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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Drowning in laundry

48 replies

Worriedobsessive · 28/10/2017 14:40

One husband, 3 young kids. Separate futility room with washer and dryer. I seem to be permanently behind, and keep finding myself dressing in there Blush and selecting the kids’ clothes from neatly folded piles which soon undo themselves.

How do I organise this better? I find organisation very difficult! And I’m the only one who does the laundry apart from if my my husband wants something in particular and then he drags everything out and dumps it on top.

Please explain in short simple steps how to get into a method or routine that works!

OP posts:
jellyshoeswithdiamonds · 28/10/2017 23:24

Each person has their own laundry basket in their room.
I don’t mix up our washing anymore cos I can’t be bothered to sort it, so a load gets done for each person.
Underwear from that load gets tumbled.

I do separate out whites from everyone’s basket and they go in a separate basket in the bathroom until its full (which doesn’t take long).

Shirts for work get their own load, my Dh works away so I have a load every week. I like to separate shirts cos I don’t put in softener.

Towels gets done once a week, more frequently if needed.

Bedding gets done once a week, more frequently if needed in warmer weather. I love getting into a freshly made bed.

I have ironing baskets which have each person’s name on. What needs ironing is put in these. I do an hour or two most days. If I haven’t ironed something that they want they iron it themselves.

I do at least two loads a day, one that needs to be pegged out one for the tumble.

chloechloe · 29/10/2017 06:30

Grin at the futility room!

I don't mind the washing, hanging and ironing so much but the putting it all away is a ball ache.

The main thing is to keep on top of it. Try and put on a load or two every day. Use the delay timer so you put it on at night to finish at a convenient time to hang it up. I usually set it to finish at breakfast time so I can hang it quickly first thing.

Put small items like socks, knickers in net bags to keep them all together. This saves loads of time as they don't get tangled and lost between other stuff.

Hang similar items together as you pull them out the wash. So I always hang socks, knickers, boxers etc together on the drier. Then when dry I pull the items off by type snd chuck them in the basket together. Folding gets done in front of the TV or whilst the kids are playing.

Make sure you go to the bottom of the basket every month - no leaving items to linger because they are a pain to wash etc it because they're not needed immediately!

Any sport kit goes straight in the wash on a quick wash if possible then put back into the bag when dry.

chloechloe · 29/10/2017 06:47

Forgot to say, I also do a "switch out", so with towels, tea towels, PJs etc I have a look at any lying around in need of a wash and then replace them with clean ones straight from the basket, skipping having to put the clean ones away.

Wellandtrulyoutnumbered · 29/10/2017 06:57

Have less clothes too. So you need to keep on top of it, kids don't just get clean out all the time, easier to see what you have, socks less to pair,

Wellandtrulyoutnumbered · 29/10/2017 07:04

Also sort whole loads that can just go in tumble dryer.

Do at least one load a day.

Three children two adults here. Clean uniform every day. PJ's for kids two nights, adults fresh every day. Towels every 3/4 days. Hand towels every two days. Bedding 10 days/two weeks. A million muslins.

Expectations that whoever is up first thing on weekend gets washing on or put washing from last night's load into tumbler. Checks weather on phone to see if can put on line.

One wooden laundry basket in our room. Often empty. Then refilled within a day.

Several plastic baskets around. One in top of airer for DP things that need to be ironed which he does. Nothing else is ironed.

Other baskets used for various stages of laundry. If dry out away same day. Ten year old starting to do his but gosh it's like pulling teeth.

No room for laundry to linger. Maybe ulility room isn't helping you? Slightly jealous though!

SardineJam · 29/10/2017 07:05

Two DS, plus new and DP. Apart from white washing, dirty items get put straight into the washing machine and then as soon as that's full I will do a wash. Generally I do a mid week wash (anything that's been worn during the week so far and needs washing - set on timer so it's complete when I get home from work, I get the dinner started and while its cooking, hang the washing on the airer), a Friday night wash (swimming stuff, school uniforms, other clothes) , Saturday night wash (bedding, football clothes) and a Sunday morning wash (set on timer from the night before) (towels and any other left over items).
We don't have a drier, so everything goes on airers and if the weather is due to be good, I hang it on the line in the evening and take it down when I'm back from work the next day. I have a "rota" system, when the next batch of washing is in the machine I take the clothes off the airer, fold and pack away to make space for the freshly washed batch. Only time I have a backlog is when we've been on holiday.

Shadow666 · 29/10/2017 07:20

This is my system:

In the evening once the kids are in their pajamas, I put all the dirty washing in the machine, I then run the machine first thing and hang it out to dry before I go to work. In the evening, I take in the washing and fold it while the older DC are doing their homework and put it straight away. I do an extra load for all the bedding at the weekend. I iron uniform on Sunday evening.

I’ve never separated washing. Just throw it all in together, white, darks, towels. It’s fine.

Mum2OneTeen · 29/10/2017 07:22

"futility room" Grin

chloechloe · 29/10/2017 08:22

Another thing!

We don't have a drier, but we do have a dehumidifier which gets the washing on the airer dry super fast and also prevents condensation in the house in winter.

Worriedobsessive · 29/10/2017 11:41

If it doesn’t survive the dryer, we didn’t need it.

How do you wash whites with everything else? Don’t they end up sludgy grey?

OP posts:
Shadow666 · 29/10/2017 11:58

No, it’s fine. There really is no noticeable difference washing all clothes together.

DancingOnParsnips · 30/10/2017 21:33

There is no solution. Wait until they are three times the size they are now ... I could live under our clean laundry pile.

HopelesslyHopeful87 · 02/11/2017 12:00

Two adults, three children and baby due any day in a four bed house.

I wash almost every day. I have a delay start function on my washer which is a godsend, especially during the summer time. I sort a load at night which is easiest because all dirty stuff for that day has been taken off. Pop in the machine and set the timer for an hour before I get up. Then once I'm up and pottering round doing normal stuff I have time to sort the wet load. Either it goes on the line, in the drier or on an airer. If I'm feeling extra fruity I might fit another load in that day such as a bed or towels.

Once dried, it all gets folded into people piles and when kids are home from school they put their own away.

No ironing.

And the cycle begins again that evening with a dirty load on for the morning sort.

Whites get done once a week, usually a Fri or sat once school shirts and socks are all off and sorted.

Beds get done weekly, dried and away. Spare sets in airing cupboard so I make the bed up while the one I took off is washing so I know that's done and dusted.

HopelesslyHopeful87 · 02/11/2017 13:10

And to add context I'm on mat leave and self employed. Prior to this I was full time employed and followed same routine. Pegging the washing out on a sunny dry day before going to work. If not dry day stick in drier and fold when home. And then often a load when home from work, dried and folded same evening.

whirlygirly · 04/11/2017 21:35

I paired 24 pairs of socks today. I feel your pain Angry

AllBuggiedOut · 08/11/2017 11:16

I feel your pain...

I have this on my landing and everybody is expected to put their dirty clothes into the right bag - one each for whites, darks and colours. I then chuck whichever one is fullest into the washing machine, and hang to dry in the airing cupboard. Everything apart from underwear goes onto hangers - no ironing and easy to lift out of the airing cupboard when dry and put away into wardrobes. Find folding stuff a PITA.

Still hate doing it, but it's the most efficient system I've managed to develop! Getting a shelf and rail (one of those sprung shower curtain rails) into the airing cupboard really helped.

WellTidy · 08/11/2017 11:49

We have this triple sorter and its where everything goes. One bag for whites, one for colours and one for darks. reds/delicates go in a different laundry bag.

Only when the bag is full does it get washed. A full bag is a full load for our washer. In between these full loads, I do beddings (fortnightly - so the DC bedding one week, our bedding on the alternate week) and towels (every 5 days or so). All towels are one colour, so they all go in one load.

I have three of these type of ironing baskets which I keep in the utility room. They stack. One is for things that need ironing, one is for anything which don't need ironing so is to be taken upstairs and put away and the other is for hangers/odd socks/pegs.

This system has changed my life. I was always doing small washes, constantly seemed to be washing or drying or emptying the dryer or putting away and doing the same all over again, a few times a day.

Also, I have enough uniform for each DC so that it doesn't need to be washed until a Friday night, plus a spare set.

I am also fortunate enough to have someone come and do my ironing for a few hours a week (I really do like things to be ironed, and I recognise that this makes my life so much easier). It does mean that I need to keep on top of everything so that there are actually clean and dry clothes/bedding for her to iron.

flobella · 14/11/2017 11:25

Only two adults, one small child (and two dogs) here, but I do the following:

Several wash loads throughout the week, pegged out each morning on the line in summer, hung up on drier in utility room in the evening in winter (some things do get tumble dried, like bedsheets, towels or a few other bits and pieces if I am running out of drying space or have got a bit behind).

The dry stuff gets put into a couple of big tubs in the utility room (sometimes the airing cupboard) and then on a Sunday evening I set out three tubs, one for each person in the house, plus another big tub for bedding and towels. I then iron everything and place it in the correct tub as needed. I am a crazy person who irons everything, including pants and socks. I don't know why, I realise it makes me sound like a bonkers person, but some stuff genuinely needs it (my husband's work shirts, my little boys trousers get very creased, plus a few of my own dresses and tops) and if I have gone to the trouble of setting up the bastard ironing board and huge, steam tank (but really fast and effective) iron then I think I may as well get the pleasure of having 3 piles of immaculately folded and neat-looking clothes at the end of it and feeling like a virtuous person who has got their sh*t together. Obviously shirts go on hangers but everything else goes into the tub. The last job before I put the ironing board away is to match up all of the socks and put them in the right tub.

I then (I don't work on Mondays at the moment) put everything away on a Monday morning and I feel like that is me done for pretty much the whole week (I don't see putting the washing machine on each day and then hanging it out as that much work tbh).

I feel like it sets me up for an organised week, knowing that I am not going to be scrapping around each morning for a pair of matching socks etc.

I rarely iron bed sheets and obviously there are some items that can't be ironed, even if I wanted to, like gym kit etc.

The ironing part probably only takes me about an hour because my iron is a mo' fo' of a machine.

In terms of what gets washed and when, I wash absolutely everything that my little boy wears after he has worn it once. Even with pyjamas he has a fresh set on every night. I know some people may consider that excessive but that's the way I like to do things. We just make sure that he has enough clothing/nightwear to last him a full week with a few extras in case of accidents.

With my own clothes I would wear a pair of jeans or a sweatshirt a couple of times before washing it and towels get washed about once a week. My little boy has two coats so that I can wash them about once a week and I just hang it on the end of the radiator to dry.

My pet hate (no pun intended) is washing the dogs bed covers as they are such a faff to put on.

Laundry is generally my most hated chore but this system works for me and it ensures we are never late for work/school because we are hunting around for something.

If you really don't want to do ironing (which I totally understand!) I'd recommend you wash a load each morning, hang it up when you get home and have a set of tubs that you put dry stuff into for each person and then put those clothes away when the tub is full. I know some people like to have different days for different items but I don't think I could be arsed going through the laundry basket and sorting it into different piles, bearing in mind it all needs washing anyway.

I have two laundry baskets - one for colours and one for whites - and we all use the same ones.

flobella · 14/11/2017 11:28

I should add that obviously you would put the washing on at night (on a timer if you can) and then peg out in the morning if it is summer but it doesn't really matter which way round you do things in the winter.

And I wash bed sheets once a week - again, it's not a job I like but I love getting into a fresh bed so I think it is worth it. When I used to have a cleaner, she used to do this for me. I miss her.

LillyLollyLandy · 14/11/2017 15:20

3 kids and a DH here. We both work FT in an office environment.

The first thing I did was cull everyone’s clothes. The children (6, 3 and 10 Months) all have a maximum of 5 every day outfits for each season. I also put a wash on every day (with one of those fabulous colour catchers). This way I can’t ever actually have a laundry mountain because the drawers and wardrobes become empty if we don’t wash, dry and put away the clothes.

I do not iron a single thing. That’s what the tumbler’s for. I send DH’s shirts out for ironing - at £1.20 per shirt it is worth the time saving!

WorkingBling · 14/11/2017 15:27

We muddle through but one thing that has been life changing is that we have tubs for each of us where clothes that are clean, dried and folded live. That way there's no crazy sorting through huge piles to get a clean pair of knickers. DH is brilliant about putting away the kids stuff, but I've noticed his brilliance kicked in when we initiated the four bucket rule. I think it's just easier to manage. "Oh, dd is waking up from her nap and having a little play in her crib, I'll just grab her bucket and put her clothes away while we chat." That kind of thing. It's my one top tip.

Dh does more washing because he's at home but when I'm at home and need to do it I find sticking a load on early seems to motivate me to get it all done. Then by the evening I can fold it up and put in tubs while the kids are bathing. I still quite often do that as DH will often put a load on after supper so I'll fold up what's there from the day before during bath time and he then hangs up the new load shortly after.

Also, one thing I've noticed that is so silly but makes me laugh - we now store all the bed linen in the same room as we do the drying. Amazing how much more likely I am to actually put it away if it's right there. I'm embarrassed by how often I would leave piles of bed linen lying around because I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs to put it away!

QuitMoaning · 14/11/2017 19:30

We have just split our big L shaped kitchen into a utility room and squared off kitchen. My old kitchen was buried under laundry but now it is in the brand spanking new utility room.

However the best part? I designed the utility room with a clothes hanging pole in it above the tumble dryer. So we just get things out and immediately hang them up to air. Genius!! No ironing!
Or will be when I buy the tumble dryer as it needs to be a condenser and our old one is vented.

NapQueen · 14/11/2017 19:33

Just add storage for all the clothes to the futility room. A rail each for you and dh, and one for the kids. Hang everything straight from the dryer and keep the clothes there on purpose.
Get rid of the bedroom wardrobes!

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