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Original poster

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.