Best tips - efficient laundry

[tostaky]

Because with two kids and a DP that doesnt do much it is getting out of control, especially as we are in full potty training mode (DC1) and learning to eat with a spoon stages (DC2)....

i wash all bed sheets once a week on tuesdays and put them straight into the washer/drier (but cant put all of them though)
i usually do a wash every morning but i cannot use the drier on all wash because of the load contents
i have a cleaner but she is hopeless at folding properly

how can i be more efficient?? what are your tips?how are you rganised?
when will the DCs be able to wash their own stuff??!!!!

I organise mine by doing specific types/colours each day like this:
Monday: Whites
Tuesday: Light colours
Wednesday: Dark colours
Thursday: Towels (dark and light loads)
Friday: Bedding
Saturday: Reds/pinks

I put it on the time for early hours of the morning and then put it in the dryer first thing so it's still on Economy 7.

WRT kids doing their own, I get them to put out the relevant coloured stuff from the laundry bins in their bedroom before they go to bed. I think it would be a bit wasteful to get everyone to do separate loads, so I just get mine to help a bit more as they get older. DS1 (10)can hang stuff up and they both (DS2 is 7) put away their own socks/pants.

I have 2 airers in a spare room and can fit about 4 loads on them (sometimes more depending on what is being washed). I am currently on my 4th wash of the day. Towels are hung up and reused until they need washing and bedding is washed around every 2 weeks but not everyones on the same day or we would run out of drying space. I am forever washing gym kit (me and dh) and football kit (dh).

I'm the same as 2madboys

Monday: Darks
Tuesday: lights
Wednesday: White
Thursday: brights
Friday: bedding
Saturaday: towels
Sunday: nothing ahhh.

I also have 2 babies in cloth nappies so they get chucked in in-between.

I put a load on first thing in morning, by nap time it's done and I can fold it and put away. (only iron when need it lol)

It's been much easier last 2 day's with regards to drying as the sun as been out so the clothes have gone out. I was very excited!

Does it really helps to have a set day for a certain type of wash? ill have to give it a try then...

I do at least 3 loads of washing a day just to keep up. There are 4 of us! God knows where it all comes from.

The set days just mean everything gets done each week. When you get into the realms of school uniforms this is important so you know how much you need to buy.

I just do either colours or whites washes.

I take the clothes out of the washer and hang them straight on hangers - this includes tee shirts.

I hang them out to dry on the line if the weather is nice.

I take the clothes upstairs and hang them on a rail that I have in the bedroom. I also have a little square thing that I hang the underwear on. The stuff generally dries overnight.

Once the washing is dry, I hang it straight up in the wardrobes - even tee shirts.

Each evening, I take out what we're going to wear the next day and iron it. I never spend time ironing piles of clothes.

I tumble dry towels and bedding if it's too cold/wet to hang out on the line.

I do about 2 loads of washing each day on average.

I have this and love it. one full bag is a load, so i do it as soon as it's full. Bedding goes straight in on a sat when i change it, towels on a sunday. That's it really!

We have one of these in the sun room and wash in the day and dry overnight
www.laundrymaid.co.uk/buy-online-full-kits.asp

I wash in the night, hang up first thing, and then one more before bed, again and hang up. I also use two of these
www.ecrater.co.uk/p/9185163/vintage-laundry-drying-rack-antiques

HTH

We have one of these in the sun room and wash in the day and dry overnight
www.laundrymaid.co.uk/buy-online-full-kits.asp

I wash in the night, hang up first thing, and then one more before bed, again and hang up. I also use two of these
www.ecrater.co.uk/p/9185163/vintage-laundry-drying-rack-antiques

HTH

I am desperatly trying not to do as many loads as I have been, and have now got a kind of routine

Mon - mine +dh
Tues - whites + towels
Weds - no wash
Thurs - our bed
Fri - mine + Dh
Sat - ds1 clothes + bedding
sun - ds2 clothes + bedding

Having a free day means that I can do the occasional washes such as net curtains. And Dh and I generally wear dark clothes which saves on the amount of light/white loads

My problem is not doing or drying, it's the putting away I can't keep on top of.

Disclaimer: I am not organised.

I have 3 laundry baskets. One for whites, one for DP and I, and one for DS and DD. I wash when they're full.

So, I'll do a wash for DP and I every other day, a wash for DS and DD every third day, and a white wash once a week max. Then a towels wash (no need to wash after one use - we have a towel or two each a week, plus swimming gear) and a couple of bedding/dishcloths etc washes. Works out around 5 washes a week.

I let it roll over the days eg Put on first wash on Monday morning, hang out or tumble dry or combination of those. On Tuesday I'll fold and sort it out, while washing and drying the next load.

My house is forever full of laundry baskets and piles of folded clothes but this way we're not always losing something at the bottom of the basket and we're not dressing out of the tumble dryer.

I have a laundry basket in every level of the house but only sort before the wash.

The only set days I have are Tuesdays are towels/bathroom bits and Thursdays are bedding, I find it helpful to spread the big stuff. The other stuff gets washed inbetween and I try and do 1 load a day to keep it at bay and so I don't have a mountain anywhere. In winter, I try and wash in the evening and hang up on an airer inside before going to bed. Summer I will often wash in the evening but hang outside in the morning before work and school.

When I wash bedding I turn the dovet cover inside out to wash and do up the buttons. It means the cover is ready to put on (I do corners and shake method) and it's rare to lose socks etc inside like a big lump. I've started placing a set of bedding folded up inside the pillowcase so the set is ready to go.

I fold according to drawers and rooms then place in a large reusuable bag on the stairs to take up the next time I go. I'm trying to get the kids in the habit of doing their own, it's taking a while!

I still do DDs clothes separately to mine & DH. not sure why really, but it makes the putting away bit (which I am rubbish at) a bit easier.
I have a bit of a routine:
sun: DDs bedding & towel
Mon: DDs clothes (so we have plenty clean to take to nursery)
Thur: "light" wash (mainly DHs work shirts)
Fri: DDs clothes
I do a load of our clothes/bedding/towels on most other days as necessary.
I try to put each load in the machine early evening, then hang up on airers/coat hangers overnight. The stuff that can be tumbled then sometimes gets 10mins in the tumbler in the morning to soften it up.
The theory is that everything then gets put straight away, but this doesn't always happen...

I have an overhead airer too and it dries a full load overnight. We have a washer/drier so if I have a baclog sometimes I wash two loads, pick out the stuff that will dry easily on the airer and stick that on, then put the rest in the drier. That works well and you don't have anything hanging around; it's basically two loads in the time of one.

Hmmm... The more I look at these overhead airers the more I want one! #2 is due soon, which means I'm going to loose my spare laundry room and I hate having clothes hung up around the house where I can see them... My utility room is only small, but I reckon I could squeeze one in

I love mine! It's 10 times better at drying clothes than a floor airer. I have mine in the kitchen and I just put stuff on there after dinner so they never smell of cooking. Even better, if we had something in the oven I leave the oven door open and let the warm air rise. By morning only things with thick seams like heavy cotton tops and jeans will have any damp bits so I pull the dry things off and spread those out, and then they dry quite quickly.

They're so much less noticable when in use than a floor one and it makes the house smell all nice and clean washing-y. Even DH said the other day how much money we must have saved in buying it because we've not used the dryer much.