How do you have a life and do laundry?

[ShiftyLookingBadger]

Apologies in advance if this has been done to death but...

Am I missing a trick here?? I have a DH, DD(3) AND DS(1). We have anywhere between 5 and 8 loads of laundry to do (this includes separated colours, towel loads, bedding loads etc) DH and I both work full time so when I do all this at the weekend I don't leave the house and neither do my kids!! Bearing in mind dishwasher loads, nappy changes, breastfeeding, trying to clean bathrooms (although I confess this can get dropped to once a fortnight... Don't judge me ). DH contributes in other ways - walking dogs, poo picking the back garden, sharing nappy duties, cooking the majority of weekend meals...

How do you all get your laundry done and still make sure your family has a life?

My washing machine takes 2 hours tops to do a 40 degree 1400spin wash. The reviews when we bought it said it takes a long time, so I imagine most machines don't take a tremendous amount of time more. We can do two washes on a weeknight, but usually only do one so it can go in the airing cupboard to dry overnight. DH is up before me so sometimes he puts one on and I put it in the airing cupboard before I go to work and then we do another that evening. My FIL is a very relaxed person but he is adamant none of us should ever put them on at night time.

Invest in a triple laundry basket and keep it as close as possible to wherever you all take your clothes off. One bag for whites, one for darks and the other for anything that falls in between eg blue shirts, grey t shirts etc. I also have a basket for reds and delicates.

Only when a basket is full does it get washed. This is important. Before I started this system, I felt that I was forever doing half washes.

Sheets gets washed in our house every two weeks (one week our sheets, next week the DC sheets), towels once a week.

When a wash is done (doing washes v early in the day or overnight works for me), I hang it up or tumble dry. I have two airers. When dry, I sort straight away. I have three stackable ironing baskets - one for things that don't need to be ironed and can go away straightaway, one for the DC stuff that needs ironing and one for our stuff that needs ironing.

The things that can go away get taken upstairs with me each night at bathtime. Whilst I run the bath, I put the things away. Same with the ironing. So I am only doing it once a day.

@Onceuponatimethen definitely only dark coloured toddler clothes - preferably red! That's been my long term strategy!

To whoever said earlier about little ones taking bibs off, my daughter always did this. I had a size too big tshirt which I would put on her at meal times. In place of a bib. It was better than any bib I've ever had. She's 3 now and wears her brothers old tshirts for messy play/baking over her own clothes. Easier and cover more than an apron.

I don't understand about pre washing, scrubbing or soaking. The most I do is spray a little Tesco stain remover before washing if it's something like beans/grass etc. I'm never left with stains and usually wash at 30. Could people be overloading their machines? There should be plenty of room for everything to move around.

There's 3 of us and we do 3 or 4 loads a week.
12 year old son does his own. Get them doing that as soon as possible. Very important life skill.

I don't find it practical to get everyone doing their own washing. I like to wash all the bedding together, all the towels together, all the dark stuff together etc. I like my whites to look white, not dingy grey.

To all those of you who only do short washes at low temperatures, please make sure you run a hot service wash every month to keep your washer clean and in good working order.

I find a lot of items have delicate settings on the washing labels. Delicate wash cycles take less than half the time of a cottons wash, so it's worth following the instructions and also using quick washes for things that just need freshening up rather than a full scrub.

Everyone in this house does their own washing, but we always check if anyone else has anything they want to chuck in at the same time, so that every load is full. Seems to work OK for us and no one person ends up doing all the washing. Kids did their own washing from age 13.

Personally I do 4-5 washes per week, have one or two sessions of ironing and it never seems like a huge amount of work, unless I leave it for a week or two (or three, gulp) and catch up at a weekend.

Undress the little one for mealtimes he will be ok in a bib and nappy, then a quick sponge down and clothes back on .

My DIL did this routinely with both hers.

Wash every day

I don't live in a detached house. Mine is a semi but my kitchen is on the opposite side and I have a detached house the other side. I often feel like this is a detached anyway as most of our living is done on the side not attatched

I also love watching the YouTube laundry moms videos. Their bloody machines are huge and I want to try all of their detergents.

So much so that I ordered a box of Tide from amazon that I only use for all of my microfibre cloths ( saddo )

despite the moaning, I love doing laundry and love the smell when it's been outside.

I just wash everything all in together. No need to do loads of different washes.

"I just wash everything all in together. No need to do loads of different washes."

There is if you want your whites to stay white and not go a dingy grey

I wear a lot of white as it suits me - white shirts, white T-shirts, white underwear. You are kidding yourself if you think that washing everything together doesn't dull your whites.

shove load in washer, transfer load to td, shove in drawers. what am i missing?

I try to do it every day but get fed up of having clothes hanging all over the house (our house is tiny so this takes up a substantial amount of space in her bedroom and means it never looks tidy)

Also it's the ironing that causes a backlog. I honestly hate anything to do with laundry and would pay someone to take it away weekly and deal with it if I could

Not everyone has a tumble drier merry.

What's so good about Tide?

Tumble dryers cost a fortune to run and clothes don't feel or smell right.

We bought a pulley airer. We have an old house so doesn't look wrong. It dries things a lot faster than a clothes horse. Must be due to hear rising.

Heat rising*

Get a laundry hamper with separate compartments - total game changer. You never have to sort out your laundry because it's done for you. Mine just has two compartments (lights and darks) but there's some on Amazon with up to four!

I stick a wash on every night, hang it up in the morning & put it away when I get in from work. It does feel never ending though!

When it's time to buy a new washer find one with a big capacity and a short wash time setting. I love my new Bosch!

We have so much washing

Me dp and 4 dc aged 1 to 10

I do atleast 2 if not 3 loads per day

One load of washing a day
Then pop on airer then tumble to finish of, in summer hang on line, fold well and save ironing for an evening job in front of film
Repeat following day

Can anyone recommend a large drum with a short wash time for under £250? Some appear to have both but when you look into the cycles, the short cycles aren't really appropriate for every day use, or the full capacity can't be used for every day use.

This looks perfect for us.

@TheGrumpySquirrel in the summer it's load > wash > hang out in garden. still doesn't take all weekend!

Sorry @SneakyGremlins I'm a bit slow to come back to the thread, but here is the link www.lakeland.co.uk/21736/Dry%3ASoon-Standard-3-Tier-Heated-Tower-Airer

I've had mine for around 4 years now & it did cost about £90 so its gone up a bit since then. Having said that I would buy another if mine broke down. I dry my things flat in roughly 3 layers deep depending on the thickness. I don't have a cover but usually have a bath sheet, duvet cover, bed sheet going in the wash that I drape over the top & that speeds up drying time.