Laundry, Laundry and more Laundry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do four loads a week: DH & my clothing (light & dark), sheets, and towels. Kids are responsible for theirs. (Kids are 12 & 14). I started them doing laundry in about 3rd grade. I’m all for off-loading chores. No child of mine will go to college without knowing how to do laundry.

I do pooled laundry for efficiency. What part of laundry is so challenging that years of practice is required? No issues for my kids in college.

I don’t want to do my kids’ laundry.

I do not want to waste water.

[Anonymous]

I don't really get this thread, how can people be generating SO much laundry? I do only have one kid so I guess that helps...

I usually do 3 loads a week.
- kid clothes (this was just a habit from when he was a baby and we washed his stuff separately.
- DH and my hot water load (includes bath and hand towels)
- DH and my cold water load
- one more load of sheets every could weeks

DH usually does one load of exercise clothes as well. I don't sweat that much and wash my exercise clothes with the cold water load.

I can't fathom doing laundry every day.

I have a friend that used to do laundry every TWO weeks (which I also can't fathom). She gives us hand-me-downs as her DS is two years older than mine. She bought him A LOT of clothes. I actually probably could do DS's laundry every 2-3 weeks because she's given us SO.MANY.CLOTHES. He's probably got 30 shirts and 15 pairs of sweats... I havent bought him clothes since he was a baby.

[Anonymous]

We rewear a lot of clothes in our house (family of six). Kids (above the age of 9 or so) do their own - which was game changing. We also have two sets of W/Ds which helps - one large capacity and one stacked near the kids’ rooms. DH does ours and housekeeper does sheets and towels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, for starters I stopped at two kids.

DCUM gets in a tizzy about this but we all rewear pants and pajamas a few times before washing as long as they are not stained. Same with sweaters and sweatshirts that go over other shirts. Towels 1x a week and sheets every other week (I do the kids one week, and ours the opposite week.) So I do roughly a load per person per week (so 4; and yes I prefer to wash each persons separately so I don’t have to sort later) plus a load of towels and a load of sheets. So 6 loads a week which I concentrate over 2 consecutive days. I would absolutely hate doing daily laundry but to each his own.

See vodka tip above.

Most people over wash their clothes, which causes them to wear out more quickly. Jeans and most other pants don’t need to be washed unless they have actually stains.

I wash sheets and towels weekly, but otherwise I use this approach, too.

Watch out, the no shoes no street clothes in the house people are gonna lose their minds.

#1 teach your kids to hang their things. This makes things easier to find, helps prevent wrinkles and prevents the whole digging out stuff at the bottom of the drawer mess.

#2 each family member gets their own laundry basket for clean clothes. If they choose not to hang their things or fold them, then they will be wrinkled. The only person who cares if your child is wearing wrinkled clothing is you.

#3 spend your additional free time on things that matter. Laundry doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read the book by Patric Richardson, the laundry guy. He makes a very persuasive case for using the express cycle (like 20-22 minutes max), warm water always, and a very small amount of soap without all of the additives.

I find all of that advice to work great and 20 minute laundry cycles makes the whole process so much faster.

I agree with the express cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many loads of laundry do you do every week? We are a family of 5 with 3 kids 6 years old and younger and I swear I do at a minimum 1 load of laundry daily. If I miss a day I end up having 2-5 loads to do depending on if its time to change sheets and towels. How do you keep up?!? I currently have 2 baskets to fold and put away upstairs and another load in the laundry that needs to be finished.

I wash a bunch night before housekeeper comes and leave it for her to fold and put away. I lay out the items that need to be laid out or hung up but otherwise I’ll leave the rest for her to at least fold and put away.

[Anonymous]

Family of 5 here (2 teens and pre-teen). I do probably 2 loads during the week (sheets) and then 4-5 on the weekend. Oldest does her own in addition to that. I like doing the laundry because folding it gives me an excuse to watch TV. ]

It's not that big of a deal to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, for starters I stopped at two kids.

DCUM gets in a tizzy about this but we all rewear pants and pajamas a few times before washing as long as they are not stained. Same with sweaters and sweatshirts that go over other shirts. Towels 1x a week and sheets every other week (I do the kids one week, and ours the opposite week.) So I do roughly a load per person per week (so 4; and yes I prefer to wash each persons separately so I don’t have to sort later) plus a load of towels and a load of sheets. So 6 loads a week which I concentrate over 2 consecutive days. I would absolutely hate doing daily laundry but to each his own.

This is us too. I really don’t get why or how people generate so much laundry. I do it all on the weekend. So much less stressful than doing a load every day.

[Anonymous]

We rewear most pants and pjs. Dh does all laundry and its usually a load every day or every other. Towels and sheets are done by the cleaners.
I have 5 and 2 year old girls. They rewear pjs since they shower at night and go into them clean.
I also have house clothes that i change into when i get home and rewear those for a couple days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family of 5. Usually 3 loads a day. It's never ending.[/quote


Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 5. Usually 3 loads a day. It's never ending.

3 loads a day? Are you as SAHP? Otherwise how are you home long though to load/unload 3 times?

Get home at 5 and start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the book by Patric Richardson, the laundry guy. He makes a very persuasive case for using the express cycle (like 20-22 minutes max), warm water always, and a very small amount of soap without all of the additives.

I find all of that advice to work great and 20 minute laundry cycles makes the whole process so much faster.

I was coming here to post this!

That book changed the way I do laundry, and it seems less onerous now.

The vodka tip alone was worth the price of the book.

Please share the vodka tip. I hoping it involves drinking it at some point?

Spray fancy clothes with vodka to get rid of sweat smell.

[Anonymous]

I wash a load or two every day. 2 teens and 2 adults. We wash after every wear (usually), and usually use the towels twice. I love to do laundry, love to fold clothes and put them away.

My trick is that I sort clothes into different bins (fleece, active wear, perm press, cotton, whites, towels, kitchen towels, cleaning towels and vacuum pads) and wash as soon as I get a nice load.

I am a big fan of using the right products and rinsing well with extra water. My clothes look new.

Another tip is that all our bed sheets, towels, bath mats are white in color and so it is easy to wash in hot water.

I have a front loader and a small tray washer that is excellent for small loads and sneakers etc.

[Anonymous]

7 people at our hours, I have 5 kids 3 off which are in sweat producing after school sports that require 3 outfit changes a day… I run 2 loads a day…. 6 loads on bedding/ bath towels days