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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Drowning in laundry

162 replies

tuliplily · 07/04/2021 12:23

How do people keep on top of their laundry? 2 adults, toddler and baby and I feel like I'm drowning in washing and putting away. Don't even iron! Anyone got any tips?

OP posts:
Shannaratiger · 08/04/2021 11:59

2 adults and 2 teenagers. 1 wash a day. Bedding and towels get done fortnightly - no problem!

fREHYA · 08/04/2021 12:07

2 adults, 2 children and another one will be here soon. I wash and dry everyday. Husband irons. Everything goes directly in the washing machine.

rabbitheadlights · 08/04/2021 12:30

@candyLeBonBon

That existence sounds grim 😢

Did you mean to be so rude? I can assure you our "existence" is far from grim thankyou very much.

RaiseTheBeastie · 08/04/2021 13:00

I thought the same @rabbitheadlights, what a horrible comment!

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 13:04

[quote rabbitheadlights]@candyLeBonBon

That existence sounds grim 😢

Did you mean to be so rude? I can assure you our "existence" is far from grim thankyou very much.[/quote]
in fairness, becoming a slave of house chores and spending your DAY on them does sound grim.

I am not shy of doing laundry, there's 6 of us (plus dog) but I am not bothering with house chores past 9am and I have a full time job.

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 13:06

This is why the "economy" wash of the most modern machines do not work. My normal loads last from 1 hour to 1h30 max. It would become absolutely unmanageable if each load lasted 3hours!

Hankunamatata · 08/04/2021 13:22

Daily loads. Otherwise my washing machine would be on morning until night over the weekend

MixedUpFiles · 08/04/2021 13:31

Separate color-sorted hampers for each family member that are sized to your washing machine. Another for towels. When the hamper is full it gets washed and since it’s all together there is no sorting and it’s easy to put away.

Sceptre86 · 08/04/2021 13:43

I do laundry on set days that way there isn't always clothes drying around the house needing to be picked up, folded and put away. I will have all the weeks laundry done in 3 days (5-6washes). I find putting a load on every day annoying, seeing clothes everywhere used to make me feel like it was all getting on top of me so this routine works better for me.

anothermansmother · 08/04/2021 16:03

Little and often here does the trick, otherwise my weekends would be nothing but cleaning and laundry.

Lineofconcepcion · 08/04/2021 17:18

I think if I had as much laundry to do as some of you I would be using a laundry and ironing service; I have more interesting things to do, and I don't mean to sound supercilious.

Mummysgonetobed · 08/04/2021 17:24

Two adults 3 children here.
I do one load every morning, on an airer upstairs in the sunniest room and put it away the next morning before a new load goes on.
Extras at weekends for towels and bedding.
I only separate reds and whites which I do Friday night (after school - uniforms!). No other separating.
I’m generally on top of it even if I have a day off (or forget!)

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 17:35

the only problem with set days is the weather!

Especially with the lockdown, there hasn't been a week at all when all my beddings and towels haven't been drying outside, but days have to be flexible.

The joy of WFH is that I haven't needed the dryer since last March.

AlwaysLatte · 08/04/2021 17:53

How do people get their stuff to dry faster when it’s hanging?
My husband fitted a wall heater on to the laundry wall above the airer. When the weather's nice I put the airer outside but otherwise I put the heater on. It's very cheap to run. Also tumble dry some things but try not to if I can avoid it (t shirts etc are easier to fold without ironing from the airer) .

InkieNecro · 08/04/2021 17:57

One communal laundry basket on the landing, don't separate anything, use a colour catcher and wash daily! I also hang tops on hangers to dry, saves drying space, lessens wrinkles, and I can then put them straight into the wardrobe.

BramStoker · 08/04/2021 18:04

I hate laundry

We are a family of 4 and 3 of us do regular exercise so often 3 lots of smelly lycra in addition to everything else. DH is NHS which doesn't help either as current guidance is for everything he wears in the hospital to be washed after a single wear.

Our washer is on at least once most days, in summer when things can go outside on the line I often do multiple loads in a day if it's a good drying day. It's a regular occurence that I'm just about to go to bed and suddenly remember there is a load of washing that needs to be taken out of thd machine and hung up, it makes me wants to cry!

We do have a tumble dryer in the garage but I try to limit its use so we constantly have an airer full of clothes in the lounge

AlwaysLatte · 08/04/2021 18:11

15 loads a week?? How are you making that much washing? It must cost you a fortune!
No idea how much it costs but we have economical machines, avoid the dryer where possible and don't go crazy - towels only washed twice a week for example. We're doing about that many loads and it's easy to rack up:
Towels washed twice a week + Tea towels/hot mats/flannels/cloths = 3 loads
Floor mats - 1 load
Bedding - 2 loads (more if washing duvets/pillows)
Pastels - 2 loads
Darks - 3 loads
Whites - 1 load
Bright colours - 1 load
Other (rugby kit, or dog bed and towels, trainers, spare guest bedding, swimming gear, coats etc) - whenever necessary -averaged out 1-2 loads a week
Darks and whites also includes 10 sets of school uniform.
I do say if it smells and looks clean, it IS clean but in a house full of boys, daily gardening/dog and chickens etc etc it adds up. Also with all of us at home at the moment as it's the Easter holidays it makes for more!

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 18:50

I can't see what is so shocking about 2 loads a day in a larger family.

Not everybody buys an industrial size machine. I prefer smaller(ish) loads more often, means no-one runs out of anything, and more importantly I don't have to think about laundry at all. I just do it in turn.

Rukaya · 08/04/2021 18:52

you don't have to think about it as you are constantly doing it!

I think some people need bigger machines. We are a familyof 7, we have a 12kg load machine, so we do half the number of loads as an old fashioned small drum machine.

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 18:55

you don't have to think about it as you are constantly doing it!

well, yes, but I am done by the time I leave the house in the morning, it's no big deal, that's the point. It's what, 2 minutes to load a machine (and I am large), 10 minutes max to hang laundry when you have plenty of bits (2 minutes for beddings..) and 10-15 minutes at most to fold 2 loads in the evening? I spend more than that on MN right now!

It would completely waste my time to have to plan to have enough school uniforms, enough beddings, enough underwear... and have to think.

PerspicaciousGreen · 08/04/2021 19:04

If it's the taking down and putting away that's killing you, maybe rethink your clothes storage and make it bigger (so less complex folding required to fit everything in) and less complicated/finely graded.

I tip laundry onto our bed and sort into piles:
Me, 3yo, three piles for 1yo (see below), DH.

3yo has drawers under his cot but we also put a basket outside his room as a staging post and often stuff never makes it out of the basket into the drawers before being worn again. 1yo has three baskets for clothes storage: top half, bottom half, nightwear. We just lob in and rummage as needed. These work because our children don't have vast quantities of clothing.

Then I put my own laundry away, obviously, but I leave DH's in a pile on his side of the bed for him to put away before he goes to bed.

I take down laundry in the morning to make space to hang the new load but usually end up putting away just before bed, and deliberately leave it ON the bed to incentivise me! One of the advantages of the very simple system is that I hope to hand the sorting task over to the children at some point - sort into piles per person and dump outside their room, then each person puts theirs away. 3yo can't put his own laundry away because it needs folding to get into the drawers but in theory could put 1yo's away because it's just dumping in baskets. We are having a room switcheroo soon so I want to sort out some simple dump-em-in boxes for 3yo too so he can put his own laundry away.

LemonDrizzles · 08/04/2021 20:31

2 adults, a 5-year old and a 1-year old. 1 year old is in nursery full time.

In agreement with another pp, I do laundry in 1 day. A dryer is a must. 5 year old in after school club on that day. The order of laundry is important!

TV show or podcast on to sort laundry - 20 mins
1st load - Kids odds and ends, 1 hour wash
2nd load - DD/my best dresses, 1 hour wash whilst 1st load drying
3rd load - hot wash, 1 hr 39 mins whist 2nd load drying (2nd load needs almost 2 hours to dry.
4th load - colours, sports wash, DS non-uniform clothes, 1 hour wash (3rd load drying)
5th load - Wool socks, sweaters, DD tights, 1 hour wash (3rd load still drying
6th load - shirts, school uniforms, 1 hour wash (4th/5th load drying)

Then another 30 minutes laying all clean clothes on bed in piles of where they go in drawer. DS shirts/trousers are folded. DD dresses are folded. Everything else is laid quite straight in drawers.

DappledThings · 08/04/2021 20:41

LemonDrizzles unless you have a tiny machine you must be doing a lot of half loads.

I used to do wool by hand. Now I chuck it in the same wash as everything else but turn it down to 30 and spin down to 400. Then hoick it out and re spin the rest quickly.

So nothing at all needs separating out now.

rabbitheadlights · 08/04/2021 21:20

@thebillyotea

in fairness, becoming a slave of house chores and spending your DAY on them does sound grim

Where did I say I was a slave to chores, infact there are many points throughout the day that I'm sat on my arse doing sod all, or on MN, or anything else, but the OP asked about laundry ...

thebillyotea · 08/04/2021 21:52

Where did I say I was a slave to chores, infact there are many points throughout the day that I'm sat on my arse doing sod all, or on MN, or anything else, but the OP asked about laundry ...

you make it sound like you are stuck at home all day, every day, either doing or between chores! You are not selling it well Grin