…to not understand where all the washing in my house comes from??

[Newbie887]

I can’t understand how I am constantly doing washing. I’ve just been doing it without thinking but this week it’s occurred to me, how is there so much?? I’m putting on at least one wash a day, full to the brim, over the weekend it’s more like 3-4 washes each day, to try and get through the backlog. It’s constant. It’s sooo fucking dull.

we are a family of 5. Is this a normal amount to be doing? I reuse clothes where I can, ie ynderwear and socks goes straight in after a days wear but I often reuse my own outfits for two (maybe even three) days. Kids often get a second wear out of school jumper / trousers / t shirt, pjs generally last about a week. We aren’t perfectly turned out every day in a fresh outfit by any means. Beds get changed far less often than is hygenic.

I can’t understand where it’s all coming from and I’m fed up with it. I’ve worked for people who change their beds twice a week and dirty two sets of clothes per day. I seem to have the same amount of washing as them. Ffs.

Couldn't agree more. we used to wash everything after one use, and were drowning in clean laundry, Now we usually do 5 or so wears before washing ( except if the item is obviously smelly or dirty)

We're a family of four and we use cloth nappies for youngest DC which we wash every other day. We end up with a load most days, but not always every single day. We don't separate laundry out very much though - everything that can possibly be washed at 60 goes in with the nappies (after a pre-rinse) to bulk up the load to increase the water volume, and everything that can't gets saved up for in-between day loads. So no separate loads for whites, colours, etc., just delicate and non-delicate. We do have quite a high-capacity machine too, and the DCs are small, so their clothes are small too.

OP do your kids get changed out of their uniform after school? They might be wearing twice as many clothes as you if so.

Same, I am a family of 3 and I say to myself every day where has all this come from again and doing the same thing every day , constantly hanging clothes, ironing, putting them away. Just as I think my bundle has gone down a huge one appears at the end of the day. I'm mystified and bloody fed up , every morning I'm thinking here we f*ucking go again.

I'm mystified by the people who think that re-wearing an item of clothing after one day, (which isn't dirty or smelly) is something which is a HUGE effort. Surely the point of washing clothes is to make them clean again, so there is no point at all in washing clothes which are already clean. I also know people who aim to empty the washing basket every day, even if there are only a few items in it. No point in making work for yourself in my opinion.

In my house of 2 adults and DS17 95% of it comes from teenager ..... he changes numerous times a day (at weekend) , leaves things on his floor and if he tidiies away as friend/girlfriend coming round he inevitably tries and moves everything from floor to his washing bin ..... god love him

Get the kids to do the laundry and see if the pile shrinks? (Or DH.) Do you wash towels after every use? Are kids chucking clean stuff in rather than put it away? I would say one load per person per week (we don’t wash that way, but to average it) is generous.

Thanks for all the replies, and I’m laughing at the ones who are are mystified / fed up as I am 😂.

to answer some of the questions:

• we wash towels infrequently, unless obviously dirty or smelly, maybe every two weeks? I genuinely have no idea how people wash towels after every use.
• ditto with bedding. My bed gets changed more regularly, about every 3 weeks, it’s a super king with an added flat sheet under the duvet though so that means 2 - 3 loads to get it all done. I’ve just realised kids bedding has been on for a month since I changed over into their Christmas bedding at the start of Dec. They are all under 9 though and not smelly yet lol. Sometimes they wet the bed and this causes extra.
• clothes: kids atm are not interested in what they wear so there is no multiple changing in and out of clothes during the day. They wear their school clothes after school until bed. Genuinely all clothes are gross when they get washed ie Nothjng is being washed when still clean.

I don’t think reducing wardrobe sizes is going to help as it will just mean we run out of clothes more often!

after reading all the replies and questions I think it’s just the fact that a family of five make this much washing, and when it’s only being processed by one person (and that processing not only involves washing but drying, sorting, putting away, and very occasionally ironing) then it feels like an overwhelming task.

I now have a lot of sympathy for my own mum, who was also constantly washing but always had a giant pile of clean stuff up the wall of our spare bedroom which the cats used to sleep in.

I'm going to echo a pp about your machine size. We have a super king bed so I can was bottom sheet 4 x pillow cases and a sk duvet cover in a load but notice above you say up to 3 loads for your bedding. Madness.

Simarly I can do 2x bath sheets, 3 x hand towels, 1 x bath towel and a quite thick bath mat at the same time.

I'd research a new 10kg machine and your troubles may be solved.

Interesting…we have an 8kg machine. Have just looked online and you can get up to 12kg! Maybe this is the problem…

Yes, definitely bigger machine! I have a superking bed and DP and I use two separate duvets and I can still get all the bedding into one load along with a couple of towels.

I have 3 kids and same issue recently, I seem to be washing constantly. We are fairly slovenly with bedding so that’s not the culprit. Towels are used a few times before washing, and the kids only bathe / shower every few days. 3 kids in weekly swimming though and I go at least once a week, but I will take bath towels the kids have used a couple of times and pack them for swimming (always wash after swimming). The kids are 10,6,6 now so perhaps part of the problem is the size of the clothes! Plus whereas in the summer it’s shorts and leggings but now it’s joggers and DD10’s new interest in wide leg cargos and jeans which are massive.
But mainly - our washing machine is tiny, only 5kg I think! But it’s a Bosch my grandma bought in 2004, totally reliable, standard 40C wash takes 42 minutes and clothes come out gleaming. Every time I decide, right, I can’t cope any more, I read reviews for new bigger machines and just come to the conclusion I’ll be buying another one in 5 years, whereas there’s a decent chance I could still be using the same Bosch in another 5 years … but I definitely will have gone crazy by then from the sheer number of loads needing to be done. Hopefully the swimming lessons will be done by then at least 😂

It’s me and my three young adults here and I want them to move out because of the washing! 😁
About 10 loads a week.
Our tumble drier lives outside and there’s lots that can’t be tumbled so there’s always so much clothing just hanging about drying or in transit.
Yes they do some laundry but never seem able to do it without it hanging around in the washer or dryer or airer or in a pile waiting to be sorted. Socks are everywhere.
King Size bedding needs two loads by itself. Towels take forever to dry.
I wish I was an American with a laundry room in a basement and one of those massive machines and dryers.

We do our own. Miraculously, there is far less. My DC started doing theirs with support aged about 13.

Also, everyone has a peg or chair to put clothes on when they take them off. Undies in the wash, clothes get worn again unless visibly dirty or smell.

School skirts usually do a week. Shirts do two days depending on child. Two pairs of trousers a week, depending on child. Adult should manage a week in trousers if they aren’t tight fitting.

Public transport totally changes things. Everything needs washing if you’ve sat on a bus/tram/train round here. 👃

We do 3 or maybe 4 loads a week for 2 adults, we have work uniform that needs washing after each wear. Then there's towels, sheets, other clothes honestly it mounts up. When l had kids at school it was at least one load a day...

cutting down on the volume of clothes also helps.