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?

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

My work uniforms are washed and ironed at work by housekeeping :o Sometimes we need to get changed mid shift if we've been splattered with bodily fluids or soaked trying to shower a mobile dementia patient... I would not want to bring my work uniforms home! So I didn't count that stuff! :o

[Badders123]

I've done 3 loads this morning!
Ds1s football kit
Ds2s bedding
Coloured load

[TiggerPiggerPoohBumWee]

One football kit is a load? One set of bedding? How small is your machine?

I can strip 4 single beds one double bed and a cot and still have space for a few towels in the machine.

[BitOutOfPractice]

I agree Tigger - some people's idea of a load and mine seem a little different!

I only ever do a half load if one of the kids does the "I need this washed for tomorrow" trick

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

I have an 8 kg machine

A football kit is not a load of course and I'd never wash that alone.

However I can't fit all the bedding in at once and we only have 3 kids in single beds and one king size. If 4 single beds and one double bed's bedding fit in plus towels how big is the machine? It must be launderette size! Or is that sheets but no duvet covers?

[BiddyPop]

I shouldn't have posted yesterday:
I had organized the one load for the day last night, but not yet turned it on - when DD got sick. 1 load of duvet cover, facecloths, blanket. 1 load of sleeping bag. 1 load of duvet. All done last night, with the actual night's load now set up to be done when I get in this evening. And I had planned on doing towels and other sheets - they will now wait an extra few days!

[happyhearts7]

TiggerPigger what size is your washing machine?
Mine is a 8kg.
I have 5 DSs and I split their duvet covers & pillowcases and ours (including mattress & pillow protectors) into 3 loads and believe me that's heavy loads on a drum when wet.
A couple of years ago the man in our local electrical shop told me people putting too much clothes in one load usually end up breaking the machine sooner not saying that you do that.

How do clothes get washed and rinsed properly if they're all squashed in?

[freshprincess]

You've washed one football kit on its own? I'd hand wash rather than put it on by itself, and I'm a real lazy cow.

[wonkylegs]

happyhearts7 - there is a difference between a full load and overloading
I always try to do a proper full load and my machine is 8yrs old and (touch wood) I've never had a problem.
My friend however does the same and her machine only lasted 2yrs - I suspect that's more to do with a combination of bad luck and she has a crappy Hotpoint and I have a decent Bosch. (Funnily enough as she bought hers in with a maintenance plan and I didn't hers cost four times as much as mine did whilst only lasting a quarter of the time)
Hard water is the main washing machine killer, thankfully I live in a lovely soft water area which also means I save on washing powder.

[swelchphr]

Wow! There are 4 of us (including a 3 year old & baby) and I probably do about 8-10 a week: 4-6 loads of clothes + 3 loads of bedding + 1 load of towels.

[WaitroseCoffeeCostaCup]

Cornish you wouldn't, one load in before work, out when you get back, next load in, out by 8.30, next load in, out by 10. Then bed. That's how I do it anyway

[eloquent]

I do it as and when. No idea how many loads. Always full loads though.
Only thing weekly is towels. Bedding is fortnightly.
There are days I don't do any. Baskets are never empty, but I've other things I'd rather be doing!

[Emygem]

It's all I seem to do 🙈 There are 2 adults and a toddler and 11 week old very sicky baby. She has a lot of changes, so I probably do 3 loads a week for her, my little boys bedding every other day on average, our bedding once or twice a week, couple of loads of towels, 3-4 loads of darks, a white wash and my OHs work stuff. So around 16 loads a week! My washer decided to stop draining last night so have done 3 loads at my mums today! Poor thing's knackered 😂

[TiggerPiggerPoohBumWee]

It's a ten kilo and very efficient, they come out perfectly clean. It's full but its not overloaded. I've had it 4 years and its never given a problem yet.

[Badders123]

I think it's 6kg?
I would like a bigger one!
Ds2s kit gets washed on its own as its muddy and sweaty and gross
I can get 2 double bed sets in but only one king size set...

[Badders123]

Fresh..,not as lazy as me evidently!

[MrsKoala]

Bitoutofpractice - dh wears a t-shirt and shirt/jumper, smart thick trouser/jeans (40w38l and all tops xxl - so pretty substantial amounts of material) these are inevitably splodged with oily food so require pre-soaking/stain removal as well, pants, socks. I wear a vest, long sleeved t-shirt, a jumper and jeans, knickers and socks and bra (bras i wash every other day). These are usually covered in snot, mud, food etc. 3 days a week i have gym clothes and dh has them twice a week. (i'm also tall and not small so my clothes are large too). We wear pyjamas and change them every 2-3 days. Weekends we get muddy so probably change twice a day. Dh and i also have some handwash only knitwear so while that isn't a full load, it can't be washed with anything else and that is one load a week. It all evens out at about 1 load a day or more often 3 loads every 3 days.

[pearlylum]

Samehere mrs Koala, bith my OH and son are big, 6'3", and my OH particularly hates tight clothes- so always big baggy sweat shirts and trousers. I have 4 gym classes a week, 16 yo DD has dance every day of 3 hours a time, her dancewear is soaked with sweat when she gets home.

[Schwabischeweihnachtskanne]

Baders these are what DS1 came in from playing in yesterday - he she'daset I a simsimilar state when he got home from school and had to change to eat and do homework, then went back out again to play football with his mates - you don't really need to wash muddy stuff separately I don't think; as long as you shove it in fairly soon after they take it off (or get them to do it themselves) it comes out clean done with a normal not overloaded load (I think... as far as I can tell!)

[Badders123]

That's some impressive soiling!
I see your point but I tend to use the 30 min wash option for pe kits and football kits.
Habit I guess

[Badders123]

Agree you must overload the machine....I think I prob do sometimes and need to stop!
God, I would LOVE a 10/11kg machine!!!!

[Badders123]

Musnt overload!!!!!

[Sallystyle]

1-2 a day on average, some days I get away without having to do any but that isn't very often.

There is 7 of us, three of them teens.

I don't wash clothes unless they are smelly or dirty, bedding once a fortnight. Towels get re-used until they are smelly.

We still have loads to do. DS chef's whites and front of house uniform (yes he does help out with the laundry regularly) my uniform which needs washing after every shift (I work in hospital) sports stuff that have got mucky and every day clothes and underwear.

I don't wash anything unless it really is needed but we still have loads to do.

[BitOutOfPractice]

MrsKoala I thought you did your DH's shirts in a separate wash. And please tell me you don't wash jumpers after one wash. It must ruin them. And jeans are washed every day too? Crikey!

Even with all that, I don't think that's a full load.

[icelollycraving]

I adore washing threads. I actually kept a spreadsheet for a few months once so I could update accurately our washing loads weekly. Saddo.
I do:
2 white washes
2 lights
2 black
1 jeans
1 mixed brights
1 tea towels,e cloths
1 bedlinen
This is an average week with 2 adults,1 ds.
We have two washing machines. I've told dh I'm being more eco friendly & so not using the dryer. The truth is I've overloaded it & it's broken,I haven't got around to having it fixed. Bloody Miele with their monopoly on only their engineers being able to fix something that'll take 5 minutes & cost £130.