This is 12:12 posting again. This is the most manageable way I have found to do laundry. If I do a load a day, I forget about it. Not a morning person. Don't drink coffee or eat breakfast at home so I roll out of bed get ready and go. I don't want to run all the way down to the basement and back up to the bedroom level just to move laundry from one place to the other. The laundry gets done around our other weekend activities and doesn't suck up my week. So it is tolerable for me.

I have someone who does laundry once a week for me. She does 4 loads and cleans the house during that time. I come home to clean laundry nicely folded or in my closet. I say go for it if you have the money. I thought it would bother me to have someone touch my clothes but got over that pretty quickly. I know it's an easy chore but it's one less thing to worry about.

Anonymous wrote:Where are you located? In Silver Spring, WishyWash Laundry will pick up your clothes, wash dry and fold them, and return them to you. Awesome for large items like comforters, etc.

They pick up for me in Chevy Chase. I have them just do sheets every week and throw in large items as well like comforters, duvet covers, mattress pads, blankets, etc. They will do more and can do dry cleaning as well. Just having all the bed linens done and returned to me inside of 4 days makes a big difference.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of anyone doing this, but there are services that will pickup your dirty clothes and return them to you cleaned & folded. Like this: http://www.yourpamperedhome.com/ (not a recommendation, I've never used them or any other laundry service)

I think the annoying part of laundry is collecting and sorting, and then organizing and putting it away. I don't get these services- they only take away the easy part!

We have 4 Ikea hampers in our laundry room - like this

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09874610/#

I use one for clothes that go to dry cleaner (vinyl bag slides out and DH takes the whole bag to cleaners), one for whites, and 2 for color. I used to use one for baby clothes, but he's 2 now. Anyway, I sort as I bring the clothes into the laundry room, which is often, since it's on the same floor as bedrooms. The only issue of course is DH not returning the bag and then piling his dirty shirts over the empty rack.

Btw, I fold clothes in the morning before everyone wakes up. That's my quiet time. If I have the time, I don't mind folding 1 load in the morning. And I start the day feeling like I've already accomplished something.

OP if you want to hire someone, send your laundry out. They charge by weight (dry, not wet).

We are a family of two adults, three kids. I do a load of laundry every evening after work. When I get home I change out of work clothes, and take a laundry bag down to the washing machine. Start it, then go up to the kitchen and start dinner. Some time either before dinner starts or during dinner, I send a kid down to move everything from washer to dryer and start that. After cleaning up from dinner somebody takes everything out of the dryer. Anything still damp or needing to be ironed gets hung, everything else comes upstairs. We fold while watching tv. I sort into piles based on what belongs to whom. As kids go up to bed they take their piles of clean clothes, and if it's not too much have them take my stuff and DH's to our bedroom.

The 3 yr old is excused from having to carry her stuff up, because invariably she drops it on the way and it becomes unfolded. We do a load of sheets/towels twice a week. Other nights are whites, darks, regular, and gentle. On weekends if we're around I might do two loads.

Anonymous wrote:I hate laundry and paid someone else to do it and hated that more. So now I do it. I star laundry on Friday night when I get home from work. I get it sorted and one load washing. We eat dinner and then I move the wet laundry to the dryer and start another load. I set a timer for the length of the wash or dry time which ever is longest. By the time I go to bed I usually have 1 load dry, 1 load drying, and 1 washing. Saturday I continue the process. usually I have about 4 loads and I am done drying on Saturday morning. I wait until it is ALL dry and fold everything at one time. My husband puts all the laundry away and he knows that if he wants to avoid crazy eyes that he needs to do it before we all get up on Monday morning. Not ideal, but it'll do. My dream is a house with the laundry on the level with the bedrooms. I HATE HATE HATE laundry in the basement. HATE.

Sounds like a pretty miserable weekend.

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of anyone doing this, but there are services that will pickup your dirty clothes and return them to you cleaned & folded. Like this: http://www.yourpamperedhome.com/ (not a recommendation, I've never used them or any other laundry service)

I think the annoying part of laundry is collecting and sorting, and then organizing and putting it away. I don't get these services- they only take away the easy part!

I used to hired someone to fold and hang up laundry. I would do all the wahsing and drying and she would come once a week for 2-3 hrs (for $12 hr) and would fold it, hang stuff up and put it away. She would also sweep and do dishes. it was AMAZING.

I hate laundry and paid someone else to do it and hated that more. So now I do it. I star laundry on Friday night when I get home from work. I get it sorted and one load washing. We eat dinner and then I move the wet laundry to the dryer and start another load. I set a timer for the length of the wash or dry time which ever is longest. By the time I go to bed I usually have 1 load dry, 1 load drying, and 1 washing. Saturday I continue the process. usually I have about 4 loads and I am done drying on Saturday morning. I wait until it is ALL dry and fold everything at one time. My husband puts all the laundry away and he knows that if he wants to avoid crazy eyes that he needs to do it before we all get up on Monday morning. Not ideal, but it'll do. My dream is a house with the laundry on the level with the bedrooms. I HATE HATE HATE laundry in the basement. HATE.

That's an ongoing DCUM dilemma, PP.

Do you answer the question posed by OP? Or, do you debate the very premise of the discussion and, in doing so, manage to insult SAHMs, WOHMs, nannies, DHs, MILs and Christians?

You get WAY more points if you can work in a burgundy washcloth somehow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you do one load a day until you get caught up? Can the kids help?

I've been doing this. Works ok even though it doesn't really happen every day.

Time to make it part of your routine. Throw a load in first thing the morning while the coffee is brewing. Change it to the dryer before leaving for work, and throw another load in the wash. Take out the dry clothes as soon as you walk in the door at night, and move the other load to the dryer. Fold everything while watching TV. Two loads, done.

Don't leave the dryer on when no one is home -- huge fire hazard!

Anonymous wrote:In my house, nothing comes out of the dryer unless it gets folded right then and there. Sometimes that means a load of clothes sits in the dryer for a few days, but at least it's clean!

I also shoot for the one load every day or every other day. It keeps me from spending ALL DAY Sunday trying to get the laundry done. I pre-sort so all I have to do is get the washer going when I get home, and it's ready for the dryer after dinner (or earlier). Whether it gets folded or not...well, that's another story!

How does this relate to the original question?

I really need to hire someone to do my family's laundry (2 adults, 2 kids). If you have this, what do you pay? Does the person stay at your house for 4 hours, 5 hours, longer? And does your person iron? and how did you find this person?

Many, many thanks!

I have someone who does this, $14/hr-3hr minimum. I use her about once a month when the laundry gets unruly and when we are too busy as family to spend time on this miserable chore. I always schedule her for the day the cleaning ladies come, so that when I get home from work, I come home to a sparkling clean, organized home.

I DO all of my laundry and make a huge pile on my bed, she then sorts, folds, hangs, matches, and puts everything away. She also cleans out my kids drawers of all small and stained clothes and sets them aside. She also organizes all of the drawers.

She just did a huge project for me. I gathered up all of my children’s small clothes that have accumulated over the last 6 years and she folded all of it and put it in neat piles according to size, type, and season. I then was able to take all of it and put it in neatly labeled Rubbermaid bins. My participation in this project was 30 min, hers was 5 hours. A well spent $70!

I do one load a day, AM in, switch to dryer when leaving for work.

PM put away at the same time every night after dinner. DH is in charge of DD while I put music on and get it done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really takes only five or ten minutes to throw in a load of wash, so I think the one load a day method for a while should work. Take the time out of your TV/internet habit.

It's not the washing that takes the time, it's the folding, putting away, sorting socks that takes a long time. Sometime we end up with piles of dirty clothes and piles of unfolded clean clothes.

Do the folding, sorting and putting away while you talk to DH or watch TV.