Laundry - Page 2

[zoebird]

i fold as it is coming out of the dryer. so, it's pull a piece out, fold it, place it in the basket, then pull the next piece out, fold it, and put it in the basket. usually, it's finished in less than 10 minutes, and then i go and put it away and put the basket back in the bathroom.

honestly, this is the only way it gets done. used to be we'd ahve a pile on the bathroom floor that was HUGE and then DH would wash some and dry it and put it into a HUGE pile on the sofa. he still does this, btw, if he's doing the laundry, so i took over the laundry because i'm motivated to fold it coming out of the dryer.

also, i do laundry first thing in the morning. literally, it goes like this:

wake up
potty baby
make bed
dress baby and self
gather laundry and put it in the washer, start laundry
go to kitchen and clean up DH's breakfast mess, start making breakfast for DS and I
clean up after breakfast, then transfer wash to dryer and line dry to the line
free play and internet time
laundry is dry, fold it and put it away
make lunch, eat lunch, clean up lunch
DS's nap time
Free play
make and clean up dinner
family time
bed time

i also pick up DS's toys and what not each day right after he goes down for a nap and right before bed so that the place is nice and neat.

[ParisApril]

I wash 1 load of laundry a day. Then I hang it on my drying rack for the day or line dry it outside.

We use the same towels for about a week or until the towel gets funky. (I only fully shower every 3 days because of my dry skin.)

I wash sheets every other week in the summer but in the winter I let it go longer until the weather co operates for line drying.

We wear clothes until they are dirty or have lost their shape (think cotton t's).

Undies get worn once, (since switching to cloth tp it doesn't have a chance to get dirty "down there"), but undies don't take up a lot of room in the wash anyway.

My DH is a Carpenter and he gets his clothes dirty at work too. He loves to wear his Carhart Overall's DH is 6'3" so his work stuff takes up a lot of room. He hates to wear dirty clothes to work so I was washing a lot of work stuff every week until this Christmas when my mom bought DH a pair of black overalls! Now they hardy ever look dirty so I only have to wash them once a week!

[bcblondie]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

Undies get worn once, (since switching to cloth tp it doesn't have a chance to get dirty "down there"), but undies don't take up a lot of room in the wash anyway.

I don't think this is true. For women anyways. There are other fluids that get on undies.

[echospiritwarrior]

Originally Posted by bcblondie

I don't think this is true. For women anyways. There are other fluids that get on undies.

sure there are other fluids, but you really think it's 'dirty' I'm not trying to argue or anything I just don't think that a woman's natural fluid is necessarily dirty.

Even though I think family cloth cleans better than the average paper counterpart I think that you can still end up with soiled undies. Anyhow, it's just safer to wash them- they're small.

I personally don't think of vaginal or seminal fluid as dirty JMO.

[bcblondie]

I can see your point.

[echospiritwarrior]

so have you come up with any new strategies yet?

I'd love to see you come to a happy place with your laundry conundrum...

[BetsyS]

I used to wash all day MOndays as a marathon (you know...wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday ). Recently, I've switched to trying to do 1-2 loads a day.

It's working much better for me, in the folding and putting away realms. I have a 1 and 3 year old, and they like to topple piles of nicely folded clothes, plus leave me little time for folding anyway. So, a whole day of laundry was crazy-making. One load a day (plus diapers if needed) is much better for us.

We use towels for a week in winter, but in summer, they never dry really, and we only use them 2-3 days before they get funky. I wash sheets once a week. It started when I had a newborn (leaking milk, spit up on the sheets, sweaty postpartum hormones), and then I discovered how wonderfully luxurious clean sheets every week are. So, I kept it up.

We use dishtowels instead of paper towels, but I throw them in the washer unless they are really bad (in which case, I sometimes use a rag that can be tossed), and I just wash with whatever load goes in the washer next.

I have an ordinary, top loading machine. Not high volume or anything.

[Kim Allen]

Yes,

My main problem was just putting it off.

We are going to start reusing towels. The reason we didnt reuse towels is because well.. we just didnt lol. Our family is only fours years old. When living with parents we never thought much about laundry or waste. Matter of fact our familys are quite mainstream and thinks were nusto on how much we have saved in expenses and our reusing strategies. oh well. But I totally agree on the towels being clean anyway. So we are now reusing them


Anyways, I started to rewear my jeans. Dh already did this on the weekends when he isnt working. I even had ds1 and ds2 rewear jeans and they stayed clean. Much better then I thought it would be. I honestly didnt rewear jeans before because I didnt think they would fit the same. I was wrong.

I am washing,drying,folding all at once. I cant wait to see how many loads I have eliminated the rest of this week. Thank you all!!

[LeighPF]

Monday is Laundry Day

We finally moved into a place this fall with in unit laundry so I had to come up with a new routine. The laundry is in the kitchen (stacking front loader) so there is no where to pile up a mess.
I wash Monday, all Monday. When it is nice here in New England, I line dry. In the winter/wet I use the dryer and since the first load heats it up, the rest take less time. It also means you only have one round of putting laundry away, which I find to be the hardest part.
This week it was five loads, including all the towels and sheets (changed weekly), clothes for three people and cloth diapers.
We reuse pants if they are not flithy (which for our almost toddler may be anywhere from half a day to three days), but pretty much everything else goes in after a day. We use cloth napkins and change the kitchen linens daily so that added to it (but then nothing in the trash).
To keep the laundry from being stinky we use very little detergent (no residue) and hang anything wet to dry on the side of the hamper.

The big help in getting it all done is folding and sorting strait out of the dryer. We have two LL Bean huge tote bags, one for baby and one for us and that is where everthing goes. That way even if husband does not put the laundry away, it is contained and not all over the couch/dinning room table/bed.

[es1967]

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

When I hang them they dry, they do not smell. I too make my own detergent. Sometimes if I have a bunch around I will soak them in some oxyclean to whiten them and to take any smells away. Then just wash w my regular load.

[sanguine_speed]

We easily have two loads every day. With five of us, that's basically 10 changes of clothes including pyjamas a day, plus we only reuse towels a couple of times. Add in hand towels, kitchen towels, bedding, and we definitely average two loads plus a day.
I do not like the idea of resuing towels for weeks on end. We might be clean when we come out of the shower, but toweling off does mean bits of dead skin that ends up on the towel. I don't want to wipe my skin with dead skin, ya know?