To stop doing the washing every day and do it at the end of the week?

[ChronicallyOnLime]

We seem to find ourselves constantly at the washing machine or dryer 😂 every day! We have two kids, two adults in the house. Would I be mad to say you know what? Throw all the washing into the wash basket and we’ll just have a laundry day once a week?!

How often is everyone else putting on a load of washing for a family for 4?

Weekends for the bulk of the school uniform we don't wear white so I bought white shirts for five days and hot wash them all together the dark clothes I wash when we have a full load bedding is usually on a Wednesday same as towels I'm not adverse to washing daily I am adverse to waste so if it's not a full load it doesn't go through (unless it's red we don't wear much red)

I do this and am considering changing this as it is an exhausting big job if you leave it

Family of 6, our machine is on constantly it seems, but we don't reuse bath towels

How do people have so little laundry? We're a family of 4 with 2 preschoolers, and each week have at least 2 dark loads, 1 white, 1 light coloured, 2/3 full kids loads, 2 towels, at least 1 bedding depending on illness or accidents, 1 wools/delicates every other week. I can't keep on top of it all. Just to change all the bed sheets is 4 washes so I stagger it!

The good weather has been great to dry things quickly but I still spend time every evening folding laundry and every day putting it away. It feels like a constant burden.

We're a family of 6 but I have to do it every day or it would take all weekend haha. Just find it easier to do some each day so it has time to dry rather than all at once.

I usually do most of the clothes washing at the weekend as that's when work wear and school uniform is ready for laundry. During the week I tend to do towels and bedding. I try not to use the tumble dryer except in emergencies which can make it a bit tricky to dry everything.

Yabu. By the end of the week you'll be running out of certain items. It sounds really stressful.

There's 3 of us and I do a load or two every day. The gym kit needs washing within 36hrs so it doesn't get smelly, and it needs to be worn again quickly.

I do a load whenever I’ve got a full one, apart from washing school uniforms on a Friday night, and Saturday when I do my bedding, nothing is set in stone. I wouldn”t like to save it up as it gets harder to find places for it to dry, I only have a standard whirly that fits a single 9kg load. I work from home though so like a pp can get it out before I log on.

Twice a week here. It’s enough for us.

I'd rather have the house quiet and no loud spin cycles at the weekends. We have a small house though and noise travels easily. I prefer all the washing noise during the week when I'm up and about busy doing things anyway. Weekend I prefer peace and putting away dry clothes from the week.

During term time I have to do it daily to ensure the flow of clean uniform. I tend to have a couple of days where I’ll do 3 loads and then a few days where I won’t do anything.

We both work full time outside the home, 2 DC, no tumble drier so we do washing once mid week in the evening, then about 3 loads at the weekend. We do have about 3 clothes airers for winter/rainy days.

I have always done mine Friday/Saturday and the machine goes on about 4/5 times as I also do my bed linen. It means I get big enough loads of each colour.

I may do a couple of loads in the week, towels or my daughter may do her bed linen.

I can’t be arsed thinking about it every day.

We’re an every day household. I’ve tried it all at the weekends, but I felt like a washerwoman and it was depressing!
My routine is:
One wash a day, alternate types, so a light colour load, a dark colour load, sports, light, dark, light, dark. If on (rare) occasion there isn’t enough for a full load, I just miss that day.
I have an airer indoors, one side fits one load, so I put one load away, and hang out one load. It only takes 15 mins, and usually gets done whilst the kids are brushing teeth before bed.
It dries quickly enough as I have a dehumidifier in the room which I put on overnight on the laundry setting. I use the tumble dryer for bed linen and towels only. I just can’t be bothered with the faff and unpredictability of drying anything outside.
I only iron certain things, which I generally hang up in the laundry room as the week goes on, then do that in one go over the weekend.

As both of us worked full time once dd was mid primary school age we have always just done the washing at a weekend. But equally, unlike some MN posters, we don’t wash everything after one wear so don’t generate half as much washing as some posters do.

I do most of the washing at the weekend to get full loads and because I have long work days so pegging out doesn’t work very well. I do take advantage of ‘good drying days’ though and particularly if sheets or towels need washing will run a quick wash first thing and hang out before work.

Family of 6. Wash daily. Sometimes two washes daily if sports kits.

A couple of people have hit upon the reality that DC have been known to wear something for 2 hours then to stick it in the wash basket as it’s less hassle than to hang it back up! I don’t allow that.

I think one’s attitude to washing is shaped by age and experience. I’m early 60s. I grew up with Thursday as wash day, where you had to fill the top loader with a hose, wash the clothes (paddle agitator), haul them out and via a wringer into the kitchen basin filled with cold water, back through the wringer, repeat, then a free standing spin drier, then either onto a rotary hoist outside or on wooden racks indoors to dry.

So my generation have gone one of two ways- a frugal 2-ish wash loads a week, line dried or rack dried in the utility with a dehumidifier; or at least one wash load a day (see: clothes worn for 2 hours, towels used once), straight in the tumble drier. I use my tumble drier maybe 6 times a year when something has to be dried quickly.

I err towards the former! Each to their own - except don’t moan about your electricity bills if you’re the latter.

Depends how much you have and how much space to dry it. Also depends how much clothes you have.

No once a week is no good for your household. Washing and drying is a nightmare even with a tumble dryer.

Back when they're were four of us and I was working, it was a weekend thing mostly. One light, one dark, bedding one week, towels the other (awaits the horrified responses) and only the occasional random need or delicates wash in the week.

it depends on your situation, if you can get by without washing every day
i do a wash most days

If you want to spend a morning tied to doing the laundry, it’s fine I guess as you can to the cleaning at the same time.

i always preferred to do the laundry as I went along as I could pick dry day to get the washing out

Family of 5 plus dog here. We wash at least 1 load per week day usually 2, plus whatever at the weekends. No we don’t was a mixed load it all goes in the laundry basket (we have 4 sections) and then whichever one is full/most desperate we wash. We have more than 1 load of whites every week, 4 work tunics, 5 teenage white school shirts, baby’s stuff, bras, couple of tween school polos and whatever else white people have worn.
we end up with probably 2 coloured loads a week, 3 darks, 2 bedding, 2 towels and then anything else ad hoc like blankets, sofa covers, coats, dressing gowns.
it’s constant. We rewear some items and I only do the kids beds fortnightly or stretch it a bit if they have been at their dads. We sometimes stretch our bedding to 10 days. We reuse our towels.
I don’t really know how we could wash less. I couldn’t do it all at the weekends. If we have a day off the washing builds up to an unmanageable level.

See this post and the replies are totally at odds with the "of course we don't leave the washing machine on when we're asleep or out as everyone knows your house will burn down" post of a couple of months ago.

I've not been fully caught up since.