How do you keep on top of laundry

[PandaAtTheZoo]

I have so much laundry I just can't keep up with it especially with the all the towels, bedding and table clothes and mats because people keep spilling food. I don't have room for a dryer and it's winter so that doesn't help. Any tips or advice? Thanks

Do you reuse towels? How often are you washing bedding and how many people in the house? Do you need table cloths/fabric mats?

Don't use table cloths .. have a towel system where they are coloured so everyone has their own and wash once a week .. do one load a day

Towels & bedding once a week. Kids' sheets can last two weeks if there's too much on.
Wipe clean table cloth. I have several cloths/towels for mopping up spills and they sit in a bucket until it is full.
One load of laundry dry each day so there is time for it to dry.

Get an oilcloth table cover. Use wipeable table mats. Flannels for grubby hands and faces, and rinse them after use, so no need to wash them daily.

Great idea about the colour coded towels.

Wash as soon as you have a load (whites, darks, coloureds). If something is colour fast, the sky won't fall in if you put it in with a whites' wash.

Do you have room or funds for a Lakeland airer, I know some people on here rave about them.

Don't iron, hang clothes on hangers as they come out of the wash, hang them on a rack off the back of the door, or on a drying rack near a radiator. They dry quicker and take up less space that way.

Definitely don't wash things unless they are dirty.

Second an oilcloth for the kitchen table.

Coloured ribbons for hanging towels and identifying owner.
Laundry or service washes for bedding.
Wash as you go along, don’t store it all to do at the weekend.

Get an oilcloth table cover. Use wipeable table mats. Flannels for grubby hands and faces, and rinse them after use
This ^ for starters.

Air towels after use, not wash them each time

Only wash things that need washing - so, pants and socks are every day, after that it is on a case by case basis

put on a wash once the laundry basket is full.
we do about 5 loads a week

look where you can reduce laundry, especially bulky items like bedding and towels. if you can eek out another day of use of towels by hanging up to dry after use or airing bedding better that will reduce the load already.

no ironing apart from hama beads rarely worn special items

table clothes and mats

never used either of these and I have two under 5's.

I put a load on every day.

I only wash bedding once a fortnight.
Towels only wash a once a week.
I don't iron much

I don't have a dryer but I use the lakeland heated airer to dry clothes more quickly inside.

Try keeping the washing separate- we do each person's clothes separately, and it really reduces the Labour of sorting.
Over time we've shopped so that the men don't have any whites, so easy to get a load together.

Also if you wash at a lower temp, the cycle is much shorter.

I do a wash most days. I have a washer dryer. I hang up half and tumble dry half. I have a Lakeland heated dryer in my hall which is always up. I take off the washing that is dry and hang the wet washing. It is a constant rotation. I have a separate space for any big duvet covers and blankets to hang. They are tumble dryed until nearly dry then hung up over night and put away in morning.

The things that help me are:
Washer dryer
Dehumidifier
Dedicated space to hang washing that is warm and near a window.
Washing often
Hanging outside in summer
Extra spin
I put everything away without ironing and iron what I need in the morning. Or do a load when I have time.

For posters with the Lakeland dryer, do you find it uses a lot of electric?

And also which one to go for as I am looking on their site and their are so many!

Everything pp have said about tablecloths, bedding etc.

don't iron. It's the biggest waste of an existence ever.

We don't have space for a tumble dryer so we use a dehumidifier overnight in winter and a big rotary airer outside in summer.

I usually do 1 wash a day but I have a tumble dryer to keep up with it if bad weather.

Have a wipe clean table cloth.

Bedding & towels (own towels - dried in airing cupboard in between) changed once a week.

I aim to get a couple of wears out of school uniform. I wear my jeans for 3 - 4 days unless they get dirty.

I have a 9kg machine.

Only have a hand towel in the bathrooms, the bath towels are in the bedrooms folded on a radiator airier one per person, which gets change each week, I started doing this when my kids were teenagers and just kept getting clean towels out of the airing cupboard using them once and dropping them on the floor!! They soon leaned to take them back to there rooms and hang them up when I Empty out the airing cupboard.

Also I double spin in the winter!! So when the wash has finished but it on another spin at 1600.

Look at BBC weather app and if it’s going to be a windy day I do as much washing as I can still hang it out even in the winter , then finish off on radiation’s .

I would forget about table cloths only use one on Christmas Day!!

Bedding and towels are changed once a week in my house and washed that day. I think the same day wash may be the key.

Five people, so bedding is approx three loads and towels one load. Do about three -four other loads a week. No dryer, peg out or have strategically placed drying racks over radiators.

No tablecloths or mats, just wipe clean table cover.

I see everyone else says the same 😀

Does your washing machine have a delay function? I load the machine before bed and set it to start at 8am to get a head start!

In winter, first load in wash on Friday night before supper. Into the airing cupboard same night.
2nd load in wash first thing Saturday, & swap over in airing cupboard, 3rd load Sunday morning, swap into airing cupboard.

During the summer I use a washing line.

I iron anything essential on Sunday nights.

To the poster who asked about the airer I have the large one, but often just use one side. I can fit a full 9kg load on it when all leaves in use! Not sure on power consumption but didnt notice the bills go up when we got it 2 years ago.

OP. Oilcloth everything- wipe clean!

Sorry PinkDaydreams I don't know much about my Lakeland heater airer. I got it a long time ago and stop switching it on when I moved house. I use half of it which fits the space I have perfectly. So I can keep it up all the time. I think they are quite cheap to run and they do speed up drying time.