Laundry nightmare help please

[Whereismymind21]

Oh wise mumsnetters please talk to me about your laundry solutions. Need to make change before I drown in clothes😫 Sorry for the boring thread!!
We have 2 laundry baskets, a washing machine (lucky that!) and a tumble dryer. What usually happens is the kids and DH -ok sometimes me too-discard their dirty clothes in the kitchen and they go straight into the machine. Everyone tends to run out of everything because I never make it to the bottom of the baskets. Clothes once washed go on clothes rack/tumble dryer then get piled somewhere when I need room for more clothes. When I have time to sit down and fold clothes, the pile is usually enormous and sometimes has got mixed with dirty stuff while people go hunting in it 🙈
When I’ve folded them, I put them in piles by person that then wait for “someone” to take them upstairs. Inevitably it’s me, I dump in rooms and they don’t get put away and again, sometimes get mixed in with dirty clothes. Kids are 9, 7 and 2. I know I should get the older two and DH to put away their own clothes-and I’ll work on that!-but please please tell me how you manage the whole wash-dry-fold-put away cycle without drowning in clothes and complaints!! Thanks all 😘

Why are clothes dumped in the kitchen?
Do you mean they chuck stuff onto the floor?
Also I dont spend the whole day doing laundry, its combined with other stuff so laundry on/ hung out , nip off to do foodshop or Im cleaning.
I loathe doing bits and bobs of cleaning all the time so massive blitz one day a week.
Woe betide anyone who messes it up.

I’m another laundry day fan. I can’t manage little and often without the system breaking down. Funny thing is that I had every reason under the sun why laundry day couldn’t work until I tried it.

I did one just before Christmas and it was lovely to confidently ignore it and have a lovely lazy time.

I can manage frog marching the family through the putting away process when it’s only once a week. Every day was breaking me.

I feel you @Whereismymind21! I literally sat today and folded 3 loads of washing. It tends to not migrate upstairs as 'someones' don't do it. So when I know I'm going upstairs I take a stack of that makes sense so then the pile in the actual basket is reduced. And because they're in my hand already I put one individuals away whoever stack I took up. Anyway little things hey?!!! In another life a housekeeper would be handy!

I definitely agree with getting rid of clothes as a first step. When stuff is dirty but you still have plenty of clean stuff to wear the volume of clothes in the overall cycle increases.

Personally I do favour the one load a day method. The putting away is the absolute worst but again, easier when the drawers aren't already crammed.

Laundry is one of those jobs that you need to see through to the end, unfortunately OP in this case that falls to you! If you interrupt the process half way through it just collapses .
Like someone else said, as soon as you have a full load , wash it dry it, fold it and put it away .
Thats the only way, tried and tested!
Your husband and older kids can be allocated other chores that will free up your time for laundry

@StEval and others asking why clothes are dumped in the kitchen..because it’s easiest..our only shower is downstairs and the washing machine is in the kitchen so when they come in and are dirty and need a shower (very often) or my DH or I get in from a run, going upstairs to get undressed and coming back down naked to get in the shower seems a bit pointless. Does that make sense? There’s usually a laundry basket by the washing machine so they go in there. If not, on the floor by the machine🙈
The kids uniforms are also kept in the kitchen so during school time they get dressed -and undressed and back into their jammies in the evening-in the kitchen. I’d love to have a utility room. I dream of it. sadly not an option though.
But ye, I’m taking all this on board and have already cleared out some clothes for a charity shop run and seeing the cycle through each time I start will be my mantra.

Can I also ask though-when you fold your clothes to be put away, do you fold them ‘properly’!?? I wondered if my folding technique was too involved and therefore taking me too long. Interested to find out if others just kind of fold in half so it’s neat-ish or fold properly like shop folding.
Thanks again all for your replies-really appreciate them!

[quote Whereismymind21]@StEval and others asking why clothes are dumped in the kitchen..because it’s easiest..our only shower is downstairs and the washing machine is in the kitchen so when they come in and are dirty and need a shower (very often) or my DH or I get in from a run, going upstairs to get undressed and coming back down naked to get in the shower seems a bit pointless. Does that make sense? There’s usually a laundry basket by the washing machine so they go in there. If not, on the floor by the machine🙈
The kids uniforms are also kept in the kitchen so during school time they get dressed -and undressed and back into their jammies in the evening-in the kitchen. I’d love to have a utility room. I dream of it. sadly not an option though.
But ye, I’m taking all this on board and have already cleared out some clothes for a charity shop run and seeing the cycle through each time I start will be my mantra.

Can I also ask though-when you fold your clothes to be put away, do you fold them ‘properly’!?? I wondered if my folding technique was too involved and therefore taking me too long. Interested to find out if others just kind of fold in half so it’s neat-ish or fold properly like shop folding.
Thanks again all for your replies-really appreciate them![/quote]
It sounds like the issue is more that you get undressed/ dressed in the kitchen which in all honesty I find bizarre.
How old are your children, they might not mind if tiny but once they are 8/9 wont they want the privacy of a bedroom?
Growing up we had a downstairs bathroom and we would just get changed into robes and decant down stairs to the bathroom and back up to get dressed.
My mother would not have allowed us to get dressed in the kitchen!
Surely that way all clothing stays upstairs until wash day not chucked on the floor ?
Currently it sounds like you put washing on to tidy up?

As PP have mentioned, people need to stop dumping in the kitchen and everyone needs to pull thwir weight.
We have washing basket in each bedroom, but it's dedicated to different warlords. I.e. whites/ lights darks, underwear (hot wash). Everyone is responsible for sorting their washing intonthe correct baskets. Bedtime we do a check of kids rooms and if they haven't put washing away theyre sent to put them in correct basket there and then.
We do a load each day depending on which basket is most full, plus bedding and towels each week or so.
Load is put in at night and timer set to end for 7:30am. Then in the morning it's hung out or put into tumble drier as soon as the washer finishes. DH wfh so will bring it in or empty drier when he's nipped down from his office in the loft for a brew or his lunch at one point in the day, or I'll do it as soon as I get home. Clothes are folded and sorted into owners piles and everyone is responsible for taking them back to their rooms and putting away. Kids usually help out matching up socks or sorting into piles as folded (5y/o DD is brilliant at folding and 7y/o DS is a champion sock matcher). Obviously we help DC with hanging stuff, but things which live in drawers like pjs, socks, undies etc is put away by them and checked over by us at bedtime.

Different washloads not warlords

All dirty laundry straight in the baskets. I have a dark basket and light basket.

One load a day, dried folded and laid away same day. Never gets left in a machine or in a basket waiting to be laid away.
Extra load for bedding on a Saturday and towels on a Sunday.
Sometimes it will mount up and little but not beyond 1 load. I don't have a tumble dryer.
The eldest should be laying his own clothes away, put them on his bed and say you want them laid away by bedtime.

I would stop keeping uniforms in the kitchen, lay them away in bedrooms as soon as they are washed, get dressed in bedrooms too. Is there a reason for doing it in the kitchen, where do teeth get brushed?

We have 3 baskets upstairs. 1 for towels, 1 for adult clothes and 1 for kids clothes.
The adult clothes get washed and tumble dried then I have 2 baskets downstairs. 1 for clothes tgst need ironed and 1 for put aways like socks, pj's etc. They get sorted into these baskets out of the dryer.
The kids clothes don't get tumble dried and get hung on an airer. Again get sorted as they come off it.
Then towels all get tumble dried.

Sometimes the ironing pile and put away is enormous, sometimes I keep on top of it but it works for me.

@StEval my kids are 9, 7 and 2 and have no qualms stripping off in front of their family, same as my husband and I. I much prefer them getting out of filthy clothes beside the washing machine downstairs than traipsing mud through the house and upstairs. They get very muddy..all the time.
It’s just the way we do it..different strokes and all that.
That said, I know it means I always prioritise the stuff that’s in the kitchen basket and the baskets upstairs never get emptied.
@ohidoliketobe 😂 love the idea of laundry warlords! Do you mean you have a 3-compartment basket in everyone’s bedroom and your 5 and 7 yr old sort the clothes in themselves? That’s v impressive if so 👏 well done you.

@Invisimamma I started keeping the uniforms in the kitchen after a friend suggested it and @Akire on this thread has suggested the same. I suppose it means there’s not a one size fits all approach as every family is different.
I’ve gotten some great tips on here, some of which I’ll take on board, some of which I know wouldn’t work for me/my kids.
It’s comforting to know that others have laundry struggles too!!

Why be so sarcastic to one poster,
OP?
You've only just given the age of your DC, and came on here for advice, which people have given.

Is the pile of washing too big/ overwhelming at the moment?
Can you send it all for a service wash, put it away and start again from scratch ?

One basket on the landing for dirty stuff. Gets taken downstairs every day and at least one load done. That is dried (tumble, rack or line) then the contents either go in the ironing pile (another laundry basket) or straight upstairs. At the weekends all the bedding and towels get washed (many loads- one superking, one king and two double beds plus bath sheets each, hand towels, bath mats etc as we have three teens). Dh irons and makes a pile for each person and they take it upstairs and put it away.

One smallish wash basket.
Once out of machine (we rarely use a tumble dryer) shake and hang damp onto clothes hangers (dresses, T-shirt’s, jeans on clippey hangers). Small items onto those hanging peg devices.
If weather is okay put hangers on line. If not hang in the bathroom (door frames are good). We all use the same method.
If anyone wants to iron then that’s up to them, do it before you wear it.

[quote Whereismymind21]@StEval my kids are 9, 7 and 2 and have no qualms stripping off in front of their family, same as my husband and I. I much prefer them getting out of filthy clothes beside the washing machine downstairs than traipsing mud through the house and upstairs. They get very muddy..all the time.
It’s just the way we do it..different strokes and all that.
That said, I know it means I always prioritise the stuff that’s in the kitchen basket and the baskets upstairs never get emptied.
@ohidoliketobe 😂 love the idea of laundry warlords! Do you mean you have a 3-compartment basket in everyone’s bedroom and your 5 and 7 yr old sort the clothes in themselves? That’s v impressive if so 👏 well done you.[/quote]
Op I have 3 adult DC who also got muddy as small DC
Puddlesuits/ Waterproofs which got taken off in the hall.
Their clothes stayed clean.
I dont know anyone who allows DC to drag mud all over the house either!
Essentially the issue is that you all get dressed/ undressed in the kitchen and unless you want to change that you are bound to have piles of clothes there!

One laundry basket. Only clothes in the basket get, clothes around the basket or in the general vicinity of the basket do not get washed. Same with bedroom floor clothes

Wash is put on every day and either into the tumbler/rads/line
Clothes folded every night on bed in to piled and then into each bedroom.

Everyday it is someone's job to put a wash on. On Saturday 5 year old sorted and puts a wash on by themselves

It is no one persons job

I have one basket on the landing for us all (DH, DD 8 and myself) that gets taken down and I have a 'sorting basket' in the garage where the machine is. Sort my loads then do a wash, either put in dryer or on airer. Sort them when they're dry. Give DD and DH theirs to put away.

I collect and sort out the laundry. Ours goes in the wash basket in my bedroom and DS leaves his washing on his sofa and I put it into the machine according to type/colour etc.

DH empties the machine and line dries it outside or indoors in the airing cupboard. He then sorts it and puts it away. He tends to put DS’s clothes and my undies away but leaves my tops and bottoms folded on the bed for me to put away.

Similar process for washing up. I fill and put on dishwasher, DH empties it and cleans the kitchen.

Folding process - definitely not “shop folded”. T-shirts are given “the flick”, hung up on the airer, then when dry I fold in half then in half again, and these days fold the arms under too (kids are getting bigger). Shorts folded in half, trousers in 4. Shirts usually dry on hangers so straight into wardrobe (un ironed). Pants just shoved in the drawer.

I get cross if it gets hung up all crumpled as then it takes more careful folding to put away!

Sounds like a big problem is the “rifling through clean piles” and getting them mixed up and crumply. I would just go straight from “clothes are folded” to “and are put straight into the drawer”. It’ll save so much time. No point putting the piles in the rooms. They’ll get knocked over and rummaged through. It only takes an extra half minute to put them away - if it takes longer, the drawers and wardrobe are probably over full and time for a clear out. The easier it is to put away, the quicker it will all be.

My grandma’s mantra, which I do find pretty impossible to live with as I’m naturally v untidy, but is good advice, was “don’t put it down - put it away!”

Oh, and final point - I love listening to audio books and podcasts so I actually quite enjoy sorting laundry now, for the first time in my life - in go the headphones and I listen to Viking battles etc while pairing socks. But I don’t have a 2 year old so I don’t have to keep an ear out!

I do a load a day, almost irrespective of how much is in the basket. Doing a load means wash, dry and put it away. In reality I leave it hanging that day and night, then when I'm hanging up the next load I put that load away. If the basket is nearly empty I'll do towels, bath mats, oven gloves. I do bedding on a Tuesday, I don't usually do all the beds so take it in turns. It's the only part of the organised mum method that has really stuck for me! Because it works.