First time mum - do I need to purchase a washing machine/dryer?

[Growingyou]

Hi MNs,

I am living in an apartment and expecting my first baby. Usually, we do our washing once a week in the shared washing room in the basement. I'm guessing this won't suffice once the baby arrives! Would love your advice on:

1. Should we buy a separate washing machine and dryer? If there is so much washing that we'll need to wash and dry at the same time?
2. Should we buy a combined washer/dryer saving space, but reduced capacity/dry times v long.
3. Just buying a washing machine and clotheshorse drying?

We're trying to be earth/budget friendly but...it sounds like washing becomes a daily thing?

Sorry for how absolutely mundane this qu is! But grateful to learn / buy n advance

Can you use the shared washing machine more often?

It is certainly true that, particularly in the first year, there is a lot of washing! Leaky nappies, milky vomits, then weaning food everywhere... but the shops don’t shut when you have a baby, so you could see how you get on with your current machine & then get one if necessary?

I’ve never had a drier & i have had 3 kids (including in a flat) so I think you could be fine with a clothes horse but other people will come on & tell you a drier is essential!

We did buy a drier not long after we had DD but I would say it’s a nice to have rather than an essential but we use a dehumidifier to dry washing so it dries quickly anyway even if we can’t put it outside. I might feel differently if it took things 3 days to dry!
I’d say a washing machine is much more important. DD was a sicky baby so we had a full load of washing at least once a day until she was about 6 months. Now we probably do a load 4/5 times a week.

With one baby, washing won't necessarily become a daily thing. I don't wash daily and we are a family of 4 - I tend to wash about 5x a week (so nearly daily). But DC are older/bigger.

I would say you'll need to wash more often than once a week with a baby, but 2-3 times a week should be plenty - that will more than double your current wash load, and realistically, if you wash baby's things in with everyone else's rather than doing separate loads, their stuff isn't going to come and double your wash load. They might go through more clothes than adults, but they are also a lot smaller, so you can fit more clothes into the same wash.

I wouldn't want to be taking washing to a laundrette, but a shared machine in a basement would be fine, IME. We had this set up when DS1 was 5-6 years old, and it was always fine for me - the only difference with a baby was of course I could leave him upstairs by himself. You might find that if you're spending a long time in the cellar, it could be tricky to handle the baby as well, especially carrying the washing down + bringing the baby with you, unless you're able to do the washing when your partner is home or feel comfortable leaving them upstairs napping. If you only have one dry wash load to carry, something like an IKEA bag would be perfect. Or you could bring the baby in a sling so you have both hands free, although this might become a bit inconvenient. I think toddler age might be where it gets a bit more tricky, although then you might be able to use nap time with a portable monitor.

Thanks @skeggycaggy. Unfortunately, we can only access the basement machines once a week at our assigned time. Good to know about not necessarily needing a dryer!

Can you not use the washing machines/driers in the laundry area more frequently? I'm sure people do.

If you can't than, yes, buy yourself a washer and drier.

Do you have space and plumbing for a washing machine? If so honestly it would be easier to get one.

It varies how much washing you’ll need to do - my eldest had bad reflux so would vomit up milk all over his outfit and over me at least 3 times a day, which made for a lot of washing. But my youngest never had that issue so it was much easier.

But if your baby vomits milk, or does a messy poo that gets into his babygrow (common among young babies to have huge explosive poos that go right up their backs) then you won’t want to wait a week to do the laundry!

I know it sounds gross but you do need a bucket with a lid. Baby stuff (or your stuff with milk on) needs to be dealt with fairly quickly, but that can mean just put it in a bucket with some diluted Milton or similar.
When you have a load you can wash in one go, baby stuff is tiny so it’s not environmentally friendly to wash just one top with a bit of milk on!
I would need to wash more often than weekly but the shared machine in the basement should be fine if you can go more often.

Hmm OK - only being able to access it once a week would be tricky, as you'll need to cart all the washing down and do it in one go with a baby in tow. Just getting down the stairs to do that sounds a bit of a nightmare.

I never found milky stuff needed to be dealt with especially quickly or specially. If you let it dry out, so it doesn't go mouldy, it doesn't matter how long you leave it before washing. It will come out just the same.

It would probably be best to have your own machine if you can only access the basement one once a week.

We’ve always managed fine without a drier - we just have airers and a dehumidifier (and we line dry if possible). Do you have any outdoor space such as a balcony where you could put an airer?

I think you need your own washer. If baby pukes over all the bedding at night, or has a nappy explosion, you need to deal with all the bedding etc there and then. Having to wait for your allotted time, and/or traipsing up and down to the basement in the middle of the night would not be on my list of things to do.

WE had a combined dryer, but rarely used it - just an airer and the radiators. Outdoors in the summer, but in an apartment that probably isn't possible.

Agree a drier is a convenience rather than a necessity, as long as you have space to put up airers. I like the tower airers that Argos and Ikea sell because they position things better so they aren't draped over each other, and they have a small footprint.

Baby things generally dry very quickly so I used to hang them on an airer overnight when we lived in a flat and everything would be dry in the morning. We did have a washing machine, though not a dryer. The washing machine was in the kitchen across the hall from DS's room and I used to have the machine loaded up before his bedtime then turn it on once he was in his cot and the white noise used to send him off to sleep. Then I'd hang the clothes on an airer (our clothes as well as his) before I went to bed.

You could buy enough of everything to last a week between wash days, but it could mean a lot of things like bed linen if your baby is going through a runny nappy or vomiting phase. The worst thing though would be that laundry could be in a bad state and it would be horrible to have it hanging around getting smellier while you wait for your day in the laundry room. (I'm guessing that you're somewhere like Germany or Switzerland where this is quite a common setup.) If you have space then I think it's worthwhile to buy a washing machine. I wouldn't get a combined washer/dryer as in my experience they neither wash well nor dry well. Get a separate dryer or none at all.

Hmm, if you can only access the machine once a week I think you will neither need your own machine OR quite a lot of clothes & bedding for the baby so you can manage going a week without washing.

If you can only wash once a week the you’ll either need your own washing machine or loads and loads of spare baby clothes. You can easily change clothes more than a couple of times a day if you’ve got a sicky baby or leaking nappies. And toddlers are even worse.

Dryer is a nice to have, I use an airer most of the time anyway.

Yup don't be conned into thinking a washer drier is best .

Combined washer dryers do not work that well IMHO. The washer might be fine but the dryer function is not the same as a standalone dryer. Takes forever, smells musty and leaves clothes hot but still damp.

Might I suggest an heated drying rack (an electric clothes horse). You can then air dry on normal racks and finish off on the electric clothes horse. They fold flat when not in use so they needn't take up much space. Getting the matching cover is essential though as it speeds up the drying of the clothes inside by trapping the heat.

Can't do links but mine's from Lakeland and it is fantastic.

As for the washing machine, there will be progressively more washing with a baby - if you are ok with soaking in buckets and hand washing bits initially then you'd probably be OK without one, but longer term I'd say it would be helpful to have your own machine as the clothes (and blankets, and bedding, and sleeping bags!) get messier and bigger. Explosive poos and/or leaky nappies during a nap can go through a vest, a baby grow, a sleeping bag plus the cot/Moses basket sheet (if you're unlucky!) all in one moment. You'll go through a lot of muslins too for various reasons. As they get older, with weaning the food gets stuck everywhere - tops, bibs, trousers... It's not just about milk stains with babies!

(Also, regarding leaky nappies - a tip - always make sure the frill around the legs is on the outside all the way around. A bit of frill tucked in is where leaky nappies leak from!)

You need your own washing machine - when DD had a particularly nasty bug (shortly after moving into a full size bed) I did 5 loads in a day. That's not normal, but we do wash most days.

We didn't have a drier until DD was 6 (when the washing machine packed up; we got a combination washer/drier), but we have plenty of drying space. The slower total wash/dry time isn't and wouldn't have been a problem for us, and we have other uses for the space than two machines.

You need a washing machine but you can manage without a dryer. We had a washer-dryer for a while (it was already in our old flat) but it was crap at drying clothes, they would just be in there for hours and come out warm and wet! When it broke we replaced it with a washing machine, no dryer.

A heated towel rail is a good idea, they can fold up to save space and they also give you extra heat in the room in winter.

Sorry, when I say heated towel rail, I mean a clothes airer that heats up. My brain isn't on properly. Something like this:
www.dunelm.com/product/3-tier-heated-airer-1000077081

If I could kiss my tumble dryer, I would. Well not now but when DCs were little. We used to live in a small flat, and the washing of sheets/towels and anything that takes a longer drying time was awful, our flat ended up smelling of damp all the time. We did open the windows but that's hard when you have small babies and it's very cold. We moved in a house when they were 3 and have space for tumble dryer, and it's fab.

Plus some items need to be washed straight away, such as sheets of clothes with vomit or poo, as it would sting and stain.

I'd say if you can afford it, but a cheaper washer/dryer from John Lewis and get the extended warranty, as those machines are difficult and expensive to repair. Use it mostly as a washing machine and use a horse/radiators when you can open the windows, but you will have the option of the tumble dryer if you need it.

Get a washing machine, but get a fold out airier. We stopped using our dryer as it took forever to dry clothes and yes, unenvironmentally friendly.

Tbh I can't imagine not having a drier in a flat with a baby. I'm sure it could be done but it would make life much much easier if you had a washer drier, I'd recommend getting one.

I presume you're in the UK? I know in parts of the states sometimes washing machines are banned in apartments, I don't think it would be the case here.

If you're not ground floor, you might need to check how solid the flooring is wherever you intend to put a washing machine. Wooden flooring sometimes needs to be reinforced.

I'd personally not bother with a dryer if you have the space to hang things.

If money is tight you could get a small load washing machine to do daily loads and use the laundry machine slot for bedding etc.

Does the laundry room have a dryer? If it does you could use that for the bigger items but if not then outdoor line/clothes airers are fine with a window open or dehumidifier on to stop any dampness.

We had a washer/drier when my eldest was born but it didn't seem to do either of those things very well! We used cloth nappies for #2 and managed fine just hanging those with all the clothes too so it can be done.

I'd get a washer dryer if you can't access shared washing machine on a regular basis. For their size babies create a lot of laundry. Poonami, puke. reflux, the ability to wee over everything when nappy comes off. You'll probably also have to launder you're clothes more often when you're caught in the firing line.

I know it's not environmentally friendly but it's lovely putting in mucky baby gros and getting out warm, dry clean ones. Fold up airers are irritating and never seem to go away as it's just an endless cycle of laundry. It's not good to dry clothes inside as it causes damp.