hung outside.

One of our neighbours leaves things on the line for days and nights on end, whatever the weather.

I do more laundry than DP because the sequencing nature of it plays more to my strengths.

I'm surprised how many people use a tumble dryer. I thought it was a US thing.

5thnonblonde · 21/10/2021 19:04

I wash dry and put it all straight in the drawers for me and DC.

DH doesn’t like how I put his clothes away so he requests I leave his in a basket. The basket then grows and grows and he starts to rummage through it casting the clean folddd laundry into crumpled little piles. I came on to ask how to stop him doing this but I see it’s not as peculiar as I imagined!