When will washing clothes end!!!!

[Hannabee123]

I have next to no energy and so much to do.
I washed 2 bin bags worth of baby clothes / blankets and so on... since then I've had my mother in law come and ditch more blankets more clothes and now my friends are guilty of it!!
She has more clothes than me and my partner put together! It seems just when I catch up and can catch a breath I have people hoarding more clothes on me!!

Probably sounding awfully ungrateful... I'm not but it just seems never ending and a massive task

Take some hand me downs to one of those places where they buy clothes by weight.

only wash what you really want to keep.
the rest can go to a charity shop.

and only wash the newborn + next size up now. the rest when baby grows.

and the washing only stops when they leave home...

Good luck with your laundry strike, OP. Send us a postcard.

You and DH should just pitch a tent next to the washing machine and harmonise on 'We've only just begun'. Because really... you're just getting that party started. Enjoy the washing before it stinks of sour milk and vom (alongside your own clothes). Fun and games!

Oh dear ...... Mine are 10,8&6. They sometimes change 2-3 times per day as it's the wrong outfit for the wrong game..or they've got covered in mud, water etc.....
Plus the clothes get bigger and take longer to dry !!?!
Your life washing clothes is just beginning!!!!

You need to start refusing the hand me downs you are offered!! I was offered loads when I was pregnant/had a newborn. I politely refused most. People are just clearing out their own and dumping on you....thinking they’re being helpful!

Yes you need to stop declining.

You also need to check what people want done with them when no longer needed.

Send a text. Everyone has been so kind and generous. This baby has so many outfits. I'm going to be going through and choosing our favourites to use. Do you want any clothes we don't need back or shall I charity shop them/pass them on. Same question for when clothes we keep are outgrown.

Start declining I mean!

Ps expect more clothes when baby born. Might be worth asking for larger sizes.

Yes to refusing hand me downs. Don't get me wrong, they are a godsend. My kids have lived in and loved some wonderful hand me downs. I regularly buy on eBay. So clearly I love giving clothes a life extension.

However!!! People will inundate you with refuse sacks of their tat! I have a friend who would drop off bags and bags of stuff (ages 10-12) for my then 3 year old daughter! She wanted it all back when we were finished, 7-8 years later.
DD is now 7 and we did keep a few bits from the 6-8 range my friend gave us (again when DD was 3). But I just got rid of loads and gave her back most of it prematurely saying we simply couldn't store any more.

You have to say no or else cull the good stuff and dispose of the tat, which is work you don't need.

About a month ago I was someone who believed that my child would have 2 outfits changes a day, new baby grow in the morning and a fresh one at night.

Fast forward to yesterday where she went through 6 outfits in the day, plus bibs and muslins. Oh and then I had to change her sheets as she peed through her nappy/vest/clothes onto the sheet. How I laugh at my old self.

Vanguard that's so insane

Wait until the baby arrives! I wash 1-2 times every day now and I've I miss a wash I'm already behind & that's not including changes of outfits due to stains! the joys of motherhood!

if*

Oh and full bed change as DS wet through nappy, every layer of his outfit and managed to get it on all of his bedding including mattress protector! I thought I was hard done by when I was pregnant but now know I had it so easy!

For twelve years my washing machine has been turning pretty much 247 my only hope it is not that the laundry will ever stop (I have given up on that pipe dream years ago) but that my washing machine will splutter and stop and leave me stranded high and dry.

I enjoyed washing the baby clothes first and second time round before the baby arrived, it was a novelty back then...

OP, the washing doesn't end, but you will get into a routine and that will make it more manageable.

I now have a teen and a pre-teen - both boys. Although they don't have as many changes as they did when they were babies, they've obviously grown, so the volume of washing hasn't reduced. They're also both quite sporty, so there is a never-ending supply of sweaty kit to keep me busy.

I spent the first of their lives encouraging them to put their clothes into the laundry basket at the end of the day, and it seems the second half of their lives has been spent encouraging them to check whether their clothes actually need washing before they put them in the basket. It's so much easier for them to throw everything in at the end of the day than it is to hang it back in their wardrobe, or even put it neatly over a chair ready for the next day, so that accounts for a lot of unnecessary volume. They are learning the hard way that their favourite t-shirt or sports kit might not be available on demand if they don't plan around my washing schedule!

On the upside, I have now trained both of them to iron their own school shirts on a Sunday evening (not difficult when they're M&S no-iron brand, but it's still good preparation for life!). My younger son gets the job of pairing the sock mountain.

Next target is to train my older son to pre-sort the washing into piles on my wash day. (I'll never forget my first attempt at washing at university, when I chucked everything in together and all my white undies turned grey!).

Maybe you could just treat them as disposable if there's really that many of them - wear once and pitch...

Being the last of a wave of pals to have babies meant we got loads of hand me downs too. I found it a bit overwhelming but it is well-meant.

My tips:

1. Check whether the friend wants things back eventually - most people don't but it's good to check. If they do, decide now whether you really need it otherwise it will drive you mad trying to remember "the things in the Waitrose bag for life are Emily's" or whatever.

1. If they are yours to do what you want with: you do not have to keep everything. Your friend is merely giving you first dibs on their old stuff.

1. Sort through a bag when you get it. Everything you don't want or need, take it straight to the charity shop (unless you have another sucker lower down the food chain than you). Wash what you want in your own washing powder, then put it in the drawer and forget where it came from.

1. It is okay to just keep the three cutest vests out of a whole carrier bag! Remember, they were just giving you first dibs, it's not an obligation.

1. It is not wasteful to send unwanted baby stuff to a charity shop - it is a useful public service.

BTW I think three loads of washing a day is standard now for the rest of your life?

I'm on my 5th load today and still another 2 to go following a sickness bug hitting the household. Just accept your fate and thank god for washing machines.

As my second son was early I hadn't rewashed the newborn stuff and then no time to do it. He survived fine!

Generally with babies and children you need to minimise washing as much as you can until the item is properly dirtied!

Personally, I would refuse anything the donor wants back. Too much mental load.

This does sound like my everyday life since having DC, but I found that it was easier when I actually got rid of a load of clothes and the boys just have about 10 outfits each now so there is no washing mountain anymore (just a hill). ...but for a newborn, actually you do need loads because most go through several changes a day. My first was sicky so got through about 6 outfits a day. Second was fine so only 2 outfits most days.

Just do slowly and eventually your MIL would reduce the number of cloths she wears :)

It will never ever stop.we are a family of four with two teenage boys.I have an 11kg machine that goes on at least twice a day every day of the week.It is an endless supply of thick sweatshirts , jeans ,T shirts sport stuff, towels ,shirts (which also have to be crisply ironed for hubs)and what feels like eleventy million pairs of socks and underpants.Add to that sheets and duvet covers for three double beds every 10 days so.It just never ever ends.In my opinion its the biggest job in the house alongside keeping everyone fed. just going now to see what awaits me at the bottom of the washing basket.