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!

Yes I can Heedmove.
I just did.
OP does have a drier, anyway.
However, when you have a big family, and are out at work, for me, a drier was a priority. I spend a lot less than your "average MNer" on all sorts of other areas of our budget. People can choose what they prioritise.

I do a load a day, usually when I get in from work, it can be washed and then tumbled/hung up to dry that evening. I am a complete slattern, however - clean laundry gets hurled into a spare bedroom dedicated to this purpose and only essential items are ironed every evening for the next day . Every few weeks I blitz the ironing room by folding everything up and putting it away, unironed. I used to spend hours ironing everything but really once it had been placed in a drawer and rummaged through a few times it all needing ironing again, so I am strictly as ‘needs must’ ironer and keep the door firmly closed on the laundry chaos the rest of the time.

Oh, and in the summer, I hang washing out late in the evening so it dries the following day. A controversial act, I know,

I don't have a problem either. Maybe 3 loads a week. 41min cycle. Family of 4. No drier. Don't iron. Take off line and fold dump outside bedrooms in piles. Everyone puts away. No big deal.

7 in my family. 5 DC.

A washer with a 15 minute cycle for school uniforms etc or anything not heavily soiled is a god send.

I’m currently catching up with a backlog so possibly not best placed to advise but we need to do at least 2 loads a day. You need to schedule when you are going to do say your towel wash, bed linen wash which helps get into a routine.

Don’t leave anything hanging about either. As soon as it’s out the dryer, put it away. Only iron if it’s a special occasion

Have you tried flylady? Seriously she has changed our lives. There’s a great YouTuber called Diane in Denmark who is so worth it.

Congrats on the new addition.

I have 3dc, all small.
We have a dark dirty linen basket and a lights one.
I never iron.
I just do it all the time!
About to invest in a tumble dryer and second washing line though.
I've often thought about having 2 washing machines - one for light and one for dark!

The timer in the washing machine us my friend. I do a lot of overnight washing so a load is ready for the morning. And then usually goes in the dryer while we are all getting sorted or on a rare day (west coast) on the line to dry.

Second load goes on during the day on a timer.

When we get home after school e.t.c if the stuff in the dryer is still damp dryer goes on to finish. If it is dry it then gets folded and put away and the daytime load gets dried.

School uniforms is split into darks and shirts. Darks goes on as soon as they get home on a Friday for hanging out that evening and shirts go on overnight.

Sometimes my house is like a non stop laundry.

I laid out the amount of clothes I reckon we'd all wear during a typical week plus the amount of bedding I'd change per week and put it into laundry baskets and counted them - 4 loads for a family of 3. So I do 2 on a Tuesday, 2 on a Saturday. Though my work pattern has just changed so I might have to change the Tuesdays to Tues/Wed mornings 1x each. I found if I tried to do all 4 at once we wouldn't have enough built up so I like this half and half system. However this summer we will be 4 so I suspect things will need to change.

We don't have a tumble drier. I don't wash things after one use (except socks and pants) - only when they smell or are soiled. I only tend to change one bed a week rather than both of them, and we re-use towels until they seem musty. Sometimes my tops go in after one wear because I'm quite fussy about armpit smell, DH's t-shirts too. I separate colours. DH doesn't and it drives me utterly mad which is part of why I try to do all of it myself. After reading this thread I think I'll reinvestigate colour catchers and just request he uses them and then I can continue to sort, or not. I am a bit worried about all of the baby's clothes ending up grey within a week because I'm busy breastfeeding or sleeping and he decided to be helpful.

We have a couple of big airers which spread the clothes out so they go on there until I can be bothered to deal with them then I tend to do an ironing and putting-away session 1-2 times a week or just grab things off the airer. Most things don't need ironing - mainly DH's and DS's t-shirts and his trousers.

I've portioned out all the household jobs and so all of the laundry stuff does fall to me but the others do different things - like DH does basically all of the dishwasher/kitchen cleaning.

I normally use the long cycle by the way, 3h45 but if I want it done quicker I can stick it on for 1h45 or there's one which is about an hour. I don't ever use the quick wash setting because I don't think it gets things clean. Maybe if I had a couple of things to go in, but without a dryer that's never really practical ever.

www.cheshirefire.gov.uk/public-safety/home-safety/washing-machine-and-dishwasher-fire-safety

Just concerned to see posts about leaving the washing m/c going while people go off to work etc.

Get it all near the machine. Put it on in the morning and ideally hang up. Every day. Sort after two/three days into those Realky Useful plastic tubs that go into each bedroom so you can put away when eg running bath. Do more do more often.

We're a family of 7 (dc from

I love these for keeping pairs of socks together. And colour coding works if you have multiple people's socks to look after

m.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAKELAND-24-SOCKIES-keeps-socks-together-in-wash-Laundry-Organiser-Clips-NEW/162946003377?hash=item25f056b1b1:g:DBwAAOSwk4taqWgt
Link!

TBH I have to ignore the fire safety worry otherwise my anxiety would make it so that I never did any washing at all. I keep the filter clean and we have good smoke alarms. That will have to suffice. It seems TDs are the main danger too.

We're a family of 6 and it is hard work. I just have to keep doing 2-3 loads a day or it mounts up. In summer it's much easier to keep on top of as you can pop it on the line and it's dry more or less straight away.

Sorry I stopped in horror when someone mentioned changing towels and bedding MONTHLY. Whaaaaattttt????!!! I do it weekly which granted is a lot but MONTHLY?!

I put a wash on (our clothes from that day, and our PJs fromnight before etc) soon as kids are undressed in evening and leave it drying in dryer as we go to bed.

For the “extras” like towels, I then set the washer on delay, so it’s finished for when we wake up and then put it in the dryer as we leave for work.

I iron as little as possible and try and do it in front of the telly at night.
Sometimes I pay to have it done if I just can’t face it.