To ask when was the last time you saw the bottom of your laundry basket?

[Butttons]

Mine was some time in 2012 I think....

When I turn it upside down to get at the stuff at the bottom (thats been there for days) cos by the time I am 3/4 of the way through I collect all the clothes kids have dumped around their bedroom/their wash bag and its full again. (I have 2 and they are both permanently full!)

to be fair, the surprise isn't that you don't empty it and wash it all at once, I totally see hpw you remove say all the darks, and wash them, and then another day remove all the whites.

The surprise is that some people have stuff that sits at the bottom and never gets washed. We need and use all the clothes, I don't get how you can have clothes in there that have been there for weeks.
Mind you, all hand wash goes on the handwash cycle of my machine, or it goes in the bin, and there isn't any dry cleaning.

Eh. For every person who's surprised that there's stuff in the bottom of the basket, there's someone who thinks life is too short to be bothered by it.

I'm pretty happy to be one of the latter, and don't mind others being the former, so long as they don't sneer otherwise.

sorry, no sneering intended

Monday. I do the washing once a week which means emptying both linen baskets, stripping beds and replacing bathroom towels and bathmats. It normally takes me 3 days to get through it all but it does mean there are no lurking piles of 1980s pants around!!!

This is the first time I've felt vaguely domestically organised on MN! Usually I am very much at the lax end of things but our laundry basket is emptied all the time. Having a large load washing machine helps enormously (ours is 9kg, or possibly even more)

Just checked and ours is actually 11kg! And the laundry baskets (one for darks one lights one delicates) are quite small. Hence I can always fit a whole basket contents into one load in the washing machine and there won't be any build up.

I can well understand build up if your machine only takes 6kg

When I was in maternity leave before DS was actually born... so about 9 months ago 😂

I thought laundry baskets always came in herds? Never seen one alone

"I thought laundry baskets always came in herds? Never seen one alone"

Well, I've never had more than one.

I do a load of washing every evening so I never use my washing basket. It's always empty

Well, I've never had more than one.

That explains why it is empty inside. It is depressed and needs company of its own kind

Emptied it Tuesday night, apart from a couple of towels. Went to get the towels today and it's half full again! No idea how as everyone in this house (apart from me) seems to think the laundry basket is their bedroom floor

Family of 3, we wash twice a week, empty the baskets both times. I’ve never understood this unending washing thing. Preparing to be crucified...

We have 7 laundry bins, one central for uniformsand towels etc and one for each bedroom. They're all supposed to be emptied once a week on their own day.

Usually I end up doing about 20 loads every weekend though. Sigh, I really need to get into a better routine.

Serenity
If you havent got the means to dry it all at once then its quite easy to be never ending. I have an 8kg washer but I can only put one load/one & half loads on a day in winter as it takes 2 clothes horses and all the radiators up. No point in washing it to sit in the wash basket wet.

If you have a tumble dryer it will be much easier to do it all at once.

My DD (nearly 18) is very bad at making her laundry available. I recently made a rare foray to the bottom of her laundry hamper which contained most of my knickers and socks, as well as all of hers, and a lot I didn't recognise. Took 3 loads and much sorting. I have underwear now though.

Finding bottom of laundry basket isn't too difficult. Finding the bottom of the ironing basket is another matter entirely..

This morning as I was dropping clothes in it.

Yesterday, however I have an 8kg washing machine and a tumble dryer. Beforethe tumble dryer was brought in to help me I was drowning in flaming laundry.

We have a small washing machine but I have recently discovered that the local laundrette has a MASSIVE machine, so sheets and towels can all go in as one, doing what would otherwise be 4 loads of laundry for us in just 40 minutes!

On Sunday, briefly in the afternoon until that days clothes went it in - it was very satisfying and very rare!
I often empty them, split into loads and do as many as I can get through but end up dumping one or more back in. Plus it can take weeks to accumulate load of whites so they just hang about.

Eh? Every week. When I empty it.

Thanks for the explanation bigfatchips, but in my house, the black jeans in the example would be needed by the owner.

I think that is the bit those of us that wash all clothes that are put into the baskets don't get.
Maybe the people that don't ever see the bottom of their washing baskets have lots and lots of clothes ? Mind you, even with lots of clothes, I suspect my dc would be desperate for that one particular item

Monday lunchtime, unfortunately I filled it again by evening as I changed the beds but didn't wash it until Tuesday. But it is normal empty for a few hours twice a week.