Someone help me cut down on clothes washing.

[2MumsAreBetterThan1]

I am SICK to death of all the clothes washing I have to do, it's driving me mad and no matter how hard I work I am always drowing under a mountain of clothes.

I do AT LEAST 2 washes every single day, sometimes even more and spend hours washing clothes, hanging them to dry, ironing, sorting and putting them away.

It means I get very little else done as every day is washing day.

I would love to be one of these people that has a wash day once a week, or even twice a week actually would be great.

How on earth do you all manage it?

I have a 6 week old baby who has severe reflux and so is sick a lot, this means I end up doing a 'baby clothes' wash every other day. She also has reusable nappies which are washed every day.

I have a 5 year old who is a mud magnet so needs fresh school uniform every weekday and changes when she gets home so that's 2 outfits a day in the wash.

I have an 8 year old with severe special needs, he also uses reusable nappies that are washed every day. Sometimes in the same wash as the babies nappies but if there is too many I do 2 seperate washes. He has a habit of taking his nappy off at bedtime meaning that 3-4 times a week I also have to wash a full load of bedding as well. He is also a VERY messy eater and food is never contained to just his bib so he ends up having his t-shirt changed a few times a day.

I have a DP who works a manual dirty job and so comes home and changes immediately adding one full set of clothes to the wash, she also showers every evening after work meaning there is a towel each day.

I wear clothes, pj's etc. until they are dirty to not add more to the washing.

I change the bedding weekly, towels are washed as and when they are used, baby being sickly often means I have pram covers, moses basket bedding, bouncer cover etc. to wash several times a week.

I also have a dog whose blankets are washed weekly in there own boil wash.

Sometimes I put the clean washing upstairs to put away when I get chance and the fucking bastard cat will come along and piss on the lot meaning I have to rewash everything I have done :( Thankfully this is happening less and less now that the children are remembering to close the doors.

Short of becoming a family of nudists or leaving my children in filthy beds and clothes, how can I reduce my wash load??

Thanks for all the tips, certainly enlightening to see how people do things differently.

I have never used the quick wash function on my machine, always worried it wouldn't wash that well so tend to do the 2 hour wash cycle. May try the quick wash tomorrow and see how it does. That would save time again.

Given that quite a lot of the time you must have been washing things that weren't really dirty, quick should be fine!

Obv some things like mud do need more (I use Biotex in prewash then normal cycle)

just remember to use less detergent when you use a shorter cycle, as the rinse function is not as good (usually). or add an extra rinse+spin at the end, which should still be faster than the regular cycle.