Washing mountain

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Has anyone got any tips to keep me on top of the laundry? We have 3 adults, a teen and two other children and I can easily do two loads of washing a day, not including bedding and towels. I'm drowning under unironed clothes yet feel like I'm constantly stood at the ironing board. I know some people don't iron but unfortunately I'm not one of them.

Any ideas for a proper routine? (I'm a sahm if that helps).

Iron as you go and everybody irons their own stuff.

surely the teens can iron their own stuff if they need it ironed (as can the other adults).

Never ever iron anything. Unless you are going to a wedding/funeral/job interview.

DH works 12 hour shifts on nights and mil is not very well which is why I do theirs. Dd could do her own, especially as it'll end up on her floordrobe (I don't go in there any more).

I iron most things - we don't like polyester so most things are 100% cotton and therefore come out of the machine looking extremely crumpled!

I iron every day that I do washing. It takes a maximum of 20 minutes, I'd say, unless it's the first sunny day after a week of rain. I have a bit of a rule with myself that I don't leave ironing for the next day because it gets out of hand.

Get a good iron. I have a steam generator. It was £40 on ebay.

I only iron work shirts and school uniform as life is too short to iron everything. Once dry clothes are hung up/put away and then there is no ironing pile to wade through. On the day I iron (sat or sun) I take the clothes out that need ironing and then once done put them away again

I think that's my problem. I'll iron what's there from the night before and then bring in another load off the line and think screw that I've already done a load so I'll do it tomorrow. Going to have to clear the backlog and start again I think.

Good shake before you hang them and they will flatten lots as soon as you start wearing them. But then I don't really care if I'm crumpled.

I have one of those ironing presses - fold t shirt, place on base board, bring down top bit hey presto. Same with duvet covers, sheets etc - fold and squash. In fact you can get several garments on the thing. I think they're a lot more affordable these days but mine has been well worth it, had it ten years.

No idea, washing needs putting on injectable contraceptives - it just breeds. I never see the bottom of the basket.

Even ironing only once in a blue moon, things that just cannot be worn without, it seems endless.

DDs have never had an item of school uniform ironed in 14 years!

DH commutes for an hour in the car, shirts arrive looking exactly the same ironed or un-ironed.

Three laundry baskets- sort as you fling. Soon as they are full they go in machine.

Lakeland heated airer= quick drying in utility room.

Do bit of ironing each day whilst DH clears kitchen after dinner.

( disclaimer.. This is what I do on a good week. Some weeks it all piles up in a messy heap and I have a tantrumblitz of it).

Do you have to iron?

I have 2 DCs in school and a professional job (though I am on mat leave at the moment) and we don't iron ANYTHING. In fact we don't have an ironing board.

We make a lot of use of the tumble dryer, and smart stuff goes straight onto hangers and into the wardrobe from the dryer.

At the very least, cut down what you feel must be ironed.

I have recently had a revelation about ironing....

When my ironing basket gets out of control I divide it between who owns waht so i end up with a pile of 5 peopels clothes. I then iron one persons worth at a time and put it away. i seem to get through it qucker in very short bursts rather than a 3 hour ironing session that I never have time for.

If you don't already own one buy a steam generator iron. I have a Tefal one. Pro Express I think. Costs a small fortune, but is worth every penny. Reduces ironing time by at least half.

I had a revelation about ironing when I met my husband. He just hung up his shirts straight off the airer and put them away. I was gobsmaked. Now I do the same. Everything folded / hung straight off the line and no more bloody ironing pile.

I find that once it's been sat in a wardrobe for a while I couldn't care less about ironing it anyway. I must iron maximum 4 items a month - all my own SAHM slattern DH irons a shirt before work each morning and does DS's school uniform at the same time. I have a nice cup of tea whilst he does it. Great routine and it works!

If you can afford it send stuff to the laundrette sometimes. Comes back all clean and folded and even ironed if you want. I'm going to be doing that a bit more in future.

When you bring them in off the line, they will immediately start to get more crumpled, unless you waste a lot of time very neatly folding and smoothing them out which takes about as much time as ironing them! So leaving them overnight is actually making things worse (though I can see why you can't face doing more right away)

Our washing goes from the washing machine onto racks, the shirts go onto hangers which you can put on the corners of the rack. That way a lot of the creases just come out as they dry.

I iron anything that still needs it as it comes off the rack, putting it back on a hanger or folding it at that stage.

It minimises 'double handling' and reduces the chances of anything getting more crumpled during the process.

It's a really crappy environmentally unfriendly policy, that I will rethink when I am out of the toddler / baby stage with DCs, but I tumble dry loads, and then fold it immediately so that it doesn't (really) need ironed. When I am being good, I let things dry on the line outside for a couple of hours before finishing them off in the drier. I basically only iron shirts and school / work trousers, which means a tiny basket a week.

Also second the Lakeland heated airer, it is great for drying towels, undies etc (I just give towels 5 minutes in the tumble drier once they are dry and this softens them up again).

Oh and do you have a decent iron and ironing board? I have a cheap board but put a padded cover on it which makes things easier, and bought an iron with a ceramic base - cheap tools can make the job worse than it has to be.

I have taken to putting the almost dry stuff off the line in the tumble drier on delicate setting for a blast, then folding immediately.
I know tumble driers aren't great, but I'm sure it uses less energy (both mine and electricity) than standing ironing for hours.

The actual washing -don't know.....

We have this one SORTED. Oh yes,

I find piles of laundry soul destroying. Same as piles of washing up. My epiphany came some years ago when I realised they can be treated the same way.

Dishwasher gets loaded after every meal and table wiped down. If the dishwasher is clean we unload it before preparing the next meal (usually just before breakfast). Anything washed in the sink is dried and put away immediately. This happens at least twice a day, more at the weekends. We do not resent it. It is easy. We don't even think about it.

Washing is sorted at the point of putting into the basket. We don't actually have a basket, we have a set of bags for life - darks, whites, sports, brights. Everyone unrolls their own socks, empties their own pockets, takes off stickers before putting stuff in the bags. With supervision and support for small people of course.

Every night DH picks up which ever bag looks fullest and puts it on to wash before bed. It takes hardly any time at all. First thing in the morning DS1 (early riser) puts it in the dryer. He piles up anything that can't go in the dryer (not much). He is 9. Pocket money depends on this. Soon I'll have him hanging stuff up.

If I am working from home, I empty the drier mid morning and immediately iron and put away everything. Immediately. Takes approx 15mins sometimes 30 if lots of ironing. I set up the ironing board beside the dryer before I empty. Nearly forgot, younger DC have the job of bringing empty hangers down from their rooms to the laundry every now and then. If I am not at home during the day I usually dry and put away the overnight load before dinner - DC are required to put their own away after they've been sorted by me. Age appropriate of course. Littlest just puts her knickers and socks away, eldest does everything of his.

I put on a second load straight after I've put away the first. Never before! That path would lead to the dreaded washing mountain. If it is evening and DH is home, DH puts that second load on. Again fullest bag, only takes a few mins to do. I get it dried and put away before I go to bed. I usually do this for grown up clothes. I do not want DS to have to separate my sexy underwear to hang up to dry in the morning . And I wouldn't trust him to identify my more delicate tops etc.

Sheets are washed at the weekend. One bed at a time. Strip bed and remake bed with spares immediately with DC helping, load and set off washing machine. When it is in the dryer, repeat on the next bed if can be bothered/have time. Again put away immediately it comes out.

When it becomes a daily short repeated routine you stop thinking about it. Like brushing your teeth or washing up.

Don't ask about the paperwork mountain from school though. Ahem.

Def reassess which items need to be ironed. Since having a baby the only items that now get ironed are smart or formal versions of skirts, trousers, dresses and shirts/blouses. Once you drop casual clothes, bedding, tea towels, nightwear it's amazing how little there is. Like said earlier - as long as you give things a good shakeout from the washing machine and hang nicely to dry then honestly you will not look shabby or crumpled...

I think you have tackle it at source by washing less. 14 loads a week plus bedding and towels is bonkers!

I cracked down on this a while back when I was creeping towards washing every day. If you force yourself to wait, and get everyone to eke out their clothes a bit longer, it's amazing how much less there is to do. DC wear uniform for up to 3 days if not stained, all PJs last 3 days or so, and trying to make them last a bit longer rather than chucking them in "to make up the wash" makes an enormous difference. It helps that, by MN standards, we are slatterns because we reuse towels and PJs.

And maybe get your teen to do a wash or 2 a week? DH is responsible for washing his cycling gear and puts other stuff in with it too, so that's one less for me to do.

Hmm washing less maybe but ds is physically disabled and very messy and dd2 is 20 months and a grubby little oik so daily changes of uniform/ daywear and pjs for them in both darks, whites and colours. We also have 3 dogs so daily muddy walks and dog drool all around.

It's a good idea though. Definitely going to get dd1 on washing her own stuff. She puts stuff in the baskets when it can be worn again. I've been a bit lax on her while doing her gcse exams but they're over now!