Seventeen Loads of Washing... I'm not am I?

[RedRainRocks]

AIBU in the slightest? Seventeen (spelt out so you're sure it's not a typo). 17 loads of washing this week I have done and put away. (As well as working 72+ hours) I accept I am a little bit OCD about the sheets and towels being on a hot wash alone and that only white things go in the white wash but I do not understand how this household can make so much damn washing!?!!! These are all full loads.

AIBU to ask how many loads you do on an average week, if towels and bedding are done at least once a week and if 22 flannels are an average weeks usage in your household?? I probably am but please ...tell me they are not going to put "now we have no clean clothes to wear" on my gravestone?

There has to be an easier way than this... Surely?

Only 2 of us, so this probably isn't that useful to compare to a family, but we do 6 loads a week. I change underwear twice a day, socks and leggings every day. DH also changes his T-shirt/shirt daily. However, I will wear a dress for 2-3 days, and he will wear jeans 3-4 days. Bedding once a week, towels twice, new teatowel and dishcloth every day, plus sports gear for gardening/running, used every other day or so (this is the thing that really adds up).

I found it made a massive difference going up to a larger size washing machine drum. It really did cut down the number of loads we do. A small increase in drum size can equal quite a large decrease in the overall number of loads.

DCs not about much these days, so just the two of us. DH prides himself on being super-organised in the laundry dept. and I tend to agree. Most of our coloureds are well-worn/washed, and don't run, so we're a bit laid-back about mixing with whites, so our weekly washing (largely done by him!) generally looks like:

Towels/tea-towels/shower mats @90C -1 load
Bed linen (1 double changed weekly) plus pants/knickers (daily) @ 60C - 1 load
Tops, bras, socks (clean daily), lightweight trousers etc. @ 30C - 1 load
Jeans, sweatshirts, heavy knitwear etc. @ 30C - 1 load

Tops generally go two or three days, subject to "sniff test" or obvious soiling, trousers generally longer. We shower every evening, bath towels on the bathroom radiator are dry the next morning and changed weekly.

There's 4 of us, me and 3 son's. I also bring home and wash my bf's clothes so it's not unusual for my machine to be on twice a day, that's at least 14 loads a week, so 17 is not that far off. I have 2 big clothes racks in my kitchen ( good job it's large) and they are constantly full. I also fill up the radiators and even have to hand stuff over the doors. Better in the summer as I can use the line aswell, but yes, washing is a big part of my day. Sad but true.

17 is excessive. You're making work for yourself so either cut down or don't moan. I probably do about 5-6 loads a week including work uniforms. There are 4 of us. Think of all that water.

Am I missing something. We have 1-2 loads a day. We wash everything on 30 and hang them out in the hot sunshine (but we're talking 35 degrees) that kills most nasties. I work 40 hours a week and have a housekeeper/nanny 4 hours a day for 5 days. The bedding changed once a week but we alternate which day and towels every 2 days but we have a really large machine.
There are 6 of us, 2 adults and 4 children.

RedRain

We have 7 children and even I don't do 17 washed per week!
I did count once, in the month of August - I did 55 loads of washing, that's 13.5 /week. We only had 6 of them at that point.
It was a busier than usual month as DD was just a baby and DH had taken boys camping for a week and came with a mountain of stinky dirty clothes, plus we had visitors for a week (so extra bedding, towels & clothes).

Now they are all bigger and their clothes are biggerI think i probably do something like 12-15 washes per week regularly, but we don't use facecloths and don't change the bedding strictly once a week every week, it's more of a need-to-do basis.
(Because some will wet themselves and baby's cot sheet gets messy and we might need everything changed 3 times a week, others don't need it more often than every other week)

So yeah, unless you are a family of at least 8 people I think 17 washes a week are a bit too much

2 adults (one SAHM and one suit and tie wearer!!) and 4 children here. I do 2 normal loads every day ( 2 kids r teens so adult sized clothes and sweaty!!) plus towels, sheets and , swim training kit and sports kit. That is probably 5 loads so 17 sounds right but I have 2 xtra chikdren!!!

Another thought; what size machine do u have? If it's a 9kg one then 17 is ridiculous. If it's a 5 kg one then maybe not to bad

Seven washer loads here each week for two of us .

One of Towels and tea towels , one of bedding . One for blacks, One Coloureds , One delicate wash and one load of White , and finally I boil wash the dogs towels and bedding .
I can stand clutter and a scruffy house, but things have got to be scrupulously clean .

There's only 3 of us. Id say i do probably 6-8 loads a week. OH works in a messy job though so only changes his underwear and socks daily unless he has got too sweaty. DD also spends a couple of days a week with her dad so the washing from those days goes to him

10-12 loads for us, depending on the time of year. 2 adults and 2 dirt magnet tween boys with SN, one of whom sometimes gets through several changes of clothes a day.

Beds changed EOW. I'd prefer more but I couldn't physically get it washedvand driedvany sooner.

Ah I do love MN laundry threads sits back with a cup of tea and a biscuit

It's interesting to add up how many loads we do:
1 x bedding
2 - 3 x darks
1 x delicates
1 x whites
1 x DDs clothes (still use non-bio for her...she's 4!)

So 6 - 7 in total for the 3 of us, and that includes some sportswear.

If I understood correctly, one of the reasons that you are waging so much is to do with your own issues about towels being clean?

Could I suggest (since this is about frequency rather than absolute amount of washing) that you buy more towels?
Then you won't have to wash so frequently to have clean ones available.

4 in our house. I do

1 kids uniform
1 DH shirts
1 dark
1 light
2 bedding.

DH thinks this is too much but now I can see this is quite reasonable.

so if I did bedding once a week
towels once a week
pj - once or twice a week
then we would have:

1 x white load
1 or 2 x dark load
2 or 3 x colours
3 x bedding
2 x towels
1 x onsies

so about 10-12 loads. There are 5 of us. We re-use clothes too (dh - shock horror - wears his shirts for 2 days)

hopes nobody notices the word 'if' in first sentence, as sheets never actually get done every week

We do 18 loads a week. 5 Dc at home and two adults.

Two adults and one toddler

Usually four but occasionally five loads a week

2 adults, 3dc here. I probably do about 6 or 7 loads a week and I think that is a lot of washing. We have a 9kg drum machine. I split stuff into lights and darks, so Monday, a wash of each, Wednesday its darks and a friday, one light and two dark. If dc3 wets the bed I may do an extra load so it doesn't smell waiting to go in. I haven't got the head space to worry about washing light stuff seperatly to whites so do them together. Same with colours and darks. Our clothes all look fine so it's obviously not an issue. I wash towels once a week and bedding once a fortnight, although over the school holidays it might be every three weeks. Pyjamas get worn all week and changed on a Friday unless I notice that they smell abit and wash them earlier. We are all still alive so it can't be that bad for us to do that.

8/9 loads a week here for 2 adults and 4 children... 17 seems extreme unless you have twice the number of people that we do.

I do 3 loads a day monday to friday with a 8kg machine but that's for 8 of us (one in cloth nappies at night time and 3 smelly teenagers)
I also bung everything in together after the first wash so colours don't run and may be a slattern when it comes to bedding.

Family of 5 here, including 1 toddler, 8kg machine. 2 washes a day at least during the week (general wash in the morning and PE kit/exercise kit/school uniform in the evening) and anywhere between 3 and 6 washes over the weekend.

There's me and 5 kids here.

I do at least 3 loads a day, I don't separate towels from clothes and we have so little white that what we do have just gets bunged in with everything else.

I wash towels after every use or sometimes every other use,and change my bedding every week, kids bedding gets changed less often or when one of them wees the bed!

I generally do 1-2 loads per day plus bedding and towels once a week (sometimes twice for towels), so up to 16 loads a week. That's for 2 adults, one (just) three year old and a 6 month old. We all have clean clothes every day (except for dh's work trousers and hoody which are usually worn a few days before washing) and the kids only wear pjs once. 17 loads doesn't seem too out of the way to me tbh..... I only iron the bedding as im using it and iron clothes as we wear it.

Hmm never added my loads up but

Flannels go in with dish clothes and tea towels at a boil wash with a biological detergent. Good for the machine too. So x 1

Probably a sports wash most days - with Halo and then I chuck in the dark socks and underwear. That's x 3/4

Whites ALWAYS washed by themselves .....
Pastels......
Dark .......