We have three adults (me and DH plus DS1) and one toddler. The toddler generates more washing than us three put together!
I've been doing a load each night and hanging it out in the morning before I go to work. On the weekends though, I do more - towels, teatowels, sheets etc.
I've given up sorting colours unless I have delicates to wash (some of my work tops and cardies) then I'll pop them to one side and do them all together on the weekend. TBH I think that things are more colourfast these days and don't tend to run like they used to....either that or I've gotten used to "grey".
I do a load every night and probably 2 loads on saturdays and sundays.
Clothes get folded on the laundry bench as soon as they're brought in, we each have a pile. It's not often those piles often make it to their wardrobes though!
I stay away from the washing when DH is around, he does it but in a crazy way that seems to go on and on and on, I can't work out what his system is. Plus he generates mountains more washing than everyone else.
But when he's not here - I have a little system. School & sports uniforms all go through together once a week (Fri arvo). Rest of wash is divided into loads and I can pretty much just wash twice a week (or sometimes once) and get everything else done. Loads are dark things together, whites with anything light-coloured or fluffy (eg sometimes our kitchen towels go through with the whites), and then a wash with all the medium coloured things that aren't really dark and aren't really light. Anything that can be hung onto a coat hanger to dry is hung (we have a rack inside the house for this), and everything else is run through the dryer on the wrinkle-free light-dry setting - this means I can fold them straight away while they are still warm and nothing ever needs ironing. Light dry means they don't get crispy & you use less electricity. In winter I often hang onto a clothes horse next to the heater, they dry faster, they dont' need pegs and you can whip everything off and fold it quicker than you can out on the line. Towels are washed once a week on Wednesdays, and sheets washed on the weekends.
FWIW our electricity bills when DH is away (and I'm using the dryer) and when he's here are the same, I suspect my system is more efficient (I only ever wash full loads) and I pretty much never have to iron and so that offsets the cost of running the dryer a couple of times a week.
Our washing machine has a timer on it, and I use that quite a bit so that the washing loads finish at a time that fits in with whatever else I'm doing. I often run the dryer in the evening so I can whip the things out and fold them while the telly's on.
My putting away tip is to fold it all into sorted piles on the coffee table, then I stack them back into the laundry basket, so I can carry the basket around the house once and it's all done.
Load 1 - whites and sheets on Sunday
Load 2 - towels (this is sometimes only done fortnightly as we have a large machine)
Load 3 - midweek, gym clothes, school uniform
Load 4 - darks (weekend)
Load 5 - colours (weekend)
We have a front loader, so I tend to do loads overnight so they are ready to hang out in the morning. Or I'll set it to have finished when I get home and then hang it out (either outside or on an airer inside depending on weather or when I'll be able to collect it)
DH tries to get two days out of his business shirts, my work pants go a few days. Sometimes I'll do mixed loads if there would have been two small loads, or at the end of the weekend when we seem to have created as much washing as during the week.
We are a family of 5. I don't really have a process to do my washing. I only sort things into sheets, towels, clothes and whites. I wash one load a day usually, occasionally two, sometimes I can get away with none. My problem is folding it though. I try to fold it straight off the line, but I am often in a bit of a hurry and don't, so it all goes into the spare room, where, right now, I could lose a child the pile to fold in so huge.
I sort... Loosely whites on there own or with lights depending on how much there is, colours, darks, dh work clothes, towels, sheets, nappies. I have one in fulltime cloth nappy and 3 others for sleeps so they get done every one-two days. Towels & sheets once a week (sometimes more or less if we are away a lot of the week), if dh isnt working away his filthy greasy stuff gets done usually twice a week. The towels and sheets etc work out to be 4-5 loads incredibly and id estimate all other washing is around 6 loads because I usually do 2 or 3 loads every other day as the baskets fill up. Wow that seems like a lot when i write it down, and we wear the same clothes until they are fairly dirty! I've only just switched in the last few months to an automatic washing machine from a twin tub. When i had the twin tub id reuse the water for all the washing twice a week doing 8-10loads but it was a fairly small machine.
Definitely fold when taking off the line (& sort if possible) or out of dryer. I agree that getting a load on at bedtime or first thing in the morning really helps
I have 1 wash everyday and don't sort the colours - everything goes in together.
Friday night when DH gets home I wash his shirts on their own and then every 2 weeks I do the sheets and towels - I do DD and the twins beds every second Wednesday (they fit in 1 was) the towels every second Thursday and our bed every second Friday.
I also fold as I take things off the line and put them away immediately so I don't have clothes piles invading the bedroom.
I sort the whites (usually only one load a week) and the rest go together on a cold wash. Towels and sheets are fortnightly.
I would do one load a day and more on the weekend. I reckon 9 loads a week is realistic. We have a front loader 7kg too
I tend to do all folding at one time while watching tv. It's how we did it as kids. My dad used to put baskets of washing in front of us and say 'if you want to watch tv you have to fold laundry' so it became a fun job and we just placed folded clothes on people's beds. Now I also put away but it keeps the cupboards neat.
I am going to get baskets for each person for clean washing though because some rummaging of the basket happens while I'm waiting to do the folding.
Dh and the kids would have two or three times more washing than me. It's insane how little of my own clothes I wash.
Family of 5 here. I do 2-3 loads per day. I sort into whites/very light colours, bedding, towels, darks and DH work clothes/our horse riding clothes. I am trying to train my children to hang up their towels instead of putting them on the laundry pile - I would like to change towels every three days or so, they seem to think they need a new towel every day! My folding tip is to get your DH to do it! My DH folds so well that I only iron uniforms and the odd cotton item.
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whites on there own or with lights depending on how much there is, colours, darks, dh work clothes, towels, sheets, nappies. I have one in fulltime cloth nappy and 3 others for sleeps so they get done every one-two days. Towels & sheets once a week (sometimes more or less if we are away a lot of the week), if dh isnt working away his filthy greasy stuff gets done usually twice a week. The towels and sheets etc work out to be 4-5 loads incredibly and id estimate all other washing is around 6 loads because I usually do 2 or 3 loads every other day as the baskets fill up. Wow that seems like a lot when i write it down, and we wear the same clothes until they are fairly dirty! I've only just switched in the last few months to an automatic washing machine from a twin tub. When i had the twin tub id reuse the water for all the washing twice a week doing 8-10loads but it was a fairly small machine.
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