How much time every week should laundry really take?

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

I seem to spend hours every bloody week doing laundry. I am sure I must be doing it in a very ineffective manner.

We have 2 DC (6yo and 1yo). DC1 is in uniform every weekday. DS2 has some leaky nappies and still wears bibs due to messy eating and drooling, which creates extra washing.

I wash uniform every Friday night. I wash bedding every Sunday. I wash towels every 4 or 5 days. I do other washes as and when there is enough to wash, but I am guessing that our normal clothes give us about 6 or so washes a week. DH goes running twice a week, so there is sports kit from that.

All in all, a fair bit of washing. We have a fab washing machine and an even more fab tumble dryer. Our cleaner does all of our ironing on Wednesdays, so I always try and make sure that everything that needs to be ironed is washed and dry for then.

I just feel that I spend so much time every day gatherine washing, sorting it, putting the machine on, drying it (some things can't be tumbled dried, as I have found to my cost in the past, like DS1's pants always shrink, his tops and some canvas trousers do too; DS2's bibs are plastic backed and they shred in the dryer; anything with Lycra cannot go in etc) on the radiators or airer or in the dryer, sorting it into iron and non-iron in time for Wednesday, folding it all, putting it all away in the right places ...

I must do ten washes a week.

Is this normal, and am I moaning over something that every house experiences, or am I spending a disproportinate amount of time on it and making a meal of it?

[duchesse]

And next year when DD1 goes off to university, there will be even (ever?) fewer of us at home.

[duchesse]

I did another load of washing today, after the two earlier in the week to clear the sheets and towels from the guests. Will probably do another this weekend.

I've been thinking about this and I do think that having nobody in uniform at the moment helps. DS is at university (=no washing), DD1 is out of school so wears what she wants (unless she's at her hospital job), DD2 is at a no uniform no dress code 6th form, DD3 is at a primary with no uniform. So no awkward moments when something crucial is in the wash and the machine needs to be run whether there's a full load or not. I can afford to take the time to collect enough for a full load.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I very much doubt she does.

[PortofinoRevisited]

Bonsoir??? How does she have the time for 50 loads of washing?

[MrsDavidBowie]

3 washes a day on average here...2 adults and 2 teenagers.
I am ruthlessly organised....and iron once a week for max an hour

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I dont think bonsoir takes in laundry. She doesnt come across as if she needs the cash tbf

[PortofinoRevisited]

I can imagine 50 plus loads a week if you are taking in laundry/ironing for others, so that might be an explanation.

[PortofinoRevisited]

50 plus!!!! Who does that? The machine would never stop! I faint at the thought of utility bills.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I thought the 50+ wash comment was a joke. Unless you are one of the 16 kids and counting families you arent doing anywhere near 50 washes a week.

[SheherazadeSchadenfreude]

I don't understand how anyone can do 50+ washes a week - that's 10 washes a day, Monday to Friday. How are there enough hours in the day, for a start (unless they are all 15 minute quick washes)? Even taking into account things like muddy PE kit, you must have to have someone in the house with serious continence issues to do that many washes. There are four of us, and I don't think we do more than 10 washes - the DDs are weekly boarders and usually bring their clothes home for us to wash, since they had a few things ruined, so the machine is busy at the weekend, and maybe a couple of times a week.

[BeCool]

MrsT I've converted totally to using Method laundry liquid and have been able to always use a reduced time wash as a result.

Only 4 pumps of clothes wash per load (and I add soda crystals as we are in hard water area). So no need for all the rinsing of a full wash - less water used, less electricity used and our clothes etc are just as clean as using more washing product on a full wash so win-win!

And I live in a small flat with WM in kitchen so extra bonus of just having small refillable pump bottle of clothes wash - it is a revolution, and although it looks more expensive it actually isn't if you buy the refills. It works out very economically - a refill pack lasts me about 3 months so £14 for 3 months = £4.66 per month for clothes wash, and that is about 5 loads a week sometimes more (I have a bed wetter).

[susiey]

We have 6 people in our house 2 adults 4 kids I do about 4 sometimes 5 if bedding loads all on Saturday and then 2 midweek on a thurs usually a lights and coloured.

On sat I do 2-3 coloured, 1 lights , 1 white I find if I wash everyday I feel bogged down .
Also I find more 'grouping' can happen this way

It's only possible to wash like this due to tumble dryer !

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

Water consumption. Strangely enough I had just been looking into it as we just had water meter fitted.
According to Which WM vary tremendously in how much water they use (even new ones) but the average is 40l per wash. I worked out that if I did 20 loads per week at that rate my water bill related to laundry will be about £170 so I will monitor how much I do and will be delighted if I find out it is only 10 loads per week.
I got out my manual, and despite being a big WM it is new and efficient so about 40 litres per wash is right in my machine.

By contrast I am concerned about the shower. For anyone who is interested our shower more efficient than the average, it delivers 14l per minute. If there are 7 hours per week of showers that will cost a staggering £1,000 per year in water! So I am going to replace the shower head to a low flow one aiming for between 7 to 9 litres per minute (researching Now).
And at a very rough estimate it would be about £200 per year in electric to do 10 loads per week, mostly at 30-40. You can double that for 60C.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I have no drier and no washing line so everything goes on the airer in the hotpress with dehumidifier. Maybe if i had drier i would feel better about reducing temperature.

Am also wondering how people manage to stop whites going murky if they dont separate whites from colours? I tried colour catchers but they made no difference.

[PortofinoRevisited]

I tend to stick a load in in the morning, then transfer it to tumble drier when I get home from work. Dh irons his own stuff. I maybe spend an hour at the weekend doing clothes for dd and I. I stick something on the iPlayer whilst I am ironing. We have an upstairs laundry room so everything is contained within - and it means the ironing board remains up and in place all the time. Extra loads for bedding at the weekends.

[ZenGardener]

I don't separate washing but I wash at 30 degrees. Maybe that makes a difference. Honestly, nothing bad has ever happened. We just have Ikea towels. Whites come out white and darks come out dark. We haven't died from pants poisoning. Hanging it out in the sun kills off bacteria. If it is raining then I give it a 30 minute spin in the drier before hanging it up inside.

I do give any bad stains a quick spray before they go in the machine though. There is no way I'm digging through the dirty washing separating everything.

[Pinkandpurplehairedlady]

I do at least two loads a day. I have 2 mucky children who go through a couple of changes a day, plus mine and DH's clothes. There's normally one clothes wash and one misc wash of random things like throws, dogs bed etc.

On the weekends there will be more because that's when I change all the bedding and towels.

[Bonsoir]

Size definitely makes a difference - I have the Incredible Hulk x 3 to do laundry for

[weatherall]

We don't do separate bedding/towels washes.

If your DP is creating extra from his hobby part if that hobby should be the extra laundry!

Stop ironing.

The only white clothes we have are school shirts.

I don't buy things that can't go in the dryer so everything else goes in together.

I honestly don't know how many loads per week for 4 of us as it's DP who does it.

[duchesse]

Have to say we are all perfectly clean. But also not very large- even the teenaged DDs are only a size 6/8.

[JonathanGirl]

I do loads of loads but it doesn't take that long, surely it is the washing machine doing everything, you can just put your feet up while it sloshes and spins?

I have a compartmentalised laundry basket next to the washing machine.

So - scoop out the contents of a full compartment and bung in the machine, add powder and softener, press "on", then "start" - 15 seconds.

When it has finished, wander back, shove clean washing into basket, hang on airer outside back door -10 minutes, if I am bothering to hang socks in pairs.

When it is dry, toss all non-iron stuff into basket, give to dd to put away in drawers - 1 minute.

Put stuff needing ironing into ironing basket - 1 minute.

Once or twice a week, tackle ironing mountain - 1 or 2 hours - it's the ironing that takes all the time.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

The high temp stuff is all stuff that doesnt matter if it fades, towels and bedding, dog stuff and mops etc. the only thing i noticed that shrinks are the white school polo shirts and they are so hard to keep white that i have to replace every few months anyway so shrinkage isnt an issue.

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

rivertam i always washed everything daily and them i joined MN and moneysaving expert and tried getting more use out of everything. Tbh i just didnt feel clean putting on already worn clothes after drying with an already used towel. Also the dcs uniforms were always dirtier than a spot clean could deal with. plus, the dog hair gets on everything. he walks past you and you get a big swipe of hair across your legs or slobber on your knee so its just better in my head to know everything is fresh on every day. especially for the dcs going to school. I persevered with it for about a year so did give it a real try but it just isnt for us.

[MrsTaraPlumbing]

YoureBeingASillyBilly at those high temperatures do you not have a problem with colours fading and cottons shrinking? Or do you not buy cotton?
With washing at a low temperature my clothes last for a long time, I hate shopping! :)

[YoureBeingASillyBilly]

I also only take 5 minutes to hang an 8k load onto the airer. Am baffled by 20 minutes!