What's your weekly laundry/ironing routine

[Do1983]

I'm sick of feeling like we live in a laundrette. Laundry is my nemesis!

I need to get into a good washing/folding/ironing routine. We are a family of 4 - me, Husband, Ds5, Ds10 - and I also work from home.

What does your laundry routine look like on a daily/weekly basis. Do you do a load a day or have set laundry days?

My biggest bug bears/problem areas are:

1. I'm the only one who really does the laundry.
2. When my husband does do some laundry, it's usually just his own work shirts etc. And he maybe does a load himself once a month.
3. I have a small utility room. When I've unloaded the dryer, sometimes I don't get round to folding/sorting the clothes to be put away. And then it will sit on the counter top for a few days in a big pile!!
4. When I do sort/fold nobody put their clothes away. I'm trying to get my eldest to help more, but even my husband doesn't put his clothes away. He just has a big pile on the floor next to his bed that he adds to (he does have wardrobe space/drawers but either doesn't use them or has them full with clothes he doesn't wear but says he doesn't have time sort/to get rid of)
5. We tend to iron as and when we need to. Each morning my husband will iron his work shirt and either he or I will iron the school uniform for that day. But then my husband will just leave the board/iron out and not put it away, which annoys me because it only takes 2 seconds but he just leaves it for me to do. So I'd rather not have to be putting it up/taking it down every day.

I've been trying to do a big iron once a week, should I just have a separate ironing basket that I fill up during the week with clothes that need ironing? I find that if stuff isn't ironed my husband or my kids will quite happily wear really creased t-shirts which I hate, because I think they look really scruffy. But I don't want to be ironing every single piece of clothing.

How do you all make the laundry easier and quicker?

I separate into whites, colours and darks, wash each when I have a full load - usually works out at one a week of each, might be 4 loads in total in a busy week. Then I sheets once a week, always on Monday, towels once a week, always on Wednesday, the other loads are whenever they need to be done. Usually I load the machine in the evening or first thing in the morning and set the timer so it's fine when I get in from work, when I can sort it out and hang or tumble dry accordingly. Stuff that needs ironing goes into a basket and I iron when I've got a couple of hours of tv saved up!. In the summer I wash overnight so it can go out on the line early before work.

There's 3 of us in the house and I do it all. DH does all the cleaning, I think it's a good deal

If you hang up shirts as soon as the dryer has finished, they don’t need ironing. Worked well for school shirts and I don’t think I’ve never seen DH iron any of his shirts so he must think they are ok.

I don’t usually struggle with laundry. I’ve got a 9kg machine which means I do 4 washes a week. One is bedding and towels. One is whites and the other two are darks. One of the darks is done on a Friday to make sure all the uniform is ready for Monday. In summer I hang out. In winter it’s the dryer and airer. I don’t iron and we don’t lookncreased and scruffy. Tumble dryer stuff goes back into drawers. Line and airer stuff goes into airing cupboard for a day before back in drawers. It doesn’t overwhelm me.

Beds on a Monday
Towels on a Tuesday
Whites on a Wednesday

Plus usually two loads of colours and two loads of darks a week whenever there’s a full load (one lot of darks done Friday night or Saturday morning to get the uniforms clean.

All loads hung on airer until either that night (in summer when I get it outside) or the following morning. It’s then put in the dryer for a bit to finish off/ soften. Folded into piles for each person straight out of dryer. I put mine, dp’s and the toddler’s away, the older dc put theirs away after school. Most stuff doesn’t get ironed but the stuff that does gets done on a Thursday (I usually iron school shirts rather than put them in dryer)

well its only me and school aged son so its the least its ever been

normal week (no throws,coats etc extra then)

as its winter 1 dark wash,1 white both on a friday
put on clothes horse then tumbled next day for max 40mins
ironing over weekend max 10-15 items

I do several loads at the weekend. Darks, whites, colours, towels - sometimes a couple of each. DS (11) had the job of collecting (each bedroom has a basket as well as one by the machine) and sorting into loads.

I tumble dry so and my wash / dry cycles seem to coincide. Once one load is washed it goes straight into the dryer and the next load straight into the washing machine. Anything that can't be tumbled gets hung up to dry at that point too.

The tumble dryer is emptied and folded as soon as it is done to minimise ironing. I have hangers ready for anythung that is hung up rather than folded. The neat piles of clothes then sit in the kitchen until someone puts them away. DS or Dd (6) will put away their own if asked.

Approx 3 or 4 items out of everything will need ironed. It sits in a pile until I need them or blitz them. DHs shirts are folded in the neat piles with the non-iron stuff and he irons them when he chooses. He'll also take a turn to iron some of the pile.

I choose to do the washing, drying and folding as it brings out the control freak in me.

It’s only DD7 and I at home. I don’t wait until I have a full load, if I did it could be weeks.

I cycle through whites, darks and colours. Towels and sheets get changed weekly, and I wash dependent on the weather or when needed. I try to fold as I go. Clean sheets just go back on the bed when washed, so no need to fold.

Washing machine goes on in the evening and hung out when it’s finished or in the morning.

Stained clothing gets dealt to as soon as possible.

We don't have a particular routine but one or other of us do put a load on at least every day, then pretty much continuous at the weekend (there are 5 of us). My DH does more than I do. He does all the ironing (it's only ever his work shirts that needs it). We do constantly have massive piles of washing waiting to be put away by the kids though.

I tend to do all my washings on a Friday night at the end of the school week. About 3 loads, then sat towels/bedding and football stuff.
Iron what needs done on a Sunday. About once a month I get an ironing done by a company who collect and drop off. It’s very cheap and my pay day treat. Not a very exciting pay day treat I know !

I can get away without ironing most things if I get it out as soon as the dryer finishes if I don’t overload the dryer. So for eg all shirts for school in one dry load alone- they come out with no creases. So I try and make sure dryer is on for a time when I know I’m going to be able to do that.
The rest gets ironed - that doesn’t leave much except for school skirts and shirts for myself and DH. It’s a few bits each day so I try to do it as I go. Fold and get the kids to take their pile up to their rooms then put away in the mornings when beds get made.
Washing I need to do 2 loads normally per day with family of 5. I’ve been following the organised mum method for a few months now- and it’s made everything a lot easier to manage, I’d highly recommend it.

Wash daily (and tumble dry for my sins)
Put in basket
Ignore basket unless rummaging in it for clean things
Eventually put stuff away
Repeat as necessary

Ironing???? Oh you mean that thing collecting dust is an iron excuse me for being a slattern

4 adults here. 2 live away but bring washing home on weekends.

I have a tall cupboard in my utility room with collapsible baskets stacked with everyone's name on. These are for ironing.

Everyone has their own laundry basket in their room when it is full I do a wash. I don't hunt down laundry if its not in the basket it doesn't get done.

Those that live away have clothes on rotation, so the washing they bring home is done the following week for them to take back the next weekend.

Its too stressful to turn washing/ironing around for two people (including bedding and towels) plus I want to spend my werkends with them not fussing about their laundry. If the weather is glorious I'll wash it and peg out but won't iron until in the week.

I iron for an hour most days, got a press so whizz through quite a bit in an hour.

Also I've got a lot of hanging space so if it doesn't need ironing, once dry I put it on a hanger ready for putting away.