do you have a "washday"?

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I am always drowning in laundry - it is the folding, putting away that piles up. I have been wondering if it would be more time effective to have a weekly "washday" like my mum did - and whether any of you do this already and find it more effective than constantly washing?
It wouldn't totally work for me as I need to ensure clean uniforms and don't have enough shirts etc to last a whole week - but maybe everything else on one day - what do you think? I do have a tumble dryer so that would make the logistics easier.

no, I do 5 or more loads per week and I just don't have the space for drying it all.

Having a set washday works for a friend of mine who has a tumble dryer and uses it for every load, regardless of the weather.

I don't have or want a tumbledryer so it only ever works for me in 2 situations - in the depths of winter (when I take all my clean wet washing up to tumbledry at the launderette) or in the beautiful drying days we've just been having when I can feasibly get 4 loads dried on the line. But I can't see how it would work ordinarily unless we had the heating on all the time.

Fortunately I'm not a routine sort of person, so I'm happy to organise the week ahead on a Monday according to the weather and what else I want to do instead of sticking to a set timetable. I've found it easier to get the washing done properly that way by seeing it as a 3 stage process - adding the folding and putting away time on as a whole extra task! Before I'd just forget to factor it in and then be too tired to do an extra thing before bed...

I really can't believe I sat here are wrote such a long post about laundry. It is surely the best way of procrastinating...

Thanks Gentleness -I never thought I would care so much about laundry myself :)
I found what you said about treating it as a 3 stage process to be helpful. I also noticed on another post you mentioned the wisdom of limiting the amount ofclothes your kids have. Hard - when the youngest has so many hand me downs and i was brought up to "waste not want not"...But maybe I should try.

Yes, I do.

Monday I sort all the laundry into piles and work through it a pile at a time until it's done. We have a drier so I use that, if it's sunny I choose the loads so that I make effective use of the washing line too iyswim.

I then do nappy washes as and when needed and sometimes an extra kids' clothing load. We do the bedding on a Saturday.

I do too. I do all the clothes on a Monday; during the summer I usually manage to get it all out on the whirligig through the day and in the winter it goes in the dryer / on the airer.

Sheets are done on a Tuesday; towels on a Wednesday and nappies ad hoc.

It works for me as a SAHM. I hate washing 'hanging over me' and it means I don't have the machine going all the time.

no, every day is washday here!

that said, i do sometimes get a bit lax and then have to have a day of catching up.
it's ok, but then you have a MASSIVE pile of ironing to get through, which sucks.

also, i can't dry it quick enough, even using the tumble dryer

Thankscraftynclothy- did you ever do it on a daily or near daily basis then decide it was more time efficient to have a washday?

No, unless we are just back from a holiday. Usually do 3 or so loads on a Saturday and then some more on a Mon/Tues, and maybe an emergency footy kit one on a Friday, ready for the weekend!

No, I wash and line dry, or dry on a clothe horse most days.

I only use the tumble drier in emergencies or just for 10 minutes to "finish off" a load.

I couldn't sleep at night if I put every load of washing from wet straight in to the tumble drier. And we would be considerably poorer.

We haven't even got a tumble drier, so it's the line or the radiators in our house!

Hiya tilly

Every day is wash day here too!

I do some laundry on certain days e.g. Kids bedding & towels on a Sunday night, work shirts on a Friday night, but do the majority of it as & when. I have a tumble dryer, but try to avoid using it as much as possible. Like bibbity I tend to put stuff in for just 10mins to finish it off or to soften up towels.

I would have too much stuff to wash if I left it all for 1 day - dh goes to the gym 4 times a week and plays football once or twice so needs at least one change of clothes per day. I go to exercise classes 2 or 3 times so have 2 changes of clothes as well. Add in the clothes from 2 kids and it soon mounts up. My only set wash day is for a whites wash which is a friday as ds wears white polo shirts for nursery and I get the weeks worth done along with dh's white shirts and white undies. I do at least one wash a day but have been known to do up to 4 in a day (normally when it is sunny and I can get the stuff outside to dry). I have a washer drier but only use the drier in emergencies e.g. wet bed/puking incidents, etc.

I would also have far too much to do, as I have 4 DCs living with me and there is sports gear that needs to be washed almost daily. I wash every day, give or take. I couldn't live without the dryer.

I found washing ad hoc or everyday I would end up having to do 'emergency' washes for stuff. This way I feel like I know everything is washed on time for me to wear during the week or at the weekend. I tend to wear slobby clothes on Monday .

I also do quite a lot of crafting so it means I have chance to stick fabric in on a whim if I get the urge to do some sewing that evening.

Now that the boys are older (11 and 13) I find I don't need to wash so frequently. I try and cut it down, so that my whole week doesn't get subsumed in laundry. I have a fast spin on my machine, so quick-drying clothes dry overnight hung on an airer. Others (cottons) go in the tumble drier.

This is what I do:
Thurs - PE kits plus any other coloureds in the basket, incl my week's work clothes
Fri - 1) uniforms, boys' towels and my Fri clothes
2) whites - hot wash - boys' school shirts, towels etc
Sat - bedding
Sat am iron all the uniforms/work clothes for the next week
Sun - weekend clothes

So 5 loads a week will usually do for us, and it makes me feel better to cram it into a few days at the weekend.

Every day bar Sunday off is washday here. I can't dry more than 3 loads on my outdoor line at once though.

I do have a routine though - nappies get done every other day, and I change things like sheets / towels on set days, although they get washed as soon after that is convient, not necessarily on that day.

No theres no way I could leave it all week, there's way too much for that. And what about wet towels and stuff? Surely they'd go all stinky sitting around for that long....

God I do about 3 loads a day and iron twice a week

MooMoo, wet towels get hung up on towel rails in relevant bedrooms and dry out during the day / night ready for the next time they're needed. They all get washed once a week.

Logic behind it is that they are used to dry clean people so they don't generally get very dirty, well, not in our house anyway.

I've got fed up of piles of ironing accumulating during the week when I put a wash on but then can't be bothered to iron the few items that need it. Now I've started only doing all clothes laundry once a week and doing the ironing the same night my sanity is being restored. I do have a tumble drier but use the rotary drier as well if its warm enough as it holds 3 loads of washing.

During the winter i have a washday (usually wednesday) and i dry the clothes indoors, i dont have a dryer. I wash nappies usually every 2 days. In spring/summer i wash when the weathers nice just incase it pours it down wednesday and ive missed the sun lol, usually find more washing to be done then though, its as if the kids know il wash so they put clothes in the laundry .