How many loads of washing do you do a day?

[LadySlatternly]

I am a Mum of two young girls, with a husband who works away during the week and brings home minimal laundry but creates a bit when home! (Running gear etc).

He says I make my life harder than need be by doing too much laundry.

I wash beds once a week (unless girls wet the bed), towels about the same, or twice a week but bath mats and hand towels more...girls uniforms daily. I do, on average, 2 loads of laundry (big machine though) a day. Often more though if blankets or sofa covers need doing.

How much do you do? Trivial issue but bugging me as my husband constantly bangs on about it.

I do loads of laundry by the way but the house is in perpetual chaos and mess!!!

One or two. I don't have a tumble dryer or it'd probably be three. There's 3 of us here but it builds up quickly!

Really, really don't understand why it's necessary to wash towels after one use. Surely our bodies are clean when we use them? We have individual towels for our family of 5 which I think is more hygienic. I only wash them once a week or even less often, depending on the weather. Also am curious about washing swimming kit? Does that mean putting swimsuits in the wash, as we rinse ours in the sink in plain water and drip dry. I don't wash a 'swimming' towel each week, unless it is obviously dirty. Btw, we are on a water meter which is horrifically expensive for a family, however that is not my motivation.
I change the bedding every fortnight, as I don't have a tumble dryer and it's difficult to get stuff dry at the moment. We all have clean undies and shirts each day but anything else is worn to death. We all shower/bathe every day and still have a few friends left.

I wash the swimming kit + towels after every swim (with just a touch of laundry liquid) because they drop the towels on the skanky changing room floor.

Girlsbrigade - I hardly ever wash my bath towel for the reason you have described ie I use it after I have showered! I sniff it regularly to make sure. We all have our own towels - DH likes a clean one about once a week and DSs when they remember. I think some people like to generate work for themselves and/or are obsessed with germs.

Argy - I sniff too! Agree people do make too much work for themselves; I used to be very fussy about washing clothes when my dcs were little but nowadays I focus my household tasks on keeping the home looking nice and tidy.
Meglet - i would definitely wash a dirty swimming towel, but I was told once that I shouldn't wash swimsuits with detergents as it affects the fabric? (Although they never last long anyway).

I wash all our bath towels about once a week - 10 days. We all have our own towels (different colours) and they are carefully hung up to dry on those over radiator hangers in the bedrooms. They are perfectly clean and fluffy after a week.

There are about 10,000 thing I could list that I would sooner do than wash bath towels after every use.

We wash our swim stuff on the 15c cycle, with no detergent. Gets everything good as new.

I put my swimming costume in a sinkful of cold water for half an hour or so - have done for about 20 years. Seems fine, costume doesn't smell or degrade. Swimming towels I agree on washing straight away as I always stand on my towel when I'm getting dressed and changing room floors are rank. But my own house isn't!

We use bath towels for swimming, so use the towel all week, then take it to swimming lesson and get a clean one that night for shower. I don't send clean towels to the swimming pool so they can get dirty in 5 minutes. The effort involved in me putting it in the machine, getting it out again, putting it on the airer and folding it once dry would take longer than the amount of time it was being used. So they get used all week before swimming and then I don't mind the effort.

I do wonder if some people who wash three times a day only have small machines, 5-6kg type ones? If they had a 9-12kg drum they could cut down the amount of washing loads they do each week. It is an unfair comparison unless everyone has the same size appliance.

dc's swim stuff gets a quick rinse+spin after lessons. a short gentle wash with shampoo at half term.

About 3 loads a day. Family of 5, incl 2 teens.
Weekly..bedding...will be 4 loads to do it all.
Towels and nightwear...twice a week.
Uniform...daily (except blazers)
Underwear, socks, t shirts, vests, DH shirts...after 1 wear, so daily really.
Jeans, other trousers, skirts.... Weekly.

Kids all really mucky little tykes though...paint, glue, mud, food, pen...covered in it every day, always have been.

Line dry whenever possible (I even got,some done today between showers), clothes horse, radiators, airing cupboard for the rest. Tumble dry only if desperate (tight budget).

I have 4 DC's plus me in the house. Bedding gets washed once a week, 5 beds, so 5 loads. Towels I have around 3 loads a week, so that makes 8 loads.

I have around 3 dark loads a week, that makes 11 loads. 3 light loads, that's 14 loads. Then 3 bright coloureds loads, that's 17 loads.

Plus each weekend, I wash 1 curtain load as well, that's 18 loads, plus coats and blazers and hats/gloves/scarves is another load, so 19 loads, then a fleecy blanket load makes 20.

So 20 loads a week. And my loads are BIG loads - I have a 9kg washing machine, and only ever run it when it's got a full load in.

Anyone doing the amount of washing I'm doing in a 5.5kg capacity washing machine would be doing closer to 35+ loads a week. Hence having a huge washing machine!!

It gets more, just MORE when you have 3 adult height DC's! Only. 3yo DS3 is shorter than 5ft now. Big clothes take up more room in the washing machine, so less clothes fit in each wash!

And they require larger towels too - you can't wrap an ordinary child size towel round someone over 5ft tall, you need bath sheets. Which you can fit less of in the machine...

Then there's the fact that once they are teens, their school uniform gets sweaty, especially after PE, and it SMELLS, so they have to have clean sets every day.

I didn't get through half this amount when they were younger and shorter, with smaller clothes and towels!

And yes, I'm on a water meter. I spend £27 a month on my water. If it goes over £30, I'll have to try to cut down on washing as I can't cut water use any further in any other area.

Washer is AA rated though, and I seem to spend far less on water than those in the same area with smaller families. I'm STILL saving money on a water meter - was paying £40 a month on rateable value 10 years ago in a property half the size and 3 council tax bands lower.

On rateable value for my property, I would be paying £70 a month. I'm spending less than 30, even with the frankly horrifying amounts of washing I need to do.

(Btw 3 of my DC's have SN's, and get generally messier, so get through more clothing, and aren't all fully clean and dry either, so more washing generated.)

People must just have too much time in their hands

"Plus each weekend, I wash 1 curtain load as well, that's 18 loads, plus coats and blazers and hats/gloves/scarves is another load, so 19 loads, then a fleecy blanket load makes 20."

Why do you feel the need to wash these so frequently?

DD's blazer gets washed every half term, PE kit every fortnight, curtains once in a blue moon. You are just making work for yourself.

Hula... I truly only do stuff when it's dirty. I've got two teens (hormonal, sporty, and therefore muddy/whiffy) and younger ones who are still at the very messy stage.

I put on two quick washes (30 mins, 30 degrees) every evening, hang out on clothes horse and rads overnight. Or peg out on line if next day forecast to be fine (not lately!). One quick wash put on in morning when get up, hang out on clothes horse whilst doing breakfast.

Is all very quick part of the routine, same as loading/unloading dishwasher.

Bun baker - curtains because DS3 gets grotty marks all over them, blankets because they get sweaty (and start to smell), blazers get messy with spilt food (like I said, physical disabilities = messy eating...).

Not sure why you wouldn't wash food or snot covered curtains and blazers, or stinky blankets...

I would get rid of the curtains tbh and replace with wipeable stuff, like blinds or shutters.

Sorry Couthy I must have missed something in one of your previous posts. We are a pretty clean and not very sweaty family so we don't have huge amounts of washing to do.

I'm a bit puzzled by the sweaty blankets though. Don't you use sheets?

2 sometimes 3
5 of us.

Six of us in the house, two adults and four teenagers. I do 5 or 6 loads of washing a day in a 8kg/1600wpm machine. Kids have clean shirts/blouses for school everyday and they wear a t-shirt underneath which is changed daily as well. They have trousers and skirts and they have two of each which they rotate. Blazers are washed every Friday. PE kit currently washed after every use as they are currently doing rugby, hockey and football, so it is filthy after every lesson. Eldest is at college and he wears clean shirt and t shirt everyday as well. Two of the children are in cadets and their uniform is washed twice a week, they also do sports/camps with cadets which is more kit if they are competing (about every 8 weeks). OH wears chinos or jeans with a blazer and shirt (a la Jeremy Clarkson) and he has clean shirt and trousers daily. He is also in the TA and if has a week or weekend away with them he will easily come back with three or four loads. We all shower everyday with clean towels and I change bedding at least twice a week.

I have a tumble dryer but I only use it for a fraction of the washing, mostly towels and bedding. I hang all bras in the airing cupboard, combats will dry over a door in a couple of hours, ditto school uniform.

I am almost to scared to admit to you that I love ironing and iron everything, bedding, towels, tea towels, socks....

Have been keeping a list of when and what I've washed (started it on the 6th February) as I realised I didn't know exactly how often I did washing.

Since 6th I have done 6 loads of washing. Two lights, one dark, two brights and one mixed brights/darks. Granted we don't wash towels after one use and sheets stay on for up to a few weeks tbh and there's only one adult and two children, but I really can't understand 5 or 6 loads a day. We just don't have that many clothes I don't think.