To never be on top of Washing

[Aquarius1234]

I can't remember when I didn't have a pile of washing in the basket/ floor.

I have a plan in my mind that I will do a couple of loads and Try and get it down.
But then I avoid for ages..
I don't know why I find it so hard to physically pick up dirty washing and put it in the washing machine.
Definitely the worst is shaking it out and putting on clothes horses. Esp knickers and socks.
I don't own a tumble dryer. So all I do is occasionally go to my parents and use theirs for bedding and towels.
Anyone else feel life is horrible when washing and well general cleaning is thrown into the mix??

Oh yes, it’s never-ending and we are a small family. This is what has helped to take the laundry monster:

• One 30 minute load most days and using the timer on the machine helps so I can put it in the night before for example, set the timer to go on just before we get up and then hang on airer before work. Takes about 20 mins.
• Also extra spin so doesn’t take as long to dry.
• Sheets hung over bannisters on bed wash day. Looks bad but there you go. (Or do this in evening if works better for you.)
• Heated airer from Amazon as Lakeland one too £££ for us is also a godsend in winter.
• / / —One basket for whites, one basket for darks, everything put in there, not on floor though that doesn’t always go to plan.
• Only wash what really needs or eg trousers/ dressers/ jumpers etc… can mostly be worn (at least) twice.
• folding done in front of TV/music. Piles per person, leave I. Their room, they put away. 🤞

That's such a weird thing to say... most people who have a tumble dryer will happily help someone who does not for things like bedding and towels etc.

Meant to say takes about 10 minutes to hang up. I sometimes put earbuds in and listen to sth so don’t feel I am wasting my life on domestic tasks and don’t get bored.

I’ll do your laundry if you do my hoovering.
Honestly you’ve just got to bite the bullet and do it.
How many of you are there?

I have a 3 year old and 4 month old twins. I always have a washing pile. I have to do at least a load a day. I pop one on before I go to the nursery run and by the time I get back after I fed the babies it's spun and ready to be hung out so I hang it out before I go back on the nursery run.

I find having this little routine makes it easier because you constantly keep on top of it that way.

Yes, it’s never ending here too, it will get easier as the weather improves, it’s getting it dry that’s the pain, I hate wet washing in the house.

Your problem isn't washing, specifically.
"I have a plan in my mind that I will do a couple of loads and Try and get it down.
But then I avoid for ages.."
The above could apply to anything.

You are your own worst enemy. (We all, or most of us to this to ourselves in some capacity). We promise ourselves we'll study for that exam, we'll lose weight, but we don't.

But, some of the ways you are tackling it don't make sense either. Dragging it all to your parents, is just as hard, or possibly harder, than just putting a load on in the first place.

Are you like this in other areas? I think you need to have a think about this, properly, and try and work out what the core issue is, why you do this, and if you can fix it/find a solution/adjust it little by little.

I actually do the other extreme, I never have a pile. I even keep an eye on it, and actively glance / look to see if there yet is enough - As soon as there's enough in the basket, I put a load on. I'm always on top of it, it never feels overwhelming.

Tbf my system is different because both ds's played football, so a wash would go on atleast twice a week, after training on a Wednesday, and after a match Sunday. Plus I'd probably do a wash after school finished on a Friday. So all clothes, any school uniform, any of Dh's work clothes gets washed in 1 of those 3 circles.

I am naturally organised and find it minorly satisfying to put a wash on, to know that we are all organised, all clean, ready for the week ahead. It means I never have any mad panics, no dramas. Or if we do, I just pop another load on, no drama.

I've had a lakeland heated rack for 20+ years. So line dry, and then finish it off, in the summer. Or use rack only in winter. This means that even if there's a silly problem, I can do a wash that evening and stuff will be dry for the next morning for ds's say to take their pe kit to school. Could that help you?

I've now got a washing machine AND tumble drier in one, could that also help?

Try the Dana k white advice of doing it all in one day.

Before you go to bed put it in piles. At bedtime put the longest wash on so thats done when you get up. Put the others on quick washes then take the whole lot round to use the dryer. Home and hang up and forget for a week.

2 adults and 2 DCs here. I find I can only keep on top of it if I do a load every single day for a week or so. Then I iron it while wet in front of the tv after dinner and hang it on the clothes horse (no drier here either). DCs uniform and sports kit is on Saturdays for example. Dcs bedding on Tuesdays and our bedding on Thursdays. Towels somewhere along the way.

It's become as much a habit as loading the dishwasher or having a shower and is now automatic. But took a while (and I don't mind ironing- it's like meditation for me).

I don't actually do any of DH's clothes though so really only mine and the DCs (and our bedding and cats beds that go in every week or so).

But thing is. I do a load a day. That's all. I igonore any other washing there is. It takes a week or so to get on top of it and then there is a natural break of a few days where I don't have to bother and then I start up again.

It works for me.

Can you put a pulley up somewhere?

You need to be able to get washing dry. It's not good having a massive machine if you can't get it dried.

There's only 4 of you. It shouldn't be too hard to get on top of

Ideally I put a load on every night. Hang it out in the morning. Fetch it in the evening and put it away before bedtime. This doesn’t always happen!

I query whether things really need washing yet with the DC. They throw everything in the wash basket even if it has another wear in it.

I dry outside all year round as long as it isn’t raining. I bought a dehumidifier last year and although it was expensive it has made drying inside on wet days so much better.

I only iron a few shirts. Everything else just goes straight from the line to the wardrobes.

I do a daily mixed wash in the evening.
Hang on a heated airer or outside in the summer.
Sheets Saturday.
Towels Sunday.
Avoid over -washing clothes.
Children put own clothes away on sorted.
Doesn't take much time.

I would try to cut down the ironing too.

It's a time suck. I only iron what actually needs it.

When my DC were at home I didn't iron uniform - only ironed the formal white shirts for photo days and concerts and sent them in in polos every other day or once they were at secondary they did their own.

Handed them the iron the summer before they went to big school and said time you learned what to do

I felt like this too and then I bought a tumble dryer, against DH's protests that it wouldn't fit, and it's changed my life (not exaggerating!)

My best system for managing it without the dryer was to do 4x loads per week, 2 each on Tue/Thu (can move days around, but needs to be at least 2 days apart).

I'd do this:

Put load 1 in WM
Go about day
When that load finished, find a 1hr podcast.
Collect load 2
Remove load 1, start load 2 on the fastest full cycle
Carry load 1 to bedroom
Take down loads 3/4 (from previous washing day)
Hang up load 1
Fold and sort loads 3/4
Put away loads 3/4
If WM not yet finished, pause podcast, take a break
When load 2 finishes, restart podcast and hang up.

That was a pretty good system, as it reduced washing from being an endless hamster wheel type task to a set thing with a beginning and an end, but the problem was if I ever skipped a day or got interrupted during the process it didn't work, and it only accommodates at the absolute max 5 wash loads per week if you need 48 hour drying time (You can do 2x load every 2x days which is 10 loads per 14 days). The key for me was the span of the wash load being roughly the same time as it took me to take down 2x loads, fold them and put them away and then hang up the new load. A decent airer with good airflow is also important.

However the other problem was we had too much washing for the room really and caused damp/mould problems in the bedroom which was an issue.

Anyway, if you can make a dryer work at all, I absolutely recommend it because it gave me back so much time and energy.

Put your airers outside. If it’s windy I peg the clothes to them. And stick washing in the line at night, unless it’s going to rain it’s absolutely fine to get in the next evening

Go around the house and grab everything that needs washing and take it to a laundrette. Get the whole lot washed and dried. Then at least you will have caught up with the backlog.
Going forward, set up a system.

while laundry can be never ending task its past time to get yourself a tumble drier, sonce it dosent sound like you have a large family and perhaps space issues get a washing machine and a tumble drier in one

I have set days to do stuff

Tue darks and towels

Fri whites and bed sheets

Sun dd 6 stuff mainly pink

Set machine to go on at night so can hang up when wake

On line or inside on clothes horse in spare bedroom

And as done every other day it dries by the time next load is ready in winter

Yanbu.
I have physical disabilities and neurodivergent. I've always hated chores and find them draining and painful as well as tedious.
I was recently awarded pip and use it to pay for a cleaner and a laundry service. They bring it back washed and folded.

To save a bit of money I usually wash and dry towels and bedding plus things we need urgently or too delicate for the laundry service's universal approach.

I either tumble dry or hang around the house. Using washing line is extra effort for me so I utilise banisters, door tops etc for long things like sheets.
Unfortunately this doesn't address the tedium of putting laundry away but it really helps.
it can stay bagged up indefinitely so still mounts up but not as bad. Sometimes worth considering whether the extra cost is worth it to give yourself a break.

I enjoy doing the washing but I'm the one person in the house that makes sure it's done. I'm lucky that I have a tumble dryer though but I try to do a load most days then it doesn't get out of control.

Always do an extra spin cycle - things dry indoors in 24 hours for me if I do two spins.

It's impossible to be on top of laundry for more than a few hours, imo. The minute someone changes their clothes, there it is - more bloody washing. It starts to feel like an exercise in futility.

I think it's easier if you've got space for more than one laundry basket, so you can sort lights and darks as you go and don't have to do it before you put a wash on. Hanging up is a pain if it's not the weather for outdoor drying. I put underwear and socks on the radiators, and hang tops and jeans on hangers from the curtain rails, so the heat from the rads helps them dry and helps the creases drop out, or on an airer. (The upside to this is it makes the house smell nice as it dries).

I've virtually given up ironing though. I only do washing when I'm going to be around to take it out as soon as it's done, so the creases don't have time to get set. Then I give things a good shake and hang them straight away. Once bigger things are dry, they go straight from the curtain rail and into the wardrobe/drawer.

Maybe try and get into a habit of doing a load every day at a set time so it starts to become automatic? For me it’s that I have good intentions but then life gets so busy, 3 days go by and suddenly DD has no clean school dresses etc. And then I get annoyed at myself because I think- for goodness sake if would have taken 30 seconds yesterday for me to put a load on.

Also FORCING myself to fold clothes the second they’re dry has helped a lot too. It’s so boring and tempting to put off as you feel like the job is basically done, but actually the job is not done and that last bit of having clean clothes piling up is a massive part of feeling overwhelmed by it all. It’s just looking at a small job and thinking ‘oh that’s just a small job I’ll do it later’ and forcing myself to think ‘No, it’s a small job so I’ll do it now, otherwise another load will join it and then it will be a big job and feel overwhelming.’

It helps to have a little and often system, then it's never too much to deal with. I (at the age of 55) have finally got my laundry in order and I never have a backlog.

1. Every bedroom has a laundry basket + a hamper at top of stairs for towels and dirty cleaning cloths. Also a hamper in utility room for tea towels and dirty cleaning cloths
2. Allocate days to specific laundry. My routine is:

Saturday: Wool and delicates (after the working week) I also tend to do any random stuff such as cushion covers, throws etc on Saturday Sunday: sheets, white tea towels and son's white school shirts Monday: Alternate weeks for either our duvet cover and matching pillowcases (super king) or son's (single x 2 - changed every week but not washed until after 2 weeks if that makes sense) Tuesday: son's washing Wednesday: Towels (changed twice a week but all washed together) Thursday: Mine and dh's washed together. Friday: Cleaning cloths

Doing it this way means it's a lot less hassle to put away as the whole load is generally destined for the same room or cupboard.

I used to wash eg all underwear together, all darks together etc and then the sorting became a major task. This way, putting away is a 5/10 min job at the end if the day.

Before I started, I had to buy a few bits to ensure we all had enough to go for a full week without laundry, so some extra underwear, a couple of school shirts, some extra cloths, but honestly it has made such a difference.

I also have a couple if those IKEA drying things for socks, pants etc, so I can pair socks as they go on the line and use one each for my dh and my underwear so it's all sorted ready to put away before it's even put to dry