How often do you do your laundry?

[Lndnmummy]

Need some help from the Mumsnet brigade. Dh and I were taking this evening about our family laundry. There is only 4 of us so not a huge household. All sports etc cancelled at the moment so in theory that should reduce the load. We wash.all.the.time. At least a load a day. We live in an apartment so not a huge amount of space. We do have a drier but use it mainly for things like sheets and towels. My question is how do you guys do your laundry? A designated day where most of it gets done then put drying racks etc away until the same day next week? One load a day? I feel that there is are permanent drying racks everywhere and it’s driving me insane. Where am I going wrong?

Same dilemma.

I wash every day or every other day depending.

I have a dryer rack hanging thing on the door of the bathroom and an extendable one above the bathtub. I hang the laundry there after we shower in the morning which usually causes issues at kids bath times if they don’t dry quickly

Too overwhelmed about laundry but I certainly don’t like drying racks hanging around in the flat anywhere so for now that’s that.

We are looking into an airer inside the utility room that I can hang clothes in possibly with an extractor fan.

We do probably a load a day. Five of us, three under 12.

We do have a tumble dryer, we probably don’t really need a wash a day but my kids tend to lob everything into the basket whether it’s been worn or not.

4 of us here. At least 1 load a day. I dry outside if I can, but failing that combination of tumble dry and an airer in the kitchen. I’d desperate I’ll finish off on radiator but I know that’s a bad idea.

A family of 3. Three loads a week.

Family of 5 and definitely a load a day and 2-3 on days I do sheets and towels! I try and keep tumble drying to a minimum and have two big airers that are both normally full.

I do 2-3 loads a day (3 when it's bedding or towels days). Lucky to have recently built a laundry room though (a game changer!) so it's all either tumble dried or hung up, it's toasty warm in there so dries in a few hours. After the school run I gather up all the washing baskets from the day before and empty them into the laundry sorter and when each section is full it goes in to wash.

Family of six, including two DC with additional needs, and I do a minimum of one load a day, sometimes more.

Family of four (dc small but use a fresh uniform everyday)
One wash a day. Extra at the weekend for bedlinen.
But I use a tumble drier

Day where I wash the bedding are easily multiple loads, Sundays are usually a 3-4 load day too.

I'll get shot for this but I tumble dry all my laundry. I have zero outside hanging space and, having spent the last 10 years drying stuff on racks because we didn't have space for a tumble dryer, I am now in a flat which has one. So I use it.

I have one day a week where I seem to do nothing but laundry, so maybe I do 4 loads that day? Then I put a load on midweek.

Few things we do/don't do:-

1. I don't sort. Aside from the kids school jumpers which are red. They have one for each day of the week and I do a single, sorted, red jumper wash. Everything else is bunged in with whatever needs washing and they all go on the same setting.

1. I re-use towels. Some people I know use a bath towel once, then wash it. I don't. Same with jeans. They don't need washing after every wear.

1. My kids and dh put their own clothes away. I put mine away.

1. I do our bed sheets one week and the kids bed sheets a second week.

1. I have a husband who does 50/50 and just does shit as it needs doing so if I don't put a wash on, he does.

My ds has disabilities with incontinence issues, so between 1 and 4 times a day.

Family of 4. Dh does his own washing, usually one load. I wash towels, bedding and tea towels in the week. I then do three, maybe four loads at the weekend so dds have fresh uniforms and I have fresh work clothes.

I do one a week usually 😂 I don't have kids or a partner though and I change my sheets about once every three weeks. Towels about once a week.
Might do an extra mid-week wash of towels, riding gear, horse stuff etc

I'd say, if there are only 4 of you, and - as you say, there are no sports kts or anything to add to the load at the moment - then you are probably washing things that don't really need to be washed if you are doing a full load every day.

I am still agog sometimes on MN, how often people wash something or do other types of housework.

Family of 4 we do about 4/5 loads pw. We rewear all but underwear and reuse towels. I have a 10kg washer so can fit loads in and I love my tumble dryer. I'm done with wet clothes hanging around our small house for days. The washer goes on overnight on a timer so it's ready to go in the dryer at 8am.

3-4 times a day.

I’m so cheered this is normal. I keep feeling guilty I have a compulsion to wash everything straight away but to be honest the loads are full each time so maybe it’s the only way . Everyone does just chuck their days clothes in the laundry when often it is still looking perfectly clean though !

I do about a load a day, tumble dry some and put the rest on hanging rails over the radiators, they're dry the following day and put away straight away. In the summer stuff is hung outside. I have a good dehumidifier to stop moisture build up from drying clothes inside.

We have the same problem. I wash nearly every day, sometimes it’s nothing but the next days it’s twice or even 3 times. it's only 3 of us but we don’t have a dryer so I can’t do a big load. We do have a garden but it’s not very good for drying autumn/winter. Also there are a lot different materials/colours which should be separated. I usually spin bedding/ towels/cottons twice and put all tops on hangers. DD has 2 sets of uniform and 4 shirts so we wash uniform on Saturday morning and the rest is spread through the week depending on the situation. We have drying rack and I move it around the house during the day desperate to find a better place, luckily it’s not a big house

There are days when I do two or three loads and days I do none. I use a dryer for just about everything though.

Everyone does just chuck their days clothes in the laundry when often it is still looking perfectly clean though !
Same here! Although with jeans we try to get another wear out of them. During a pandemic though I feel happier just putting everything into the laundry basket. Kids have five sets of everything for school so on Sundays my husband irons it all and they've got all they need for the week.

Family of 4 - 1 load a day is standard, then onto the heated aired and dry in 24 hours. More often if it's great drying weather outside. Pants and socks in the tumble drier because I don't want to spend time hanging them out. I try to get people to wear clothes for longer to try and cut laundry down (without much luck)...

Just me and DP.. I did a general wash today, Wednesday is towels, Friday is wool, and Saturday bedlinen. I shove things like pyjamas, socks, underwear in with towels/bed.

We have an airer in the kitchen plus drying racks on the radiator there, and in the spare room. We have a garden with a washing line we use in the spring/summer, but today it was 5 degrees here so no point in putting stuff out. Quite a lot goes through the tumbler.

4 of us. Every single day.

We're a family of 7.

Our washing breaks down to something like this:
2 loads a day, Mon-Sat,
Clothing- 1 load a day, Mon-Fri, 2 on a Saturday.
Dc1 & 3 bedding on a Monday,
Dc2 & 4 bedding on a Tuesday.
Dc5 bedding on a Wednesday.
Towels on Thursday (although some do also just get chucked in with the daily clothes wash, as it's usually dark, as are most of the towels, if they've only been used once then dumped in a heap by the dc).
Our bedding on a Friday.
The second wash on a Saturday is whites as the dc's school shirts are white.

They all have 2 winter coats (one for school, one for when we're out & about but can also be used for school in a pinch) but I can usually find enough for a small load in the evening if they happen to get it dirty at school.

They have a fresh shirt for school each day but usually only change trousers/skirt & card after 2 wears, unless it's actually dirty. They've always worn their pe kits to school.

It's all put away as soon as it's dry (& if necessary ironed).

Mix of tumble dryer, hanging outside & a clothes horse (we have limited indoor space for them). Unless it's going to very cold/ wet everything starts out on the outside line. My machine has a 1600 spin though so stuff is isn't all that far off dry when it comes out which means if I do need to use the tumble it's not on for long.