Does size matter?

[Rowellen]

So many questions

I do nappies every second day. Sometimes I'll throw bibs in with them so they don't go mouldy waiting for regular washes. I do these at night & hang up in the morning.

Clothes - I separate into lights & darks. I usually do both on Thursday and darks only on Sunday. We seem to generate a lot more dark. I mix the whole family's clothes together.

Towels & Sheets - When I have enough for a full load, I'll do these. I usually do separate loads for sheets & towels depending on how many I have. I only do them on Sat/Sun.

I work Mon/Tues/Wed - so I usually avoid washing these days.

I'm a complete weirdo & try to hang my washing on the line in order. I fold as I take clothes off, so I like to have one line per family member & the fifth line for everything else with similar items together. It doesn't always fit right though so I try not to get too picky about it. I also like to match my pegs. DH tries to make me use different colour pegs sometimes & it annoys me. When he helps I don't bother hanging in order as he refuses to & I figure it's better if he helps than have me do it all just to have it done my way. Yes I'm stupid & OCD but I think it's harmless.

& I have a 7.5kg front loader. I definately wouldn't go any smaller.

[LuluHB]

I don't schedule my washing past Monday being the day to wash the girls' bedsheets and towels. Depending on when I get started I'll do our bedsheets and towels too. If not then they're done Tuesday. THen it seems that the rest of the week it is rare if I don't do at least one load of washing. I split mine into whites and light colours, then dark colours. Dark jeans etc go in by themselves but fortunately with summer none of them are hitting the washing basket.

I would love a bigger machine. I seem to wash all the time and if I don't keep on top of it then I end up with a mountain I can't jump over of both washing and ironing. When DD3 comes along she wil be in cloth so that will be even more washing to do. I mix the girls' clothes in with ours now but have always kept baby stuff separate so I guess I will do that again this time. Maybe instead of buying a bigger washing machine Harvey Norman might have a washer woman on sale one day

[Emma09]

I have an 8kg Electrolux. (I wouldn't recommend Electrolux AT ALL)
I do:
1 load of DD's clothes by themselves per week- including sheets.
1 load towels per week.
Probably about 3 loads of mine and DH's clothes. Separating by material- eg all trackies and jeans(heavy)
1 load cricket whites
1 load cleaning cloths (own business)

I wash a lot for 3 people!

[Miss.September]

I think ours is only a 5.5. Fisher and Paykel. It's never been quite the same since we stored it in a shed while we built this place. Came out coated in dust (even though we'd covered it). Anyway!

I do DH's work clothes on the weekend. Mondays I do one load of DH and my general stuff combined (I don't separate dark/light). Then all of DD's stuff, including her sheets on a soak cycle. Then Tuesday I try to get all our towels done. My biggest problem is a tiny washing line and I hate using the dryer. Our sheets go in fortnightly and go in with the towels.

I think with another child, there will be another days worth, just due to the line space. DD's load can take up the entire line alone.

[jacklicky]

I wash once a week which is usually Thursday (I work half a day from home) so tend to try and do the weeks washing then. I have a 7.5kg top loader and love it.....I probally overfill it at times trying to fit all our clothes into two loads but honestly I probally do between 3-5 loads for 2 adults and 1 toddler. DH gets his work uniform drycleaned.

I do the same as you put a load on....hang it out while the next load is going....but I can only fit two loads on my line at once (hence the overfilling).

DD has discovered a love of changing her clothes so now I usually have to do another load or two on Fridays as well....but love love love the bigger machine....

[OceanPrincess]

Definitely think I need a bigger machine. Thought I would have trouble convincing DH - just emailed him a link to the one I've decided I want (8kg F&P, it is the brand I know and love...) and wrote "We could sell our current one on eBay or Gumtree." and he rang me and goes "Cool a bigger washing machine! Why don't we just keep the other one in storage in case the new one breaks?"

Gotta love him!

I'm amazed at how organised people are. Maybe that's my problem - I should be more organised. If it wrote it down somewhere, like on our family whiteboard, then if DH came home early (like it seems he is today) he could look at the board and throw a load on.

Maybe.

[Rowellen]

If it wrote it down somewhere, like on our family whiteboard, then if DH came home early (like it seems he is today) he could look at the board and throw a load on.

Maybe.

Since your DH did reply to your email, he can obviously read, so you might be lucky. Mine wouldn't even read it even if he was staring at it for 10 minutes lol!

[nickle730]

I have the Simpson 9kg. Love it, I can wash everything in it including our king size doona!

I have three kids and a tradie DH, I wash at least 2 loads a day. If I don't wash every day the pile is out of control. I do tend to wash bath towels every couple of days and pj's after one wear, which I know not everyone does. We also have a pool so lots of bathers and towels at this time of year.

I separate light and darks and do towels and sheets separately.

[~Kim~]

I'm a bit slack and apart from Saturdays when I do towels and sheets (separate loads)....I commit the ultimate sin and chuck everything in together . I used to be anal but I'd rather have no washing to look at in reality. If the kids take something off, they know to put it straight in the machine. I do separate anything that might run, but I wash in cold, and it's just the kids and I so I haven't had a problem. At the end of the day, I set the timer so it finishes in the morning or just run it in the morning. Then I hang it out and we start again.

[~Hestia~]

Definitely!

We have an 8kg Maytag top loader. I lurve it Can fit in a king size bed sheet set as well as the doona set plus the extra pillow's cases.

I do one load for all our clothes, don't seperate whites etc. Towels get a seperate load as well as sheets. Nappies get their own wash too.

I don't wash on certain days but wash everyday anyway. I seem to strip the beds on wednesdays because the cleaner comes that day, so that all gets washed then.

I do hang out in a particular order I can't even explain it, too complicated to type one handed

[Cranky Kitten]

Heh, I have a 7kg LG front-loader and probably wash every 2-3 days. I usually separate lights/darks and will wash sheets/towels separately from our clothes but that's about it. Everything else all gets chucked in together. I have managed to wash a super-king doona cover in my washing machine, though I probably wouldn't try the doona itself.

I cheat though, hardly any of our stuff gets hung out on the line as DH has horribly bad hayfever - he suffers less if I use the dryer than when his clothes get coated in pollen hanging on the line.

Though I did see that LG go up to 10kg for a front-loader now.....

[Astrid]

8.5kg Samsung front loader here. Previous had a 7.5 kg top loader.

Wash lots here, had my MIL commenting about how much washing there was and I was not even washing the sheets weekly!! Two little girls create a lot of washing, plus DH is a big bloke, so just one t-shirt is worth four of MIL's. So only natural as a family of four we wash heaps more than a family of two.

No set day here, just really do a load a day or so when the basket looks full or if I need something. Separate mainly into darks (which includes towels) and lights (included work shirts, school dresses). Also the odd delicate black wash. Can't be bothered seperating towels and don't see the point with our stuff, plus they are better washed quickly, than left wet in the basket till I have a full load.

[~Kim~]

plus DH is a big bloke, so just one t-shirt is worth four of MIL's.

Yes!! My washing doubles when DH is home!

[Trillian]

Oh god YES!!! I had a 4.5kg washing machine for 10 years and managed to persevere with it till 2007 and with the 6 of us it just got too much and I was constantly washing, not to mention not being able to wash a full set of sheets at a time. So I went to a 9.5kg simpson machine and haven't looked back. Most of the time I still do a full load every day, or two loads every second day but I can wash a whole sheet or towel set at once now which is a huge time saver. I loved my little machine though. It still works like it is brand new and we just keep it as a spare now and have lent it to people when theirs have packed it in.

[RainbowBrite]

I have a 8.5 kg Maytag top loader and I love it.
A lot of washing is done and without a big machine I would be lost!
I still do at least one wash a day...with 8 of us it seems to be never ending.
I am a washing nazi...I separate everything!
Whites, reds and pinks, blues and blacks, towels, sheets...I used to do the little ones separately but now they go in with everyone else's.

[Rowellen]

When separating by colour - what do you do if something is half black & half white, multicolour stripes etc? I usually put it in with the darks.

[Shanti]

I love our big machine! I think ours is a 7.5kg one too, its quite large and fits heaps in!!! I can't imagine a smaller one!

[LuluHB]

When separating by colour - what do you do if something is half black & half white, multicolour stripes etc? I usually put it in with the darks.

I put things like that into the "light coloured" load. Usually if its white with another colour stripe the colour doesn't run (hopefully!).