To think laundry isn’t the easiest chore

[outofofficeagain]

I do all the washing. DH says ‘it’s not that big a deal’

I do.

It’s a lot to do multiple loads a week, and dry it, and sort it into piles.

There are times when I find it overwhelming.

AIBU to say that if he thinks it’s so easy, then he should do it.

Garlic is either being dishonest about washing once every two weeks or not changing her clothes often enough.

She claims there are two adults, and she can fit all their clothes, towels or bedding in less than two loads.
There's not a chance she is fitting in 28 underwear, 28 pairs of socks, 2 weeks worth of tops, so I'm hoping a minimum of 20, plus bottoms. (Again let's be generous and hope it's at least 10), 6+ jumpers/cardigans, vests, half a dozen bras etc in ONE LOAD. Plus some bedding or towels apparently.
All of that in the cheapest Argos washing machine. Which might be around a 5kg load. It's just not possible. They won't fit in.

So she's lying or they aren't changing her clothes often enough, and they are both are wearing t shirts 3 or 4 times before washing or something.

For context, my small child has a weekly wash - school uniform, underwear and Rainbows uniform, and some others- and that is one load of a 7kg machine. So 7 underwear ,7 socks/tights, 2 dresses,2skirts,2 leggings, 1 joggers, 7 t-shirts, 1 x cardigan, jumper and hoodie. She's in 5-6 clothes.

Or maybe they're borrowers.

And my machine is a 7kg machine.

I have to do 1-2 loads a day because of bed wetting. 45 min cycle. Both loads done by 9. And both fit in the dryer in one load. 2 baskets. Anything non-ironed goes in one and gets taken up and out away that evening by whoever is doing DC bedtime. Rest gets in the ironing pile basket and gets done in about 2 hours on a Sunday and put away that night.

Absolutely not a difficult chore and no comparison to have to cook every day. I'd take laundry for 20 people over cooking for 2.

But cooking for 2 can be just as easy.

Put pizza in oven. Get prepped salad in bowl. Put it all on table.

Doing 2 hours if ironing every Sunday would be awful. I do about 20 minutes.

I'd choose cooking for 20 over laundry for 2 every single time!

Funny how we're all different isn't it?

Any aspect of cleaning is near constant, but laundry really is. There's a basket to be washed, one drying on the line or in the indoor racks, one in the airing cupboard, things waiting to be ironed, things to be put away. It needs more of a system than other aspects of home maintenance.

Absolutely. For me it's the end goal. Cooking, however easy and simple, involves making decisions, being creative with what is available and creating mess.

Laundry is decision free, pleasingly repetitive and resetting of mess to where it should be.

For me the latter is infinitely more satisfying. This is why I do all the laundry and most of the cleaning and DH does all the meal planning, shopping and cooking. And I still feel I have the better deal.

Your reasoning would be the same as mine but in the opposite way.
I'd much rather the creative thinking, decision making over the repetitive 😅

Same for DH. I'm very glad it worked that way for us! He finds the creativeness of cooking enjoyable and relaxing. I find it stressful and just another mental job.

If someone said they were cooking me dinner and I got a frozen pizza I'd be pissed

I went on laundry strike last week as my DH complained that I am obsessed with it and claimed that it doesn't need doing everyday. So he did it...

On the first day he asked why there wasn't any laundry on and I told him. On the second he put a load on and out onto a dryer, the next day another onto the same dryer, then the next another dryer came out and went onto that, and then the back of all the dining chairs.

None have been put away or even folded an put in a basket, and the laundry is repilling up on top of thr washing machine

Well sure you might want a few drinks with it but if you wanted to show your displeasure you'd want to be pissed off, not pissed.

I think it’s the easiest job in the house - but we have a washer dryer so I just bung a load in, press a few buttons and three hours later I have a load of clean, dry laundry to put away.

I thank it isn't when I used to have outdoor space to dry clothes and coyod get it all done in 2 days.
Now in a tiny space with no outdoors and I have to dry clothes for 4 people I hate it. I always have washing hanging in the lounge it takes forever to dry it makes me sick. I Cabot have people over whenever I want. I detest it. It has become the worst chore.

I wish I could afford running costs of a dryer. But also have a lot of clothes that are not drier safe.

I want a garden!!!!!!!

2 adults and 2 full-time teens in this house, plus another young adult who regularly returns from uni with lots of washing.

Don't mind doing washing and hanging it out to dry, but then again I am not washing towels after one use or similar and creating work for myself.

My DH will put the wash in, I have to sort what can go in the dryer, dry it, fold it. I loath doing the washing and the washing up.

We do a minimum 1 load per day, sometimes I don't have the mental strength to actually sort it. I stand there some days thinking I will scream if i come in to anymore washing.

It's the same if i walk into the kitchen and there is washing up in the bowl - sometimes I have such plans of what I will get done when i get in from work and then if there is washing up in the sink, it ruins my day lol.

I love doing laundry. I feel like a proper grown up and an absolute bonus if I can sit and watch it on the line.

Aren't the 40s exciting 🙈

Since eldest DC has moved out the washing load has reduced significantly - at one point I was doing 3 loads a day and still not conquering the washing mountain! Now I do a load a day on average. Either dry outside or in the tumble dryer. I've also got a heated airer for things that can't tumble dry.

I try and keep on top of the ironing - half an hour a day or so. Youngest DC has one more term in school uniform and I'm looking forward to having no more shirts and trousers to iron.

I haven’t noticed any significant increase in costs since we got it - maybe an extra £10 a month which is nothing when you consider how much time and effort it saves.

If you’re the sort of person who feels the need to wash towels after every use and iron bed linen, it’s bound to be a chore.

I can’t say it’s my favourite job, but I do often think of my DM when I was a child, having to pull the WM out, plug it in, fill it up, and spend much of the day fishing each batch out and putting it through the attached mangle. And that sort of electric WM was more than many had. She was ecstatic when she finally got an automatic, probably in the very early 70s.

I am a single adult household so all tasks fall to me - laundry is by far the easiest and most pleasant 🤷‍♀️.

I hate washing. Absolutely hate it. The only nice thing about it is in the summer if you get the odd hot day (this is Britain 😂) and you hang some towels out on the washing line and a couple of hours later they are bone dry and kind of....crispy. I like that. The rest of it can go to hell. 😂 It doesn't end and in the winter there's wet washing on clothes horses everywhere or if you tumble dry it, the house steams up and it costs a fortune to run. When I win the lottery, I will outsource all my washing to one of those companies who come and collect it and bring it back all ironed and neatly folded. Or just buy a new outfit if one gets dirty. 😉

I don’t mind laundry but to do it properly you also have to include clothes management generally so going through kids wardrobes twice a year, removing clothes too small, taking to charity etc , buying new clothes, dry cleaning items like duvets, repairing items like buttons, deciding when clothes have seen better days, polishing shoes, cleaning trainers, sorting sports kits for school, large items like curtains, upholstery cleaning now and again, sewing name labels on, sorting uniforms like scouts etc, underwear sorting and re buying, reading Style and Beauty for fashion inspiration 😂 the list goes on and on.
i enjoy it personally but it is time consuming and a chore just like cooking

It's very easy if you have a machine + dryer at home. It's a pain if you have to go to a launderette.

I remember a post like this once where the husband said "you're not going to the river and beating the washing with rocks" and she was so upset, but it's true.