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!

Family of 6: DCs 7-16
1-2 loads daily,
Mixed lights, mixed darks
10kg dryer & 2 clothes racks (utility room), hang out during school holidays (full time teacher)
20 minutes ironing daily
Pain in the arse!!

Oh god I have 4 big bags piled up atm cos I’ve had flu the past week and nothings got done 😩 with a now sicky baby and DP who works as a chef and needs his whites done it’s a nightmare. Just gonna take advantage of the fairly warm weather here and get it dry as quick as possible.

Brilliant, I never met expected to get so many replies! I’ll read them all carefully but I just already want to thank you for all your suggestions and for not making me feel like a complete failure! It’s my husband who does most of the laundries while I do the sort n fold so compared to the single mums I don’t have it that bad yet. We also stuff everything possible in the dryer and I have given up on ironing. I already saw some ideas that may work for us too (separate baskets per kid to limit the sorting, using a timer, etc)
Many thanks again!

My husband does rugby training once a week, so that's my night to watch whatever I like on the tv and get the ironing done. Leading up to that I pop a wash on as and when I have a load's worth and once dried it sits there until ironing night

I keep on top of the washing no problem, put a load on most nights on a timer so it comes on during cheap electric time, take it out in the morning before we leave the house it either goes out on the line or on airers.

My ironing has snow on top at the moment, I do ironing for other people so my own often gets left for a week and builds up. I do it at the weekend while watching tv.

Washer dryer, with a delay, so it can be washing in the afternoon whilst we are out.

You cannot wash anything such as shirts whilst not there, but smalls, towels are OK.

I am still at how many people put their washer/dryer on when they are asleep

I am a stay at home mum with a 3yr old and 2yr old. My husband works long hours so I manage all the laundry.

I made a a rough weekly timetable of my laundry loads to coincide with when I would likely be in the house to move items from the washer to the dryer (towels, sheets, non delicate kids clothes etc). Similarly to others, I also have separate laundry baskets which help you "sort" loads as you put dirty items in them (towels, darks, kids, adults etc). I usually have two drying racks up in my spare room too. My washing machine is on pretty much every day, usually more than once, with the first cycle at breakfast time. I make sure I leave out the loads the night before too so it's ready to go which has really helped keep on top of it.

4 of us probably do at least one load per day. We only use towels a couple of times then wash. Heated airer is great. Feels never ending at times. I don't iron much though none of the kids clothes only stuff that absolutely needs it that saves time

I love my sock airers for baby/toddler/preschooler clothing and undewear. Really worth it if you don't have a drier. I also dry clothes on hangers so they can go straight in the cupboard once dried and are easier to move from the line if it starts raining.

Set timer on washer to finish as I get up. Peg it out or put on airers and forget about it. Move it and put it straight away when I get home from work (whilst dp is picking up ds(2) from nursery) i usually also do 2 maybe 3 loads at the weekend and do the same timer thing but move it and put away when I can be arsed!

Oh and I dont iron unless absolutely necessary

Kids have their own colour coded wash baskets...non-iron stuff goes in their basket and they put it away. Bedding gets washed every 2 weeks and duvets get washed with their covers on. I sometimes send the ironing out (I have 3dcs and 2 jobs 😁); I dream of a utility room and am ridiculously giddy when it's dry enough to use the washing line 😁

Luckily my OH took over laundry duties as soon as I had our baby . He does one or two loads each evening.

I put the washer on when ever the linen basket is full - every day or so. We bought the biggest washer and tumble drier we could with the fastest spin. So fewer loads than might have been. Often put the washer on at night and hang out or put in the drier the load before the school run. When I get home at night I fold up the clothes. I don't iron, the cleaner does that. Worth her weight!

Like Dory...just keep swimming...

I never understand MN's inability to get the washing done. It's one of the best "jobs", as the machine does it for you

We're a family of 5 - have done all the typical stuff families do - swimming training, football kits, weekends away camping with Scouts, obviously the baby stages, the school uniform stages, etc. etc. but, as long as you have a tumble drier I don't see why it is a problem.
I'd usually put a wash on before leaving for work then get it out and put it in the tumble drier when I got home. Then extra washes at the weekend or occasionally in the evening.
Don't get me wrong, I've got loads that needs doing round the house, but, to my mind, washing is not a tricky thing to keep up with.

I put a wash on at bedtime hang it up in the morning and shove another straight in. If I'm working that day I will hang it up when in from work. If I'm off I do it when it's finished. We have two clothes driers no tumble drier.

If I miss a wash it piles up. Done five loads today though because washed all the bedding and my teen tidied her room which meant piles of dirty washing.

Family of 4 and lots of houseguests - wash at least daily and hang outside or on ceiling laundry rack. Kids have different coloured baskets to collect their sorted laundry from.
Sheets, towels - twice a week - usually overnight and out on line. Don’t mind basket of ironing but loathe unwashed linen and clothing in the house. Laundry is unheated but rack is brilliant. Have a couple of octopus racks from IKEA for undies and bras. Don’t have a tumble drier.

Back you can't say that then say....If you have a tumble drier washing isn't hard.

The point is not everyone does. Not everyone can afford to use it for every load. Not everyone wants to use it for every load. Not everyone has room for one.

Oh and I don't seperate washing now either. Throw in a colour catcher and it all goes in together with no runs.

There isn't one. It goes in the washing machine, I do a wash every night during term time, every other morning in the holidays.

I don't

Just put a load on every morning - it only takes 2 mins. Then pop load in dryer after work. Fold that evening/in the morning (depending on when you have most time) - takes 5 mins.

I never understand why people have such a problem getting laundry done. It's shoving a pile of things into a machine with some detergent and pressing "on".

One laundry basket for the whole house (and a laundry bag for downstairs - someone always seem to be undressing downstairs! Socks, bibs etc). It holds a load of washing. Take the whole thing downstairs when it’s full, or almost full if the bag downstairs has stuff in too. Don’t separate any of the laundry, never seen any need at all for that. Theoretically this should mean I do one load a day but in reality DS2 is ridiculously refluxy so really it’s more than that.