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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

How do you have a life and do laundry?

145 replies

ShiftyLookingBadger · 17/03/2018 23:59

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?

OP posts:

Mammabear14 · 29/03/2018 21:51

I'm couldn't put a wash on while at work/asleep incase it caused a fire :(

Baubletrouble43 · 29/03/2018 21:56

Yep your mistake is leaving it till the weekend. I put the wash on at night then get it out and put it to dry first thing in the morning and dry clothes are put away early evening before wine. Every day. It's the only way I can keep on top of it. Means I have wiggle room for one day of slacking off laundry for day out etc

NapQueen · 29/03/2018 21:56

We are 2adults and 2 small kids. Our washing basket hardly ever has anything in it.

I dont sort into colours, just at the end of the day anything that cant be worn again is put into the machine. Anything that can be worn again is worn the next day. Next morning same with pjs. Then by that evenings clothes we have a full load. So it then goes on about 7/8pm on a 1 hour wash. Either hang out to dry overnight or first thing in the morning and the cycle starts again.

I strip beds when I know I can put the linen straight into the wash.

The kids dont change out of uniform til pj time so not many clothes to wash day to day.

Baubletrouble43 · 29/03/2018 21:57

Ps I don't iron. Ever.

DilysMoon · 29/03/2018 22:14

5 of us here - a load every day, sometimes more, especially at weekends. Tumble or line dry depending on weather. Maiden inside for sports kits etc and things that can't be tumbled.

Everyone has a named basket and dry washing is folded straight from dryer/line and put in to individual baskets to go up to bedrooms.

Only use bio, find that non bio is useless for stains. If a very bad stain I soak in a bowl of oxy until I remember to take out! Hang up any items that are still stained after washing at a window and the sun does the rest.

Only do a shortish wash, no more than 1hr-1hr30. Don't wait for a full load either, smaller loads I'll put on a quicker wash.

Original poster

ShiftyLookingBadger · 30/03/2018 09:21

Everyday washers: Do you get dingy whites? I found mine get a bit grey even with a colour catcher if I mix...

OP posts:

MessySurfaces · 30/03/2018 15:04

shifty I am religious about my whites only being washed with whites, bio powder, at 60- and still some things go grey! I don't understand!! My towels come up lovely though.

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 30/03/2018 20:49

I am a stay at home carer so obviously have a bit more time to do things however I have a confession... apart from bedding days I don't do the housework while dd is at school so time wise it's roughly the same.
without including the bedding I do 1 load of dds school uniform (deliberately bought 6 days worth) and dh work clothes on a sunday, I then do 1 load of dds weekend clothes, my clothes and dh 'civvy' clothes on a monday. So 3 loads a week. I don't seperate whites, from darks etc as I use colour catchers and I never use hot water in my twin tub for clothes so colours running is probably quite unlikely. It takes maybe 5 mins to put a load on (I have every1 very well trained), 30-45mins for the tub to do a cycle, 5 mins to do the spin and 10 mins to hang it up to dry (depending how much 'help' I get from dd lol). That's 20 mins max actual work per load, there ain't much I could do in order to 'have a life' in that time. While I'm waiting for the washing to finish I do the weekend clean (proper clean of the bath, sinks, toilet etc instead of the wipe they get during the week).
Always have plenty of sitting on my arse time in which I could have a life if I chose so I'm very content with that.

What do people mean by 'have a life' anyway??

Idobelieveinfairies2018 · 30/03/2018 21:01

oh my whites don't go grey and dingy either, not sure how I achieve this as I don't do anything differently to any1 else, I don't think?
load goes in, washing liquid, colour catcher and vanish next, then the water, and turn it on.

lorelairoryemily · 30/03/2018 21:03

I do a load every day and I don't separate anything, it never builds up and every load is full, run 2 extra spin cycles to help reduce drying time, fold and put away as soon as it's dry and I don't iron, ever😂

Frouby · 30/03/2018 21:16

4 of us here. Dp is a builder so very dirty when he gets home. We also have an allotment which is muddy, a dog and 3 ponies so we all seem to spend a lot of time covered in mud and dirt and it's not uncommon that we all change clothes mid way through the day after getting clartes up.

All beds changed once a week. Probably 1 load a week of towels.

I do 1 load a day. I do seperate darks/whites and colours. I never soak anything. I use persil bio powder and find it prettt good at removing stains. I stick a load in the dryer at teatime if it's not drying weather. Stick a load of washing on and it's finished by bedtime. Empty tumble dryer and fold what was in there. In the morning get up and stick wet washing in tumble dryer. Or use the timer on your washing machine.

I couldn't leave it all until the weekend. I rarely have an empty basket. Might do 2 or even 3 loads on 1 or 2 days but a wash a day at least keeps my basket to a manageable level.

And I tumble dry 99% Of stuff. Towels and bath mats go over the bannister usually. The odd delicate thing goes on a hanger.

DollyDayScream · 30/03/2018 21:24

You need to be washing every day.

Come home, take the clean wash out, hang up or tumble, put on another wash, put away clean clothes from previous.

Same again the next day.

I wash every day, even Christmas Day and I like to holiday with laundry facilities.

Wilson2 · 05/04/2018 15:33

Do one load of laundry everyday (or more than one if you have time).

Original poster

ShiftyLookingBadger · 11/04/2018 10:43

I have to give a big thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I now do 2-3 loads in the week and I am no longer a raging laundry lunatic at the weekends, hurrah!

OP posts:

silvernutgoldenpear · 11/04/2018 10:47

pre-washing, pre-soaking, pre-scrubbing or whatever else needs doing

I don't do any of this. Unless it's totally caked in mud, I chuck it all in the machine. If anything comes out not clean, then I pay it more attention.

silvernutgoldenpear · 11/04/2018 10:49

ShiftyLookingBadger excellent!

Celebratory for you!

drspouse · 11/04/2018 10:53

I disagree re washing overnight as it's too much of a rush for us to hang it up in the morning. We put it on as soon as we get home if it really needs a 3 hour wash - usually it doesn't and we put it on a 1 hour wash.
Then hang it up mid-evening, or just before going to bed. Usually if it's mid evening I'll be pottering and if it's later DH will hang it up as he has a snack before bed so he's in the kitchen.

Next day if it's dry, put it away before going to bed; it is usually dry on the Lakeland airer but if we have hung up a lot it goes on another airer and that's 2-3 days to dry.
If it's nice at the weekend I do hang stuff outside.
(We do have a cleaner who changes beds and washes the sheets so that's 2 loads a week she does - one for us and one for the DCs, DD is still in cot sized bedding so hers and DS single bedding fit in one load).

We used to have a washer dryer but when it broke we replaced it with just a dryer.

drspouse · 11/04/2018 10:54

pre-soaking
DS school shirts and our pillowcases (despite DH using an ultra-greasy-hair shampoo) do need a soak so when the cleaner or one of us changes the sheets we put the pillowcases in a bucket. Then they go in the next day to wash. Not exactly burdensome.

Babytalkobsession · 11/04/2018 11:00

I either put it going in the evening and then straight into tumblr, or in the morning and tumble when I get home.

We tumble everything apart from bras, knitwear and my jeans that are already too tight if you fold straight from drier no need to iron!

Family of 4, roughly 1 load a day plus extra for bedding which I tend to do fortnightly, sometimes longer towels just go in as & when, usually to make up a load.

It's putting the bastard pile away that I can't stand...tend to do it while kids are splashing in the bath.

drspouse · 11/04/2018 11:08

It's putting the bastard pile away that I can't stand
Yep, I always discover a huge pile that I'd blanked out, on our bed, when I want to get into it.

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