What’s the laundry routine in your household? Share with Fairy Non Bio - chance to win £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED

[JustineBMumsnet]

Doing the laundry is one of those chores that can seem never ending; every time you think you’ve completed the load, the cycle begins all over again. Cue the laundry routine. With that in mind, Fairy Non Bio want to know what the laundry routine is in your household.

Here’s what Fairy Non Bio have to say: “We know how laundry piles up, especially with little ones running around, spilling food and playing outside. At Fairy Non Bio, we design our products so that you can keep washing simple, easy and quick; making sure your clothes are beautifully clean and gentle on skin with our fabric conditioner designed to enhance their snuggly softness. We would love to know what you do to get your washing under control and give it that extra boost!”

Do you have a laundry bag/basket for each member of your family? Perhaps you do all the whites on one day and colours on another? Do you iron as and when or all at the same time? Or maybe you pride yourself on not having a set routine?

However you organise the laundry routine in your household, share it on the thread below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck.

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

We have a system in my house which started before we had kids. My husband is very fussy about how his clothes are washed so he has a separate basket and does his own. It's funny. He has enough socks and pants to last him at least three weeks so he lets it pile up till he has nothing left and then does about four loads over one weekend meaning the machine and tumble are out of action for me!

I have a larger basket in the bathroom which has my clothes and my daughters and everything communal (sheets/towels). I put a dark/colours wash and a white wash on every other day and then hang out or tumble. I then put away the clothes/sheets etc whilst my husband baths my daughter when he gets home from work.

I think I have less underwear than my husband so need to do a wash of stuff at least twice a week and my 18mth old needs her clothes washing constantly!!

I think I have the short straw as I do mine, my daughters plus everything communal but I don't work so I guess it evens out and at least I don't touch my husbands - he does that himself (I do put his away and occasionally hang it out though or it stays in the machine for days after meaning I can't get on!!)

I’m not sure I have a routine. Laundry is the Bain of my existence.
I have 2 baskets. One upstairs and one in the kitchen. Never both empty.
I probably need to do one load a day but in winter I have to lower my standards as I can’t dry a load in less than 36 hours. I’ve no tumble drier and no space (or money) for one. I use non bio for everyone’s everyday stuff at 40°. Bio for bedding and towels on a 60° wash.
In better weather I can get 2 loads outside and dry in a day. Weather permitting.
I HATE that I have washing constantly drying in the house.

I am teaching my dc (8&6) to fold and put away their clean clothes.
They’re both very good at using the baskets and helping sort loads into the machine.
We’ve only been in this house a year and by the end of last summer they were able to help hang it on the line and bring it in too.
I also encourage them to get more than one wear out of things. Pj’s last a few days. Uniform 2 days unless it’s very dirty.
I wear jeans for —weeks— a while before I wash them.

Ironing happens when the hooks on my dining room door are full. This is sometimes as little as monthly.
I hate ironing.

I’m a single parent so teaching my dc these skills is important. It fosters team pride and lightens my workload.

I try to put white or like colours together. However, I also consider the temperature needed for various items eg bed linen never lower than 60, a 90 for towels rather than 60 from time to time. I sometimes use a colour catcher if colours are varied but it is really uneconomic not to put them in together. I always use the measuring container set into the top of the fairy bio gel. I put this directly into the machine as I learnt years ago that this helps to prevent machines clogging up. For this reason I don’t use conditioner which is a bit rough on the towels.

One big laundry basket in our bedroom. The kids tend to put their washing directly into the washing machine. There is generally at least one wash a day - more if the beds have been changed or the woollens are mounting up. I sort through it in terms of temperatures things need to be washed at. Other than bed linen and woollens everything of the same temperature gets washed together.

I collect the washing from all the bedrooms after the school run, pile it up in front of the washing machine. I don't separate any of it. It's washed on a 59 minute wash at 30 or 60 degrees. Once it's washed I spin in then stick it in the tumble dryer. In the warmer weather it goes on the line. Anything that is likely to shrink will be put on coat hangers in the utility room. We have 4 washing baskets in the house but tend to use them for the dry washing ready to put away/iron. This happens most mornings. I tried separate wash baskets for the kids but they like using the floordrobe.

There are 7 of us. We have a central basket for parents and 4 x ds and dd has her own basket. Every night before bed I put all darks on a timer delayed 3 hour eco wash, (40 degrees) timed to finish just before I get up at 6. I then get up at 6 and while making breakfasts I transfer it all to the dryer (heat pump, eco dryer - a load takes around 2.5 hours to dry). Once I get in from the school run the dryer has finished and I give it all a shake, fold and put back into the basket before I start work (I work from home).

As soon as I finish work I sort and put away the washing from that morning, putting most away and only things that really need ironing (dh work shirts etc) go into the ironing basket. I iron once a week, usually at the weekend.

Whites build up in the bottom of the basket and once or twice a week I put a load on during the day (more regularly in summer when we tend to wear more white).

We have a rota system for dc bedding and I strip and wash and dry bedding on a Saturday. Every bed is changed once a fortnight on a rota system (no spare bedding so its washed, dried and put back on). My bedding is washed weekly.

All towels are washed and dried on a Sunday.

In Summer larger items (towels, bedding) are line dried but with 7 of us it takes too long before work to peg out clothes so these tend to go in the dryer all year round.

I get very upset if anything disrupts my laundry routine!

Each room has a washing basket except my youngest child. I collect on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday and sort. Whatever would fill a machine goes in. I have an ironing cupboard which sadly means ironing can get ignored until we literally have nothing to wear.

I am spontaneous disorganised and so have no routine!!

Washing machine on constantly. Drier too in winter. It's the worst job, even prefer cleaning the house to sorting out washing.

Family of 5 here. I'm somewhere between a strict routine and laissez-faire. I have a washing "time slot" in the week and put a load of whatever needs doing on before school and then wash beds and towels at the weekend. I suppose my aim is to keep on top of it and not let it build up. I'm fortunate to work from home, and so if I need to put a second load on, I can.

Do you have a laundry bag/basket for each member of your family?
No - it's all in together and I sort it each morning into darks, colours and reds, and wash whatever I have enough of to make a load.

Perhaps you do all the whites on one day and colours on another?
It often works out like that. I don't plan it that way, but typically I end up doing lights and darks on alternate days, then reds once a week (usually a Thursday for some reason).

Do you iron as and when or all at the same time?
I'm quite strict about folding things as soon as they are dried, and so I iron as little as possible. Anything that absolutely has to be ironed gets done on a Sunday evening whilst watching TV.

Or maybe you pride yourself on not having a set routine?
See above - It probably seems like a routine, now I've written it down but It doesn't feel like it!

We work on a 3 say cycle..

Mondays = wash and hang out then put away the dry clothes on weds.

Wednesday's... put away on Fridays

Friday's... put away on Monday... The cycle continues!

Normally two dark loads per week and one white. i use powder bio for whites and non bio liquid for colours. Everything goes in the dryer and I iron it the same day.

A load a day keeps the mountain at bay.

The baby has a separate basket which gets soaked in fairy non-bio and vanish oxyaction for a few hours then just goes on a rinse and spin cycle for 20mins

I wash all of the school uniform on a Friday, unless needed, we have a laundry basket and everyone must check the pockets and make sure their washing is put in it. I Iron enough shirts etc for the week on a Saturday on Sunday.

DH has a laundry routine - I never remember to put a wash on & would end up wondering why I had no clean clothes without him! His routine is (I think) to put one light & one dark wash on mid-week & one of each, plus a bedding wash & a towels/anything that won't fit in the lights/darks wash at the weekend. He's continued with this same schedule as our family has grown which means he over-fills the machine & our clothes develop little holes. I've asked him to stop but, given that he takes on the responsibility of all the washing, I don't feel I can interfere or nag him too much!

We separate our washing as we put it in the box & have trained the DC to do the same. They have a hanging thing on their radiator that they can put things to wear again but if they took it off the radiator to wear then it goes in the box at the end of the day. It is never considered acceptable for them to leave clothes on the floor & they have to tidy their room every day before dinner. DH has to check with me if I've got clothes that need washing because I'm a "do as I say, not as I do" sort of parent. We don't iron.

This is quite a useful thread! Lots of tips. In our house we have four males who all play muddy sports, so I have to do at least one load a day if not more.

The boys throw their clothes somewhere in the vicinity of the basket. DH puts his dirty clothes BY the basket . I throw a load on every day and if it's sunny I dry it on the patio and if not it dries on our pulleymaid. I fold it when it's dry and then it sits in a basket downstairs until someone realised they have no clothes and then it miraculously disappears.

Is it me or is there pretty much a constant laundry sponsored thread on mumsnet?

Anyway. I have baskets for whites, delicates and everything else. Whichever one is fullest goes on first thing. Hung on the line/airer when I'm back from the school run.

I do our bed every Saturday morning. I wash lots of stuff on a Wednesday.
I put the wash on and sort colours if necessary, then my husband hangs it up and gets it down when dry, then, while the girls are in the bath in the evenings, I put it all away. We work different hours, my husband and I, so it makes sense to divide up the jobs...

We have 1 washing basket for everyone. I do a wash each day - don't separate anything, it just all goes in together. Anything that needs ironed is done each day before it's put away.

No routine here, just a constant mountain of washing due to 4 DC, a messy DH and daily gym visits. I usually do 2 wash loads a day to try and keep on top of it all.

I was daily i have a million children (ok i have 4 children) and my husbands uniform which he changes daily to wash.
I have on average 2-3 loads a day. I can do either two darks and mixed wash daily or a darks then a couple of mixed loads.
White done every saturday morning or friday after school if the weathers good to dry them out doors.
I iron if i line dry school shirts i dont bother if they go in the tumble dryer.
bedding gets done at weekends towels whenever there is a washload of them.
The washer rarely gets a day off.

Every person who lives in the house has a basket. There is also one in the main bathroom. I 'encourage' football kit, white school shirts and Work uniform to hit the main basket in the kitchen as soon as it comes through the door!

All other basic washing that comes out of rooms is moved from their baskets and goes in the big basket into white and dark washes. I do at least two or three cycles a day- dried outside generally but I do have three clothes horses. I should point out we all have fairly unpleasant medical conditions that leads to extra washing (although we are on watersure tariff) I iron most things including flannels and sheets.

I use whatever is on offer tablet or washing powder and always use fabric conditioner/ softener regardless of what I buy :) I love nice smelling washing! I don't own a tumble drier as we had a house fire when I was small and it was caused by 'fluff' so I am a bit phobic!

with 4 teens and me there is always washing to be done! No tumble drying so all line dried...sometimes ironed dry. We have one communal laundry bin and individual washing baskets to carry clean clothes to the right room

Sunday is a wash free day.............I iron what has built up in the ironing pile and stash in the appropriate rooms for DC/me to hang
Monday evening/night is sports kit and dark clothes (Dc uniform is dark cotton polo shirt) it is hung up early Tuesday am and assuming dry is allocated to rooms/ironing basket.
Tuesday evening is light load, hung Wed morning folded and put away Wed evening
Wednesday is dark load and horse-riding gear, which is hung on Thurs morning and put away in the evening except jodhpurs which take forever to dry :(
Thursday is whites and sports kit,
Friday is Darks with as much of the uniform as I can fit in the washing machine so it has all weekend to dry if necessary.
Saturday is the rest of the darks, sports kit and a light load through the day. A brief rant that no teens have put away their clean clothes during the week and returned the laundry baskets...sometimes not so brief!!
rinse and repeat...on and on and on...eternally and forever......

There is a wash basket in every bedroom and I collect them when I do the washing on a Fri/Sat /Sun. I wash whites and colours separately and also do a separate towel wash and bedding wash. I try and dry clothes outside otherwise they go on an old fashioned airer which is hung to the ceiling of the utility room. I always iron on a Thursday night.

I do at least one load a day. A central basket upstairs (with additional laundry bag for uniforms) is brought downstairs when full/ on Saturdays and sorted into darks, lights, whites and jumpers. Uniform gets washed first followed by jumpers then whites to ensure uniform is ready for Monday. Then which ever washing basket is fullest until they are both empty by which point it is usually Friday/Saturday so I'll go and get the basket from upstairs. Found sorting it when it comes downstairs drastically reduces the amount of time it takes to put a load of washing on

Put a load in every night after I've done the dishes and put it on timer so it will be ready to hang to dry as I come downstairs. Since having a baby I'm thinking of out sourcing the ironing...