talk to me about how you kep on top of the washing

[popsycal]

I am almost 35 years of age and still cant get a washing routine sorted. I live amongst piles of dirty clothes, washed clothes waiting to dry, tumbled clothes, clothes in piles on the stairs waiting to be put away, ditto clothes in bedrooms......

I do at least one wash a day. I try to hang out if the weather allows. The kids wear their uniforms for a few days before washing. I am not obsessive about towels and bedding. But we just seem to have PILES of clothes at different states of washedness.

There are 5 of us.

Oh, I don't iron

ahh see ironing is my downfall. I can get it washed and dried. then it all builds up and up and up until I have to spend hours ironing it all.
if I didn't iron i'd be ok I think

I don't iron. I shake out clothes thoroughly when they come out of the machine to minimise creases and then fold and put away as soon as they're dry.

I hang shirts up to dry on hangers and then straight into the wardrobe. Dh irons his shirt first thing in the morning if needed. I find that virtually everything else can be worn unironed if careful about hanging up to dry.

If I don't do a wash every couple of days and put away as soon as dry then the whole system collapses...like now. Am up to my eyes in clothes at the moment

everything goes in at 40 degrees
nothing gets ironed
anything like shirts gets hung up straight from washing machine, anything else goes in the tumble drier

hmmm...

we are 5 as well. Not obsessive about towels/bedding either. I wash roughly once a day, hang up immediately (washing on a low spin), and I hang up on a drier inside so weather doesn't come into it. Day and a half to two days later I fold the stuff and put it away immediately, so it's just one basket at a time.

that's it

I swear, if you shake stuff out really well before you hang up to dry you really don't have to iron.

The key is to put away straight away. Piles of clothes are your enemy

Oh and when I do do bedding/towels I use the tumble drier, but only then

This is what I do but there are only 3 of us.

All clothes go into 1 big washing basket (we used to have 2, 1 for us and 1 for DD but it ogot complicated) then when wash basket is full I take it and do 3 loads of washing, hang all except underwear, sock and bibs outside if weather allows
.
As I bring them in I seperate and fold on the table in the kitchen and then take straight upstairs and put away.

If I dont do it straight away it sits there and next time I do washing there's twice the amount of stuff to put away.

you see i can get the stuff in the washer and drier but it is mainly the dry stuff
for whatever reason (Isuspect lack of storage and spcae to put storage solutions anyway ) I get stuck at the putting away bit.....

I feel like I am doing at least 2 loads everyday, I don't iron either - all clothes are literally folded once they are almost dry and folded and put in the airing cupboard - I find this avoids all the major creases.We have 3 kids.

I have banned myself from doing anymore washing until the stuff that is piling up everywhere is put away.......

I don't really .

But my 3 section laundry basket is amazing and I have sections for reds/pinks, lights and darks, so I don't have to empty the whole laundry basket to sort loads.

I think I might be more excited about it than necessary, but I've had wine.

Let me elaborat eon my 'system' to see where I am going wrong.

Upstairs we have 2 washing baskets - darks and lights - and then somehow, in the corner of the kitchen, there is another basket. The reason for this basket is that the kids seem to strip off downstairs and get undressed and dressed there.

So.
Washing from downstairs basket tends to get down quicker as its near the washer. Things linger in the baskets upstairs.

But its the piles of clean, dry stuff.
I am back and forward to school (drop off, nursery [ickup and school pick up) and never seem to get a minute! and am too knackered at night

SHGould we have one big washing basket? Or one each?

Do we need clean washing fold up crates?

oh help

You need a day to get on top of it.

Then do two loads of washing a day.
One washing basket.
Dirty clothes collection every day.
Iron on a monday and a friday.
Always wash,dry and put the same bedding back on so its not hanging around.
Clean uniforms mondays and thursdays unless really stained and won't baby wipe off.
Everyone has there one and only towel plus a hand towel for guests.
Only one ironing basket a small one for undies.
DH wears overalls at work so doesn't really get dirty and showers all the time so wears the same clothes all week, maybe a clean t-shirt on a weds.

Hope this helps

The solution is to have less clothes!

That way they are washed, dried, put away (or left on the beds for older dc to deal with) and worn in a quicker cycle, not allowing time to sit in a pile on the table.

There are 5 of us, I wash every day, and put away dry stuff every afternoon.

I also only have one basket for dirty washing and one for clean, so I have to fold and put away the first lot before I can bring in/put out the next.

sep -- thats great and i actually do some of that re unifrms etc

but yes, i need a dasy to get back to square one the Implement A Better System

popsy - how old are your DC's can you make them take their dirty washing upstairs instead of leaving it downstairs? AND can you rope them into taking clean stuff back upstairs?

What I tend to do when DD is stripped off is throw the washing up the stairs then whenever any of us go upstairs we put it in the basket (esp for bibs)

I used to have upstairs and downstairs washing baskets and one is much better.

Anything that is clean and dry goes in a big plastic box on wheels. When it's full (and then some) I or dh have a blitz on the ironing and sorting the underwear, towels etc. Normally once a week or maybe longer. We sort and put away in one go.

It's endless though isn't it? I find it soul destroying and there's only 3 of us .

less clothes is good
we dont have loads but i need a cull on the boys' clothes and dh needs a really good sort out
my washing pile is always the smallest!

It's the putting away. Everything else is a red herring.

You've got to have steely determination to put the stuff away as soon as it's dry.

1. Take dry washing down and fold
2. PUT IT AWAY
3. Take washing out of machine and hang up
4. Put new load of washing on

If you fall down on step two you end up, like me at the moment, with clothes everywhere and then someone rummages through the pile looking for something, and then it ends up on the floor somehow or at least all crumpled and then you might have to IRON and it's all a disaster and you end up thinking that it might actually be easier to just wash the damn things again rather than IRON...and...and

luckysalem - 6, just turned 4 and 6 moths. Though I reckon the oldre 2 could be involved
as could dh grrrr

shona - that is me exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

apologies for excessive use of !

DD is only 14 months but I'm telling you as soon as she can get up and down stairs on her own she'll be helping out

DH is made to take the clean clothes upstairs and put onto our bed so we have to put away each night.
It's DD's stuff where I fall down

When I am in an organised phase I put clothes away as I take dd to bed. I pop them all away as she is choosing her bedtime story.

In my moer organised phases, I put the stuff on beds and as theboys are drifting to sleep, I put their stuff away. It is the stuff our bed that gets dunped back on teh landing...