to do 4 loads of washing a day

[ihmlsnwidhks]

I've just put my third load on with another load to go.
Family of 5 dc ages 9.6 .2
Dc6 needs multiple changes due to accidents and he pees on his bed most mornings ( asd) Toddler enjoys wet and muddy play so needs a few changes a day
Dd school clothes and home clothes both dirty
dh work clothing and home clothing
Me a couple aday
wtaf Im a doing wrong here?

Why change when home from school. Dd 5 stays in school uniform

has clean white top every day - skirt /dress /cardi if lucky 2 days but sometimes needs clean next day

clean pjs daily as shes in them 12-13hrs and gets hot in bed

toddler needs puddlesuit or plays in pjs in mud then clean day clothes

unless wet no need to change - a bit of mud won’t kill him

waterproof sheets and pull ups night
time and tbh if weeing over you lots then maybe wear pull ups daytime as well

is he actually potty trained

you and hubby if changing from work to normal clothes for a few hours they can be worn next day

As I just stuck a huge load of washing on I remembered something - what size is your washing machine? When I had to buy a new one a couple of years ago I discovered that standard domestic machines are 6 or 7kg (ie load size). But you can buy bigger ones. Mine is 9kg. I am embarrassed I forgot what a huge difference it made and how it changed my life. Especially for things like bedding and towels which I can do in much fewer loads now.

Check what yours is and possibly look into investing into a bigger one.

School are pressuring for no pull ups at school? That makes no sense. If he pees all over the house & on you every day, how is he not weeing constantly in school too and how do they manage?

Could you bribe the 6yo with 1 chocolate star each time, if they keep their pull up on or get to toilet in time? How much wee does this kid produce, anyway?

I also don't understand how school lets the 9yo get muddy every day. Our school won't even let the kids go on grass most months, to avoid mud on kids or in classroom (from their shoes). Pupils aren't allowed to play outside if it rains, either. How do your DD's home clothes get so dirty on school days? I know a lot of people sponge small marks off of school clothes (hang to dry) rather than change them daily, anyway.

I have about 50 other habits that reduce our washing pile & MN would be horrified at so I won't bother listing them. We're healthy & content in our 'minging' ways. I had 2+ DC in cloth nappies & we still never routinely had 4 loads/day.

Can you get DS in pull-ups before and after school and at the weekends so he doesn’t pee on you?

Try to wear clothing for two days (except underpants and socks) and try to get used to wearing outer waterproofs that can get a bit dirty and stay dirty for a week. Dirt is not poison. The World needs to reconnect with how people in the 1930s used water. Use gumboots. Use woollen jumpers (don't smell or soil quickly) Put bed wetters in nappies. Spend time planning one wash per day. You can problem solve in this area. Kids - one uniform every two days and one play outfit for the week, plus sports uniform.

My washing machine is 7kg but plan on buying bigger when it brakes.
I like my kid's wearing clean clothing . Can't imagine sending them to school with dirty uniform on.

My mum was very stressed about dirt and mess and i guess i love my kid's getting dirty etc

Saying that i have thought about everything pp suggested and will try to reduce it

lol
Clearly not

I'd seriously consider selling it and buying a bigger one now. My 9kg has been a game changer - so much so that I didn't even remember how hard it was before until this morning.

Eg, I can wash all the duvets except our winter king size one (I can fit the 4 tog one in, just not the 9 tog one) - before, I could only wash the kids' duvets. We use those soft plastic tubs and one load is an overflowing tub - in our previous machine, a single load was just under a full tub.

School is wrong to put pressure on your ds

if he is in pull ups then makes everyone’s lives much easier esp at school

as if he has an accident then he needs full change of clothes, obv to be washed and dried so doesn’t get sore plus a teacher /ta will need to be with him, taking away from classtoom

or does he have a ehcp in place and own ta

I've only done more than one wash a day when the kids had D&V so there's lots of bedding that's need doing quickly because of the small /hygiene.

If you have 3/4 loads a day to do then that's what you've got to do.

Everyone likes their kids in clean clothes and nobody sends their children to school in dirty uniform if they have an option not to but there is a balance between clothes being marked but wearable, clothes that are worn but unmarked and washing things after every single wear.

A toddler is just going to get dirty/stained so unless you're going out somewhere why can't they just stay in one set of stained clothes all day? As long as the clothes aren't wet or muddy that would leave the child uncomfortable then there's nothing wrong with a toddler running round the house in a dinner stained tshirt for example.

If my DD comes home from school and it is a night where we have no after school activities or evening plans then she will change out of her school skirt/trousers if they are clean so they stay clean for the following day but she will be putting on the same leggings she has worn for a few days as they're worn for a few hours to sit on the sofa. She wears fresh shirts every day so usually stays in her school shirt till shower/bedtime to save on laundry. The only exceptions are if her trousers/skirt are visibly dirty, in which case she doesn't change at all, and on Friday when I do a wash of all her school stuff so she changes so I can get the washing on (no dryer and a first floor flat so limited drying space)

The only time DD has a full clothing change is when she has activities so her uniform doesn't end up in a screwed up ball in her kitbag or her tie forgotten in a dance studio changing room etc, in which case she usually just puts on her sports kit (swimming/dance she just has a costume/leotard and tracksuit over the top) or we are going out in the evening and it will usually just be the same leggings/tshirt that she would be wearing at home.

2 DC here and I wash once a day/every 2 days.

They wear uniform for 2 days before washing (teenagers now but only washed what was actually dirty when at primary school). If they get changed after school, they wear that for the whole week as it's only for a few hours of being indoors at a time.

I WFH so what I put on in the morning, I wear all day. T-shirt to sleep in that I will wear for 2-3 nights unless v sweaty. Bedding washed every 10days-2 weeks, towels from 2 bathrooms once a week.

I run/cycle/swim throughout the week so there is usually a dirty kit of some kind that needs washing too but all of the above can be done in one load a day or less.

My teens have a habit of putting barely worn clothes in the washing basket, rather than hang it up so that gets promptly taken back out and they are told to wear them again.

I am conscious of the environment but am also a single mum and do not have the time or money to be washing multiple loads a day. I have a drier but only use if I have to (ie have washed bedding and can't dry outside due to rain).

I’m always baffled by Mumsnet laundry threads, because on the one hand people will say it’s disgusting not to change your sheets every few days and use a clean towel for every shower, and that they’d never wear a bra or a pair of trousers more than once before washing, but then apparently people also get away with only doing one or two loads of washing a week.

It’s just me, my husband and the dog, and I do more laundry than most Mumsnetters seem to claim to. And I’m not even particularly fastidious about changing my sheets/towels and I will rewear jeans/bras/cardigans/pyjamas several times before washing.

In an average week I probably do one or two loads of my clothes (a regular mixed wash with all my clothes and sports kit, and the occasional delicate wash when I have enough for one). Husband does a load of his clothes every couple of weeks (we’ve always done laundry separately but we both always wait to do a full load each time). Then probably one or two washes for sheets/towels/household cloths/dog blankets etc. So in an average week we probably do 3-5 loads of washing which some Mumsnetters would seem to find scandalous!

OP in your case it sounds like you are doing the laundry that needs to be done and that you have somewhat exceptional circumstances with your 6 year old having a lot of accidents. My only suggestion would be to make sure you are running a full machine every time, and if that isn’t possible maybe you need to buy more of certain clothes for the kids (if you can). So that you aren’t having to run tiny loads of washing to get a school jumper clean again in time for tomorrow and that kind of thing. But otherwise I think you’re just doing what you need to do.

What is the purpose of this thread? I really don't get it. What if someone tells you they do two loads a week? Does it change anything for you. People lost commons sense...

We have a bad habit of chucking the children's clothes in the wash without thinking about whether they really need it, but I can't quite process the idea of washing a school blazer every wear. It's outerwear, like a coat.

If you wore a dry-clean only suit for work would you get it cleaned daily? Too-frequent washing is really bad for structured/lined clothes like jackets and trousers.

I think some people don't realise that the clothes need some space to move around in order to clean properly.... i.e. you can't get a complete king size bed set in a 9kg machine and it wash properly.

Also, once you have teens, their clothes take up lots more space than toddler sized.

For 3 of us, as a minimum:
Bedding - 3 loads (a king and a double)
Towels - 2 loads (3 bath sheets, 2 hair towels, 6 hand towels at least, 14 flannels)
Tea towels and cloths
Uniform - 2 loads (3 skirts, 2 cardis, 5 shirts, 5 tights, 5 cycling shorts, PE kit)
Underwear and socks
Darks and jeans - 3 loads
Whites
Colours - 2 loads

@motherofawhirlwind You should fill the drum 2/3 full - so you can just about still see the back. It sounds like a lot of your loads are not full loads, especially underwear and tea towels. And how is your DD dirtying 3 skirts and 2 cardis a week?! And a new hand towel every day??

Of course you can get a normal cotton king duvet and a fitted sheet in a 9kg drum.

Family of 5 too and your situation sounds about right.

I like my kid's wearing clean clothing . Can't imagine sending them to school with dirty uniform on
Wearing the same jumper or trousers for 2 days in a row isn't "dirty" uniform.
Wearing home clothes for 5 hours on Monday and 5 hours on Tuesday isn't "dirty" either. Unless your husband spills dinner all down himself every evening.

You 100% can get bedding in a 9kg drum

1 wash here - 1 super king duvet cover, bottom sheet, x4 pillow cases. Plus cot bed bottom sheet easily fit in a 9kg drum and wash well.

How big is the capacity of your machine? We had a 7kg for years and just replaced it with a 10.5kg - it’s cut down on the number loads we need to do. If yours is something like 6kg then it will get full quickly.

Sorry just saw you said it’s 7kg. I’m operating on no sleep today but I did try to read the thread!

DD's primary school had thick wool blazers. They got dry cleaned once a year. Various MN's faint with horror 😂

YANBU. Family of 7 here including 1 nearly 9 year old whose night time pull up leaks most nights. I do about 4 wash loads a day too.