Laundry

[Kim Allen]

Ok our house is insane with laundry. We wash about on average 2 loads a day for a family of 4. I know its horrible.

Me and Dh was talking the other day about ways we can cut down on the loads. I for one said we need to start reusing towels. Which he agrees but there is gotta be other ways.

I would reuse clothes but heres the thing.
1. Dh works in grease and oil all day and is soooo dirty that it would not work for him
2. Ds1 and Ds2 are messy children. While we wont change everytime there messy (unless we are going somewere are we need to look clean :P ) They go through one outfit a day.
3. Usually I am just as messy as the kids or worse by the end of the day from cleaning up Ds1 and Ds2.

Also we use alot of rags and cloths that we are constantly washing those also.

But anyways Dh was asked me If I thought it would be cost effective to do laundry on only one day. I know we would still be using the water and electricity but would it be beneficial to only wash everything on one day then a few loads everyday??

TIA. Also Any money saving tips or organizing tips would be nice.

Also we try to line dry when its nice out.

[Alyantavid]

We're a family of 4 and I do laundry twice a week. Wednesdays and Sundays I do a load for the kids and 1-2 loads for dh and I. I do 2 loads of towels one time a week as well.

We rewear alot. For dh and I, we wear jeans 2-3 times before washing them, same with sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. The kids, I usually wash after every wear because they tend to get dirty. We all wear pj's more than one night. I only change the bathroom towels once a week and I have enough kitchen towels and washclothes that I can change those everyday and still not need to do a load of towels more than once a week.

[cristeen]

Does your municipal district charge different rates for electric or water at different times? My grandparents always did their laundry on the weekend because they had lower electric rates then. If not, then I don't know that there's really any difference when you do it.

As for reducing it... definitely reuse towels. Assign everyone their own place to hang their towel and make it clear that they're expected to use the same towel for X akmount of t ime - and if they don't hang it to dry they only have themselves to blame for the wet towel. I wash towels when they start smelling. In the summer that might be once a month... in the winter every other week.

How often do you change sheets? How many kitchen towels and rags do you go through in a week? Around here, I have enough kitchen towels and rags to get through 2-4 weeks without washing. Sheets get changed every 2-3 weeks. And we have plenty of spares so I wash all of those things together to make as few loads as possible. We also have a large capacity washer/dryer, which I'm sure makes a difference.

[zoebird]

i would rather do 1-2 loads each day than do it all at once. i don't think it's more cost effective either way. i do think smaller loads every day are easier to get done, folded and put away.

i think that because everyone is dirty, it makes sense not to re-ware clothes, though towels (like bath towels) should be fine. we change ours once a week. actually, we only have one set, so we wash them once a week, along with our one set of sheets, blankets, etc. LOL we do rewear clothes, but we're not into dirty stuff like that. DS only does if there's nothing on his clothing. otherwise, he's messy all day. LOL

but, yeah, i would keep doing what you are doing.

[AustinMom]

Every Thursday, every week, every month is laundry day. It's me, hubby, and 17 MO. Hubby NEVER wears the same thing twice, maybe friday's jeans on Saturday to just lounge, but no, not the same thing twice.

I don't either, even jeans. We do reuse towels, and I wash them every week (on thursday). Dish towels, we go through a lot of, baby is ALWAYS spilling, dropping, peeing, etc, and we have a 80lb lab who makes her share of messes too. I used all my old burp cloths as dish towels, cloth diapers work well too of course.

I do one load of colors, one load of darks/denims, one load of whites, and one to two loads of towels/sheets. I find if I don't do everything on one day, I am doing laundry ALL WEEK LONG! and that becomes exhausting, as I will always have something to put in washer, put in dryer, fold/put away, and it's too much.

We also line dry when weather is nice, we are in central TX, so it doesn't take long to line dry in the summer especially.

I don't think it saves money, but it does save time, that I feel is true.

[Jackies Ladybug]

i wear my jeans a few times if they are clean enough, sometimes i will spot wash them if there is just a little splash of yogurt or something and pop them in the dryer for a few minutes to refresh them.
my husband wears his jeans 2-3 times before washing as well, every night he runs them through the steam cycle on the dryer (10 min) to freshen them up.
my dd is 14 months old and when it isnt super cold in the house i let her just run around in a dipe to avoid dirty clothes.
towels are a major source of contention at our house. my husband wont use a towel more than 3 times, i can go a week but since all the towels are the same color he just replaces them all every 3 days so he doesnt accidentally get my "icky" towel.

i also use cloth diapers, rags for cleaning and microfiber cloths for mopping.
i do laundry every other day, about 2 loads each time, so about a load a day if i include diapers.
the best thing i did was get an awesome front loading washer and an energy saving dryer. my utility bills went down by almost half as soon as i put those babies in. i save probably $150-200 a month vs. what i was paying with my ancient kenmore machines.
thats my money saving tip, if you do that much laundry, invest in a really good set of machines, i've had mine for 2 years and they have saved me almost $5000 in that time in utilities. and i only paid $2000 for the set.

[pinksprklybarefoot]

I bet I wear jeans 10 times without washing them. Sweaters/cardigans, 2-3 times if they stay clean. Other things get only one wear, but I will wear the tank/t-shirt that I wore during the day as pjs.

That said, family of five, with one in CDs, we do laundry pretty much every day. Multiple loads a day. We do reuse towels, but since we don't use paper towels, kitchen rags and napkins really build up fast.

DH rewears jeans, but it would be just disgusting if he rewore shirts. They kids do not rewear because their things do get dirty and worn-looking.

Since I do not dry my clothing or the kids (and having very precise methods for laundry), washing is a constant project around here and the house is constatly adorned with damp clothing.

[bcblondie]

I agree. I wear jeans til they are dirty. I use towels twice plus drying my face/hands wiping toothpaste after brushing. lol. Or if they start to stink.
I don't change the bedsheets unless they start to stink.

As far as doing most of the laundry on one day, I think as long as each load is full it's no problem. A washer/dryer is most efficient when it's full. But don't overfill, as clothes wont get as clean and will wear out.

Also. I love line drying. I have a system of cloth ribbon attatched to my ceiling that works well.

I wouldn't feel bad about all the washcloths you use. It's obviously necessary and it doens't add up to much. I mean, half your load isn't washcloths I'm sure. Just think. Some people use paper towel for every little mess. You'd go through rolls and rolls!

[ScarletBegonias]

wow op! you only do 1-2 loads per day?!?

we have a family of 4 and if i keep up with the laundry, i need to do about 4 loads a day. when i get behind, which is usually, i have like 8-10 loads.

we don't wear clothes twice, dh does sometimes, and me & the kids wear multiple outfits per day. i'll wear sleep clothes multiple times though. oh, and i wash our linens a lot. like if a pillow falls on the floor, it's getting washed. i wash our curtains monthly or so. blankets get washed really frequently too, several times per week.

but i wash the majority of our laundry on cold, to save hot water. and i use white vinegar and buy laundry soap in bulk.

eta: agree with pp's about efficient w'd. we have a new set of fl that we paid $3000 for and they have saved us 3 times that in electricity.

[Smocked]

Originally Posted by cristeen

Around here, I have enough kitchen towels and rags to get through 2-4 weeks without washing.

how do you keep them from smelling? I end up having to wash my towels every other day or so or else it makes my entire house smell. I have tried different containers to hold them in while dirty and different areas in the house, but they get stinky so fast

[bcblondie]

Could be your laundry detergent. We used tide free and my dishcloths stunk, even right out of the washer. I started making my own and now they are lemoney fresh. (ok not lemoney... but, fresh!)

[Kim Allen]

Hmm some things to think about. Definantly going to be reusing towels. Possibly jeans.


About the HE machines. I am not sure if they would work for me were I live. My neighbor had bought a brand new set about a year ago and they didnt even make it to a year because the water has rust in it or something like that. Anyways it ruined her machine. I guess If I got a filter it would work. Need to think about that some more.

I usually leave all the laundry to fold in one dayEven though I hate doing that so much. I wish I could just wash,dry,fold,putaway all in one but I usually end up pulling the laundry out of the dryer before bed and sticking it in a basket then I wont look at it agian untill it is all built up agian.

Whats bad is it all sits in our bedroom until I fold it

I got it all folded and put away last night. Maybe I can find a routine that sticks. Thank you !

[justmama]

we are a family of one adult and three kids ages 9,5 and 2 and we do one load a day with an extra load of towels or linens once a week. one or the other. the 2 year old is still in diapers so that's one load every other day plus one load of clothing every other day. they wear each pair of jeans at least twice and we reuse towels for a full week and they wear each pair of pajamas at least twice. underwear and socks are changed daily. and we line dry absolutely everything, we haven't used the dryer in 2 years.

[sparkygirl74]

I think how much laundry also depends on your lifestyle too. I have a friend who lives in South Carolina in a house in a housing developement and they do one load a day...we usually do two. I mentioned where they lived because for much of the year it is warm there and they wear much lighter weight clothes. We live in Western New York on 20 acres and we wear heavier lothes a lot of the year. We are also surrounded by mud unless the ground is frozen, so I make my children change out of muddy clothes when they walk into the house.....otherwise I would spend even more time cleaning furniture or carpets. We only use one towel a week each, but don't use paper towels or napkins and we also used cloth diapers. If I don't do laundry every day I get buried, lol.

[carseatqueen]

We are a family of 2 adults, 3 young kids (1 in CDs, another in one diaper at night) and three messy dogs. I generally do one load of laundry a day- or two every other day plus diapers every 2-3 days. That works out to washing clothes about once a week: 2-3 loads depending on the weather. It would probably be 4 in winter if we lived in a cold climate. I do darks one day, lights another, then either colors or another load of one of the previous when needed. I mix light colors with lights and dark colors with darks unless the load is too full. I have also thrown "old/dirty" cloths in with towels and rags when the load isn't full. Dh's work pants and my DS's "play in dirth cloths" are usually what gets thrown in.

We rewear jeans if they are clean and DH wears work pants a few times- but the kids are usually dirty if we are home all day. DS1 usually goes through two sets of clothes a day because he plays out in the dirt almost every morning. Necessary for my sanity and his.

We also use lots of rags, and I keep sheets on the counch most of the time because the dogs sometimes are a bit dirty and the kids make messes there easily. I also wash rugs when needed (all small washable ones) since we have all hard floors.

I don't hate laundry, I only hate when I get it piled up.

Something that I have started doing in the last year that has really helped:
I have a shelf next to my dryer in the garage/laundry room. I have small baskets (the cube ones from Target) for DD, DS1, DS2, diapers, and kitchen rags. I have a big basket on the floor I use for DH and I's laundry or sheets/towels. When I'm doing laundry I sort it right out of the dryer and hang things that really need hung. This has done two things. First, full baskets don't pile up. DD puts her own away, and it's much easier to grab one of the boy's baskets if I have 5 minutes than to sort through a huge basket of laundry. Also, if it does sit for a day or two and I need something I know where it is. No giant basket of doom. Second, if I throw some of ds's socks in with rags, or wet underwear in with diapers I don't have to make a special trip to put them away. I just throw them in his basket for when I put his clothes away next. They used to end up stashed around the laundry room or other random places- especially if a child was sleeping in the room they needed to go in when I was putting stuff away. Some day all the kids will be able to put there stuff away and it will be even easier. At least that's the plan.

[MtBikeLover]

We are a family of 3 - one adult and 2 kids. The only thing I re-wear are PJ's, sweaters and jeans (2x). I work outside the home so I have work clothes every day that have to get washed. We also use rags/cloth instead of paper towels so we have a lot of those.

We do at most 4 loads a week.

I don't wash towels every day. I hang them up as soon as we use them and we keep using them as long as they smell good. So 2-3 towels last us at least a week, maybe more. I also don't wash sheets until they are physically dirty (the dog!) or they smell. That means every couple of weeks.

With the rags from cleaning, I throw them in with the other clothes. We only use vinegar and water for cleaning and the rags aren't usually that dirty anyways.

We also have a frontloader. It holds a lot of clothes so that helps cut down on how much wash I have.

Oh - I also mix colors and lights.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Smocked

how do you keep them from smelling? I end up having to wash my towels every other day or so or else it makes my entire house smell. I have tried different containers to hold them in while dirty and different areas in the house, but they get stinky so fast

Never toss them in the hamper wet. Make sure they're dry before they go in. Once they're dry, so long as you don't put anything wet on top of them, the smell should be contained in the hamper. I drape wet rags over the shower door or the edge of the hamper. Once they're dry, they get tossed in with everything else.

Unless you're wiping up something smelly, they shouldn't really be stinky when dry. If I do wipe up something stinky then they get tossed in with the diaper laundry.

[SophieAnn]

2 adults here. We do laundry once a week, and it's 1-3 loads.

There's a question about reusing towels - do people not reuse towels? That is a foreign concept to me....

We use the same bath towels for 1 week. They're drying water off clean bodies/hair... so they don't get dirty. Hang them up and they're dry before the next day. I don't even think they're dirty at the end of a week, but I usually wash them anyway (or circulate).

I will wear pants/jeans 2-3 times before washing, and sweaters 2-3 times before washing, because I always layer another shirt under my sweater. Any shirt that's against skin I only wear once. Bras I wear a few times before washing, other undergarments only once of course. Not sure what hubby does but I'm sure he rewears garments.

Sheets are washed once a week or two, but we have 3 sets of sheets in rotation so I don't wash sheets every week.

Dish towels and dish cloths are reused until I feel they're icky... somewhere between 3-5 days I guess.... but if I accidently wipe raw meat hands on a dish towel it goes straight in the hamper. Dish cloths/towels never smell - they're dry when they go into the hamper so maybe that helps. They accumulate in a hamper near the kitchen for a few weeks... until I run out or until they're enough for a load when combined with the dog towels.

[bcblondie]

Originally Posted by SophieAnn

There's a question about reusing towels - do people not reuse towels? That is a foreign concept to me....
.

When I lived with my parents I used TWO towels per shower!! One to dry myself and a little face towel to step on. Ohhhh the wastefulness. When I moved here and I lived with MIL for a bit. When she first asked me to resuse them I was disgusted! To be honest. But I mean, You're drying your clean body. So I got used to it fast. And once it's your own house and money you realize why people do it. lol.
So in summation. Yes. Some people never reuse towels.

[echospiritwarrior]

I have to do 1-2 loads every other day, sometimes every day but less frequently in the summertime.

In the summer we do a lot of swimsuits and the same couple of garments on top of them. We usually walk to the river and air dry on the way home so there aren't any extra towels, in fact the river is so refreshing there is a bunch less use on our towels (can you tell I'm very excited that the day's are already growing longer). I actually think I probably only do 1 load every 4-5 days in the summertime.

Now though with layers and lots of baths which adds up to the top estimate. I reuse as much as I can get away with; pretty much everything I can get away with but undies. The girls usually go through probably about two outfits a day between accidents and spills. My husband works construction but even he has a hook (OUTSIDE) and shakes out his clothes in the morning to wear again if it's doable. Of course many days he just can't because he's been using a chainsaw and smells like one or sometimes he's just showered in mud or oil.

With both my husband's clothes and the family cloth I do a quick wash by themselves and then I load up with everything else (when it's mixed dark lights I just wash on cold).