How in the name of all that's holy do you keep on top of laundry?

[DunelmDoris]

I've just moved house and I'm delighted that the central heating here is so new and efficient that I can get all my laundry dried on radiators. But I'm still stuck in a neverending loop of washing and drying.

It doesn't help that we're still living out of boxes, but today the last should be unpacked. Once that's done I have no more excuses and I have to accept that it's laundry groundhog day.

How do you do it? What's the secret?

I put a load on to was at about 8.30am every day and it is dried, ironed and put away by lunchtime.

but you dont go to work then/.

Ours goes in before bed. On timer. 4am it turns on, washes, dries and at 7am we take out and fold before work.

We would never wash if not on at night or when out as work all day, then sleep.

We don't wash every day though! Usually
3-4 loads a week, for x2 adults and x2 children.

I don't have a dryer, but three mucky children and work uniform to wash. It's never ending.

I have discovered the joys of the launderette!
Spend a whole day washing, then take it all to get dried. I do about 6 loads at once. Plus I get to sit with a book for 1/2 an hour!

I still do stuff at home that I'll need quickly; my uniform and kids sports kits etc.
The boys have a clean uniform every day as they get v muddy after school, but as it's synthetic it dries quickly.

I have just caught up with my washing after my washing machine broke down, then got a second-hand one that broke as well (had months worth of washing!).
I just did a wash everyday without fail to get to the bottom. Determination, ha. I can't go too long without doing a wash or it builds up quick.

I iron clothes as and when they're needed the night before. My mum used to iron everything when it was dry, then gave up because they would just end up crumpled again when they got put into drawers. She wasn't happy. Plus it is a bit of a waste of time because you'll probably iron it again when you're going to wear it (?)

lol. imagine having three teenagers who all do sport and are all taller than you.
ANd your H and your own sport kit.
we do 2 loads a day

flomple Dammit-I'm going to give your crazy wash day system a go! It can't create any more laundry chaos than we currently face...

Laundry's the one bit of all household things that I find easy to keep on top of, because you only have to bung it in the machine and it washes it for you.

Now if I could get a tidying machine like that, or a vacuum, or a cloth that somehow wiped things while I wasn't in the room.......

Laundry bugs me too. Very small house, no tumble dryer, three young children (2 in school uniform, 1 9-month baby), DH who runs/gyms every other day. Am on ML right now so things are ok, but if I have some busy days or illness then it all explodes out of control. Laundry is the bane of my life.

for now I've given up on being on top of it. It's impossible. I put the washing on, DH & I share tumbke drier duty and he tends to sort and put clothes away with kids at the weekends - during the week we sometimes dress from the baskets, no time or energy or motivation to put clothes away.

I think i could actually put more effort into reducing "laundry stress" this, but right now i don't want to.
so much happened since we moved last May and so much is going on, i haven't actually had a chance to find a good routine in this house yet. and as we are hopefully having building work starting in April, then we'll have to move out in the summer for a few months i really don't see the point of worrying about it.

when we have the extension I'll have an upstairs laundry room and sorting area I'll be very well organised. until then I'm ok with less effort on housework

btw we have 7 children, so there's a LOT of clothes. and socks. sheesh the socks! it's like we are raising millipedes!

I have changed the definition for being 'on top of the washing'. I have two laundry bins in the bathroom, if the lids can close, there is nothing sitting on top of the bins or in piles around the house, and we all have what we need to wear then I am on top of the washing!

I do 2 or 3 loads a day depending what is going on. A month or 2 ago I had a potty trainer, a weaning baby and a DC in reception coming home covered in paint, so that generated a lot of washing. The older one currently generates less washing than the other 3, but I'm not sure how long that will last.

I tumble dry everything that I can get away with and have a dehumidifier for the rest, ironing went out of the window a long time ago.

The main problem is that all three paragraph of this post start with 'I', that needs to change! I like the idea of DH doing the putting away with the DC's at the weekend ZingNinjaRoll I think we will adopt that here.

I do one load of clothes every day (Monday to Thursday), dry, put away non iron clothes and underwear, put stuff to be ironed into ironing basket, empty ironing basket on Wednesday eve.

Friday (my non work day) - I wash bedding (3 loads), dry, iron and re-make beds. wash 1 load of towels.

Sat/Sun - catch up with washing including all uniforms and sports kit. Dry, empty ironing basket and put away.

start again...

If I stick to this I am on top of it all BUT if RL intervenes I drown in laundry and stuff to be put away and ironing....

I have one laundry basket in the middle bathroom. When I am in bathroom for another reason I have a daily look and assess whether there is a full load of darks/lights/mids/reds or uniform (uniform & darks are the same thing really, with priority to uniform if there is too much for a full load).
Bedroom 4/my study also doubles as a laundry room with my Lakeland heated dryer (Luffs my dryer) and a "hangaway" which id basically a pole with three arms from which you can hang coat hangers with shirts etc.
I plan ahead (e.g. if I want to change the bedding then I make sure the airer is going to be free for when the washer is finished and that the laundry is low enough to not do any for 24 hours (can dry a full kingsize duvet cover, sheet, mattress protector and 4 pillow cases on the airer in 24 hours).

I do all the washing, DP does all the ironing.

I don't have a routine - both DP and I do shifts, his are on an 8 week pattern, mine a pretty random. Either of us can be away overnight. However I do have a system (in my head)

We are a family of two adults, a 3yo and a 4mo. We keep on top of laundry really well,but my main problem is putting it all away.

Things I do that help:-
*I dont separate my colours. If I buy something dark, the first time I wash it it goes in alone or with some similar colours,then after that everything is chucked in together
*I keep a laundry basket right infront of my washing machine. We chuck all our dirty clothes in either that one or the one in our bedroom. So when I empty the machine, there is another basket literally right there ready for loading - which I always do before I purlt the wet stuff on the rads.
*DD has enough preschool uniform for the week, so hers gets bundles in one wash ona friday, then all goes on the ironing board when dry (its the only thing I iron)
*Towels get re used til I can smell them
*Each bed has two sets of linen so I strip and remake, then that dirty linen goes in the machine - I do this whenever I notice the laundry basket is low
*I spin after every wash cycle

I have a rota in my head - Monday is colours at 60, Tuesday sheets and towels, Wednesday 30 wash and a whites, Thursday or Friday another colours at 60 and another 30 wash at the weekend. As long as i roughly stick to it then i have no mountain ....

8kg washing machine and 6 kg drier. Ironing is done in the evening of the wash when the boys are in bed as it feels safer.

My routine is wash every day
Darks every day
Colours/whites when I've got a full load

I also have a tumble dryer for socks,underwear,football kit

Everyday I do what washing needs done then tumble dry the smalls, hang up clothes on horse(luckily I have a balcony and stick it out there all day and bring in at night) and bras tights over radiator

Next again day I take the nearly dry clothes and put on another clothes horse in my room and start again

I wash everyday and do extras like bedding, PE kits, football kits etc
I have a tumble dryer for the winter.
I line dry outside in the good weather.
I iron once a week for about an hour.
My routine is usually wash a load before bed each night, then I have a load ready to go in the dryer or in the line the next morning.
Then I usually wash another load in the day and either dry in the dryer or on the line.
I try not to wash on a Sunday...not religious, just like a break! :)

Keeping on top of it is key. I find a loose routine helps, as follows:

Mon - 1 load darks, 1 load colours
Tue - towels
Wed - bedding (alternate between ours and dcs, so 1 load each week)
Thu - delicates
Fri - school uniform - 1 load darks, 1 load whites

Divided laundry basket immense help, so clothes already sorted before washing. Also find times of day that work for you and stick to them. e.g. if you work, put a wash on first thing, hang up on your return or put wash on straight after work, hang up before bed. If at home, put wash on first thing and hang up after morning school run.

Tumble dryer for bedding/towels/underwear/socks helps enormously in the winter. In summer, line dry as much as poss.

Every time you hang up a new load, put away whatever is dry from the day before - this is crucial. Iron rarely.

If you get behind, wash crucial stuff first and then get back into the routine. Let the towels wait til Tuesday to be washed, the world won't come to an end

Just keep washing and ironing until its all done :-(

I have one of these triple laundry sorter. It was recommended to me by someone on MN and I ummed and ahhed for a while and then bought it. Its great. It lives upstairs, which is where we all get undressed, so the dirty washing goes straight into it. There is one basket for whites, another for colours and another for darks. I also have a separate wicker laundry basket for reds and delicates.

When one of the baskets is full (not before) I wash whatever is in it.

I wash towels on a Saturday (every week) and sheets on a Sunday (every other week).

I have a basket in the utility room for clean washing that needs to be ironed, another for clean washing that doesn't need to be ironed, and just needs to be put away. Whenever the 'doesn't need to be ironed' basket is full (not before), I put it all away upstairs. Ironing lady (god I love that woman) comes on a Wednesday and irons the contents of the ironing basket.

My system has stopped me from doing at least one load, sometimes tow, of laundry nearly every day. I started a thread about how I should put a system in place several months ago, and I am now much happier that my life doesn't seem to be a daily grind of washing, drying, airing and folding.

welltidy if you used lower spin speeds would oyu have that much ironing?
i have a family of 5 and iron once a week for 20 mins

it takes me at least 1 hour to iron dh's shirts and the school stuff for dd and ds and that's all I iron (5 shirts each for dh/dd/ds and school skirts/trousers). You can't be ironing much to do it all in 20 minutes

god school stuff never done as its poly cotton mix - learn to embrace the 800 spin and hanging it up on a hanger to dry

5 shirts take you an HOUR?!

i dont iron school trousers? are you spinning it on 1200 and crumpling it up?
Or are they linen?

Polyester school trousers dont need ironing. School shirts for two sons are a mix so dont get ironed

s1 has cotton posh shirts ( is older) he has 5 ironed.

that 20 mins includes my wool mix trousers for work and silk tops etc for me for work

i am bluddy fast