Help me get on top of the laundry!

[LemonSwan]

It is just chaos!

I need a plan, or even basic system.

For example things are even getting mixed up. DPs taking things out, I am putting them in. Then we have baskets with half clean half dirty. It’s all a mess

What are your laundry systems.

Tell me your secrets please.

Anything dirty is put in wash basket. Wash load put on each morning normally depends what there is more of darks / whites / colour mix etc. Wash and hang on maiden inside in winter with dehumidifier on, then put on radiators when semi dry later in day. In good weather, put outside on line and maidens. When dry, fold and put away when possible. The quicker the better or I lose my dining table to Washing! Aim to do a wash each day to keep it down! Unfortunately it does never end so best get a solid routine so not to feel overwhelmed!

I don't see how you're mixing dirty and clean. Dirty laundry goes in hamper. Basket is used to convey (a load of) dirty laundry to washing machine then to convey clean laundry to its next destination. Hamper stores dirty laundry, basket is transport only whether clean or dirty.

Theres only me, dh and ds (11) how many people are you planning for?

I'm off Thursday mornings.

An 'ironing wash' goes in Thursday night, gets tumbled and folded

Chuck washes get done Thursday morning. This stuff gets washed, tumbled and chucked into baskets (1 per person)

I iron the dried iron wash Thursday morning too. There's never much in that wash as I try to buy stuff that doesn't need ironing. Ironed stuff goes traight into the chuck boxes

A towels / bedding wash goes in as I leave for work and dh sorts that when he gets home

Each person puts their box of stuff away and puts the basket back in the utility before Thursday the next week!

Definitely have a dirty laundry hamper and a clean laundry basket as 2 completely separate things, dirty things should never go in the clean basket!

You don't give any detail. How many people in the household?
how come you're not communicating with each other?How often are you washing each piece of clothing?
Do you iron or simply fold and put away?

All dirty laundry gets dumped on the landing, sometimes even in the basket.
I put one load a day on auto overnight (cheap electric) one day Whites, one day darks. I make up to full loads with sheets or towels. It's ready first thing in the morning. I unload the airer of the previous days washing straight after breakfast and split into each person's and dump it on their beds. Then reload the airer and put dehumidifier on.
In summer I hang out first thing and straight into beds in eve.
Don't iron.

How many people? Taking things out/putting things in where?

There are two of us, me and a teen. We wash together for convenience and so we are only doing full loads. We each have a wash bag for clothes.

I put a clothes wash on once a week on the weekend, all mixed as we don't have whites. Occasionally there are things put back in the wash bag due to lack of space or woollens waiting for enough to justify a wool wash.

Then a towels/bedding wash once a week consisting of our two bath towels, two face cloths, and tea towel or two every week. Bedding and bathmats are added about once a month on rotation. We share the load of putting washing out, bringing it in, and put away our own clothes.

Washer goes on. Take it out either put in dryer or hang on line/ airer. Put them away AS SOON AS THEY ARE DRY. The most mine ever stay on the airer is a day and then they get put away into everyone's drawers and wardrobes immediately. There is 2 adults, one baby and a 3 year old in this house too.

DS's college shirts are hung in the box room once dry for him to iron when he gets around to it. I don't iron.

I just have a wash basket in each bedroom and it depends how full they are as to how it eats washed.

It's slightly easier to put away if it just belongs to one person but I wouldn't waste a good drying day waiting to have enough!

I separate whites but everything else gets chucked in together (apart from my husband's work clothes which always get a long wash on a Friday/set on timer for Saturday morning).

I have line dried everything in January as weather been pretty decent. I have two little airers over the bannister that I use for finishing off things with bulkier cuffs etc.

I bring in in from the line in my arms and chuck it all on the bed. The logic for this is that it forces me to deal with it. If I start putting in in baskets it stays there!

I don't iron anything but I do shake and shape while pegging and hang it up immediately so it doesn't crease.

Whites I hate most as I never have enough and usually bulk out with a towel.

I refuse to wash clothes that have been worn once, only underpants and DHs Tshirts go in the wash after one wear. Bedding washed every 2 weeks, towels every 10 to 12 days. 4 of us, I do 4 loads a week, I wait until there is enough for a full load.

Children are responsible

youngest 9 puts all the washing on and sorts it, he is not particularly tall or organised but he enjoys this and sorting and emptying pockets etc

eldest hang dries everything not suitable for tumble dryer

eldest empties the tumble dryer and folds everything up in the right persons basket

youngest pairs up all socks

baskets get collected and emptied and put straight away and back

I peg out on the line with eldest and collect in when dry

youngest sorts pegs

I help them take off and put on bed sheets 🤷‍♀️

A laundry basket in each bedroom...if it's not in the basket it isn't washed.
1 wash a day, Tuesday is bed day and Friday 2 loads after school with all the uniforms.
All dry washing is dished out to whomever it belongs and they are responsible for putting it away.
Works here!

Very simple system in our house. All dirty things go into one basket. On laundry day (2x a week), one of us takes the basket down and puts the first load on. When it's done it gets moved into the drier and the next load goes into the washer. When the drier is done the first load goes into a laundry bag and the second load goes into the drier, third load into the washer. When the drier's again done, the second load goes into the bag, third load goes into the drier. Finally, once the third load's done, that too goes into the laundry bag. Then the bag goes upon and the clean, dry things are put away.

Sometimes there's just two loads, sometimes four, but that's the principle. Having one basket for dirty and a separate bag for clean means no mix-ups.

It’s easiest if one person takes responsibility for all the laundry but it should definitely be the person with the worst habits - balled up socks, inside out clothes, mixing dirty/clean clothes or chucking clean things in the hamper instead of hanging them up, clothes not making it to the hamper, forgetting to switch loads do they get mouldy….etc

I don’t say this lightly - DH does none of the above and it wouldn’t be fair to inflict my awful ways on him.

Me and DH have a shared laundry basket in the bedroom. Probably once a week I'll sort through the stuff on my chair and in his pending basket, strip the bed and take everything downstairs to utility room. Move everything through washer and dryer and fold into a different basket. Take everything back upstairs. MIL has separate laundry basket and brings this down once full.

We have a washer/dryer which I think makes things easier as nothing needs to be hung up, and you don't have to move stuff from one machine to another.

We have one dirty washing basket. All dirty stuff in there. Every couple of days (or when full), one of us will get a load and wash it - you can set the machine to go straight to dry, and then when it's done, it gets folded and put away immediately.

We also have a routine for certain things - bedding on a Friday (whoever gets up last strips the bed and washes sheets), towels on a Sunday (one load in the morning, one around lunchtime), and the sofa blankets/cushion covers on a Thursday. The there's generally 2-3 loads a week on top of that as we both work manual, outdoor jobs and we definitely can't wear any work gear more than one

I literally just put off putting the clean, dry laundry away by cleaning the toilet... no one likes cleaning the toilet yet I still chose that task over taking clothes off the airer to fold and put away 🤷‍♀️🙈 I need to get it done though as I've got a load in the wash now and a huge pile waiting to be washed when that's dried.. 😩

Dirty washing goes in one basket. Every morning as soon as I wake I put the was on then get it out straight away to dry. One day dark next day light. Every day first thing

Do one load every single day at the same time so it never builds up. Do an extra spin at end and get it out and shaken out fast to limit creases.

Find a way to make sure that a load dries in under 24h. Dryer, line or heated airer/dehumidifier in small room.

Do not iron. Get more hangers and everything that possibly can goes on a hanger. Makes a huge difference to dry time and need for ironing.

Buy everyone a box. Take down clothes and rough fold anything not on hangers into box and chuck in socks etc. Everyone old enough can sort putting away contents of their own box. Stuff on hangers goes straight to wardrobe.

Sheets/towels are extra loads some days. Extra spin and chuck over the doors cos drying space always in use with the daily load.

Repeat daily forever. 😂

I do all mine on a Thursday and Friday. Mine on Thursday. Tumble as much as possible, the rest is hung. When dry a pile for ironing and everything else washed and folded in one basket and upstairs

then I do the bathroom washing basket which is mainly my boys. Same thing, washed, tumbled, anything not able to tumbled, hung and when dry put onto ironing pile or into individual baskets one for each boy.

finally DD’s washing from her room. Same process and into a basket when clean

then I do all towels., all tumbled and straight into airing cupboard

cleaner does beds on her day. Tumbles it all and has it back on beds or into airing cupboard before she goes

she also does all ironing and puts it away

no washing done on any other days

Catch up by taking all of it to the laundrette for service wash.
Then make sure you put a load on every morning.
Hang up after work. Any items that can go on coat hangars put on a long rail so they can be transferred straight into wardrobe once dry.
Fold while watching TV in evening and transfer to individual baskets per person.
Twice a week get household members to put their laundry away.

Dirty clothes all go in one large basket in our bedroom.

I sort and do washing and drying, and hubby folds and distributes.

When clothes have been washed and dried I put them next to the sofa in the playroom so he knows they’re clean and ready to be folded.

In our household everyone puts their dirty laundry into the basket on the landing or straight into the washing machine.

Every weekday morning I carry the basket downstairs and put a load of washing on a timer setting so that the wash cycle finishes just as I return from work in the afternoon.

Then it goes either into the tumble drier, on an airer in the utility room and/or an airer in the very warm spare bedroom or in the summer is hung outside.

When dry it's all sorted into individual piles on the spare bed, everyone can collect and sort their clean pile whenever it suits them.

On a Saturday the washing machine is going nonstop all day long with a load of clothes and then multiple loads of bedding, towels, throws etc.

The final wash of the week is the dog's bedding which is followed by an empty drum cleaning cycle.

We don't iron and noone wears pale clothing so that makes everything a bit easier.

Each bedroom has a laundry basket which is only for things that need washing
depending on ages each person does their own - when DC were younger I would just ask them to get their baskets I would sort wash dry and return to them folded to put away
now we do our own although I will ask for extra of a colour or type to make up a full load sometimes