Laundry is my nemesis

[Reallynothappy]

Please can anyone give me some advice on how to keep on top of the laundry?
I seem to have mountains of washing everywhere, and no structure in place to keep on top of it. I think I need a routine.
How do I do it??
Please help!

[CultureMix]

Side comment here on laundry chutes -

When I was a child we had a laundry chute (big old Edwardian house). It was in my closet which was located directly above the kitchen then above the basement area where the utility room was.

It did save lots of trooping down stairs with big loads of laundry and made life easier for my mother. She early on instituted the rule that all dirty laundry went into a hamper in the bathroom but I would regularly get siblings entering my room with dirty socks & wanting to drop them down the chute. And yes a number of stuffed toys and other items did make the trip as well.

It had a little hinged door and wasn't very wide, maybe ten inches square so bulky items had to be dangled through and quite regularly we had to use a broom handle to push through a wedged towel or something.

I've never actually known anyone else with a laundry chute. Brings back happy memories . Though looking back now I realise my mother then had to cart all the clean clothes back upstairs...

[Mrsrudolphduvall]

I have a very warm utility room I can close the door on.
Also a rail in the cupboard under the stairs where there is underfloor heating.
It's like a sauna in there.

[SantaIAmSoFuckingRock]

those of you who can dry 2 loads of washing on airers in a day. how?

i hang 2 loads on my airer in my airing cupboard with the dehumidifier on and it takes over 24 hours to be completely dry. and i t does get quite wram in there when the water is hetaing in the tank. how are you getting yours dried in 12 hours?

[tribpot]

The only thing that makes is bearable is remembering what it was like on The 1900 House. Laundry is still one of the most depressing household chores going but at least it isn't like it was back in the day.

[RandomMess]

We just have one washing basket so when it's full to the brim you know you have to do a wash then sort through it for whites, darks, Pinks/purples/reds.

Bedding gets washed at 95% of the time put back on the bed same day only have emergency spare set.

Honestly the drying on coat hangers thing works brilliantly - no folding and you just sort as you take them from their dried location.

[IWipeArses]

I'd love laundry chutes. And a utility room. And a housekeeper.

Laundry reduction should be first approach imo.
Towels used at least 3/4 times, clothes worn at least twice, apart from undies etc.
Reduce the amount of clothes, towels and bedding you own, then you simply can't have huge piles, you have to wash or be naked.

[twentythirteen]

OH does his work clothes after he gets home on Friday evening. They are dry by Saturday when I do the bedding and towels. These are dry by the end of the weekend. I do my clothes then sometime during the week. It's basically about finding a habit that suits you and just doing it.

[Flisspaps]

Tumble dryer in your walk in wardrobe

[dreamingbohemian]

I don't separate darks and lights -- never have, with no ill effects I can see (I wash at 40-60 degrees and don't have any white clothes though). Everything for me, DH and DS goes in one basket and when it's full I chuck it in the wash. Once a week I do towels/bedding. Never iron (strategic drying/never buy clothes that really need it).

My advice is to do the minimum necessary and forget all the 'rules', do what works for you.

[DillyTante]

A laundry chute would make the whole thing far more fun!

[Bonsoir]

I find the system whereby I ask DCs to "bring me your dirty grey clothes now" works just fine for sorting!

[BoffinMum]

Either. If you have space, you can buy trollies with three compartments. But in the flat we had laundry bags in people's wardrobes, and once a week we used to round it all up, divide it into the three baskets (which stacked), and do it all in one day.

My friend has an even better system. She did an old house up and installed Laundry chutes in all the bathrooms where chimneys had been. These lead to a basket in front of the washing machine!!!!

[Bonsoir]

You need to realistically assess what needs washing each week and make a timetable - it then doesn't matter who does the washing (you, your partner, your children, your housekeeper), because what needs doing gets done. Ie today it's Friday and that means the sheets from our double bed get washed. On Wednesday all towels in the house get washed. Etc.

Don't let teens get away with dumping once-worn jeans and hoodies in the wash basket!

[bigkidsdidit]

interesting! I have baskets in bedrooms but end up taking one down and having not enough whites so leave the basket there and then it all becomes a big mess.

might adopt your system :)

[DillyTante]

Watching this thread with interest. When I win the lottery the first thing I am doing is paying for a laundry service!

[MousyMouse]

no (laundry) baskets in bedrooms, just the basket with the pj's and clothes that can be worn again for the dc.. dh and I put our clothes that can be worn again on a chair to air.

[bigkidsdidit]

stupid question...

if you sort into the washing baskets, what do you have in the nedrooms? Or do the DC drop clothes in the laundry baskets every evening? I like the sound of this system!

[BoffinMum]

LOL In my minute, and I mean minute first flat I had three collapsible grocery baskets and I put slatted shelves around the immersion heater with my own bare hands to act as an ersatz linen press until I could afford a stately home with antique French linen press.

You are so defeatist Washing is there to be conquered!

[sleeplessinsuburbia]

I fold as I take out of the dryer into piles of who owns stuff and as I walk past their rooms I put their pile on their bed and sheets or pillowcases if I washed them. Mine are still young so I need to help them put the sheets on.
I haven't ironed in 10 years, good stuff gets drycleaned and put straight into cupboards so no need.

[RandomMess]

BoffinMum your post about having 3 seperate laundry baskets and a linen cupboard/press made me laugh. How do you think us lowly people with tiny houses cope? 6 people tiny house we manage just fine

I do confess that I don't generally iron though, low spin and drying things on coathangers

[Mrsrudolphduvall]

As soon as I get up at 6.30a wash goes on, and is out on the airer by 7.30.
If I have left for work, dh then puts another one on, so by tea time both loads are dry and can be put away.

I wash everything after one wear.
Maybe not cardigans, but everything else.

[sleeplessinsuburbia]

I do one load every day.i don't seperate whites etc (but I might occasionally do a "whites soak" of stuff grabbed from cupboards). Every load has a towel or a pillowcase or a single sheet in it so I don't have to do loads of only towels or sheets. But I have a dryer.

The biggest tip is to not have too much stuff. By constantly rotating towels and sheets it means you don't need doubles, sheets and towels go straight back into bathroom or on beds so there are no piles to fold and put away.

[BoffinMum]

I have to say that one of the things I like on holiday is announcing that washing needs doing, and trooping off to a launderette with a magazine and iPod and coffee while the nice big industrial machines do it so efficiently. Poor me, etc.

This week my Xmas present to myself is sending the ironing out to All Ironed Out. You book it online and they collect it the next evening. 24 or 48 hours later they bring it back, perfectly done. It costs a fortune but in terms of personal stress relief at the moment I think I'll ignore that side of thing.

[AutumnGlory]

I washed 5 loads today, took the clothes down to the launderete on the corner, put around £2 in the machine and after around 30 minutes they were all nice and dry. It is an addiction, I'm a laundry freak and I hate using the same clothes twice but I do...

[SantaIAmSoFuckingRock]

oh yes, we have the tool box too and the holes in the wall where he 'fixed' it!

a woman once called me an abusive mother because my 2 year old put his duvet back over his bed in the mornings, i'd love to see her face now if she heard about them both doing their washing.

in my defence, my mum taught me nothing about running a house. she was the classic martyr who ranted about no-one giving her a hand but refused to let us help as we would do it wrong. my dsis still lives at home aged 25 (i wonder why!) and doesn't know how to set their washing machine. my mother still folds her clothes and sets them on her bed for her. i promised i would never do that to myself or my dcs, so they're doing everything they are capable of doing and they dont complain. they just say "ok" and do it then go and play or watch tv.