How many full loads of laundry do you a week if you have a small household?

[Theboredpanda]

I feel like I’m constantly doing laundry! It’s just me and my 5 yo and I probably do a full load every second day. Or maybe that’s normal? I don’t know. I do go to the gym 4 times a week and always wash my gym clothes but I’ll wear regular clothes 3 or 4 times before I wash them. DD has clean tights & t shirt every day for school but the rest of her uniform she wears all week. I don’t know where it all comes from! How many loads of washing do you do (especially if you have a small household)?

Four.
1 x whites/lights
1 x coloured
1 x linen
1 x other - wool or soiled/garden etc.

3 adults. I usually put a load on every other day. No whites, so everything gets bunged in together. Might be the odd extra load when DS does his bedding. I don't do that.

1 adult and 2 children under 8

1 whites wash a week
1 coloureds wash a week
1-2 towels and bedding wash a month- we have a lot of towels and bedding, I let these build up to wash at the same time.

How on earth are some people doing 21 washes a week?!

It's 9kg too. To be fair, thinking about it I tend to do the bedding separately, just usually on the same day, DD's is only a single so tends to go in with some of the lighter towels. Ours is superking and needs a load to itself.

Towels not so bad, if a couple go with DD's bedding/ a normal wash then the rest go in one wash - we're probably 'grim' by mumsnet standards but tend to keep a towel each around a week so it's not so many.

3 of us. 5 loads a week.

I never overvfill a machine and I didn't recommend that.
I don't see why a person living alone needs a separate hand towel - I only have that for visitors and I wash my hands with my usual towel.
Tea towels I don't use at all as dishes either drip dry or come out of the dishwasher dry. I think that's more hygienic anyway, although I can understand wanting to towel dry wine glasses as they can get water mark otherwise.
You definitely can put other things at 60 degrees, anything not too fragile.
A delicate/wool wash is very occasional surely? Jumpers don't need to be washed often.

If you have multiple toilets you need multiple
hand towels for handwashing surely? Not everyone only has only one loo so only one towel for all handwashing won’t work even in a household of 1. And what do you dry hands on in the kitchen? Or hair? I have my hair wrapped up after washing in a hair towel to help it dry, so does DD. Do you take the same towel out for something like swimming? Or what about if you want to reuse a pan that hasn’t dried yet?

I find people who can only use a single towel quite fascinating. I use them many times before washing but we still need a fair few.

If you are a household of one, why would you need or use more than one toilet? If you do use two toilets for some reason, the use of each towel will be halved.
I do have a towel to dry my hands in the kitchen, but it's not heavily used so doesn't need to be washed so often. I usually wash my hands in the bathroom sink.
I also have a towel for my hair so on a weekly basis there's a bath sheet and a smaller towel. They go on with everything else because I wouldn't want to run a machine with just a few towels in it.

Same here plus one for the dogs’ stuff most weeks.

I feel extravagant suddenly 😂

I have a body towel
a face towel
a hair towel
(and not mentioning the bath mat)
separate hand towels in all bathrooms and toilets (I don't live alone, but would still do even on my own), and I change hand towels every day.

Even in my first studio flat I had the same set up.

Another one who doesn’t understand how people can wash bedding and towels alongside normal clothes! My machine objects loudly if it’s overfull by the drum banging against the bearings. I can wash a set of king size bedding in a single load, if DS’s single I might put a towel in with it but not more than one.

3 of us (2 adults, 1 ten year old) generate probably 7 loads a week of just clothes and then I do the towels at the weekend (2 loads) and bedding fortnightly (3 loads). So a week where I’m doing bedding as well it’s 12 loads! DH and I re-wear trousers and jumpers many times unless they get visibly dirty, pyjamas get worn for 2-3 nights. DS is still fairly mucky so generally needs new uniform every day but I do hang it back up if it’s not dirty. He does sports 2 days a week that have a kit so that needs washing too.

The banging is caused by an unbalanced or overly heavy load usually. Things like jeans which are very heavy when wet or towels which will absorb a lot of water can cause that but it's usually better IME to put 1-2 pairs of jeans in with other clothes which don't get as heavy, and to put towels in with something else as well like I would use smaller tea towels or face cloths. Duvet covers can sometimes cause it if they eat everything and hold it in a rolled up ball shape.

But yes king size bedding a full set would generally be a full load. I don't always change the full set at once, I change pillowcases more frequently and then I might sometimes change the sheet or duvet cover rather than both at once if I can't face the palava of wrestling with it.