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

[queenoftheschoolrun]

One laundry basket for colours, whites go straight into the washing machine. Probably a load a day.

[boptanana]

Wash what is needed when it’s neeed and then dry it and iron as little as possible!😄

[mummymummums]

We have two sections on our washing basket. My DH and I both put washloads on, depending who thinks of it or finds the bin rammed full!
Our bed linen is changed weekly and the DC's beds fortnightly. DH does ours, I do the DC's. I'm trying to get into a weekly habit of washing towels every Friday.
DH tends to do the ironing - we have a small table top ironing board and he watches TV while doing it.

[onemorecakeplease]

Do a load every day

Sort into Darks or lights and use fairy capsule things

Dry some on airers and some in tumble

Wash all beds once a week

Towels after two showers/baths

I’ve got piles of laundry right now after two snow days!!

[Ninja12345]

I do all washing on a Monday. Split into lights, colours and darks, all on a hour cycle at 40 degrees with a non-bio powder. Dry everything with the dehumidifier on. Everything dry by Tuesday evening and then DH puts it away.

[thingywotsit]

We have two baskets, one for us (me and dh) and one for the kids. We encourage both the young ones to put their dirty clothes in the basket, they're 5 and 2.

Everything is washed at the weekend. Usually 3 large loads - it then gets tumbled dried, sorted and put away.

I try to keep ironing to a minimum, but the gets done Sunday evening once the kids ate in bed.

[Helbelle75]

Dh and i have a laundry basket and our 9 month old dd has her own.
I generally do a load every day. No tumble drier, but we have a heated aired in the kitchen. In summer it goes out on the line.
Our washing is mainly darks, but we do one whites load a week of dh's shirts.
We do a load for dd every other day as she gets food everywhere and has loads of bibs and a couple of outfits a day.
Once a week, i do bedding and towels.
All of our washing is done on 30 degrees apart from the whites and dd's clothes.

We don't have a set rroutine, but i hate an overflowing laundry basket, so try to stay on top of it.

[LookAtAllTheBullshit]

Really simple routine at my house, clothes get dirty and then they get washed. The end.
It’s a mini adventure!!

[EleanorTaylor16]

We have one central basket which I empty as soon as it's looking like a wash full!

I'm lucky enough to have a utility room so sort the wash down there and leave piles of white or wool until there's enough for a wash

I keep another laundry basket by the machine to make it easier to transport to the line/ airer

Try to do a wash every few days rather than about 4 on a Saturday!!

[Treaclespongeandcustard]

I put a wash on around teatime everyday. I will put some things in the drier and anything shrinkable goes on the clothes horse. Usually by teatime the next day everything is dry and ready to go upstairs (where it will wait to put put away for a few days) and there is room to start all over again. Actually, I like washing!

[Chooshoes]

I generally wash every day in a 3 day rotation. One day towels and boys underwear and the next day whites (school/work shirts, blouses and girls underwear), the following day would be darks; jeans, non delicate trousers, school socks and tights etc). Once per week (usually Saturday) I do a delicate wash with the school kilts and suit trousers and also a bedding wash.
Everything that can be is tumbled in the winter or line dried in the summer, other items are hung on a clothes horse in the utility. Ironing is for shirts and kilts only everything else is folded and put away.

[NickSharratsFeltTip]

DH does it, and don't I know it!three times a week, grabs the mountains of stuff from 2 laundry baskets. He sorts into whites and coloured. Leaves all silk or delicate fabrics for me to one day get around to. Then in it goes to our ancient machine where it circulates for a couple of hours. Then it gets hung all over the house and vain attempts to unite socks are made. I am sure there are better ways. Tempted to go to the laundrette on the corner, but that would be expensive I guess. Laundry is tedious, a Sisyphusian task. Will they one day invent always clean clothes?

[PhuntSox]

We share one big laundry basket. I organise it all prioritising school uniform. It works for us as I can see exactly how much we have.

[MarigoldGloveHotel]

I do it all...

I strip the beds on Monday, I always use white cotton bedding so it can go in a 60 wash, well two loads.

I also wash the towels at 60 on the same day. In the summer they go on the line but in the winter I used to take them to the laundrette and put them in the big tumble dryer. I now have a tumble dryer so don't need to carry wet clothes over the road.

Tuesday I do everything that doesn't move. We have one laundry bin. Everyone chucks stuff in it. When I walk past I check what's in it, check pockets, turn things inside out, do up zips then I them sort into fabric laundry bags that I keep in the bin. That's darks, whites delicates, coloureds. That's a mixed dark load at 40. A white load at 40 or 60 depending on what's in there. A delicates. A coloured.

We keep a bin in the bdthroom for wet flannels which get washed with the towels. Towels come straight off the towel pegs and into the washing machine, they don't go via a laundry bin.

T shirts, pjs and pants go in the dryer. Jeans, trousers, delicates, socks and tights on the heated airer. In the summer all on the line.

Then the rest of the time I'm at work. I do swimming stuff and gym kit as it comes home from school in the evening but I try and not do any more loads.

We've got an open plan kitchen living room and it's annoying to have the machine on when we are at home for those few hours in the evening.I've tried many "quiet"machines but nothing really is as it's in wooden floor boards.

I work weekends and DH will probably be out with the kids, we care for his elderly parents at theirs so they go there. So not much laundry happens at home at the weekend .

On Monday and Tuesday I might iron but that would be a few things, maybe 15 mins worth. Most things don't look bad if I dry them correctly. DH Nd the kids don't care if their clothes are ironed or not.

[AlwaysOldBeforeMyTime]

I just chuck a load in the washer whenever I can't close the lid on the laundry bin! Separate into lights/Darks and whichever there is more of is washed that time.

Except in the summer most of our washing goes straight into the dryer then is left in the ironing pile. I fold as much as I can get away with then iron once a week or so whilst watching some terrible telly!

[iklboo]

It usually goes like this:

I empty all washing baskets, do 2-3 loads and dry it. Run up & down stairs 4 million times putting things away, stuff on the airers etc.

On the 4 millionth & first trip upstairs I find DH has filled the washing basket to the brim with gym stuff, things he has found down his side of the bed and stuff he thinks 'needs refreshing'. Even though he's seen the washer and dryer on and me running round like Widow Twanky on speed.

Then there is A Row.

[Lloukj]

I only tried Fairy once several years ago when my children were very little liking the idea that it was sensitive to skin. My husband has had eczema on his lower legs ever since so understandably I have never bought it again. As a medical professional of course I realise it could be completely coincidental however it definitely coincided with this new product. Perhaps I would be willing to give it another try but would not be willing to buy a large box in case it made his itching worse (which completely drives me insane!!)
Otherwise my washing machine is on just about every day at least once, one of the most important things to me is freshness and biological agents. I simply have to have a lovely smell and use not only powder but fragrance boosters and softeners. I always make sure to have different fragrances in so that I don't suffer nose fatigue. For protection I use biological powders not only to remove the food stains which inevitably occur but also to protect against the mainly viruses and bodily fluids my uniform come into contact with. As for drying, I love to be able to hang out my clothes in a good wind otherwise they are all tumble-ironed as I do not own an iron and have no intention of ever buying one. It is the most unproductive waste of time ever, I simply fold and put away. There are a million other things I can be doing with my time.

[Falconhoof1]

We have a basket upstairs and one downstairs. Everyone puts stuff in both and I wash it and distribute to their rooms when dry.

[ladygoingGaga]

I am going to sound like the washing dictator

With 3 older DC’s they all have a wash basket in their room and are responsible for their own washing.
Otherwise I would drown in dirty laundry.

There are a few house rules for washing, most important one is that machine must go on full!

Occasionally they forget and urgently have to put half a wash on, but they pay the price in me moaning at them, what it has encouraged them to do though is to ask their siblings if they have any darks or lights to go on.

We have rules for towel and bedding washing, to help stop machine being on all weekend - each DC can only wash theirs on a given day, now the DD does hers every Wednesday, whereas the DS’s stick to their allocated day, just not weekly

It works, although machines have a limited life expectancy in this house

[Hippobottymus]

I do a load a day, whatever is in the basket. Don't separate colours or delicates 60 degree wash, extra spin and then into the dryer. With two kids and us both in full time jobs, I honestly don't have time to faff, I don't buy clothes that would get easily ruined by this wash routine.

[thismeansnothing]

Washing gets done on a Friday/Saturday (there's me DH and dd)

Usually have a grey/light colours load
2 loads of darks
1 colour
1 whites

Dd has enough school uniform so I don't need to do midweek washes. Same for me and DH with work clothes. Usually have it all done and dried by Saturday night. Only issue is getting someone to have the foresight to take the piles and put them away upstairs.

[NotCitrus]

Laundry basket on middle floor for me and kids; DH is precious and has bags for lights and darks up in the loft.
When basket is full go downstairs and put on light/dark load. When changing sheets, add lights to make full load. When DH puts a load on he will add any items from the basket to make full load.
On Saturday morning, check children's cupboards for school uniform, search rooms for any extra clothes, and do a wash to ensure there's uniform for the week. If dn is over, check bed and wash wet bedding.
Stuff dries on racks in the kitchen and hall, unless there's an urgent need for the drier.
DH or I fold dry stuff and match socks etc and put in piles on stairs, one step per person. And then nag children to put theirs away.

With all of us and lodger and DH's work clothes having their own wash, putting laundry on is one of those daily tasks you do when the machine is empty. Washes are at 40, Lidl powder for most of it, Ecover for sheets and pants. Ironing is for special occasions only.

[YearOfYouRemember]

I wash every day. Sunday I do all the kids bedding. Monday I do dh and mine. Every day I do a dark wash. Twice a week I do a jeans wash. Twice a week I do a white/light coloured wash. 2-3 times a week I do a hotter wash which is a mix of lights and darks (uniform shirts, dh shirts, PE tops, towels).

I iron a few times a week as the kids don't have five of everything anymore.

The laundry basket is on the landing and dh brings it down most mornings. The system is meant to be, if the basket isn't there, bring your stuff down, but of course that fails most times. When the kids were babies they had laundry bags on the back of their doors and our stuff went in a basket.

Most days I do at least two washes. My busiest day is Sunday but when the kids were tiny and in washable nappies my record was once nine loads in one day.

[YearOfYouRemember]

Detergent wise, I currently have Persil powder, Persil capsules - both used for whites/lights and surf powder for coloureds. I mix and match as I like the smell of the washing being clean but find that happens once in a blue moon as we get used to the smell so there isn't one. Any suggestions for making my washing smell clean every time I open the washer would be great.

I also use detox laundry cleanser when washing shirts and PE kits as ironing was making the clothes smell bad. Doesn't always work though.

[PeasAndHarmony]

One laundry basket.

I do a wash every day, sometimes 2.
Can be either whites or colours, depending on what there's most of in my basket.

Use washing powder and fabric softer then line dry outside where possible or tumble dry only when it's raining.