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?

@comfortablyfrumpy

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.

Maybe they're all so teeny tiny that they wear clothes meant for dolls?

Our 9kg machine isn't on that often as, instead of doing multiple loads, we own more things. I have a feeling that owning more, meaning you can leave the washing until there's a full load, isn't particularly environmentally friendly either.

The advantage of the 2 year old machine is that there are multiple short options - 15, 30, 45 and 59 minutes - and a high spin speed, so there's none of the drowning in soggy clothes on airers because you have to wash it so it can be worn tomorrow business going on. And not having things in a hundred different fabrics/colours/needing individual detergents, temperatures and spin speeds reduces the amount of separate loads necessary.

I think it generally is one dark load a week, one white and light load a fortnight, one towels and gym kit a week (if it's Psoriasis flare time, that gets split into two loads because emollients, steroids and coal tar residues don't go well with compression leggings), one miscellaneous a month. It's not really within my remit (I work longer hours), so I'm not that bothered how frequently it's done as long as I have a set of clothes, clean bedlinen and a dry towel each day.

It's certainly not a flex to say that we do a washload once the bedroom floor the linen bins are full (1 for dark, 1 for light that is topped up with bedlinen). It's just what we can get away with as there are better things to be doing than dealing with wet washing on a daily basis.

I have to say, either our bedding is smaller or our washing machine bigger than a lot of people's on this thread. It doesn't take up a full load in ours.

We might be filthy as well as I don't mind washing bedding and towels together with other things. The only things that get washed separately here are whites, woollens, and cuddly toys (when they've met the toddler's reflux). And sometimes the woollens and the cuddly toys get chucked in together on the delicate cycle.

@Bellie710

We are a family of 5 and I probably do about 12 loads a week!

I have a 10kg machine but just stripping all the beds and washing towels takes up about 4 loads. Also we live on a farm and the kids do after school sports so there are always extra towels and kit too.

I did 3 loads yesterday that were just clothes that have been in a cupboard for youngest DD to grow into but I did them all on 15 minute refresh so not all washes are full loads

I have no idea how anyone can do only 2/3 loads a week!

Same here!

Not the farm but, but we may as well live on a farm with a dog who loves to get muddy and 3 kids who all do muddy sports 3-4 x a week!

Presume those who do 1 wash per week don’t have kids who do muddy sports a lot.

Washer is always on...

Will get hard hat ready

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.

The dogs like to sit on me all the time, especially evenings and mornings when I’m likely to have a dressing gown on, so I wash it once a week. The dogs only have a groom/shower once a month, only wipes in between when necessary so....

We are a family of 6. Have a 10kg washer and 10kg dryer. I do a wash every other day.

Every now and then when the teens decide to get the clothes that walked under their beds by themselves then I have a whole day of constant washing and drying .

@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.

Family of 4 here and we do at least 2 laundry loads a day. 8kg machine.

Plus dishwasher twice a day.

Maybe we are just a smelly/messy family ?

Um, do we need to separate colours? Have never done it unless have brand new clothes and then do it 1st time only. Never had anything crazy happen. All clothes are cheap and easily washable though

Currently, with 3 adults we do approximately:
2x towels (includes kitchen/cleaning cloths)
2x linen
3x clothes

When the 2 Uni students are back:
4x towels
4x linen
5x clothes

Variations according to season - wool washes in winter, swimming in summer, etc.

@RockstarDotCom

I usually don’t comment on those threads. We do at least 2 loads per day, often more. I commented once and was made to feel like I alone was responsible for global warming. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That's you and me both then. We are three adults and do about 8-10 loads a week, work clothes school uniforms, sheets, towels, you name it. I don't have a mahoosive machine that takes 20kg of laundry so my lowly little machine goes on a lot. Dh said it's such a trooper it'll get a vikings burial when it goes. I always think those who claim a family of 5 and only three loads a week, must be minging or lying.

Can you (really) wash clothes at 30% and do they come out clean and fresh ? I tried once and had to rewash. I normally do a 1hr wash at 60%

Only me and DH... 6 to 8 loads a week. About a quarter of it is small towels, as I use a towel AFTER EVERY SHOWER. (I have 8 to 12 showers a week.)

#sorrynotsorry ... The towels I use are a third of the size of normal bath towels... so I get around 12-13 in each load ...

I can't use the same one twice. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

@stayathomer no it’s not really necessary. The only time I’ve ever had clothes run was the first time I washed a bright red dress, I had some Shaun the sheep socks in that load too and the sheep went pink 🤣 but generally most stuff is colourfast nowadays and you can always stick a colour catcher in

I do two loads most days. We have 3 very mucky children - they love their mud kitchen - and a large slobbery dog. My children are also dickheads who flood the bathroom on occasion, and DD3 does a good line in vomiting on the carpet while trying to get to the bathroom. (This doesn't happen often, but when it does that's a load of washing right there.)

Yesterday I had to rewash some of my bedding after the children got mud on it while it was drying on the washing line. I was not amused.

@stayathomer

Um, do we need to separate colours? Have never done it unless have brand new clothes and then do it 1st time only. Never had anything crazy happen. All clothes are cheap and easily washable though

It depends on the brightness of the colour - I've had bright colours leech onto whites, and black leech onto brights so tend to avoid it if I can. It doesn't really matter though, because we usually manage to have full or nearly full loads with the 4 of us - although not always.

I have to say, either our bedding is smaller or our washing machine bigger than a lot of people's on this thread. It doesn't take up a full load in ours.

We have a super king bed. Kids and guest beds are all king size. Our machine just about fits the super king bedding in.

7 loads every 3 weeks for me - I live along and am particular about not mixing different loads so do the following individual loads:
Towels every 2 weeks
Every 18 days 1 load of
Bedding
light colour clothes
white clothes
white delicates
dark clothes
dark delicates
have 6 kg drum and I like to get it reasonably full - saves on water and electricity - so let items build up but by having a strict rota I never run out of clothing.

This is what works for me.

I put on at least 2 washes a day. 5 of us!

People on MN think it’s a joke that you can get more than one meal from a roast chicken, rather than standard practice up to a few decades ago.

No, people on MN think it is laughable to suggest you will get 4 meals for a family of 6 worth out of a roast chicken.

I'm amazed so people keep track of how many washes they do
I fill the machine when the wash basket is full !

I have to say, either our bedding is smaller or our washing machine bigger than a lot of people's on this thread. It doesn't take up a full load in ours.

When I say bedding it’s two sets of king size and 1 single. That doesn’t go in one load.

I think a lot of MNers have king size bedding so that might explain the problem with fitting them into the machine.

Thinking about it this makes sense. I think I'm in a MN minority that my DH and teens/tweens are not over 6ft. Me and DH have a double bed and DC have (gasp) single beds. DS doesn't even use a full size bath towel for his unfortunately very occassional showers! ...so I guess this would mean less washing than families where everyone has a king size bed.
I used to do way more washing when DC were little but neither were dry at night til they were at least 6 so there was always a ton of bedding and sonetimes duvets to do!

No, people on MN think it is laughable to suggest you will get 4 meals for a family of 6 worth out of a roast chicken

Thing is, you can get 10 plus meals out of a chicken if you want to, surely just with paltry amounts of chicken in!

[quote deadlanguage]@tapdancingmum so are you doing two loads which are just 3 polo shirts (and a pair of trousers?)? Why can’t football shirts/uniform be washed with anything else?
I’ve just hung up a load which included both normal clothes muddy jeans and sweaty tops as DP cycles everywhere and doesn’t have a mudguard. Everything came out clean…[/quote]
Her uniform includes jackets as well and trousers which are a load in themselves.

Football shirts have to be washed separately due to numbers and logos. They can't go in with anything else that may rub or have softener in. Plus there is upwards of 15 shirts plus socks and a goalie kit which is normally filthy