Help with laundry, ideas please

Olliebeak

I'm another who only irons when something is needed. If I ironed everytime I did laundry, I would STILL put the iron over again before going for a night out etc.

fiddling_flower_petals

kal25 wrote: »

Thanks fiddling flower petals, I think we should definetley do that. I have done 2 loads today and I think I only have about 5 items that I thought I could not get away without ironing- they will b done tomorrow.

That's great!

So here's my pledge:-

Prevention (All new washing)

I will straighten, fold, hang and put away laundry as soon as it's finished in tumble drier/ removed from the line to prevent as much ironing as possible and put away. I will not create ironing. *
Any items which require ironing will be folded in 1 small ironing basket and ironed within 48hrs.

* I reserve the right to my guilt pleasure of ironing my bedding.

Dealing with the Backlog

I will sort any clean laundry into the following piles:-

1. Any items for charity. Fold, bag and send
2. DH's (No longer prepared to take responsibility):p
3. Socks - Collect all together, pair and put away. Any sock remaining unpaired(courtesy of my sock fairy:mad: ) will be place on the green mile:rotfl: /death row(little basket) and only have two weeks to find a matching partner or face obliteration.:D
4. Mine
5. Children
6. Bedding - Only 1 set
7. Towels - Quick tumble, fold and put away

Action on the above piles still to be decided.

Options:-

1. Freshen up wash, which will then follows the prevention protocol.
2. Cheat and send out to local ironing shop:eek: :eek: :eek:
3. Half Hour Ironing(HHI) catch up minimum of 4 times a week

Statement Of Laundry Despair to follow

fiddling_flower_petals

:rotfl: :eek: :rotfl: :eek: :rotfl: :eek:

Oh dear, it sounds like a Chinese Laundry.
I like lists, as if you haven't figured that out already.

Although the option of cheating and send out to local ironing shop:eek: :eek: :eek: , sounds tempting, it's not something I plan on. I need to feel the pain of sorting out my laundry and hopefully never slip back into my old habits again.

Olliebeak

When my kids were little (25-35 years ago) I had a twin-tub plus a separate spindryer, a washing line and an airer. I had 3 washdays each week and those days were absolutely 'written in stone' and nothing got in the way of them (if my laundry schedule got out of synch - the remainder of my time/life fell apart). Two of them were in terry-nappies at the same time (13mths between the two kids) and those had to be soaked in the hottest water I could muster for a couple of hours every evening after doing the dishes (never washed nappies in the twin-tub due to the need to re-use the water from one load to another). They would be hand-finished around 9 o'clock each evening, well rinsed and then spun before going on the airer overnight. Always dry the following morning - if they felt a little bit rough, I would rub at them between my knuckles to soften them up again. Thinking about my current WM and TD - how different my life would have been if I'd had them back then - and that was only in the 70's/80's!

kal25

Hi guys glad to see we are all trying to sort it out.
Kaz2904 I do often chuck thimgs away that have been in the baskets a long long time or have been outgrown.
Howverer, this morning I have a load of sheets on and will be putting another load on later. sometimes I can do quite a few washes, depending on how dirty they are. I used to wash everything on my quick wash prog which only took 30mins but was finding that kids filthy clothes wasn't coming out totally clean. So started to use coloured cotton prog that takes about 1 1/2 hrs.
Will b going through my Ironing basket and sorting into what can be retumbled so put away:T

Lunar_Eclipse

Personally, I think the key is to keep on top of it all. We are a family of four and so I usually have the washing machine on every day, more frequently at the weekend. My youngest currently swims 5 times a week (Tues-Fri), with eldest joining twice, which is such joy! On Tuesdays I have at least 3 sets of wet swimming gear, depending on whether I have been swimming too. I exercise (swim/tennis/gym) daily so I am operating at maximum capacity currently on the laundry front. You are not alone.

I hang as much as possible outside to dry since I find it creases less. (We don't have a tumble drier.) So fold and put away when dry and as you go, if possible. Even my daughters' school uniform doesn't get ironed now (Summer dresses.)

I rarely do any ironing.

I am lucky that DH irons his own work shirts and since I do not work outside the home, I only iron my clothes on a needs-must basis (evenings out etc.)

A big utility room would help loads too. I do have a Chinese Laundry theme going on in the spare room!

But I would also encourage you to get your children involved. Mine are expected to put away their clothes at the end of the day; either in their room (drawers/wardrobe) or the dirty washing basket. They love hanging the laundry outside on the line and I'm just starting to ask them to help put the numerous piles away too that are dried or folded indoors.

It's so dull though isn't it?

I find bed changing the worst.

kal25

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Personally, I think the key is to keep on top of it all. We are a family of four and so I usually have the washing machine on every day, more frequently at the weekend. .

It is not the washing I have a problem keeping on top of lunar, it is just that the washing turns into ironing and I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I know once I have managed to get all the washing baskets empty I will be able to keep right on top of it, as my wm is on most days. I have folded my sheets and put them away, 2nd load-towels is in td and 3rd load now on which is also towels/teatowels.

Lunar_Eclipse

kal25 wrote: »

It is not the washing I have a problem keeping on top of lunar, it is just that the washing turns into ironing and I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I know once I have managed to get all the washing baskets empty I will be able to keep right on top of it, as my wm is on most days. I have folded my sheets and put them away, 2nd load-towels is in td and 3rd load now on which is also towels/teatowels.

I hear what you are saying, but I think the same 'keep on top of it' mentality applies to ironing too. It's much easier (mainly psychologically) to iron little and often than to face numerous baskets that take hours to get through.

So my tips to ease your ironing are:
1) Hang up washing as quickly as possible after cycle has finished. This helps minimise creasing a lot.
2) Ideally hang clothes outside
3) 'Hand iron' all major items of clothing prior to hanging up - you know smoothing them out and hanging them well as opposed to plopping them onto a drying rack. Hang shirts, school uniform, dresses etc on hangers if possible.
4) Hand iron again when dry
5) Fold and put away most items then and there keeping aside the couple that need a proper iron or put them all away and iron as required, depending on what suits your diary/lifestyle

Following this method, you would not need to iron t-shirts or Summer school dresses for example. Hand ironing helps a lot. We iron once a week and top up if needed. You mentioned tea towels in your post and I have no idea whether you iron them or not. I don't and haven't (along with bedding) since we had children. Life's too short IMO. Not that it isn't nice to have everything 'just so'.

I am also a fan of not having too many clothes, but enough to allow for breaks in washing days! We have far too many clothes as a family, which means that a Chinese Laundry scenario can creep upon us since we're just busy wearing other clothes that then need cleaning and putting away. I hate laundry! (used in the broadest sense to mean the full process from wardrobe back to wardrobe.)

Penny-Pincher!!

We currently do around 4-6 washloads a week. I have a large capacity WM and find this helps cut down on washing abit. We used to do 14+ loads a week, but DD and OH now know that it is acceptable to wear items again and not just for the 2 hrs they have been wearing it!

Drying is done outside when dry and indoors on airers when wet. I do occasionally use the TD if I do an underwear/sock wash as I hate them hanging everywhere.

I actually wash more of OH's clothes than DD's ....I tend to stay in my PJ's or lounge clothes when Im at home as they are more comfy for me.

I do cheat though and pay someone to do our ironing.

PP
xx

kal25

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I hear what you are saying, but I think the same 'keep on top of it' mentality applies to ironing too. It's much easier (mainly psychologically) to iron little and often than to face numerous baskets that take hours to get through.

I do try to do ironig 3-4 times a week to keep on top but sometimes I only do the kids uniforms, mine & OH work clothes. The trouble is when I have spent all day cleaning and ironing, then I feel extremely guilty that I have not spent as much time with my DD who's 2 1/2 as I would have liked.
Hence the reason I need to do something now, so when 6 wk hols are here I will actually see my children and r not another thing for me to climb over.:T
I also think will be better for my health as I tend to get stressed about it quite abit.:o