loads of washing?

My family is 5, 3 males, 2 females. hubby hardly seems to have clothes go through the wash so I guess its me and the 3 kids mainly. we don't change everything everyday. socks and underwear changes then whatever is dirty.

I separate the washes into a pink/red wash, dark, light, towels, sheets.

I seem to do atleast 3 loads a day and my mt foldmore is scary.
I reckon I could give a person a semi full time job just washing, drying, folding and putting away.

How many loads do you do?
do you have any tips for washing?

I have 5 males & 2 females to wash for. 3 in school, 2 who do multiple changes a day (and they are boys :/) so I have a LOT. BUT I manage on usually 1 or 2 loads a day. I do Towel/jeans - bedding - clothes. Thats the extent of my sorting!

If I get to the weekend & there is a back log then I will do a socks/undies & whites load & I do that over night on a long hot cycle, then school stuff, then the rest of teh clothing, then I still do towels & jeans together ( I don't know why). Bedding is washed on its own also. I have bed wetters still (not every night, maybe once a week) so that load gets done over others. If I have a bad run of bed wetting thats when my washing backs up as I put a load on in the morning as I leave, hang it out & put on another later on & then usually hang that out & put on another over night. So I guess its more 2 or 3 loads a day.

No tips! My family is little and relatively new- hubby, wifey and one year old girl. I wash every second day except the weekend and I'd say I do two or three loads every second day - on average. We use modern cloth nappies on bubba so that has increased the wash loads a lot.

Oh and I fold into the basket as I take off the line- otherwise once the basket gets inside I forget about it/can't be bothered and all the loads of unfolded washing build up in crazy corners of the house.

I think around 6 loads a week We do a load every second day,4 people: 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 in cloth nappies
The nappies go in for a prewash, then the clothes from the last 2 days on top (~4 loads a week). I do towels and linen on thursdays (~2 loads)

I think around 6 loads a week We do a load every second day,4 people: 2 adults, 2 kids, 1 in cloth nappies
The nappies go in for a prewash, then the clothes from the last 2 days on top (~4 loads a week). I do towels and linen on thursdays (~2 loads)

We have 2 girls and 3 boys here. I do mine hubbys and dds together then the boys together(there smelly lol). I tend to do washing every second day with a load or two then on one day i will do all tea towels,towels,bathmats/toilet mats and facr washes and the next day all the bedding.

I too fold the washing as i take it off the line i find it saves me time and the crease less that way.

I have various sorting systems.... We have 4 of us, with a new tiny bubs who has limited clothes in the really small sizes (5 zeroes at the moment!)

I'll tend to wash colours every 2-3 days, probably 3 loads a week.
I'll do one white load a week (usually weekend so it has the weeks worth of DH's work shirts).
One each of sheets and towels on the weekend
Every 4-5 days I do a load of DD1's bibs/smocks and flannels she uses whilst eating. There's usually some food left on them still so I don't want to mix them with other clothes.
I usually also do another load of DD2's 'sick towels'
Another load of swimming stuff after swimming lessons....

So I guess I'm doing 9-10 loads a week! Wow, seems heaps when I write it like this. No wonder I feel like I'm always doing washing!

Tips wise:
I fold when getting them off the line.
I also try to get all of each persons washing off at the same time so I just go into a room at a time and leave the next 'section' of the washing basket there.

I don't sort colours. And I have never had an issue. I wash new things alone once, or twice if they need it, first.

Clothes, towels, sheets, nappies. There is only me and the 2 girls though. Nonetheless, I think you should sort less and never wash less than a full load.

I have just me and the two girls... I wash daily at least. And if I don't I catch up on the weekend with 3-4 loads.

I don't sort as such. My work clothes go in one. Girls clothes. Towels. Sheets.

Sheets etc once a week.
Towels we go through a few with our feral famr kids so probably atleast 2 loads of towels a week.
I sort colors (all colors be it bright or light) go together and i would go through atleast 2-4 loads of colors a week
DP and i both wear a lot of darks so we would do about 2-3 loads of darks a week (including girls kinder pants etc)
DP's work clothes are about 2 loads a week (add in any totaly filthy mud clothes from the girls)
Whites are hard to make up a load at times so often end up in with the lightest of the colors if i have to.

I feel like i'm washing all day everyday and there are only 4 of us.

We only do 2-3 loads during the week then around 3 on the weekend (towels and sheets mostly). We play in the mud almost everday but I try to use last days clean clothes the next day for that so it is only one set a day just changed at a different time of day lol.

Family of 4. Never sort, always full loads hung to dry.

Two or three loads a week.

I don't sort clothes either. I usually 3 loads a week. It's just me and my 2 kidlets.

I usually do whites & school stuff together once a week. Towels & sheets are once a week. Usually Sundays. Blankets/doona's as needed, maybe once a month unless someone wets the bed.
Everything else I could keep up to with a load every day or 2 (3 in school, they wear clothes for 2 days at least, unless they trash them).

But I haven't had a washing machine for over a month. So its the laundromat once a week. 5 loads ($20). 2/3 loads of clothes, towels & sheets. Anything else goes to the laundry til there's room for it, or I get a washer (hopefully next week!!)

When we were a family of 5 (3 adults & 2 kids), I would put a load on every night and hang it up in the morning, then put another load on before my DP & I would head to work, the other adult in the house would hang that up when it was finished & bring in the washing.

Now I do a load every 2nd day, put it on at night before bed & hang it up in the morning. If I'm at the gym every day I hand wash my gym clothes (usually get in the shower with them on, strip them off & wash them in there) when I get home.

Sheets & towels are done every Saturday morning, usually both sets of sheets (the bed gets changed twice during the week in summer & once a week in winter) and I change towels twice a week.

I don't do colors either, I do 3 loads a day, every day.

Regards,
Dianne

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 wash for 2 adults and 2 boys.

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 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 5 as well - 2 Adults & 3 kids..

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 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 suspect if I fold straight from the dryer or off the line it will give things a better chance to get into drawers.
I didn't factor cloth nappys- that's where most if my folding time gets used up.
hope with the warmer weather we will have less washing. the winter layers are so thick.
its good to see Im not the only washing machine slave :D

I have just started using bags for washing. having an agitatorless machine has been hard on clothes. tangles etc.
I have found using bags helps with cutting down hanging out time

i reckon we do 3 every 2 days - about 50:50 clothes and nappies.
We don't separate colours and clothes - it just all goes in an a cold run.
The nappies of course are separate (with any soiled pants, bedding etc) and they go on a hot wash with soak function.
Life is good. And simpler!
I don't like folding it when bringing it in from the line, I chuck it all on the couch, and then fold it into baskets - all of DH's stuff, then mine, the boys, the linens, etc - that makes it easier to put away.

family of three - two adults, one kidlet
we have hampers all over the place - once they are full, it's a load of washing. some of these might get filled every couple of days (towels), some may not get filled for two weeks (i sort my work clothes in to black, white and colors - the advantage of walk in robe - i can have several hampers in there!) - we only ever wash a full load. DH will wash as many loads as are needed on any given day. i'd say we average about five to six loads a week

2-3 loads on a weekend. Hubby work stuff bubba stuff then everything else.

I do to many loads. This house is becoming nudists lol. At least 8 loads a week

We have two adults and three girls, and I usually do a load a day plus an extra two or three on the weekends. Weekends are linen so that's two loads of towels and two and a half loads for sheets - the half load I will combine whites with the sheets.

Otherwise, I sort into blacks and reds which is usually a huge pile because that's school uniforms, most of DH's clothes and a lot of mine. Then there's the whites and lights (usually waits for the sheets) and then the pink pile. Yes, I have an entire load of pink clothing.

Cloth nappies I will do a rinse then wash cycle every second day.

At the moment I'm putting a load on when DH has the girls in the shower at night. Then I hang it out at night and bring it in in the morning. Its been so hot and we get very strong morning easterlies where we are so I find the washing always feels a bit crispy if its been on the line all day. Come winter I will put the load on after the kids are in bed and then hang it out in the morning.

We have two adults and three girls, and I usually do a load a day plus an extra two or three on the weekends. Weekends are linen so that's two loads of towels and two and a half loads for sheets - the half load I will combine whites with the sheets.

Otherwise, I sort into blacks and reds which is usually a huge pile because that's school uniforms, most of DH's clothes and a lot of mine. Then there's the whites and lights (usually waits for the sheets) and then the pink pile. Yes, I have an entire load of pink clothing.

Cloth nappies I will do a rinse then wash cycle every second day.

At the moment I'm putting a load on when DH has the girls in the shower at night. Then I hang it out at night and bring it in in the morning. Its been so hot and we get very strong morning easterlies where we are so I find the washing always feels a bit crispy if its been on the line all day. Come winter I will put the load on after the kids are in bed and then hang it out in the morning.

I sort folding from ironing when I'm taking it off the line. Folding I take into the lounge at night and do while the girls are showering, and then finish off when they go to bed. Put away in the morning their stuff. Nappies I fold and organise each morning in Miss A's room while she's settling down for her morning sleep

its been very interesting to read :)
thanks for sharing

I love going to bed on clean sheets and aired bedding and smelling the sunshine

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.

I don't sort colours. They all go in together, never had any problems.

I do towels and bedding separately.

I do a load every 2-3 days. Towels and bedding I do weekly.