Three loads of laundry a week. How?

[PotatoPudding]

Lighthearted thread:

I seem to see so many people saying they only do 3 loads of laundry a week for their entire family. How is this possible?

We are two adults and DS 5. I do the following:

• 3-4 mixed/dark loads a week
• 1 load of towels
• 1 load of bedding in colder months (different bed each week) and 2-3 loads when it’s hot (we all have our own beds, ranging from double to super king
• 1 white wash every other week, which is just school polos and the odd other bit but rarely a full load
• 1 ad hoc load every couple of weeks for blankets, dressing gowns, indoor fleeces, etc.

I wear one pair of jeans and one pair of joggers all week. I wear 2-3 hoodies/jumpers a week plus a base layer every day. I wear two sets of old joggers and hoodies for bed each week, as well as thick socks. DH wears a clean top every day for work but same trousers all week. DS wears school uniform and sometimes changes when he gets home. School coat gets chucked in the wash once every week or two. We do no sports or activities that require additional clothing.

For me, the laundry seems never ending!

How does this compare to other households of a similar size?

School uniforms for my teens are two loads, plus some white blouses for a white wash.
I do kids beds one week, ours the next and that’s a load.
One towel load.
Tea towels and cleaning cloths - sometimes twice a week.
Then probably two loads of clothes.

So at least 7.

We do everyone's separately - we just don't separate by colour. That means it only takes about a week for a full load.

I don't even separate light & dark. I basically do 3 different types of wash:

1. Bedding (because it's a full load & no room for anything else).
2. Woollens.
3. Everything else.

Honestly I'm like Novocaine. You do you. I only wash stuff that obviously needs a wash. So that's not much at all.

We only wash things that have marks or smell or got sweaty so will smell.
Towels are hung up after use & we can't smell them unless they are left wet for long period.
Only one of us even has a dressing gown.

Family of 5 and i honestly do 3 loads a day!! it's insane the amount of washing i do

We are a family of five.
I don't know how many loads I do a week but I do know IT NEVER ENDS.
My washing machine is constantly on, a washing machine breakdown would cause chaos.
I'm going to estimate about 10 loads a week. It's on every day but not always more than one load.

I wash my bedding every week because Sunday night in freshly washed sheets is my treat!

And because I have a pet who sleeps on and sometimes in the bed!

That is a lot of washing. I would cut it down by putting towels in with other items - they don't need a separate wash!

Use white towels and put them in with your whites if that wash is only half full. Or put some in with the bedding. You should be able to fit more than one set of bedding in a wash. It sounds like you aren't filling your machine.

I could if it was two adults like me but unfortunately I have a DH that runs, cycles and goes fishing so contributes rather more than me to the washing pile, he also has greasy man head and body which means the sheets have to be washed weekly, my side could probably go two or three weeks. So I end up doing at least 4 washes a week

Towels make up a full load. 3 bath sheets, three bath mats, 6-8 hand towels, 3-4 tea towels, up to a dozen cloths, plus two of those big car drying towels.

With a super king bed, you definitely can’t add any other bedding. However, in colder and wetter months, it’s hard to even do the super king in one go because it’s a pain getting it dry.

we do 3-4 a week

2 adults, 2 kids. Kids do judo so I wash their judo trousers weekly and their gi's once a month

Normally 2 colour washes and 1 or 2 white washes. Bedding and towels go in with the rest of the washing. I tend to do the kids beds and our beds on alternate weeks.

Towels - we each have our own hung up (have our own colours) and they get washed every 3 or 4 days.

Family of 5. We do one a day on average, sometimes two. I sometimes do extra just to give myself a day off. Its pathetic how often i think about laundry. Being honest bed linen is more like every 2 to 3 weeks. Towels maybe once a week. I have been intentionally cutting down on kids clothes by wiping down outside layers rather than mindlessly throwing into the machine. Dh and DS1 train every single day and I have a work uniform that gets dirty. My laundry is usually a dark wash, pale colours, mixed bright colours all in rotation, and bed/ towels. So a dark wash today would mean the next will be 3 or 4 days away. Turnover can be up to a week as I sort the basket twice a week. Usually an upstairs and downstairs basket, one from line and dryer downstairs, one from clothes horse upstairs. It's a never ending system

I just don't wash stuff as frequently as you. I wouldn't wash hoodie/jumpers as frequently. If you've got a base layer on they aren't touching you, I'd air them out and would wash if I'd spilled something down them or they smelled. Don't wash towels and bedding as frequently. Don't have enough bathrooms to need 3 bath mats, only one here. Don't own a car towel, is that literally a towel for the car? I definitely don't wash the car ever week!

Probably do 3 loads a week for a family of 4.

When it was just me and DP we used to do one or two loads per week. Now we have two kids we usually do one load per day, so I can only assume the kids are some how generating 5 loads a week between them. I have no idea how.

I agree with just not washing stuff unless dirty. Sheets can wait two weeks. Even longer without any repercussions.
Socks and pants get changed daily but my dad still wears socks for two days. No harm done.

Why?

Why would an item that's been used for a few minutes a day to dry a clean body need a far more intensive washing treatment than clothes that's been worn all day possibly more than once, or next to the skin, while out and about etc.

I find I do a lot of loads because I need certain items but don't have enough laundry to fill up machine...so for example my dd ran out of school shirts and I realised she needed them washed. They are white, I only had her shirts plus a couple of other white items...so the machine was on but barely half full.

I still can't get past a 9kg drum doing 45 shirts.... maybe if you're the size of a borrower! I'm lucky to get 10 of OH's in! Maybe 15 of DD's.

Family of 4 here with 3 working adults. I do possibly 18-20 loads per week in a 10kg machine.
I am particular around laundry separation.
8 x darks, 3 x towels, 3 x bedding, 2 x whites, 1 x lights, 1 x jeans, 1 x blankets and 1 x bathroom mat.

I run the machine through the night so it really doesn’t feel like I’m doing 20 loads.

How is that possible?

They can't be full loads of washing. It is 5 loads per person per week.

Must cost an absolute fortune.

When the 4 youngsters, now adults, married with their own families were at home, the washing machine was on at least once a day (usually 2-3) even as they all started leaving home.

My husband passed 6 years ago, so just me at home now; I do 3-4 loads of washing per week.

Bedding and towels x 1 or 2 loads
Separate clothing depending on type/colours, etc. x 1 or 2 loads
Tea towels and dishcloths (they don't go in with anything else - that's a big yuck for me)
Miscellaneous anything else that needs separate washing

Just two adults here and the machine is on constantly - so it seems

Two loads for DH work clothes- hes a builder
Another load for jeans ( jeans are my uniform plus leisure wearing and its probably once a fortnight)
Another for tops, leggings , shirts - lightly soiled items
Then light undies and socks
Bedding takes two loads to do
Then dont even get me started on towels, dressing gowns and t-towels . Then the ad hoc washes of jackets and hand wash items

And now its supposedly summer and we have house guests come and go till the end of September, there can be up to 4 extra sets of bedding and towels galore

I did 2 this week but only 2 adults - dark wash including towels and a light wash including sheets. When I had kids it was more likely 3/4 washes 10kg washer