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 have just googled and apparently it costs between 30 and 50p an hour to run a tumble dryer. Personally I am quite happy to pay a few pounds a week to have the house not draped in damp washing.

my point is that even if something does need washing after one wear, it will still be OK if left in the laundry basket for a day or two before washing (i agree, certain soilings need washing out sooner, but then i would soak in a bowl first and wait for main wash)...

I don't wash every day because I feel washing needs doing immediately, I do so because we create about 6 loads of laundry (for or small machine, including bedding and towels) and its easier if I stay on top of it.

Yes, yickety. I always wait for a full load before I wash stuff. It's just that it takes about 2 days max in my house to make up a full load of any type.

I wash pretty much every day, but only if there is enough of whichever colour to get a full load (and my machine takes 7kg). My friend has a thing about the washing basket being completely empty so he often does half a load. I let mine build up to a decent amount. I don't think my three baskets have ever all been empty at the same time.

I am more intrigued by a family of four doing 3 to 4 washes a week, including towels and bedding. Surely your bedding would take one load, your towels another. So the four of you only generate 1 or 2 loads of clothes a week?

Moomin, yes bedding, towels, one pale, one dark. Sometimes I leave the bedding 2 weeks between washing. We don't have many white things between us so don't do whites very often. (It does work, and we don't smell, honest!) Of course I do the occasional extra wash when needed, but that's on average.

I wash every day as I have a baby and toddler in reusable nappies. The whites go in with the nappies (please give me your best horrified look ). Plus a separate dark wash a week. I only tumble dry sheets as don't have anywhere to put them. The rest of the laundry is on two airers and a maiden.

I can't WAIT for both kids to be out of nappies so I can go back to my lazy ways of 2-3 washes a week!

sorry to interject in a nice thread about washing, but it made me sad to read about all of this tumble dryer usage. Tumble dryers are one of the most environmentally unfriendly appliances out there - and they're not good for your clothes in any case. i have two small children and live in a small london house and still manage to air dry all of our clothes - often overnight when guests and visitors are gone! My advice is just to stop using the tumble dryer - and definitely don't replace a broken one. You will be surprised at how easy it is when there is no other option and it saves you money too!
www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2008/may/02/treadlightlyswitchofftumbl

oh - and rreow - i used cloth nappies too - and i agree! it does make such a difference when kids are out of nappies and have been weaned. washing drops dramatically!

I have a washer dryer but only use the dryer setting if there's a big backlog, and I set the timer to run overnight so I can use Economy 7. Too much tumble drying is environmental vandalism!

In the winter I do a load in the evening, hang it up overnight in the study and put it away in the morning. In summer I do the wash overnight, hang in morning outside and put away in the evening. I probably do 3-4 loads a week and we change the sheets once a week.

As for ironing, I'd prefer not to bother. DH doesn't care but I will occasionally iron shirts and dresses if I'm feeling posh.

I do a mixed wash usually and dose DH's gym kit with Napisan as it gets the armpit stink out - I reasoned if it got the smell of stale wee out of DD's nappies (she's out of them now thank goodness) it would work on armpit. And it does.

Don't wash after every wear.

I do about 9 loads a week ( whites, colours or black) on quick 30 minute wash. I dry on a clothes horse in the garden or on clothes horse in the utility room and finish it of in airing cupboard. I have a dryer which I only use in emergency such as chid sick all over the bedding. I never ever iron. I dry DH's work shirts on hangers on the clothes horse. I think the thing to avoid ironing is to take washing out of the machine as soon as it's finished and hang it to dry straight away. I absolutely hate laundry.

Here in the US gas dryers are very common. We have one and while it cost $100 more we have more than saved that with usage costs.

1789 I find those sorts of articles to be misleading. I would think it is far better for a family to use a tumble dryer than to use a drycleaner. Also, my Dad reuses the water from his dryer to water the plants. The hot air is blown into the heating vents during the cold months so helps heat the house.

I do between 10 and 15 washes a week and everything goes in the tumble drier. Very un-environmentally friendly I know!

I have a strict washing schedule, there are 3 of us and I do 5 loads per week:

Monday: multicoloured wash
Tuesday: towels
Wednesday: whites (the day/wash letter matching runs out here)
Thursday: multicoloured
Friday: bedding

I put a wash on first thing, about 6:15, and it's ready to go on the line 55 minutes later. If it's wet, it goes on the Sheila-Maid ceiling dryer-rack in the utility room.

Tumble dryer only as an absolute last resort (too expensive, I reckon about 50-75p per load, which doesn't sound much, but add it up over a year and it's a huge amount)

I only ever use the 30 degree, 28 minute cycle probably 8 times a week.

I do use the tumble as I find it much easier, and I don't have a washing line.

I'm shocked to find out how expensive the tumble dryer costs

sheets dried over (open) doors. they dry in no time.

smalls in airing cupboard on a flat clothes horse wedged in the doorway (if that makes sense).

clothes that hang, i put on hangers and hang on small clothes horse i got from ikea. its brilliant and compact. clothes dry quicker when ready hanged and can then go staright back in wardrobe after (barring any ironing).

some on hangers on curtain rail and slightly open window to dry.

in midwinter those little rail hook things you hook onto radiators.

30 minute cycle, 30 degrees and line dry. Probably 4-5 loads a week (2 adults, 3 year old, 7 year old) I only tumble if it hasn't dried on the line (its windy in the SE). Got a covered rotary drier though so clothes can stay out for days until they are dried or we need them. I love the fact we didn't need to plug the tumble drier in between may and September thus year. A great drying summer !

How on earth did we get to a situation where people with dc are talking about needing to do so much washing? The point of washing machines was surely to save time and effort compared to the once a week hard work of washing everything by hand? Have we switched the hard slog of a Monday morning to a constant daily task of washing to be sorted?

When I was a child in the 1960s/70s my mum did washing every Monday for our family of 3 dc and 2 adults. I suppose it would have been the equivalent of one modern machine load and probably took my mum a few hours. It was then spin dried and hung on an airer for a day or so. Most of it got ironed too, excluding sheets and underwear. So it was a few hours washing and a few hours ironing. The rest of the week there was no washing done. When I was about 10 my mum started doing a weekly trip to the launderette instead as it was easier, but again it would have been one or maybe two loads.

Absolutely everything goes on the line, we have no way of drying anything in the house.
I wash when it is dry/looks like it will be dry. Luckily my work trousers will dry overnight hanging over my wardrobe door as I need to wash and wear them the next day.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but the Lakeland heated airers are just as effective as a tumble drier if used overnight and are supposed to be cheaper to run.

I'm quite pleased if a load in the tumble dryer is 50p-75p, seems well worth it to me for less hassle and less creases, but I know it's bad for the environment - that concerns me more. I love my dryer too much

Well that's the daily grind over: made tea, had shwr, dressed for work, dropped dd at bus stop, one load of washing in at 40, one load out of the tumbler, ironing in the ironing pile, put aways in the put away pile, and another load in the tumbler (not forgetting the dishwasher). Just got the slap to slap on and then I'm off to the resting job

Jan49 I suppose that people have a lot more clothes these days.When I was growing up,clothes were expensive and were bought because they were needed,not because they were wanted .We've created more work for ourselves.

I get really pissed off when people get all uppity about tumble dryer use (only one person on this thread that i'm talking about btw). Not all of us want or need to dry every single item of washing in the house.

It's not good for damp/condensation to have 5 or 6 loads of washing drying about the house. I don't want to live in a house that permanently has washing hanging around drying. And also, if I was to hang my washing out overnight, it would not be dry by the morning. Sheets and shirts maybe, but not anything thicker than cotton. Unless I had the heating on 24 hours a day which obviously has a different environmental impact.

Each to their own I say, there are more things to get upset about than a bit of autumn/winter tumble dryer usage.