AIBU to be amazed my friend does all her laundry in one day?

[Laundryqueen1]

I called over to a friend yesterday evening with my dc. She was just coming down the stairs with an empty laundry basket when she answered the door.
she took a few minutes to answer the door so as she opened the door, she apologised and said she was putting away the laundry.
I jokingly said oh no bother I must put mine away, It’s been sitting there all week I need to clear the basket for the next lot.
she then proceeded to tell me she does ALL her laundry on a Saturday- washes, dries, irons and puts away! IN ONE DAY! I nearly fell to the floor. She said she had two and a half loads.
I was even more baffled because she couldn’t have us round until 7ish because she had a crazy busy day. Her dd had training, her ds had a friend over for a playdate, her dd then had an appointment in the afternoon. Then she had to collect her dh from the train station. My mind is blown! She fits her laundry in between doing all of this…and she irons! 😅 where am I going wrong?

I do a load of washing and put it away everyday. There’s 5 of us in the house, 3 adults and two children, plus a massive dog so we have throws for the sofas which I wash and change every other day.

Me or dh will put everything in the washing machine when we wake up, then I will put it in the drier when it’s done, and then I sort, wash and fold and put it all away as soon as it’s done.

I put eveything in the drier all year round. But then, I don’t think any of us own anything that shouldn’t go in a drier. I don’t sort colours or fabrics for the washing machine either, it all just goes in. Never had an issue.

I don’t work but when I did, me and dh would dry and put everything away in the evenings.

I can’t stand washing just hanging about and I’m here all day so why not.

We always wash the bedding on a Sunday and it’s dh job to put it all back on.

we don’t iron either. Shirts come out the drier, get a shake, hung straight up and are fine. They don’t look crumpled at all and other than a few shirts, we don’t really wear anything that would need ironing.

I grew up with a father who would iron socks and t towels, so I thought fuck that shit at a very young age. I’ve never owned an iron since I moved out at 16!

I'm retired now, and my mum told me that when my granny was alive and younger with kids she had a washday on a Monday, hail rain or shine. She had a washboard and a mangle and sunlight soap. It was very hard work and took up most of the day. She had two of those hanging maid things in the kitchen over the range and a couple of washing lines in the back garden. She never got a washing machine as she eventually lived alone and said she didn't need one, and her wise words were, that they would have everyone washing ten times a day to see the drum going round!

Funny that.

Yep.

funny how many of us working full time manage, when others declare it impossible!

(im currently not working due to health issues. But managed for decades & never had a dryer!)

This is me! Everything done on a Sunday. Towels, bedding, clothes the lot!

How small is your machine? Or, how many towels/bedding are you using? My washing machine is a 9kg, a king size duvet set and a couple of towels and it’s probably just over half full.

Oh my god it’s almost like we all live differently…funny thought isn’t it.

1. I wouldn’t dream of putting my washing on while the house is asleep.
2. As I said my washing machine takes 1.5hours min.
3. I am getting ready for work and making breakfast/lunches In the morning (no school dinners here)
4. I live in Ireland by the sea, the weather cannot be trusted most of the year.

so yep it’s not something that I want to make possible. It wouldn’t help me anyway. 2 loads on a Saturday isn’t back breaking for me.

We ALL have other things to do in the morning.

I (used to) put my machine on as soon as I woke up, then did ALL the other things, then hung it out before leaving before 7.

Up early & organised 💁🏻‍♀️

Whites, coloureds, darks.
1 x towels, 1 x bedding so 5 or 6 washes a week plus the maintenance wash of the dishcloths/teatowels with biological detergent at 95° to keep the machine fresh

Towels, bedding and nightclothes are tumbled - it's easier.

Everything else goes on the airer in the spar room.

I wash when there's a full.load so not all on one day but sometimes there might be five loads ready so I do them. I sort and put away on Sunday mornings.

Just me, dh and grown up dd for 3/4 noghts a week.

DH has a clean proper shirt every day, dd and I have clean tops every day. I might get two days out of a dress on a work day. Obs undies every day.

There's about two hours of ironing weekly. Cleaner does it.

Looked in to it how? Because in my looking in to it, a well maintained, relatively new appliance isn’t any more of a risk than any other electrical appliance.

I do all mine on a Sunday! Four loads. Darks whites coloureds towels.

Most goes in the tumble dryer a few things are hung up to dry.

we don’t really iron anything other than DH irons his shirts and trousers. I iron what I need as and when I need it.

in the evening when we are watching tv DH and I fold it into a basket for each of us. It’s each persons job to put their own basket away (kids are teens).

apart form the folding (which takes us 30 mins) it doesn’t take much time? Ten minutes to sort into four washes and then it’s just a few mins here and here to put in dryer and put a new wash on?

it just goes in in the background of the day.

Because the clothes look nicer on, they fold more neatly and they fit into drawers better. And it’s a task that can be done whilst enjoying something on the telly with a glass of wine, unlike scrubbing the bathrooms or cleaning the kitchen. I’d rather iron for 2
hours than spend 20 minutes folding the laundry - have hated that task since I was a child!

When I was a child, blazer was dried cleaned once a year , they weren't washable back then ( 70's )

Two adults here, DH is a manual worker - jeans, tees and hoodies , I work 4 hours a day - with uniform which consists of black leggings and black tees - clean tee daily , leggings maybe twice a week - a tiny space in the machine

I probably do three, sometimes four washes a week

I might have something sat at the bottom of the laundry box for weeks until I have enough to justify a load

Machine goes on at 5am, same as the dishwasher before I head out at 5;30, DH empties it and hangs out either outside or on the airer at 7am when he wakes

If it's been outside its usually dry time I get home at 10am . None of the work clothes get ironed. Social clothing and sheets do but I do that weekends whilst catching up on a programme

We also dont wear just once before washing. The rare occasion we go out we are out for a few hours, we have showered before we dress, clothes come off and are hung on the wardrobe door to air and be reworn

Probably spend an hour a week on laundry

Unlike when we first got together and it was a weekly trip to the launderette , trolly and large bag, one big machine, 2 small, trapped in there for at least 3 hours getting it all washed and dried . Read an awful lot back. then :)

Washing loads per week. Family of 3
2 x bedding
2 x towels and bathmats
2 x sports gear
1 x whites
2 x darks
1 x lights

That’s at least 10 per week. We wear things multiple times apart from my work uniform which has to be fresh every day. On top of that there will be a tea towel wash once per fortnight, woollen wash every few weeks and door mats once a month. I’m baffled how she manages only 2.5 per week!

Yeah but I don’t have a billion washes a week so I don’t have the need. I wake at 6:30, I get myself ready, I wake my dc at 7 and then we have brekkie and make lunches etc. we leave at 7:30 and 8 depending on what’s going on. My washing machine takes an hour and a half…I’m not adding another factor to my morning for no reason.

Bedding is 2-3 washes per week, sports kit 1 and then there's all the normal stuff. it's not abnormal for me to do 1-3 washes a day, everyday.

2.5 loads, we have that in just bedding/towels each week. 🤔

It's not strictly necessary, but it IS recommended. Its my preference though. *it's also recommended to wash kitchen/tea towels separately from bathroom towels.

In the olden days, when it were all fields around here, everybody did all their washing on a Saturday. Pull the twin tub out, get the hose fixed and fill the washer with hot water. Put your first load in and get the agitator going. Wind the little timer at the top round to 10/15/20 minute wash. Then when it's finished get your laundry tongs and heave it all into the spinner. Put your next load in whilst spinning the first lot. Then get the cold hose running into the spinner to rinse out the soap. Spin again. Then more cold water into it. Spin again. Depending how soapy it all still looks, more water and more spins.

Then get your tongs out and haul the next load out of the washer into the spinner. Repeat all steps until washing has gone, occasionally topping up the washer with more powder and hot water because you lose a fair bit on every load. When all is done, get the water pumped out through the hose into the sink and dry the inside of both tubs very very well or it will stink by next week.
Push the twin tub back into place. You can hang it out whilst the washer is going or all at the end, whichever you find easiest for you. Tumble dryers were an unheard of luxury so if it was raining you hung it wherever you could.

So basically it was all done in one day because going through that palaver every bloody day just for a couple of light loads would have been ludicrous. No. That had to be done in the sink with a washing board. . . . . . .

Please take my comments lightheartedly - and if somebody could pass me a mug of Sanatogen I'd be much obliged.

Are you honestly ’amazed’ at someone doing 2,5 washes in one day..

Bedding is one wash. Double size set. Towels are another, bath sheet two smaller ones two hand towels ( bathroom and downstairs loo) bath mat.
Then a dark load. Wear trousers for couple of days, but tops undies only once. Pjs a couple of times.
Then lights/whites.
So four a week. That’s before throws, spare room bedding if anyone stays over.

My mum’s old twin tub used to dance round the kitchen with me hanging on to it for grim death 😀

Some people change their bedding & towels once a month. Pretty grim I think, but they're the ones sleeping in their beds & using their towels...

I find people who struggle with laundry absolutely baffling.

but then I think I'm just organised and they’re not.
we have multiple laundry baskets so clothes get sorted into whites, colours, heavy duty workwear etc at removal. Means it’s easy to grab a particular basket and load the washer without needing to ‘sort it’.

i load the washer on say a Friday night and set it to start and finish by let’s say 07:30 on the Saturday. Out it goes onto the line, clothes horse or dryer and in goes another load.

generally the 1st load is dry by the time the 2nd load is done and it’s swapped out.
we don’t iron and things are folded or hung carefully and put straight into drawers or the wardrobe.

job done. Probably takes a total of 20 mins of my time to do.

Nah this must be fake. It isn’t possible to put washing away on the same day it’s dried, I actually think it’s illegal to wait any fewer than 5 days.

I remember that old twin tub very well. My friend's mum had one with a mangle that you turned by hand. We had a separate spin dryer. Wash days were extremely wet and the floor got mopped at the end.