How do you deal with your washing?!

[mollysmum82]

I'm just curious what other people's laundry habits are. I never seem to see wet washing hanging at anyone else's house so I wondered what I was missing! Obviously when it's a glorious day you can hang it outside but if you don't have a utility room and its peeing it down what do you do? Do you tumble dry everything? (If I try this everything seems creased beyond repair) or do you just iron everything from wet? What other options are there? How often and when do you do your washing? I feel like such a novice at this house keeping malarkey! Thanks so much for any tips!

I wash daiky and hang out outside or on an airer in the airing cupboard, I wish I could afford to use a dryer, but I cant.

I iron once a week or when the pile starts falling over.

I wash everyday (normal washing plus im clearing a backlog after letting things slide for a while)

On good days i hang out

On rainy days i hang in an airer in the hotpress (airing cupboard) where i have the dehumidifier. Takes 12 hours to dry 1 8kg washload.

I dont have a (working) tumble dryer any more but when i gave stuff a really good shake as soon as it finished and fold everything straight away.

I dont iron unless for a wedding/job interview etc.

I try and do a load everyday (4 of us). We have a small utility room and I can dry everything in there, but use the line outside on nice days but only for sheets and towels as can't be bothered for smaller things :)
Then when everything is dry, I put in it my tumble drier (except DH's work shirts and delicate stuff). After about 5 mins, start taking out T shirts etc one at a time and fold immediately when it is still warm. Nothing ever needs ironing plus it is very soft from the heat and Aldi's softener which I have found is the best.
Can't believe that I wrote all that....reading it back I look very organised but I'm not :)

Far too much washing here, toddler plus sporty children, towels, beds.If I ever move house I plan to have two washing machines. I do love the timer on mine so that washing can start at 6am

I do 7-10 loads a week. In summer I hang washing out and in winter I put washing on the radiators and I use a clothes airer on the landing.

Towels once a week, hand towels, tea towels and dishcloths every day and bedding every 2 weeks. DD3 wears a completely clean set of clothes every day.

I wash tons. I can't stand it building up, probably a phobic reaction to when my washing machine broke down once and I had to wait two weeks for a new one... horrendous.

I use aldi washing powder as its so cheap and works brilliantly. I was most things on a 40 degree wash, except bedding and towels they go on a 60 or 90 degree wash.

I tumble everything. I love my dryer! I never iron and just shake n fold!

Well. I've had no washing machine for about 2 months, and there is no space in my tiny house for a tumble dryer. And it has been mizzling ceaselessly for about a month here.

So....I'll do a wash in the bathtub 2/3 times a week. Can't wring it out as well as a spin cycle on the washing machine. Then it will sit on the line for frigging days not drying. Then I'll try hanging it up inside, but it won't dry because the heating's not on yet.

There's a huge backlog because I'm always waiting for the last load to dry before I wash the next one, and it just isn't happening at the moment.

(medieval emoticon)

On the plus side, I do have a new (reconditioned) washing machine arriving dreckly....

I've never had a tumble dryer and haven't really got room for one, so that's not an option. I do my washing first thing in the morning and unless it's raining or below 5c, it goes out for the day. If it needs to be in because of bad weather or hasn't tried, then it's on the airer and a couple of radiator airers I have. The main airer is kept in our living room as that's the warmest room in the house, but if I'm expecting visitors then I actually move it into our bedroom - bit of a pain carrying it upstairs though.

There are four of us usually, I wash mostly every day and as I don't have a tumble drier I hang out washing either on line outside or I have an undercover area at back of house so I hang there, use the undercover area more in winter.

I do put washing on airier and pop outside then bring in at night, I find this washing will dry of mostly outside and just air in the house.

I only iron a few things, most washing is folded and put straight away. We do have a lot of gym and sports wear that can't be ironed which is great, but needs sixty degree wash to get clean

I line dry all year round as long as its not raining. Even in December if its dry weather, the clothes will partially dry. I then bring in and finish off on indoor airers or over the radiators if the heating is on and its smallish stuff like tshirts/shirts.
I don't iron anything, if its been on the line it doesn't need it, just rub the peg marks away and I make sure if stuff's going on the airer or radiator, it is smoothed out first or folded and it dries crease-free.
I think the reason my stuff never needs ironing is that I don't over fill the washer. I do have a larger 7kg one though.

I tend to do a smallish wash most days, with big washes of towels and bed linen at weekends. I seldom hang my stuff up outside. We have a long bannister at the top of the stairs and nice stuff gets hung over that and is ironing dry if left overnight. I tumble dry the rest.

I don't use a tumble drier so everything goes outside to dry, or upstairs on airers (does anyone say 'clothes horse' anymore? ) My machine has a timer and I use that to good effect at weekends, but could do with getting into that more on weekdays - too often I end up doing a load at 9pm and then wearily putting it on radiators etc as I go to bed, whereas if I used the timer I could do that at 6pm.

I'm hopeless with our laundry - just thought I'd post to show not everyone is a domestic goddess!
We have a laundry basket on landing for essentials, otherwise everyone puts own stuff on (have teens/pre-teens now)
We put everything on same cycle, except recently I've started doing the occasional semi-white wash for DCs school shirts and fill up with other white stuff like some of our towels
Then I tend to put it in the tumble dryer, comes out looking fine, only iron on very special occasions.
People retrieve own clothes from utility room/conservatory and put away as desired!
I am aware that this isn't so great for the environment (regarding reliance on tumble dryer) so we do try and hang some things on the line during the summer months.
Socks are an on-going nightmare! I'm always buying new ones.

I live in a flat, i the summer is fine, put it on the balcony, winter is difficult, we have no dryer, so washing hangs everywhere. I have two teenagers who are responsible for their own washing, i will do it if they put it in the washing basket, the never do so leave it up to them, then they are have loads and its everywhere. Towels and sheets get washed once a week. I don't wash things like jeans or jumpers after one wear unless they smell or are stained. I log for a dryer or one of those heated dryers for the winter.

My routine is pretty much exactly as Lottie4 has described, except for the carrying upstairs bit as I live in a flat!

I certainly put shirts and school polo shirts in dryer for 5 mins just to get rid of the creases and avoid ironing
I like the idea of drying on line and finishing off in dryer - would that work well with say towels - I find they're too dry and hard if just dried outside on the line ?

If I let everyone do there own washing then there would be piles of dirty and they would wash one or two items at a time meaning large bills

Family of 5. I do 2 washes per day both quick ones on 30 for tshirt s school stuff etc. one load goes on line first thing in the morning and one load goes on the airer indoors. At tea time I either finish off in dryer or just fold if its dry already. No ironing except I do shirt for work for the next day. This routine takes about 10 minutes twice a day.

Towels, bedding and manky sports kit done on hotter washes on a Saturday then on line and airer til Sunday or til dry.

Use ultra cheap powder from a value or basics range, plus a nice smelling fabric softener just cos I like the smell!

Shake out and hang carefully and don't overload your washer or dryer and there's practically no ironing.

I do obsessively watch the weather forecast though so I can maximise outside drying time to save on energy bills!

Agree with ivy that its cheaper and more efficient if I organise the washing...I combine loads so that the washer is on efficiently (and hideous piles of moulding sports kit doesn't build up).

And def only wash stuff that's dirty...I check DS1 stuff before it goes in as he puts clean stuff back in the basket when he is 'tidying up'. I just refold and return. Also sometimes spot clean things that don't need an entire wash.

And even worse, sometimes frebreze things and hang them up for a bit of airing then give them back eg a clean tshirt unworn but left in a school bag for a day or two that has been deemed dirty by its owner.

Alldirections do you do a seperate was every day for the teatowels etc or in with normal clothes?

No tumble dryer here. i line dry at mo sometimes finsih the drying process by ironing. Cant wait for radiators to go on [sado emoticon] !

Laundry in our house is as follows: Usually 1-2 washes a day (depending on what carnage the kids have created) for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 year old and 6 week old)

We have 2 large airers and a tumble dryer. If weather is bad the wash goes in tumble drier. Non tumble dry items onto airers or large items onto aierers to try to cut down on cost of using tumble drier. If weather good (i.e. summer) then outside to dry on line or on airers. Dresses/shirts etc go straight onto hangers to dry to try do elminate creases so we don't have to iron unless necessary. No ironing in this house unless we have to be smart for work or going somewhere which requires us looking less creased. Airers are upstairs so if we have people over we have space and they don't have to put up with it.

Sheets/towels etc get washed once a week. Jeans etc definitely get lots of wear - not everything gets washed after one wear. However as I am covered in baby sick and poo etc at the moment there can be some fallout to the washer from that on more than one occasion a day

We just invested in the tumble drier and I love it. Makes clothes smell nicer - more clean clothes smell and really helps with all the small clothes being ready when we need them. That and the house not looking like a chinese laundry !

4 of us, I do a load every day, usually alternating between lights and darks. That way I can usually get it dry without building up.

In the summer I hang out. In the winter I tumble towels, flannels, t towels and put the rest it in the kitchen overnight in front of a dehumidifier. I don't tumble clothes as they shrink/ go square and we are all long and slim here and can't afford to lose the length in our clothes!

I iron, 30 mins once a week. Dp is a builder so I don't iron his work clothes!

how is everyone who dries on airers actually getting stuff dry? at the mo it is too dmap to hang outside but too warm for heating so stuff on airers takes days to dry and smells damp. i am really missing the hot summer!

We are lucky enough to have solar panels so we set the washing machine to run on a timer at mid day when we have ample free electricity.

Drying is on two airer frames in our attic room, lots of warmth from the sun most days, dead of winter it's sometimes on the radiators.

We try hard not to use any energy that we have to pay for (a tumble dryer is out - wears the clothes out early also)

I'm always bemused by people who do one or two loads A DAY. There's three of us, and we'll do three or four loads a week. And I'd do less, only DS's school uniform (he's only just started) needs washing after each wear, so I have to scrabble about looking for suitably coloured other items to wash.

Mind you, I save up sheets and towels and take them to the laundrette once a month for a service wash. £12, and they come back boil-washed, tumble-dried and folded up. Money well spent!