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?

I do it across the weekend, don't find it a big deal.

bedding alone is about 3 loads. Duvet covers + pillow case + fitted sheets is a full load. So that’s 3 loads.

All my bedding can go it 1 load.

I'd rather keep on top of mine daily but it's about what works for you :)

I'd love to do this, but with six of us I need to do a minimum of one a day otherwise we woukd drown

How do you have space to dry multiple loads on one day? I tumble dry underwear, pjs, bedding and towels, but no way do I have enough hanging space for 4 loads on one day!
two adults, 1 teen (taller than me), one tween (ny height): so basically four adults clothing size wise!

Emperor duvet cover and fitted sheets 6 pillow cases (3 across x 2 one on top of the other) is a very full load.

king size duvet and fitted sheets and 4 pillow cases plus a few randoms like a shirt maybe is a full load.

we also use mattress protectors and pillow protectors so sometimes there are an extra 6 pillow cases for the emperor bed and an extra 4 pillow card for the king size beds.

Have a utility to dry stuff & hang a lot outside. Don't use the tumble dryer that much.

unless it’s a commercial size you aren’t getting an emperor duvet cover and fitted sheets with 6 pillow cases, 2 king size duvet covers with fitted sheets and 8 pillow cases into a single load. Certainly not unless you over load the machine.

we also use mattress protectors and pillow protectors

how often do you wash these?

I always think no wonder we have a climate crisis reading these threads!

I think it's rich people taking private jets everywhere, not Sarah washing her duvet cover every week.

I dont understand this. I have just done our kingsize bed, the duvet cover and the sheet made one load. I had to do the pillow slips in with other things.

Thats one bed.

I find that if I leave it more than a few days it becomes overwhelming. My kids are young though so go through a lot of clothes. I haven’t done any for a few days and DP didn’t stick any on Fri/Sat so today and tomorrow I’m going to be stuck to the washer on my days off. It’s the tumble dryer that holds it all up - we bought a heat pump one and it’s so bloody slow to dry stuff.
Just realised I forgot to wash last week’s bedding so I have 2 lots to wash and dry this weekend ☹️

Family of four, including two really grubby children - mud, paint, glitter, food… In wet/cold weather I wash max once a day when I have a full load of whatever colour group because we dry on airers, so if I left it all to a single day we’d run out of space to hang things after a full load. I think it would get really humid indoors and possibly lead to mould if we had lots of damp washing around all the time. I pop things on the line or put the airer outside if it’s dry even in winter, to mitigate the amount of moisture indoors. Even when I owned a tumble dryer, I rarely used it as I found (aside from the cost) that it wears clothes out more quickly - things seem to go bobbly or faded and need replaced more quickly.

In dry weather I still wait for a load to accrue but more likely to do multiple washes as I can chuck them on the line. I wfh a lot so try to take advantage of a (rare!) good drying day, especially when it’s sunny enough to bleach out some of the nursery/food stains!

I WFH Friday a did three loads and then one of bedding - all out of the line and dried.

I usually do mid week washes the night before and hang out in the morning - dry by the time I get home.

People who do daily washes - do you do all mixed loads?

Most of our stuff is mixed loads-it's nearly all blue or black, tbh! I save whites for a full load though.

We wash most of our stuff in mixed loads. I don't really understand why people get all bent out of shape about laundry. Stuff goes in the laundry basket, when there's a full load it gets washed. If someone has a new pair of jeans or black socks or similar, it gets gathered up with other dark stuff a few times. Mostly a short cycle at 30c, occasionally a longer or hotter one. Ten mins to hang out, less if it's going in the tumble dryer. Folding, too, takes minutes, ditto putting away. Only iron things that really need it.

@soupyspoon what is the size of your drum that you can only fit one duvet cover & 1 sheet in?

We (usually) do ours once a week (for our teenage daughter, husband and me). We have a 10kg washing machine and a tumble dryer.

1 load of dark clothes.

1 load of light/washed enough times not to run clothes.

2 loads of bed linen, towels and cloths.

Everything goes on the washing line if the weather is warm, sunny and breezy.

Otherwise, we tumble dry everything tumble dri-able. Everything else goes on the heated airer with the dehumidifier to accelerate drying.

The first load goes in overnight, so all the washes are usually completed by lunchtime. I can then spend the rest of the day doing something else while the clothes dry.

Everything is clean, dry and put away by the evening and no more washing for a week.

I think it's rich people taking private jets everywhere, not Sarah washing her duvet cover every week.

You think the climate cause it caused only by private jet use?

I have no idea. I dont like overloading it though, not good for washing things properly. But its a big old bundle, very thick cotton.

Yes this. The person who said they do all the loads in one day in the weekend, I assume they are using the drier for all the loads? That must use a lot of electricity. Whereas if you spread it out you can hang a load outside each day when the weather is good.

No I don't mix loads.

I divide into black and dark colours / lighter colours / whites / bedding / towels

Once you get in the swing of one load a day and stick to it, then it falls into a pattern. Towels for example, one day is the bath towels, next day is all other towels (hand towels, tea towels, flannels etc) then bedding the next day (or two days if DS has changed his as well) then by the time you get back round to clothes, then one of the other loads is big enough, plus DS has a bulky uniform fleece that needs washing at regular intervals, so that goes in either of the coloured loads.

Also, in the winter, I don't do a load that is bigger than I can fit on to a clothes horse. I have two if I absolutely need to get more through, but if I don't overload a clothes horse then the clothes are usually dry by the next day when the next load is read to go on it.

I often do a load of loads in the day, our cycle is 32 minutes, although OH always uses ECO which takes a couple of hours, really annoys me

But we dry it in our utility room with a dehumidifer. Dries overnight. Not sure how the electricity compares.

Interesting how we are all so different. I don't find gathering up a load and putting it into a machine something that I need to think about. This is why I love MN and different perspectives.

2-3 washes a week. No faffing around with different washes, all bundled in together (have never understood lights, darks, colours… have never had anything ruined by doing it all in one!)
2 adults one toddler - it’s mostly her clothes! I just do it when the basket is full, no dryer so this sunny weather is great!