To ask how you manage to stay on top of the laundry pile

[Cigna]

Our family has just expanded from 5 to 6 (whoohoo) and while it is mostly wonderful, I can already see that we have difficulties with the increased amount of laundry. We are not extreme in washing (towels last one week, as does bedding- clearly as long as no accidents happened), but we easily have 8-10 full loads every week. With both of us working full time (am now on leave though) we used to do all of the loads in the weekend with me sorting and folding in front of tv on Sunday. This seems no longer feasible as we cannot spent the whole weekend moving laundry from the washing machine to the dryer etc. How do other (big) families manage to stay on top? Kids are too small to help and especially the sorting per kid takes a lot of time. Any tips are gratefully received!

Work on reducing the input. Tricky if kids are small, but bibs with sleeves for eating, big napkins on laps, pinafores, proper big aprons and housecoats for adults, white t shirt vests to use as underwear all reduce the amount of dirty clothes produced. Agree with having fewer clothes. Also if it would come out clean at 30 degree it doesn't need washing imo -hang it up overnight instead.

Just me and Dd, one day a week I chuck everything that needs washing into the dining room, sort into colours/whites, towels and bedding and spend the morning doing it all. I can’t be doing with laundry every day so this works ok for us. Probably not possible with a family of 6 though!

Family of 5.
Laundry basket per bedroom so there's little sorting to do.
Older children (4 & 7) put their own clothes away.
Only do bedding every other week.
At least a load a day.
Don't iron anything.

3 laundry baskets here, white, colour, black. (Hated sorting dirty smelly clothes)

Blimey you lot do a lot of washing

We are a family of 4 and do about 4-5 loads a week. All done on Saturday and dried and put away on the same day.

We have a big machine and dryer and don't iron much.

I rarely wash during the week.

For us, family of 5.
8kg machine. Short wash cycles.
Minimum one load a day.
Multiple airers (2 horses and a pulley)
Multiple baskets.
Re-wearing clothes where possible.
2 mammoth folding sessions a week.
Only iron DHs work shirts.
Tumble only in emergencies.

I pay my teen DD to help me. We have one of those heated massive Airers too

Our old washing machine recently died so we invested in a huge one (9kg drum I think). God it's made a massive difference! A few big loads a week and we're done.

I was constantly chasing my tail with washing before, not anymore! (Family of 5)

I do at least two loads a day with three DC under 3 if I did any less trying to catch up would be a nightmare!

We are a family of 5
We have 4 laundry bins upstairs
Dark
White
Pink(!)
Mixed
I put a load on every morning before breakfast
Then into dryer to run during the day
Dry laundry goes into the clean laundry bags - one for each person
Each person then puts their own laundry away (in theory anyway 😂)

(System works well until dh tries to help and we end up with piles of random laundry all over the lounge "being sorted" 🙄)

I feel for you, it’s the bain of my life! I’m not very mobile so I can’t hang on the line (in Scotland though so not many days that I could anyway) and I have a disabled daughter which means extra sheets towels and outfits daily on top of the rest of the washing for 5 of us!
I gave up ironing before putting away and now only do it as I go. I do 2-3 loads daily and that still isn’t enough, I really have to try and keep on top of putting it away because if I get lazy for just one day it takes weeks to try and catch up.. I’ve been quite ill the past couple of weeks and I can’t see the worktop in my utility room as it’s full of clean clothes. They were folded neatly but everyone has been rummaging so now it resembles a Primark sale rail

We are a very sporty, farm living family of 5 so we generate a lot of washing!
I set my machine to run at 5.30 every morning, it’s finishing as I get up at 6.30, another load goes straight in and the first load is hung up/out.
I hang up the second load before I head out the door to work.

When the kids are in the shower/ getting changed for bed etc I fold it all and put it straight away into their drawers/wardrobes. I only iron school uniform and that all gets done on Sunday night.

This way it never builds up, and there is nothing left lying about in piles, which drives me nuts!

family of 6 here. Separate washer dryer on pretty much constantly. Well probably not but at least two loads a day, god knows where it all comes from.

@yorick nope. Once a week.

I reckon most people have enough clothes for a month. We very so my used to. Now we have enough for a fortnight or less and they never rub out of anything.

I don't

And I only have two kids (third on the way)

Two laundry baskets, one darks, one lights. Make sure all dirty laundry gets put in the baskets straight away and doesn’t linger on bedroom floors.

Put a load in every evening and set the timer to go on at 6am. Hang up to dry first thing, lay it away after dinner. Sometimes I might do an extra load in the afternoon if I have space on the line/heaters.

Towels/bedding at the weekend, they can do in the drier if no other space.

So that’s about 9 loads a week.

There are 5 of us, 2 adults and 3 kids. My usual routine is to load the machine in the evening and put it on a timer to finish around 7am. That gives me half an hour in the morning before the kids get up to put it on the maiden and put the dry stuff away.

The trouble comes when I miss a day (usually at the weekend ) or when our teenager stores her laundry for a week and then dumps it all in the basket at once rather than day by day.

Ironing is a different kettle of fish. I detest it but will do a little bit most days, and my wife does a job lot probably once a week, but the basket is very rarely empty. It's a bit like an extra wardrobe.

I should say we have one of those old victorian maidens that come down from the ceiling on a pulley. It makes a big difference being able to put an entire load out in one spot, indoors (with a fire lit underneath in winter). I rarely bother putting stuff outside even in summer as it just takes more time.

We have one of those pulley-maidens (Sheila maids), big washer and drier.

We always have an overflowing laundry basket and loads of unfolded clean laundry.
Family of five.

pinkponies seems to be onto something. My drier has a timer but not the washer. This will be something I look for next time.

Also agree with anyone above who says never iron anything.

Lower your standards

Seriously I only iron things if I absolutely have to which happens rarely.

Towels and sheets can be washed slightly less often, and make sure you have a machine with a short wash cycle so you can use that when clothes are not stained.

We are a family of 7. There is a wash basket in each bedroom and I empty them a couple of times a week. I only wash clothes when they are dirty, so if they look and smell clean they get worn again, and as a pp said beds are not done weekly, more like monthly. I probably do an average of one wash a day, though some days I might do as many as 3. I don't have any small DC any more and that makes a big difference, and my kids tend to change out of their uniforms/clothes and into their PJs when they come home so that saves a lot of washing.

Theres 6 of us, I don't have a dryer anymore. I do have a cupboard with a radiator in it. Sheets and towels get dried over the banisters at night if it's raining.
I usually do two loads a day mon- fri plus a few quick load of swimwear/sports kit/school uniform/throws and cushion covers. More if it's good drying weather.
We all have a washing basket in our bedrooms.
I do a dark load, a light load then underwear/PJ's separately can usually manage to do all our underwear in one load.
I try not to wash at weekends unless essential.
I try to not leave wet washing in the machine to reduce crinkles, I find folding it wet helps too. I hang nearly all tops straight on hangers to dry.
I iron once a week while watching tv, I usually have a big basket full and always iron bedding.
Older kids put their own clothes away or don't! I put younger DC and mine away, DH does his own.

I do find it can descend into chaos pretty quickly if I deviate from the above. We were away last week and I've only been washing sporadic ly this week and it shows.

Wear clothes more than once if they're not smelly or visibly dirty.
Do a load almost every day.
Don't bother sorting clothes out into lights/darks/mixed/whatever. Everything gets chucked in together.
Spin dry everything so it doesn't take ages to dry and hold everything else up.
Don't bother ironing, just stretch it whilst damp and put to dry and fold up carefully.

Four of us (one a toddler) and do 8-10 loads a week. It’s fucking ridiculous

Dd2 will change around three times when off school. It sends me around the twist

I really worked on this while I was on mat leave in a new home....my aim is to try and do something every day during the week so there's less on the weekend...
Washing machine load every weekday
Short cycles if possible and if you have a couple of loads, start with the batch that needs the shortest time
Washing machine with a delay start and where you can see how long it takes until the cycle's complete, run a load overnight or to finish when you get home from work (but finishing before morning showers or evening bathtimes)
Tumble small things
Lakeland heated airer - it can dry a load of washing in 24 hours, especially with the cover on - for the rest
Wearing things lots before they go in the wash
Socks with the coloured toes and have a preschooler help with pairing
Cut down double handling - fold and sort as you take out the tumble drier or off the drying rack