Please talk to me about your washing systems

[QueenFee]

I am just about swamped with washing!
With 3 or 4 school runs a day and a 14 month old 'helping' me I just don't seem to get it done.
So how do you cope? Or do you not cope either?

I have to wash every day or I just get swamped with washing. Towels get hung in bathroom to dry and be reused after baths, bedding is washed over the weekend. I have 5dcs and just got an 11kg drum washing machine. It is great, but you still have the problem of drying it all during wet weather. I don,t think I could manage without my tumble dryer.

I have 4 dc, I wash dc clothes every 2 days, ds1 school clothes on a Friday evening, same with mine and dh but on a morning. Towels are done on a Sunday, same as Bedding (every 3 weeks).

Doesn't always work but that's the routine I try to stick to.

I wash pretty much every day. 8 of us in the house! I have to! That said the ironing basket is turning into a mountain! I try to wash in the morning so that I can iron in the evening but it doesn't always work that well.

I try not to iron at all. Shirts and dresses get hung carefully by the seams and put straight onto hangers when dry.

I iron if clothes are being worn and look creasey, otherwise I don't bother myself with extra work. Dh irons his own shirts etc before work on a morning.

Hi, we have the washing machine, folding wall rails and dehumidifier in a large walk in cupboard. The dehumidifier is great and dries clothes so quickly, it's also cheaper to run than a dryer. I throw all the dry clothes that don't need ironing into a basket and the kids take turns to put these away for some chore money. They are 9, 7 & 4. I'm afraid I don't have the answer to the ironing pile yet!

I don't iron and I don't tumble dry, despite having a tumble dryer.
(We tried not using it for a whole month last year,, and our electric bill was £35 cheaper!)
I only ever wash with a 'quick wash'.. It's about 35 mins, and it's 40, 60 or 90 degrees.
We have a utility room. Both washer and tumble dryer are next to ech other, so I have a fairly large surface for piles,of washing.
Basically I'll wash 2-3-4 loads every other day.
We bought an adjutable shower rail and it's attached high up above the washer and dryer and surface. It's full of different sized hangers. Clothes get hung up...
There is a gap next to the washer, and we managed to get a concertina wooden washing thingy... Like this

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8505394.htm

And vests, sleep suits, socks and tights and our pants go on there... Then I bought one of those little round hangy things with pegs on for kids pants, like this

compare.ebay.co.uk/like/260876885420?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y&cbt=y&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=63&ff19=0

It takes 1-2 days to dry, if not quicker.. Then, I fold everything into piles for each of us.. And my older kids take the piles upstairs and I,,or they put away.

Then, I start it all over again.

I have 3 kids, no 4 arrives in a few weeks time!

I have 3dc, pg with no4. My pulley is my saviour when it comes to drying clothes. It can take one or 2 loads at a time and things are always dry by morning. I do one or 2 washes every day plus nappies every 2-3 days (soon to be every day when dc4 arrives and I have 2 in nappies again!)
I also use rotary dryer outside on dry days so will hopefully be using it a lot over summer!
I only wash the boys clothes when they actually need washed, if there is just a tiny mark I'll clean it off and they can wear same thing again the next day. Bigger ones usually get 2 days wear,occ 3, wee one I'm lucky if he wears anything more than once (and it's usually filthy by lunchtime but I suppose this will get better!)

I don't have a routine other than trying to get first load in machine before breakfast, sometimes second on before morning school run. Then I can dry/ hang up clothes after lunch when ds3 napping which makes it much quicker (his idea of helping is pulling everything back off pulley)

Do any of you use your airing cupboard to dry your washing in? This is traditionally what it was used for but I am not convinced it would work well enough to empty it and find new homes for all the bedding and towels folded in there.

I would definitely recommend a larger drum or getting 2 machines if you have the space.

Then make sure you have enough airers to hang it on - we have 2 large ones plus 2 octopuses from IKEA www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80189663/ and I hang dresses on hangers on a curtain pole. You may need more as there are only 5 of us in this house.

Tumble dryer is a lifesaver if you get behind.