to ask how much washing you do?

[Junosmum]

Just that really. There's 2 of us. OH has a shirt every day, bedding and towels once a week, my work stuff every 2/ 3 wears, plus underwear and tea towels etc and OHs out of work clothes - t shirts every 1/2 wears, trousers once a week or more frequently if dirty.

But this seems to add up to a washload per day (or 3 in the week, 3 on a weekend if I don't do it regularly. And I don't understand why, we have big machine. Surely 2 people shouldn't create so much washing?!

If I had to wash it by hand I would hire the help to get to get it done. Like most families did before families had washing machines.

Did working class people really hire help for the washing or when you say most people do you mean middle and upper class?
We use to use (still have) a board and mangle, it's a right pain in the arse. I defiantly did less washing and I'm already one of the more infrequent ones on this thread.

Those that wash a lot are they full loads? Would it be better to buy more shirts/uniforms/bedding - whatever and be able to wait for a full load?

2 adults and 3 dc ..all with school uniforms. 4-5 a week, mainly at weekends and 1 or 2 in week with sports stuff.
Bedding every 2 weeks and towels with mormal clothes...hotter wash for towels when i remember!

Too much! I do far too much!

I am a nanny so do all the washing at work then come home and do my own.

I I think size of machine is very relavant

Dark wash every 2nd day, whites every 3rd day, bed linen and towels once per week. So aprox 7 washes a week. Not done everyday though. 4 of us including a toddler and 10mo.

3 of us, I do a load most days - so probably 5 a week. DD's uniform needs washing after every wear, ditto DH's shirts. Bedding and towels about once a week.

Quite a lot. There are only two of us, but I find some things (woollens, sportswear) can't wait for a full load or they start to get ingrained smells, so some of these have to be done half load. (Plus soaking, sweaty sportswear is not something you want lying around in your laundry basket for long as it'll make everything else stink too).

I work in an office 4 days a week (office casual) and one day from home. DP in casual workplace 5 days a week. A shirt / top / sweater needed for both of us every day we're in the office. We also do a lot of sport, which is probably the main reason we do a lot of washing.

A typical week would look like this:

• 2 x colour / black load (full load at weekend & another midweek)
• 2-3 x sportswear (may be done as a half load)
• 1 x bedding (changed weekly)
• 1 x blankets that the cat sits on
• 1 x delicates / woollens (may not be every week).
• 1 x bath & hand towels (changed weekly)

I also typically do a load of hand washing at the weekend at this time of year, which is mostly cashmere sweaters / hand wash only dresses for work / bras etc.

I have a separate wash basket for tea towels, kitchen cloths etc. and we have loads of these, so they get done once there's a load worth (once a month maybe).

As to drying, a combination of a clothes dryer & a very efficient tumble dryer (which has been well worth the additional initial outlay).

2 adults and 2 teenage girls. 8kg washing machine, and typically in a week I wash:

2 x towels
1 x white bedding
1 x coloured bedding
1 x uniform
1 x whites
1 x wool/delicates
2 x darks
1 x coloured
1 x clothes for elderly Mum

So 11 loads. I don't care about putting it in and out of the machine, but getting it dried is a nightmare. I have a lovely long washing line, but we live in the grey pissing North of Ireland. So many things (notably school uniforms and Granny's big thick woollies) can't be tumble-dried, and I hate the condensation you get by drying things indoors.

I only iron shirts and really crumpled things, though.

For two of us, two loads a week, in a small machine. It's only that because DH only has three shirts left for work! He also runs three times a week, which takes up quite a bit of place in the machine as obviously he wears clean stuff for each run.

How on EARTH are you managing a load a day???

DH will wear one shirt for two days running, which is fine. He has three pairs of jeans, which should PROBABLY get washed a bit more often, but it's not like he's going out rolling in mud in them.

Surely you should just wash stuff when it's dirty, not on some pre set rota?

I can't do bedding as frequently as I'd like past spring/summer - drying it it just too expensive.

9 kg machine - 5 people - one DC who can't ware clothes more than I day as they are filthy.

It's about 1 load a day or possibly two - that was with DH cycling in and thereby needing two shirts a day. All told about 10 -11 washes a week.

There might be slightly more in the summer - when drying is less an issue then duvets get done - and bedding is done more frequently.

When it was two of us it was two or three loads a week but again we had drying issues as we were in a flat with no out door space.

A few people have mentioned hand washing and drying.

We have a few things which are hand wash only, which generally means that I rarely wear them, as it's such a faff to hand wash. I do it whenever I can be bothered, and just don't get to wear them often!

Drying - this is probably why I do so few laundry loads actually. It's a struggle to fit a load onto our drying rack, and apart from summer, it takes quite a long time to dry, and we have to leave the windows open (we have big door like windows as we live in a french apartment). Bedding is too big for the drying rack, so has to go to the laundrette for the tumble dryer. To save money, I try and get all the clothes semi dry on the rack before taking to the laundrette - this way the bag isn't as heavy carrying it over, and it takes much less time to dry in the machine. We can't hang clothes on our (two, miniscule) radiators as they are the strange gas ones.

So basically it takes us a week to do two loads.

I dream of a time where I might live in a house with one of those hot cupboards with the boiler inside, or even a decent washing line!

In our household are me, DH, DD, and dear stepdaughter on the weekend. We also have 2 cats who tend to jump all over the clean laundry anyway, I try to do washing everyday but when we have my stepdaughter over the house feels like an insane asylum so I tend to do the laundry during the week.

I try to wash the bedding every 2 weeks. It's the same with towels, mats, etc. To be honest I have been quite lazy ever since my 7-month-old came along - haven't been sorting the loads out into darks, whites, colors, etc., but as soon as I regain time/sanity I will endeavor to do it properly. So far, no negative side effects though....

I agree with Goodness!

I am convinced that these can't be full loads that you are all doing.
How many clothes/towels/sets of bedding must you all have?!?

Understandably, people who have a lot of children, people who do sports, families with young children or babies (and nappies), or those that wash for elderly parents/grandparents etc are going to have a lot more to wash , but for an 'average' sized family, I don't know how you are finding all this stuff (and time) to wash and dry it all.

I can remember when I lived at home, my mum had a twin-tub and, having used that monstrosity, I can assure you that if you didn't all have the convenience of automatic washing machines these days then you would soon find that you didn't really need to do all of this washing every week!

We have a few things which are hand wash only, which generally means that I rarely wear them, as it's such a faff to hand wash

My washing machine has a handwash cycle - I find things do ok in there. Before I had that I did them on delicate cycles and they were all right.

I know your not supposed to do under wires in machines but I put them in a washing bag and do them in the machine - they seem to last just as long though I haven't had wires stuck as some people apparently do.

The only exception is a handwash silk skirt that has loads of tiny beads sewn on - other things with beads and the like do okay on delicate washes but that one item was expensiveness and sentimental. It a pain has to be a good day to handwash it and drip dry on the line.

We do have a drier - but it's very expensive to run - had a energy meter at last house and you could tell when we had used it.

Juts bought an another de-humidifier, last one lasted 8 years but broke, and am trying a heated clothes rack with cover as even with the drier we have wet washing handing around.

I manage to dry washing quite easily. I use the upstairs bannister rail for duvet covers/sheets, have a Lakeland airer (it's not as good as advertised) and hang dresses and longer stuff on hangers and pop on the door frame. Use tumbler for towels. Do at least 6 washes a week for three adults.

Me, dh and 3 year old twins.

In the warmer months I do 4 large loads a week: lights, darks, towels & tea towels, bedding.
In the cold/wet months when I can't hang washing outside I do a small load of washing everyday so I don't end up with wet clothes hanging all over the house.

For just myself, I do 4 loads a week... 1 black wash (not dark, BLACK! ), 1 towel wash, 1 bedding and alternate each week between a coloured wash or white wash - I work in an office Mon-Fri.

At least one load a day every day for the last 30 years. Today it's for virtually 4 adults (2 are teenagers). It's not a big issue- just goes in and comes out and then dries (no ironing ever and the cleaner usually puts most of it away and she deals with changing towels and sheets).

8 loads over a weekend. 2 lots of bedding, towels, dark clothes, dark underwear/socks, pastels, whites, bright colours. Don't look forward to Friday nights starting it .

Glad I don't have to deal with a twin tub though like Mam did in the 70's.

Ill say it sgain. Am i really the only humanoid with a mix load wash setting?!

When I next live in my own flat/house not rented I shall buy the biggest, quite at, quickest washing machine that is available :-)

I wash everything mixed tbh I thought w blacks, whites and coloured was a thing of the past.

itsthecircleoflife no you aren't but whenever a pair of white pants strays into a dark wash, often washed at 30 they emerge "laundry grey". My very good friend washes mixed loads and her whites are dingy; so much so she replaces her bras every few months!

Anyway, I do bedding and towels at 60, so it isn't a faff anyway.

I use those Colour Catcher sheets in mixed loads but would still never mix whites with darks. Or whites with reds, for that matter.