Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

How many loads of washing do you do a day?

152 replies

LadySlatternly · 05/02/2014 21:06

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!!!

OP posts:
lottieandmia · 26/02/2014 10:41

I have 3 children and I do 2 or 3 loads a day.

Forago · 26/02/2014 10:43

3 dc and I reckon I do one load of washing and tumble dry a day - averaged out. I sometimes don't do any in the week though and do 6 or 7 at the weekend.

lottieandmia · 26/02/2014 10:48

It's all very well to say it's a waste of energy and there's no need to wash so much but at the end of the day, if it's dirty it's dirty. I have a 4 year old who gets food on her uniform and a disabled child who also gets food down herself. I don't want them going to school in dirty clothes.

Forago · 26/02/2014 11:14

I also wash the cushion covers, bedclothes, towels, bathmats, cats mats, dish cloths etc once a week as I like my house to smell clean and fresh.

Forago · 26/02/2014 11:15

oh yes and PE/football kits - sometimes twice a week esp in current weather - I really don't see how you can avoid all this and still have clean children/house

BertieBottsJustGotMarried · 26/02/2014 11:17

I have one child and do less than one load a day.

mcgilly · 26/02/2014 11:29

2 adults and 3 DC and I try to stick to one big load and one small load a day, with a couple of days off a week.
I could do more as clean clothes are one of the nicest simple pleasures in life ... I love clean towels and sheets.

MewlingQuim · 26/02/2014 11:42

2 adults, one 2 year old in cloth nappies, 7kg drum.

1 load every other day, so 3 or 4 a week.

Soon dd will be out of nappies so it will be less, hurrah!

Shocking amount of energy use by some people.

Indith · 26/02/2014 11:53

2 adults, 2 at school, 1 toddler. Weekly I do roughly:

Nappies- once a week as the CM washes at her house. When not at CM then every other day.

1/2 loads sports gear. Ds1 and dd play rugby, dh coaches rugby and rows.

1 load of whites- school shirts and whatever else there is.

2 loads darks.

1 load brights- red school jumpers.

1 load others- mixed stuff, brown stuff, stuff that overflows from darks because most of our stuff is dark.

Bedding- 2 and a half loads (1 king size bed and 3 singles). Aim for fortnightly so I can alternate weekly between our bed and the dcs'.

Towels.

My uniforms which need to be washed separately (H&S) and helpfully consist of black trousers and white tunics so have to go through as 2 washes.

Smalls- pants, socks, vests

Delicates on an as needed basis so not every week.

Nothing goes in the wash unless dirty. I have no shame and merrily sniff the crotch of ds1's trousers and armpits of dh's and my tops and jumpers. Uniform is made to last as long as possible.

Forago · 26/02/2014 12:00

Mewling - until she goes to Nursery or school that is - then it will be more.

ZingSweetMango · 26/02/2014 12:16

2 adults, 6 kids (4 are school aged, 2 in nappies)

I do about 2 loads a day in average. if I skip a day it piles up.

mamawolf52 · 12/03/2015 13:27

My husband thinks 4 washes a week is too much. is it?
p.s. these are personal washes, i'm not including his or the kids...

freshstart24 · 12/03/2015 13:49

I'm sure constant washing makes clothes wear out faster. I'm careful with clothes that I love, and don't wash them unless they need it. Does anyone else try to preserve their clothes this way?

MummyDuckAndDuckling · 14/03/2015 08:46

Only me and 3 yo dd. Try to do only a few loads a week. I change and wash my bedding one weekend then the following weekend I do hers. Towels are every fortnight. I do dd laundry basket usually on a Friday night and mine usually on a Saturday and Wednesday. Like to have everything washed and dry so I can iron on a Sunday evening. I like to know everything is clean and away for the week ahead!

dementedma · 14/03/2015 08:57

PJs and towels after one use is beyond my comprehension. I dont have the time.

Now dcs are older I probably do 3 loads a week.

PowderMum · 14/03/2015 09:12

I am again surprised at the amount if washing fellow mumsneters can do on a daily basis.
I rarely wash during the week as I Dont need to, at the weekend I will have a towel load or 2, a bedding load, then a couple of darks and a light or the other way round and the a delicates.
This is for 2 adults and 2 teens.
I only wash clothes when they need it and towels and bedding don't need to be changed daily.
Life is too short to wash after one use.

CoolCadbury · 14/03/2015 09:22

Crikey! Some of you seem to do loads.

3 of us. Everything (inc swimming kits) gets bunged in at 30C apart from tea towels, towels and bedding, which goes in at 60C. About 2/3 lots of dark loads, 1 lot of light/white load and 1 lot of bedding and towels a week. I change bedding every two weeks so 1 week I do ours, and the next I do DS's.

Why are people doing their swim/gym kit separately? Bung it in with the rest of the stuff. I could have started a wash last night but will wait until after swimming today as I can bung the swim stuff in with it.

Winter stuff - coats cleaned at the end of the season, hats, gloves, scarves I wash mid season and the end of the season.

thenextday · 14/03/2015 09:32

Two loads a day here ..sometimes more.

Missqwerty · 19/03/2015 14:59

One load a day, I usually alternate between darks and lights. Towels once a week and as much as I hate to admit it the bedding gets done every few weeksBlush

Then there is the extra jobs like curtains which I wash yearly. The sofa covers go through maybe every 3 months and the bath mat and shower curtain as and when.

If I'm honest I could cut down, PJs are usually worn only once due to tooth paste and breakfast, school uniform is only usually warn once too.

Nr1LadiesDefectiveAgency · 06/04/2015 20:34

i hate. hate. HATE doing laundry.
i thought machine capacity was key...mine's a 12 kg.then i found that if i wanted to make sure nothing was ever sitting around dirty in our home, i would have to wash at least one machine load full per day.
and nothing ever dries overnight here - even in summer.
that's alot of laundry!!
so - i don't do it. laundry is done on an as needed basis in our home...

Wine
LBOCS · 07/04/2015 00:01

I think I must have very low standards. We do either 4 or 5 loads a week, all at the weekend. 2x darks, 1x lights (mostly shirts), 1x towels, and every second week, 1x bedding. Works for me (although it doesn't prevent my kitchen from looking like a laundromat).

blackheartsgirl · 10/04/2015 21:16

I change up to 36 beds a day in work and there's no way I'm doing mine every weekShock every six week is the norm here Blush . I've been known keep mine on for 3 months Shock

towels once a week and I do 2 or 3 loads a day, family of six which increases to 8 in the holidays. its a nightmare and we have a big machine too

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 10/04/2015 21:19

Probably 5 a week.

Lots of sport
Lots of towels
Lots of bedding (once a week for DH and my bed, once a fortnight for children's beds)

SqueezyCheeseWeasel · 10/04/2015 21:21

When I say 'lots of towels', I mean bathroom towels & gym towels.

museumum · 10/04/2015 21:26

About three-four loads a week. Toddler ds is the only one who gets totally fresh outfits every day but his clothes are tiny and a whole week of his clothes easily go in a load.
Towels and sheets go in together.
Darks.
Lights not every week.

Swipe left for the next trending thread