Washing machine loads - the new MN chicken?

[Singlebutmarried]

Is it just me or are there a lot of

‘5 loads of washing a week, what are you doing, we’re a family of 5 and only make 1 load of washing a week’

Full disclosure

Family of three

At least 8 loads a week. Do these one load a weekers have mahoosive machines?

I have a 2yo and 8mo. Sometimes they go through 3 outfits a day. I try to do one load atleast daily. If I don't it piles up and feels impossible to get on top of. That includes bedsheets and towels. Today I've done 2 and need to do 2 more to catch up from a few missed days of doing none.

You can’t win on here if you don’t change your towel every time it touches your body, change your bedding every five mins it’s grim, yet seemingly nobody has to wash all this extra washing as it all magically fits in one load. Let’s not forget it’s a Mumsnet sin to mix clothes with dishcloths and tea towels.

We have a full load of darks every day with five of us in adult sized clothes.

A full load of whites a week
Plus then the bedding x 5 which is several loads in itself
Pet bedding

It’s worse at the moment due to wearing more layers and heavier bulky clothes that take up more space in the machine.

Family of 4, probably do 4 loads a week but large capacity machine, one school uniform, one mixed other clothes, one towels/bedding (don’t change childrens beds every week and use towels until damp and starting to smell), one ‘other’ so maybe cleaning cloths or delicates. I think we’re at the lower end but I am very unfussy!

[quote deadlanguage]@Coughee I definitely can’t rewear my exercise tops or socks! But my leggings and sports bras are made of that sort of shiny synthetic material which doesn’t really absorb the sweat so they can be worn a couple of times.

Even 7x full gym kit doesn’t sound like a full load to me though.[/quote]
It's not 7 though, its my husband and son as well who run and go to the gym. My shiny synthetic sportswear definitely absorbs the sweat! I honestly don't understand how I feel like a slut when I read the threads about how often you launder things and also feel like a one woman destroyer of the environment on threads about loads of laundry. I do blame the teens for some of it and it's probably the biggest source of nagging in my house but I'm definitely not someone who washes stuff unnecessarily.

9kg drum , 3 of us, 7 loads week

I'm amazed so people keep track of how many washes they do

We tend to do them at a similar time each day. I put one on first thing as part of my morning routine, then whoever is around when it finishes puts another on as we need at least 2 per day. If another one is needed it’s usually whilst we’re cooking dinner. If we didn’t stick to a routine it would get forgotten so it’s easy to know how many washes we do.

MN seems to be a place where people wash towels and bedding every time they are used. It’s terrible environmentally and no wonder people are doing multiple loads a day if they never re-wear clothes or re-use towels.

You can’t win on here if you don’t change your towel every time it touches your body, change your bedding every five mins it’s grim, yet seemingly nobody has to wash all this extra washing as it all magically fits in one load. Let’s not forget it’s a Mumsnet sin to mix clothes with dishcloths and tea towels

I don't think it's the same group of people who are doing their washing in one load and also insist on a clean towel every time etc. It's the people who wear fresh clothes every day and wash their bedding and towels loads that are doing loads of washes.

@formalineadeline

Why do you need to do 3 loads of washing per person? What are you all doing to generate enough for 8 loads of washing every week?

In a single person household: one hot wash for bedding & towels etc, one light delicates, one dark delicates. Take that up to 5 loads if you need to do some jeans or a wool wash.

4-5 loads a week - one large load of dark clothes, one slightly smaller load of pale/white clothes, bedsheets once a fortnight (2 loads to do all bedsheets), towels and bathmats once a fortnight (2 loads to fit all towels in), wool wash every so often, really hot wash every so often. I do towels and bedsheets at 60c, so don’t mix those with clothes. We don’t own a tumble dryer, so 4-5 loads is a good amount to avoid a house full of wet washing because too much was done too close together to cope with.

Now down to 2 adults (1 very sporty), a dog & a cat at home. We do about 5 loads a week, 8kg machine.

Bedding
Darks
Whites
Mixed Colours
Dog stuff - blankets, throws etc OR Wool & delicates wash OR waterproof dog walking stuff (needs specialist detergent and rewaterproofing stuff).

MN is competitive for everything.

It depends on the size of your washing machine, surely? We did a lot more when we had a 5kg machine than now I think it's 12kg.

I've just added all my washing up and divided by the weeks in a year.

I do an average of 5.5 loads of washing a week. That's about right.

Yes I was bored enough to do it.

I'd like to do less because of the environmental impact.

No tumble dryer so it all air dries.

@Coughee I just give in to the sluttishness

@TinselTinsel I wfh 3 days a week so easy to remember I do a load on those days. Can’t do more than one load a day as no tumble dryer

My ‘whites’ wash is mostly towels (all white).

Then we get my the threads saying the teacher says my child stinks…. I’ve worked in a school and quickly realised a clean set of uniform a day is a good thing

We have a 9kg drum, family of 5 including 2 sporty teens. We do 6-8 loads a week. 1 load of sheets washed by the cleaner, 3 loads of darks, 2-3 loads of lights plus one quick wash of sports kit by a grumpy teen at 10pm. We do a lot of swimming but swimming costumes are rinsed in the sink not put in the machine and swimming towels get washed after 7 uses like other towels.

@caranations why do jeans need their own wash?

Do you wash bedding every single week?
That's normal though! Especially in the summer. In addition to the daily clothes we all wear (not many get re used because we have a labrador who we go on daily muddy walks with) we have:
Bedding for 5 beds = 3 loads
Towels for four of us = 2 loads
Tea towels/oven gloves/kitchen hand towels/aprons/shower scrunches = 1 load
Floor mop heads + cleaning cloths = 1 load
Dog bedding = 1 load
School uniform whites = 1 load
School uniform blacks = 1 load
Dining tablecloths and napkins = 1 load on special occasion (otherwise oilcloth wipe clean)
Dressing gowns = 1 load (get washed fortnightly)
Trainers = 1 load on average
Outerwear - coats etc occasional load
PE kits = 1 load
Swimming gear if we go = 1 load
It's not excessive but it adds up. I think people are just forgetting what they're putting in!

6 of us and dog
2 loads a day - youngest wets bed (incontinent during day too) so bedding duvet etc as products don’t always protect and can’t wash his stuff with everyone else’s football gear bedding/towels school uniforms & I’m a nurse so mine go in alone it is what it is I’ve tried to do less it just piles up

Two adults and two dogs in our house. I save the dogwashing until we have a lovely drying day. Otherwise, bedding, towels, dark load, light load. So four loads most weeks. I try and dry everything on the washing line but use the tumble dryer to finish towels and if the weather is dire.

We do loads drives be nuts.

Family of 5. All do exercise/sport twice a week. So dc at school so school shirts too wash and PE kits (when the teens remember, they have the usual teen thing of stinking kit festering).

We have a fairly large capacity machine but even so if I change towels weekly that is a load and a half, the half tends to be topped up with sports gear or something.

Sheets changed weekly is 2 loads (3 dc single beds 1 load, our king size another).

My work uniforms is another load. One school has blue shirts so they go in with everything else but another is white so I have to do a small white load each week.

Then we have running gear, rugby gear, sweaty gym gear.

I don't understand how people can do so little washing and I'm more on the side of only washing when something has got grotty rather than washing as soon as it has touched someone's skin for more than 30 seconds.

In a single person household: one hot wash for bedding & towels etc, one light delicates, one dark delicates. Take that up to 5 loads if you need to do some jeans or a wool wash

Why can't jeans go in with the darks?? Are these machines being turned on with only a few items in or something?!

@AlwaysLatte can the swimwear not go in with other stuff? The PE kits in with the other uniform? Why do they need their own loads? I'm so confused!

@SliceOfCakeCupOfTea

DH does not have enough pairs of non-holy boxers to make it through a whole week without putting a wash on. I'd say we have at least one load on a day and I stuff the machine to capacity....then again I'm a huge fan of blankets and dressing gowns so these often need washing as they'll end up covered in food.

It would be cheaper to buy DH more pants than to run a load of washing because he's run out of clean ones!

And some napkins too, so you don't get food on your blankets and dressing gowns.