I spend half my life doing laundry - anyone got an efficient system they can share?

[Poseidensgrumpyneighbour]

Full disclosure, I'm a bit ill and feel rather defeated by life today. I'm so behind on everything from work to family admin to cleaning. Lots of stuff in our house doesn't work but I'm feeling super drained and can't face tackling any of it so instead am frittering away time online reading depressing stuff about Andrew Tate and those poor people in the submersible. Anyhow...

Feel if I can get on top of one thing, some other stuff might fall into place and laundry is a real challenge for me. We are a family of four - two adults, two teens and yet somehow I spend hours and hours each week sorting out laundry. How can that be? DH and I share a washing basket and the DC have one each and I just seem to blink and they are full again and there's always a pile next to the machine waiting to go on. Trying to avoid dryer due to electricity costs so hanging everything out and then folding afterwards, which just seems to take forever. And then if I don't redistribute it around the house straight away it all gets jumbled again and I have to re-sort it.

If you are a family of four and have a good system, how does it work?
And how much time does it take up each day? What do your kids do?

We have 2 adults and two DS. One dirty laundry basket that is very small.
I do a wash overnight every night and hang out every morning before work (unless raining then on airer).
Take back in late and it goes either in dry laundry basket or for quick spin in dryer if it needs it.
Once a week i get the kids to empty the clean laundry and sort and put it away.
Unless it’s a wedding I don’t iron - I normally take out shirts/ dresses that crease as they come out of the drier so they don’t need it.
sheets /towels are done at weekends.
Would say I spend no more than 15 mins a day on laundry and I don’t really think of it as a chore as it’s a small daily task.

Don't iron anything

Same household here. I have one small ish washing basket we all use that if really full is about right for the max for the 10.5kg washing machine. I do a wash every day even if basket isn't very full as washing machine takes account of small loads, plus extra loads for bedding. Hang outside in the summer. Use tumble dryer for small stuff and towels when necessary but hang up items of clothing with the dehumidifier on and it dries in 24 hours. I find smaller, daily loads less of a head fuck 😆

Depending on your children’s ages make your kids do their own washing. I did this recently and it’s wonderful. Each child has 2 washing days a week in which to use the washing machine. I gets rid of any responsibility for me on the ‘mum is my xxx clean?’. I make them wash their own bedding and towels too. Also never iron. My kids are 14 & 16

I refuse to wash everything after one wear, only pants and socks and DH's tshirts have one wear, everything else is worn several times, small food marks I get out with a damp sponge before it is worn again. Towels are washed after 2 weeks, bedding every 3. I wait until there is a full load before I wash. I do 4 full loads a week, for 2 adults, 2DC.

I swear by washing by person rather than by load. Each person has their own basket and when it’s full enough it goes in the machine. It’s makes life so much easier when you aren’t sorting and putting away multiple people’s laundry.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPEJ2M8vuTw

My DH does all the laundry in our house - solves my problem!

Dh has his own laundry basket. He brings down when full, I shove it in the machine. Whoever is around later pegs it out and brings it in.

dd’s and I share as we all have similar delicates/whites/dark/sportswear ratios. I shove a load on when a basket is full.

bedding/towels done again when the basket is full. Helps to have baskets that fit in exactly a load.

I make use of the machines timer and set it the night before so it’s done around 8. I also try to keep an eye on weather so only wash if it’s going to be sunny.

I really hate the comments on these threads which says - everyone should do their own washing or - make the teens do their own.

We have a set of 3 laundry baskets in the bathroom.
Whites
Darks
Colours.

The whites one, with 5 of us at home, barely makes a full load per week now that we don't have any white school shirts.
Dark one just makes one load every 6-7 days.
Colour one has 3 loads in by the end of the week if not done.
If people did their own, they either have to wash the whites with colours, which is crap, I like a good clean white T in the summer. Same with darks. Or they all do a small wash of their own whites which is horrendous for environment.

Instead, I tell one of the dc to go and get a basket and put a load on. They pick up the fullest basket, because we have 3 they are already sorted into whites/darks and colours, and they put a load in the machine.
I usually hang it up last thing at night (but that is to do with complicated saga around cat who needs me to bring him in and stand with him while he eats).

We have a utility room with plenty of hanging space. Dryer only used for sheets and towels.

Between all of us we take down the dry and fold it into a large basket. About once a week the basket is emptied out on my bed and sorted into piles. Sometimes I do that, sometimes dc do.
We don't iron.

So dc do a lot of helping, but they don't wash their clothes seperately, because it is economically and envirnonmentally insane.

Family of 2 adults and 2 teens. One big laundry basket, if it’s not in the basket, it doesn’t get washed.
I do 3 full loads at the weekend, separated by colour.
1 midweek load, towels, PE kit, washable sanitary products, anything that missed the weekend wash.

I sort into iron/not to be ironed, then put DC’s into a bag and mine and DH’s a pile on the bed, only takes 5 minutes tops.

Couple of hours ironing also on a weekend, then everyone puts their own stuff away.

Two baskets. One adults, one children
Child basket is emptied of anything not worn much and not really dirty.
Wash every other day. Dry and put into basket - one for each person

I hang as much as I can to dry - dresses/school shirts etc. do not iron.

Saturday or Sundays everyone puts their Washing away.

It is still overwhelming

Lots of good ideas here. I really do want the kids to do more, I just find it really hard to consistently make that happen.

So far, ideas that I can see sticking include:

• central basket / baskets so that I'm not schlepping about the house collecting washing and it will be a first step towards people taking responsibility for their own stuff
• some kind of arrangement that involves everyone taking their own stuff back to their rooms - maybe separate baskets for clean washing

There's 7 of us here. I wash every 2nd day. I have 2 huge laundry baskets in the utility room, one whites one darks, I use colour run incase something sneaks in.

I did use to get the children to do their own washing, that was actually worse, it was a time of basic washing machines that didn't weigh clothes so the machine was going on half empty. There was a half load button they never pushed it, so it was just a huge waste of water and electricity. Plus the machine was running all day, then fights over who wanted to use it.

By me doing it, I get it done faster, they know how to use the machine, I just do it while they're at work / college /school. They pay me now to do it 😂 I'm sticking on washes anyway, so no problem adding in theirs.

I don’t iron so if you do this won’t work for you but I hang all T-shirts, tops, dresses on coat hangers to dry on the pulley/airing rack so they can go straight in the wardrobe after rather than being folded or hung once dry.

I delay the washing machine to come on in the early hours so it’s done before I leave for work or time for mid afternoon so it’s done for when I get home and I can hang it straight away.

Family of six here, I have two washers and two dryers! Every morning I put two loads of washing on (darks, lights, bedding, towels) and then they generally go into the dryers, then are folded straight away when dry. I put them away while my kids are getting changed for bed. I rarely line dry and never iron - I just can’t keep on top of it if I do.

We are six. I do loads for each child so I can fold into one basket rather than sort through multiple. I don't iron unless it is a garment that absolutely needs it. I then take the baskets to the children's rooms and it is up to them to put them away. They hate doing that so much they have slowly shifted from throwing everything in the basket. We do around 9 loads a week. One for each of us and then bedding and towels.

I hate it too! But this way it feels more manageable.

I dont iron. Dirty clothes into basket un the bathroom and washed when it reaches the top. This could be anyday, no set time. Everyones clothes sorted when off the line/dryer put into a basket in their room (i.e there is a basket of CLEAN clothes in their room, up to them to sort and put the away if they wish). Also my kids are 15, 19 and 21. They know how to put on a wash and also sort the clothes and all do it, some more willingly than others! They are old enough to help and it is important that they di.

Basket at the top of the stairs for dirty laundry brought down daily, where it gets sorted into 3 baskets (light, white and dark). First basket to get full gets put in tue machine on a timer to finish first thing in the am, when it gets hung out on the heated airer or outside. Dry washing gets sorted into piles and has to be put away by the end of the by it's owner.

Several different baskets (stacking boxes from ikea)(lights/darks/whites/delicates/towels/pink and red) so everything is sorted into different colours. Each basket holds a load full. Loads go on when the basket is full. Most days there’ll be at least one load on (big household). Either tumble or onto the line then fold and sort straight into piles in the appropriate bedrooms - they put their own laundry away. Very little gets ironed - separate basket for ironing and do that once a week. If it’s sunny I’ll get them to strip their beds and get it on the line.

Ok, do you think this would work:

• central washing baskets by the machine separated into lights / darks / handwash - I sort mine and DH's and the kids sort theres
• Everyone brings their washing down before bed each night once PJs are on
• put on washload for whichever one is full first
• then I buy one of these in a different colour for each of us. Clean stuff goes in there, people have to put it away themselves and return basket downstairs

I have 2 wash baskets, one for dirty clothes (lights and darks mixed) and one for clothes that just need a quick wash with some antibacterial laundry detergent. I also have a storage box for clothes that have been worn once but can be worn again just because don't like putting them back in the wardrobe. I never iron and put clothes away straight after they've dried.

Sounds good

I'd buy everyone one of these and a bottle of febreeze each for things that don't really need washing after one wear.

www.amazon.co.uk/HAKU-Furniture-30369-Men´s-Valet/dp/B0018IBSDQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?crid=2TCXY9EWJQ0S1&keywords=valet&qid=1687270889&sprefix=valet%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-14

Central baskets - yes. DH can sort his own though!
By the machine -Upstairs is more likely to be used.
Basket per person - yes but do you have room to leave them for picking up by their owner?