Laundry basket solutions? Fed up with it all over floor!

[Jemster]

Hi
I am sick of dh and ds 6, leaving clothes all over the place. I havd no clue what us clean or dirty and with a dd of 18 months too the washing piles seem endless and our upstairs is just a mess of clothes.
We have a plastic laundry bin which is in ds's bedroom which I don't really like but he has the biggest room. It is permanently stuffed with washing and then stuff is just piled on top! It's a mess and I want to sort it. When ds gets in bath he just drops his clothes on floor!

What laundry bin do you use and how can I get them to co-operate and get this under control? I work every morning so am always in a rush then so not the best time for me to be sorting washing.

I use the pop up bags you get - mine has handles so I can carry it.

One in every room - so (for me) one for DS, one for us, one in the bathroom.

I sort the washing every night (boring I know!) and as my washing machine has a timer, I either set it so it's done first thing when I wake, or when I get in from work.

DS is still too little to put his laundry away, but DH does his and I do mine - I bought folding crates from B&Q for this, so take it out, hang to dry, fold from line into relevant crate, put away or hand to DH.

We have one bin each for our own washing in our own rooms, plus a large laundry bin on the landing which is only for towels, sheets and hand washing.

The pop up bins with handles are a good idea. Just teach your son to put his washing in his bin. It sounds like you need more than one bin for the household.

Pop up ones are good for lack of space as you can collapse them when (if!) they are empty.
My dc have been putting their dirty clothes in the basket since they could walk, maybe race ds to get there if he's unwilling?

If my dp wasn't putting his stuff in the basket, I would tell him it won't be getting washed tbh.

stop doing your husband's washing until things improve. Explain he needs to set a better example. Once he does, then work on your son.

monkey see, monkey do, if you get my drift.

I have big drawstring bags hanging on the back of bedroom doors, each set has one for dark and one for white. everything goes in the bags then straight down for washing once full. no need to sort as it is already done

We have 3 baskets - one for DH and me, one each for the DSs. Oh, and a bucket in the bathroom for anything stinky/ damp.

If it's not in the right place, it doesn't get washed. (Still trying to train them on unbuttoning shirts etc!)

My stepmother had a chute built in to her linen cupboard on the landing that deposited laundry in utility room below. Novelty of chucking it down meant we did it! My fantasy house has a utility room between the kids bedrooms with washer dryer storage space and a balcony where I can hang out the clothes so nothing ever has to be downstairs ever.

Pop-up baskets in each bedroom here too. If you've got a bit of a backlog would it be worth planning a trip to the laundrette to get on top of things? You could take towels and bedding too and blitz the lot in the massive machines.

I have 2 of those big trug things on the landing. A full one is about a load so when it's full I wash it.

Rarely bother sorting lights/darks unless I know there a new things in and I use 30 with a shot of napisan.

No lids to faff about with and it's central so no excuse not to use it especially as if it doesn't go in, it doesn't get washed and easy to transport washing about in, wet or dry

BadRoly what is the trug thing? Where did you get it? Sounds ideal.

I have loads of baskets - some are the plastic bucket/trug ones and others the normal rectangular ones.

But there are too many. Ds and Dh have too many clothes....

Just one of those trug/bucket things you can get for gardening/storage etc from almost anyway where - they are round flexible plastic buckets usually in bright colours and in different sizes.

Not sure how to do a link on the phone app...

If you google 'plastic trug' it comes up with them! We had a cheap one from Asda or Tesco and the handle snapped but the 2 I've got now were a bit more expensive from a garden centre. I reckon they've been going for a good 4-5 years...

Oh and there are 6 of us. I found more baskets just led to a huge backlog.

This way I don't usually get too much overspill using the full trug straight into the wash method but I do tend to do a load of clothing everyday

Ah thanks yes I know what you mean

Yes full load a day here too but I'm sure most of it is my dh who puts things in wash that are not even dirty! I have asked him many times to check if things are actually dirty but he still does it. I feel like I am consumed by clothes everywhere in this house, and hardly any of them are mine!!

Jem my preteen dd has just started with putting clean-but-can't-be-arsed-to-put-it-away stuff in the wash basket.

That didn't go down well

Jem and whereisegg, if people can afford to have thinks in the laundry that don't need to be, I'd suggest there are too many clothes in circulation. I'd recommend a seasonal cull - unwanted stuff to charity, out of season stuff in vacuum storage bags and stored away well out of sight and mind. Either should be done with clean, dry clothes, so if you get lumbered with all the laundry, it's definitely in your power to spirit things away.

Totally agree with the posters who said that if your husband can't be arsed to put things in baskets, he can bloody well do his own laundry. Though, from experience, you'll then get annoyed at his martyrish attitude having done a wash, even though he only washed his own stuff. Sigh. Bt he definitely needs to sort it out. Your son is getting to the age where he could do with a bollocking for not putting his stuff in the basket, but ONLY if his dad is setting the example.