Endless piles of washing! How do you keep on top of it all?

[Jemster]

We seem to have a constantly full laundry bin & even an overflow! I just can't seem to get on top of it & find it exhausting just looking at it all!
There are 4 of us & I wouldn't say I have a huge amount of clothes but between the 4 of us it seems huge, and then of course bedding, towels etc.
It doesn't seem right to me the amount of washing we do. I remember my mum doing it once a week on a Monday only, that was washing day.
Does anyone else feel like this? I'd like to hear how people manage it together with all the drying, putting away & ironing it creates as well as working & trying to have a life!! I feel like a bloody washerwoman!!
What's the answer, less clothes, wear them more times before washing?

We wash everything after one wear, I do one big washload a day. 2 adults, 2DCs

How long does it take for your basket to get full? Are you washing daily? I keep on top of it buy emptying it when full, usually after a couple of days as there's 5 of us. I sort it into whites, lights and darks. So that's 3 loads about every 2 days. It does feel endless though

maybe stop ironing anything but clothes for work/ school? Don't iron bedding for a while and see if anyone notices. They probably won't, and you will save loads of time. If you hang it outside, put it in the dryer when its 90%dry and it mostly won't need ironing anyhow. Hang towels outside as soon after using them as possible and they won't need washing as much. Also, maybe you could simply get rid of all clothes that are not worn much/really loved/absolutely necessary. I imagine this is rather ambitious if you live with teens! When it get much in this house the washing bypasses the washing basket and goes straight into the machine. It works a treat.

We usually wear things twice and use towels twice. Beds are done fortnightly unless dc have wet or been sick

Yes, I wear tops and trousers at least 3 times before washing, my DP wants a clean Tshirt every day, which is fine, I do washing 4 days a week now I live with my DP and 11mo, this is also because I use washable nappies. When i lived on my own I did 3 loads (colours, dark and white) over a weekend once every 2 and half months, I had lots of clothes and will only wash when there's enough for a full load, and most clothes were worn more than 3 times before washing. I don't understand why some people have to wash for the sake of it, clothes get worn out quicker, anyway different people will have different opinions.

"We wash everything after one wear"

Even jeans and hoodies/cardigans/jumpers? Isn't that a bit OTT?

DD will make a pair of school trousers last all week, but she will have a clean shirt on every day.

Socks and underwear get changed every day in our house, but I will often make a shirt or T-shirt last for a second day if it is clean and passes the sniff test.

Bedding and towels get changed once a week.

try to reduce. do you wash towels after each use? if hung to dry after use they should last at least another day.
bedding; can dc's bedding last another week?

ironing: just stop doing it, shake and hang to dry.

what does dh/dp do laundry wise?

Washing machine goes on everyday here. I get up, put wash on then get in shower. Hopefully put wash on line before school run. I get the odd day where I don't have to put it on, and bed change day it goes on twice. (Me, dh and 3dcs). Only ever do two different types of load though- lights or darks. Towels are red, they go in with dark load. Bedding is a mix. I don't do separate loads for towels, bedding, delicates etc (unless vomiting bug etc)

I have a horrendous amount of washing (3 young DC) and the only way I can keep on top of it is to do a load every night.
I let it pile up recently and spent a whole day (10 loads) catching up

There are three of us. I wash every day. I have a basket for lights and one for darks which DH and I use and there is a separate basket for DH's stuff that he uses for gardening and DS has a basket in his room.

So I do a dark wash one day, light wash the next, gardening stuff when basket is full, DS's stuff gets done on a Saturday - it's mostly darks but in term time I also do shirts and sports stuff on a Sunday. We each have a towel and I do all towels, tea towels, flannels on a Friday. Change beds once a week. DH often sleeps in spare room (mostly tbh!) so I have three beds to do - one on each of Mon/Tues/Wed.

I have a pulley airer and a dryer although try not to use dryer too much - mostly for towels.

Put a load away every day.

Ironing I let build up but realistically I can get away with one session a week.

There are 4 of us and we do one load a day.

Near zero ironing happens in this house. It's only for ironing iron on labels. Or when I take up a hem. Why do you need to iron?

I let it pile up all the time then attack it with great flourish!!

DH, me, 5yo & 3yo here. We have a divided laundry basket with one side for whites & one for everything else. Hand wash stuff gets put on a shelf in the utility room until I get around to doing it.
I do have some sort of system in that every Friday evening I do one load of the DC's bedding and another load of whites (mainly DD's school blouses & socks & DR'S shirts); on a Saturday I do one load of our bedding (every other week), another of the towels, another of the bath mats etc and, usually, a load of non-whites. Other loads of non-whites get done as & when during the week.
I have started letting the washing pile up a bit so that I always do a full load as we all have plenty clothes. I tend to do the ironing on a Sunday night & then do another 20mins or so during the week & then it is put into piles for DH o put away.

Wash day Monday!!!
Sometimes stretches to Tuesday as well if its raining. Approx 3 loads a week.

2 adults 2 children.

We do less washing because we wear something twice if its nearly Monday - stretch it out. We ignore washing the rest of the time which means it takes no headspace. One piles of clothes to iron. One pi!es of clothes to put away.

I love it!

"Why do you need to iron?"

Because DD's school shirts and my work clothes look creased if I don't. It doesn't matter whether I line dry, dry on hangers in the conservatory or tumble dry they still need ironing. I am not a fan of the crumpled look.

GIVE UP IRONING! seriously, we iron hardly anything (dh work shirts maybe) and cant say anyone has ever noticed!
That said I do at least 2 loads of washing every day. But then there are 8 of us. Me, DH ds1(17) dd1(15) dd2(13) dd3(11) dd4(9) and ds2 (7)
towels go on once a week on there own (hotter wash, no softener) and bedding is done fortnightly on rotation .
If I miss a day of doing washing it takes me AGES to catch up!!

There is 6 of us. Plus dog towels

I wash one load every day, and a second (or third) on towel/bedlinen days - particularly when the weather is nice and I can hang things out.

I wash underwear/socks/tops next to the skin after one wear, trousers/cardis/jumpers (particularly) the kids 'when they need it', so if soiled. Which can of course mean every day.
I do towels once a week and bedlinen every 2-3 weeks (I don't that this needs to be done more often, but there are many threads debating this very issue ).

I find finding enough hanging space the bigger challenge than the actual washing tbh. I use a pulley inside and a wirglygig outside + tumble dryer when all else fails.

I don't iron. Life's too short.

Putting stuff away is the one household chore I'd love to outsource

I also don't iron. Ever.

Six of us, loads of sports gear too. I wash at least once a day. I have 4 washing baskets on the landing: blacks, coloureds, whites and woollies, so no sorting, I just chuck in whichever is full. If it ain't in a basket it ain't getting washed.

Use the tumble dryer where possible and never iron anything, DH works out of the home a few days a week so irons his own shirts for that. People are always surprised when I say i don't really iron so we can't be that crumpley.

Clean washing is sorted into six piles on the landing and people put their own away, (except youngest DS).

I do one wash a day, even though it is at the moment just me and two teenage girls. They girls are in school and do not wear uniforms. Even when one was at a uniform wearing school I washed her clothing daily (drip dry skirt and polo shirts).

The secret is to have a dryer and not to iron, and also to only do towels and bedding at weekends. I have a lot of towels.

I pull everything hot out of the dryer and immediately fold it crisply. I sort things as I fold, so I have a few heaps of neatly folded clothes when the dryer is empty. These heaps go to each girl's room and one is for me. What happens to them after delivery to the girls I do not know or care.

I used to do two loads a day in winter when I had a larger household. The teenagers living at home now are the youngest two.

There's only two of us right now (dc due in 5 weeks). I do a wash every other day including towels. Bedding gets done once a week. I have someone that irons, but I only put dh's shirts/t-shirts and pillow cases in the ironing. Everything else gets dried, folded and put away. It only takes a minute to put a load of laundry on realistically doesn't it? And maybe a few minutes more to hang it out to dry. When dc is here, there'll be a load done everyday. I don't work, so I do have the luxury of a little more time but really, actually getting stuff washed and dried doesn't take that long.

2 adults 2 toddlers we do 5 loads a month ish.
We wear all clothes more than once until they are actually dirty and we know we aren't doing the same thing tomorrow. So if I'm gardening a lot one week I'd put on specific clothes for that task each day, bibs are rinsed and reused etc. Jeans, combats, pjs, coats etc are just chucked in if there's space in the machine. Towels and bedding monthly.
Everything is chucked in the same wash whenever the basket it full and its rarely discussed and done by both dh and me as and when. (toddlers are learning of course.)
So in summary low standards, very very low standards

God, I know.

Laundry is a total pain in the arse. We seem to have loads and there's only 3 of us!

And we have a tumble dryer too! I don't iron unless it is absolutely unavoidable - most stuff looks good in the tumble dryer on 'refresh' mode.

I have 4 baskets

Darks
Lights
Reds
Towels/tea towels

Bedding is stripped and equates to 2 washes

I wash the first 4 as soon as the basket is full. The bedding is done fortnightly monthly We each have one bath towel and they are washed weekly along with bath mats.

It equates to about one wash per day. 4 of us, 2 under 3.

A tumble dryer.

We'd been saving up for a A++ energy rated tumble dryer for AGES, and finally bought it recently. Before that I was having to wait until I knew it wouldn't piss it down with rain before doing a load of washing, which obviously meant massive piles of dirty laundry (tenancy contract stipulates no indoor drying). It has literally changed my life!

And we were wearing things three or four times in a row to reduce washing too. Still had massive piles of washing everywhere. It was so grim and depressing.