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?

why do you need to wash bedding that often, especially in winter - are you and your DC super-sweaty? Or you and DH shagtastic and it's damp patches a-go-go? Because I can't imagine why it would need cleaning that frequently.

Again, towels - every couple of weeks?

DH runs and he has 2 sets of running gear so that only gets washed once a week. We have enough clothes to last at least a week, plus we also wear quite a lot of things more than once!

I cannot bring myself to become a martyr to laundry. I think maybe 3-4 washes a week (there's 3 of us). But I realise I am a slattern in MN standards - we all wear the same nightwear for a week, for example, unless it's been very hot.

Growing up (4 of us, 2 adults, 2 children) my mum did 4 washes a week (lights, darks, delicates, towels). Bedding was done once a month.

I do washing every day. 10 loads a week doesn't sound excessive.

I think your problem is with purchasing as far as dc1 is concerned. All of a 6yo boy's clothes should be able to go in the tumble dryer and not shrink. Don't buy things that aren't tumble dry able and also buy pants that don't shrink in there. Only a small number of his things shouldn't be tumbled, eg waterproof cagoul.

I think another problem is collection of laundry. It should be taken off and put in a washing basket unless you are going to put it straight into the machine.

i probably do 5 or 6 washes per week

my bedlinen is washed weekly - one wash
the dds' bedlinen I only do 2-3weekly - they are at the glorious phase of being small and unsweaty, yet continent, so that's plenty for them
towels changed twice in a week = one wash
I wear a lot of wool, so there's a delicates wash
then 2-3 general washes. i don't sort lights from darks, and my whites are no more faded than the next person.

no tumble drier, so we try to line dry as much as possible. we don't iron much. DH does all his work stuff and school uniform, I do my work stuff. casual stuff for both us and the dc is generally not ironed.

Laundry got easier for me like this:

Everyone having one IKEA laundry basket with two sections like this (also comes in white).

Use one side for white and one for dark.

As a routine at the same time of day see if you have enough to make a load.

Use IKEA blue bags to cart laundry around.

2 adults + 2 small(ish) dc
7kg washer

3-4 loads a week, no ironing.
stuff is sorted by colour (dark and light) and shoved in whenever there is enough for one load.
bedding fridays (nothing nicer than fresh bedding for the weekend)
no ironing
and also: dh puts a wash on/hangs up/folds and puts away.

15 mins twice a week for five loads? That would take me way longer.

I feel your pain OP - it seems to take me forever too. I don't do ironing and obviously the actual putting the washing in the machine and turning it on doesn't take much time. The hanging out and taking down takes a bit of time but the putting away takes forever! I always end up with a huge bag for my DDs' room and it probably takes most of an hour to put it away. I know - what's wrong with me! - but it does. All the sorting into whose stuff is whose and folding into tiny piles and putting in a million different places. I also feel that I must be doing something wrong!

Yes I agree that there shouldn't be a need to gather washing - isn't it already in the washing basket? I don't wash things like uniform separately either - I just grab whatever is in the basket and as long as I'm doing a wash every day there will be clean uniform. I separate them but that doesn't take time . I just grab dark stuff and the next time grab white stuff.

Just can't wait till children are old enough to put their one clothes away (I know they won't)

To answer your question though - I feel like it should take about an hour a week but realistically it probably takes four.

I have 5 laundry baskets and take the stuff off the line straight into the right basket. Put basket in right room. DCs put away. (Or not and just rummage for their clean stuff each morning...)

river yes sweaty teen boys does account for a lot of the washing.

Polyester - I don't hang washing, it goes in washer dryer dirty and comes out clean and dry. The only load I don't would be delicate wash. So it's just quick fold, and away.

We also have three washing baskets- lights, regular and delicates. So everything is already sorted before it comes to washing.

We wash bedding and towels weekly

But stuff like jeans/ jumpers/ outerwear etc get worn more than once if not dirty.

I agree that divided dirty washing baskets are a godsend. Ours has 3 sections for whites/darks/colours. We also have another basket on the landing for bedding and towels and I tend to put delicates in there until I'm ready to wash them too.

I have a very loose schedule for washing as follows:
Monday - 1 load each dark/colours/whites
Tuesday - bedding
Wednesday - towels
Thursday - delicates or random stuff that needs doing
Friday - school uniforms

I never exactly keep to this but somehow knowing roughly where I am up to stops it feeling out of control. We have quite a lot of washing thanks to swimming lessons and football kits etc. I keep it down as much as possible by encouraging everyone to rewear non dirty stuff; washing our bedding and the dcs' on alternate weeks. Have pretty much given up ironing.

The other key thing for me was reading on UYH about how laundry has 3 stages: wash it. dry it. PUT IT AWAY. I was always rubbish at the last bit - so now whenever I hang up a load I also make sure I put away any dry stuff. Stupidly simple but strangely effective!

Never ending or beginning like an ever spinning reel, the washing keeps returning to the basket in the hall.

I hate laundry!

Am I the only person who doesn't separate lights and darks?

The only separation here is between 90 degrees (towels and sheets) and 40/60 (all our clothes). I wash all colours together -- I would wash whites separately but we don't really have any. In 20 years I have never had any issues with not separating lights and darks.

I have a laundry pile for each category and whenever either is full, I chuck it in. If it's not in the pile, it doesn't get washed.

I don't think I spend more than an hour a week on laundry. Even that seems like too long. I so wish for a tumble dryer.

Should I be ? I wash bedding every fortnight. Towels every week. Baby clothes get worn once and then washed, but DS (8) and DD (6) wear their uniform for a week before I wash it (except polo shirts are changed daily and if any visible dirt or strange smells on other items, of course they'll get washed). I do 5-7 wash loads a week. There are 5 of us in the family

it takes probably an hour in total each wash day

dreaming - depends what detergent you use, I think. Dsis doesn't separate, she doesn't have enough lights I think, but comparing Dniece's and DD's exact same white tops, hers are definitely greyer.

We have enough for both so it makes sense to divide, and I wash with Fairy as anything else brings up DD's eczema, apart from mine/DH's towels and tea towels which I do at 95 with Persil bio (to clean the machine at the same time).

Purple - but the OP doesn't have sweaty teens so I still don't get why bedding needs to be washed that much in winter. I think some people (not the OP specifically or exclusively) have rather skewed ideas about cleanliness and hygiene, resulting in doing a lot of laundry (and housework in general) which really isn't necessary!

I've seen the slogan 'if it isn't dirty wash at 30' - err, if it isn't dirty, don't wash it at all!

Oh that's interesting River I've always used sensitive detergents due to skin issues, maybe that helps

I totally agree with you that things don't need to be washed as often as people think. I still have a bunch of clothes from 15-20 years ago that are in fine shape, I think in large part because I don't overwash them.

I do a similar amount of laundry to you, but it takes very little time. I have A System. It will sound rather laboured when I describe it, but it means that it's all very efficient and quick.

We have a very vertical house, with washing machine & dryer in the basement. Also in the basement are four large laundry bins ('Towels/bedding', 'Colours', 'Whites', 'Delicates'). We also have several plastic garden trugs (sort of squashable buckets) that we use to transport laundry about).

1. Every night at kids bathtime, one bucket is in the corner - all kids put all clothes in it as they get undressed. After their bath, bucket moves to mine & DH's bedroom - we add our dirty clothes to it later that night / next morning, and move bucket down to ground floor.

1. In the morning, kids get dressed on ground floor (I put out their clean clothes the night before) and drop their pyjamas in the bucket (I wash them every day as they wear them while slopping eating breakfast). While kids get shoes & coats on, I take bucket down to basement and sort clothes into the four laundry bins - takes 2 mins. Then I put a wash on - from whichever laundry bin is fullest.

1. On return from morning school run, I move washing to tumble-dryer/hang out as appropriate.

1. On return from afternoon school run, I fold the dry washing into plastic buckets while kids run wild take off shoes & coats. One bucket for DH and I, one bucket for kids, just drop the items into the right one as I fold. Then I leave the buckets on the stairs.

1. At kids bathtime, I take buckets up with me, deposit our one on my/DH's bed, and put away the kids clothes (in their wardrobes, or on to the 'ironing pile') while DH does their bath.

1. When I come down from saying goodnight to kids, DH has put away his laundry from the bucket on our bed and left mine - I quickly put mine away.

This sounds really laborious, but it's really not. It means there's no faffing about looking for laundry, collecting it etc. No extra journeys, each stage gets done while something else is being done. And it means that kids/DH can do their share of the work, because when they see a bucket in a certain position, they know what it means ('carry up/down stairs', 'put clothes/pyjamas in' etc.)

Driven - that's sounds like a lot of washing though. Ie clothes from us and pjs wouldn't fill washing machine daily.

Adults - wear no pjs
Kids - wear pjs prob 3 days at a time. They have. A bath before bed so clean before wearing and they hardly get dirty in bed

If we all wore say jeans, long sleeve top/ shirt and jumper. Then that day only long sleeve top and underwear would get washed probably. Jumper and jeans reworn.

So at the end of day there could be max 4 tops, 4 pants, 4 sock pairs in wash. Maybe odd other thing.

I do think whites need to be washed seperatley though, otherwise they always look greyer

OP it might help to get DH to put his sports kit straight into the machine, make up the wash with a few bits from the basket and set it going. Also could you align washing and ironing a bit more? We wash uniform Fri night, it's ironed Sun night, ready for Mon morning. If you are washing on Fri and DC can't wear it until the following Thur (assuming you iron uniform?) you need nearly 2 weeks' worth. That's a lot of sitting round in piles and just harder to manage IMO than something more streamlined. Use the 'Just in Time' principle - anything to be ironed doesn't need to be washed until Tue, or Mon at the earliest.

dreaming we have a 'whites and light coloureds' wash. DC have white uniform shirts and most of DH's work shirts are very pale, so do need to be separated from dark jeans, navy uniform, dark red shirts etc. DD has white duvet cover, sheets and usually pale nighties, which makes up the white wash.

Colour coding DC's beds also helps when dealing with bedwetting - it all goes in together and we don't have bright red PJs turning white sheets pink. DD has pale bedding and PJs, DS has all darks.

I can't believe how much washing you all do, we are pushed to fill one load a week (2 adults, 8 month old), we don't sort colours/darks/whites as it would mean washing monthly and I don't have that many clothes.

We have a "double" basket so there is no need to sort and resort the washing daily to see if there's enough lights or darks. If one of the sides is full enough I take it and do a wash, preferably line dried. If neither side is full I consider changing the beds (ours and DS's bedding all washed together).

Socks are paired straight from the line and everything is folded into the Ikea blue bags so that only shirts, work trousers and dresses need ironing.

I put away every night at bedtime and the position of furniture in the bedrooms is considered so I don't have to move much to do it. Do all of ours pretty much stood in one spot, tossing DS's folded clothes into a spare bag as I go and then take that bag into DS's room and quickly put his clothes into the drawers (no pre-sorting at all).

I'm also amazed how much washing people do! While I appreciate that small babies and sweaty teenage boys makes more washing, especially if you have lots of sports kits thrown into the mix, but... Do people really change nightwear every day? And wash sheets and towels that often?

I know it probably just makes me an absolute slattern but still - jeans and that don't need to be washed after just a few wears, unless you've been rolling in mud!

purple how do you get away with so little washing? Especially with a baby?