Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Washing machine loads - the new MN chicken?

416 replies

Singlebutmarried · 22/02/2022 14:39

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?

OP posts:
Solmum1964 · 22/02/2022 16:45

Just me and DH and probably 5/6 loads a week: towels, 2 x dark, 1 x light, 1 x cycling kit and then bedding every ten days/2 weeks. Additional loads after visitors/ duvets/ pillows/sofa covers spread through the year.
When my children were at school they had two pairs of trousers/jumpers each week but shirts/pants/socks changed daily.
Dishwasher run every night.

PickAChew · 22/02/2022 16:46

@Terfydactyl fasten your duvet cover before putting it in the machine. No more swallowed undies.

deadlanguage · 22/02/2022 16:46

I had yellow school shirts (why?! It suited no one) and my mum just washed them with the rest of the colours (including black school trousers etc) and there was never any problem.

RockstarDotCom · 22/02/2022 16:47

Do you go to the gym in fresh clothes 3x a day or something? I wear my leggings probably 3x and sports bra 2x before washing. And wash dressing gown about once every 2 months!

I wear fresh clothes for each run or workout, plus swimming and other sports than require a kit. There’s no way I could wear them twice. I wash a dressing gown and an oodie once a week. The dogs sit on me with them on so I wouldn’t want to only wash them once every 2 months. Each to their own but people stating what they do as fact for everyone is just silly.

HarrySwotter · 22/02/2022 16:47

@deadlanguage

I had yellow school shirts (why?! It suited no one) and my mum just washed them with the rest of the colours (including black school trousers etc) and there was never any problem.
I must admit I rarely if ever do a separate wash. Just bung everything, colours, whites, black... In together.
TabithaHazel · 22/02/2022 16:47

We only do washing once per week, but have to do about 5 separate loads. It takes all day 😭

Nutrigrainygoodness · 22/02/2022 16:47

You're all gross. I haven't done a wash since I was a fetus, and we cope fine.

cries into laundry mountain

There are 3 of us and I generally do a wash every other day. Everything that has been worn in them 2 days gets thrown in. Then 1 towel wash and a bedding wash at the weekend.

SirChenjins · 22/02/2022 16:48

@Gwenhwyfar

"Type 1: all families should only do 1-2 washloads per week"

Nobody has said anything like that. I do think it should be 1-2 loads a week per person.

One person’s towels and bedding for the week can easily be one load - then unless you’re planning on washing all your blacks, colours and whites together you need to do more than one further one a week.
Gwenhwyfar · 22/02/2022 16:48

@RockstarDotCom

Should be just above 1 load a week per person

It’s funny when people state stuff like this as fact. 😬 I have almost 2 loads of just my sports/gym clothes a week, never mind clothing for the rest of the day, pjs, dressing gown.

Well yes if you exercise every day you will have an extra load. Does the dressing gown need to be washed every week as you are presumably only wearing it over your PJs so it doesn't get sweaty.
mikkkky · 22/02/2022 16:48

How about rags? Am i the only one washing those?

Gwenhwyfar · 22/02/2022 16:50

"unless you’re planning on washing all your blacks, colours and whites together you need to do more than one further one a week."

As I wrote in another post, I've never had a need to separate blacks and colours.
I do separate whites when I wear them, but they would only be washed when there is a full load so separating colours does not lead to more use of the washing machine.
Are you putting the washing machine on when you haven't got a full load then?

SirChenjins · 22/02/2022 16:50

@mikkkky

How about rags? Am i the only one washing those?
No I wash those - but I wash them in the nearby stream using a washboard (no soap obvs) so I don’t use the machine too often
ChargingBuck · 22/02/2022 16:51

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Yabu. I wash my childrens clothes with unicorn tears once a month. Anything more is wasteful.
I hope they are ethically sourced, do you know the cheap varieties are made by taunting baby unicorns until they yield enough product?
Gwenhwyfar · 22/02/2022 16:51

@mikkkky

How about rags? Am i the only one washing those?
Oliver Twist's rags? Cloths you mean? I use sponges that can go in the dishwasher and eventually in the bin.
Cdmlover · 22/02/2022 16:52

I have 3 million washes a week because the teens think something they have tried on needs a wash!

SockFluffInTheBath · 22/02/2022 16:52

I did a thread about this when I killed my last machine and had to explain in detail how our sporty family of 4 plus filthy old dog generates something like 16 loads per week.

Marmelace · 22/02/2022 16:52

Not got a clue how much washing I do, I just stick it in the machine when it appears or one of my sons will stick a load on. I'm a complete muck magnet so I probably have the biggest turnover. It's rare to have a day without the machine running though.

deadlanguage · 22/02/2022 16:52

@mikkkky

How about rags? Am i the only one washing those?
I don’t think I have any rags, unless you count DP’s holey pants. Are these oily rags for mechanical stuff? Household cleaning cloths and dishcloths I just put in with everything else.
comfortablyfrumpy · 22/02/2022 16:52

Family of 15. I hand wash the week's washing in one sink, reusing the (cold) water, and then hang it all out on the line at night to get darked on. Grin

Fatgalslim · 22/02/2022 16:52

@Thewiseoneincognito

I fucking hate washing. I’ll only do it once the bathroom wash bin is hidden under the mountain of stuff, only then I’ll go anywhere near the damn thing.

White wash, colour wash, black wash, wool wash, bedding wash, towel wash, underwear wash.

FML

Why do you wash underwear separately?
Coughee · 22/02/2022 16:53

I can't ever rewear my gym or running clothes, I'm peeling them off me drenched in sweat. There's no way I could dry them off and rewear, I'd stink!

SirChenjins · 22/02/2022 16:53

As I wrote in another post, I've never had a need to separate blacks and colours.
I do separate whites when I wear them, but they would only be washed when there is a full load so separating colours does not lead to more use of the washing machine.
Are you putting the washing machine on when you haven't got a full load then

Yes - if we need clothes like work uniform urgently and there’s not a full load then of course I’ll put it on without being full, and if the uniform is soiled then I prefer to wash it separately anyway. I always separate bright colours and blacks but with four of us it’s not a problem.

Gwenhwyfar · 22/02/2022 16:54

"One person’s towels and bedding for the week can easily be one load"

Even allergic people are only advised to change the bedding every two week.

"then unless you’re planning on washing all your blacks, colours and whites together"

Blacks and colours together. Never had a problem with this. Been doing my own washing for over 30 years.

" you need to do more than one further one a week."

No, you do the white wash when you have a full load. For one person it won't be every week (unless you wear a lot of white).

As I mentioned before, separating by colour or type (or person) wouldn't lead to more washing if you wait until each load is full.

ReviewingTheSituation · 22/02/2022 16:54

I have no idea how many loads we do a week - we just wait until I've run out of sports bras (I have 3, and run 5x a week) and then put a wash on with my 3 lots of running kit and whatever is in the laundry basket! Probably averages at 3 loads a week I guess. One for bedding or towels (can get away with a towel wash every 2-3 weeks, as the machine can take 6 towels and we only have one on the go each at a time). Hand/tea towels just get bunged in the wash whenever.

There's no way I'd be washing jeans/trousers every 2-3 wears (unless they get dirty). And jumpers get washed VERY infrequently - they've always got at least a layer underneath them.

I just couldn't be doing with all the drying and sorting of all that laundry!

stayathomer · 22/02/2022 16:54

My friend was shocked at my number, I explained her twins were 2 so their clothes were tiny compared to washing 4 lots of adult sized clothes when I have sons who grew taller than me when they were 12.
Never thought of this- good point! (Almost starts crying at memory of tiny baby vestsGrin)
There's 6 of us and we have a 6kg washing machine, we do 8 loads a week, sometimes more sometimes less. I try to make sure we use towels twice before washing but it doesn't always happen. I was tea towels j clothes and old cleaning rags about once a week. I do sheets every week cos two of my kids attract dirt, then the other two moan that the first 2 have lovely clean sheets and dh says I always forget to do oursGrin