I'm drowning in laundry. I hate doing it. And its the one thing I can't really hire a cleaner to sort out for me. Please help with suggestions!

[oranges]

How do people cope? I have no garden, and am a real slattern when it comes to changing sheets, but I feel I'm forever sorting, drying, putting away. Short of discarding all clothes and buying a fresh set from Primark each week, what do I do?

flylady says a load a day first thing you do when you get up

hang out if nice day then it's dry when you get back (I know it's pissing it down at moment but usually that works)

fold and finish each load each day it's only 15 mins of a job then

you get into habit and don't notice after a while honest

sheets once a week same time each week you set your timer for 10 mins and change them

For those of you who have a small back garden or yard I'm getting one of these wall mounted rotary line

I know it's expensive but I think it will be worth it (if it ever stops raining, that is)

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[ true pruners but my tumbledrier is broken

it must be said that during the recent weather unpleasantness i've had a couple of loads just sitting out there getting soggy for days on end

every time i look at them i remember jools posting that she really hated seeing washing left out in a garden

but throughout winter we simply drape clothes all over radiators and hope it will improve our complexions]

The problem with flylady's idea of a load first thing in the morning, is that it doesn't fit in with the working lifestyle very well. It is just sat in the machine until such time in the evening as you have time to deal with it.

I ditched my tumble dryer so have to dry everything my hanging somewhere. So I wash in the evening, then I sort the washing before I go to bed, so the socks etc go on a small wall rack above the washing machine. Larger items are folded ready to go on the line before I go to work - or put on a larger airer in the office/little bedroom if it is likely to be wet next day or the heating is on. Bedding I do on a Friday when I don't work. The DC both have Next bedding that dries in no time. So it either goes on the line, or over the banister. Ours is heavier cotton so takes longer but we have two sets so less urgency to dry it.

PMSL at cod being excited about the fluff filter!

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bozza I work and put the laundry in like flylady says

my kids get me up at 6.30

it is done by 7.45 and out on line

you just need to get your lazy ass out of bed

I am a sad sad woman and have timed myself putting laundry out on the line.

It takes 20 minutes minimum.

Is this

a) because I am extra slow and incompetent?

b) because I hang out every sock, pants, fiddly things for which I ought to be just using my tumble dryer? (But then I'll have environment angst)

or

c) because it's supposed to take 20 minutes?

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20 mins a bit long

get a crack on

(hang everything socks and all)

just wang it up there

I leave the house at 7.20 though and the DC don't get up until 7, so I need it out on the line before 7.

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Bedding - we used to have flat (not fitted sheets) and took the bottom one off, moved the top to the bottom, and put a new top sheet on. This halved the washing, and as the top sheet was never as dirty, didn't matter much.

Mum wouldn't wash anything that wasn't the right way round and/or in the correct basket (she had one for whites, darks and coloured stuff) and if you noticed a stain when you took it off, you rubbed it with a bar of soap! Seemed to work with a family of 5, no tumble drier, and lines strung up on the patio.

Now I run a hotel, with 7 bedrooms....

wow- i love laundry!!! our washing machine gets run twice a day, once in the morning before i go to work. When i get back whilst the kids are tidying their toys i hang the washing up (i have converted a spare bedroom to laundry room) the another load once the kids are in bed and that gets hung on the racks then. Anything which is dry gets folded before bed and left in baskets outside the appropriate room and put away in the morning.

Towels and sheets get done over the weekend, nappies as well. So bedding etc is tumble dried and nappies are hung to dry.

bozza put it in before you go to bed

sheesh

some people really do need a life coach

capp that is exactly what I do do.

I was just musing, that maybe just not going to bed at all would solve the whole issue.

Capp - I once tried to do it without dawdling, as if it were a race, and timed it in an obsessive manner, it still took me 18 minutes.

What is wrong with me?

I put it on at night, it's ready to hang out in the mornign.

But then I don't have time in the mornign to hang it out because I am so slow and incompetent

I love putting laundry out

it is moment of zen with birds singing

it is my little moment before the day

whenever dh suggests helping I give him a stern look

I think I have mine sussed.... I get the teenagers to do their own (three away at the moment, so no problem there at the moment!) and I do dh's and mine and the two little ones.

I have two washing machines and two tumble driers and a line (spoilt, I know!). I do as Cod does - washing overnight, but I tend to do two loads. If it is wet I then split each load into two and tumble - if I put a whole washing machine load into one tumble drier, it takes forever to dry and comes out v creased. Tumbling half a load is the secret. If it is dry or sunny or windy I put everything out on the line first thing in the morning. I tend to do one load clothes and one other stuff (towels, swimming stuff, sheets etc).

I use the very wonderful Ariel cold which washes at cold so stuff doesn't run - is much cheaper as machine doesn't heat up water - and I chuck in one of those colour catcher sheets into each wash, I use and use them till they are navyish. I almost never have any problems with colours running or grey whites. I spray with vanish any stains as stuff goes in the basket. I do bras and woollens separately and once a week I do a warm or hot wash with anything either very dirty or stained.

I fold and put away every wash as I go, if it piles up it becomes a heaving nightmare very quickly. I have a cupboard with an ironing basket in and I put the ironing in there for the weekend.

I iron on Sunday evenings in front of the tv. I am sad enough to actually feel itchy if we go out or have people over and I miss my ironing session.

I make the kids put theirs away and check the laundry basket to make sure they have not just slung stuff back in clean. I also make sure that they put stuff away properly in their cupboards .

I used to have an alcoholic ironing lady who smoked like a chimmney and would teeter over with bags of my immaculately ironed clothes - which never ever smelled of smoke. Local rumour has it that it is her mum who actually does the ironing (bloody well). After the holidays I will reluctantly relinquish my ironing evening and hand over a week's ironing to her on Fridays.

My ex husband once mistakenly criticised my washing/ironing system (bastard) and I went on washing strike. I washed stuff (couldn't leave it to fester) and then piled it up, wash after wash on the dining table. I kept school uniform (only !) pristine. He lasted a couple of weeks on this system.......

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I have the heavy artillery for the weekly stain wash....I have silk/wool stuff for the bras and crap. otherwise tis me and good old Ariel cold.