What do you wash daily (clothing etc wise)

mousegirl

Gosh, I've read all comments tonight and am getting confused.
Four in our family, me, husband, 4 yr old daughter and 1 yr old son.
I have a laundry bag that has three separate compartments, one for whites, one for coloured and one for blacks. When the compartment is full enough for a load then I wash it, we have enough clothes, towels, bedding etc. that I don't have to wash straight away as I use. Underwear/socks changed daily of course but they go in the laundry bag. The laundry bag doesn't smell at all, even if it's got a few days worth of washing in it.
Thought everyone did this!!
Am confused as to why wash towels each time - you've had a bath/shower so are clean, all you're doing is getting dry, I wash them once a week, we each have our own by the way, and then you've got a load.
I wash mainly on a 29 minute economy cycle, every couple of weeks I will put things on a longer cycle.
If kids clothes are clean then they wear another day, what's wrong with that? They're clean and don't smell and aren't crumpled.
I run an almost empty 90 wash with soda crystals in to help prevent limescale every couple of weeks, but even then I put in youngest child's bibs that needed a hotter wash.
I don't iron if I can get away with it! i.e. don't iron, towels, tea towels, underwear, all bedding. If you smooth and fold properly things are just fine and bedding does not look crumpled even after being put away in cupboard after being properly folded.
So I guess I maybe do about 4 full loads a week, usually on economy wash.
Iron once a week, usually have a big load but it's over with in one go.

Hope I've helped someone!

nicki_2

Let me see - there are 3 of us here (OH works in a school so smart stuff, DD is 6 and still a messy eater & seems to attract muck, and me where we won't go ). I am the only one who does the washing, although I will admit that OH does the majority of the ironing Our washing is something like :

• Underwear - clean daily (except my bra which is every other day except in hot weather when it too is daily)
• DD's uniform - generally it's a case of she wears it until it's dirty, which can be anything from 1 day to a week :rolleyes:
• Top - 2 days but mine tend to be a day, or even 2 a day depending on weather & activities, or until dirty.
• Trousers - in general OH wears his for 4 "nights" and I try to get 3 days out of mine but again it's a case of "until it's dirty" or 3 days.
• Bath towels - Mondays & Fridays I change them. OH baths daily, DD bath day is Sundays (before school on the Monday), and I bath whenever I can (anything from once a day upto 3/4 days apart) but we both have a wash down daily (just like my nana did). I change them Friday due to 4 days worth of baths & wash downs, and on Monday as we've all bathed then and the weekends tend to be when the gardening and other dirtier jobs get done so they need to be washed!
• Flannels - We have enough flannels for a clean one each day, after DD has gone to school I hang it up to dry and then in the wash.
• Bedding - tends to be once a week, but in the summer when we're all sweating, it can be every other day but then thats only sheets & pillowcases not quilt covers as I use top sheets rather than quilts in the summer (quilts are there just so the bed looks made)
• Cleaning Cloths & Teatowels - once or twice a week, usually in with the bathtowels but I put them on a rinse cycle first to ensure theres no bleach/stardrops/oxiclean/crud on them - I do like the idea of a bucket to put them in though between washed :think:

I wash everything (except towels/cloths on a 60) on a 40 at the minute, I want to switch down to 30 (better for the environment & my pocket) but you can't use the powder I use at 30 (doesn't disolve properly) so I'll use that up first :rolleyes: I wash 1 load a day on average but if the weather is nice (or I have lots of washing on a Monday for example, because of bedding & towels) I will do more. Once a week I put the washer on a 90 long cycle (only way I can put a 90 wash on) with soda crystals in to wash it all out and stop any smell developing. Works for me.

thriftmonster

Like one of the other posters, I too have a bedwetter, so the first load each day is bedding and pyjamas.
Other than that:
Bedding - about 10 days to a fortnight
Towels - once a week
Underwear and socks - daily (bras - 2 days)
School uniform - when it looks dirty (1 day to 3 days)
dh's polo shirts every 2 days
rest of adult clothes - 2-3 days
teatowels - daily.

So I probably do 5-6 loads each week as well as all the bedding mentioned every day

pigpen

lightisfading wrote: »

Good god no wonder the environment's in such a mess, if so many people have their washing machines running near constantly (followed no doubt by their tumble driers). And PJs every day.. sorry but that's just ridiculous for something you sleep in!

Pj's are worn for roughly the same length of time as your knickers (roughly 7-7 for the children).. would you wear knickers a second day??? GROSS!!! You itch your bum more during the night than you do during the day and most likely sweat more too.. especially in warmer months.. doesn't bear thinking about! YUK!

Then the children eat their breakfast wearing their pj's so they don't dribble down their school clothes that are fresh on, so the pj's HAVE to be washed.. there is no way I would make them wear pj's with stale milk dribbles down them that is pure nastiness. So no it isn't ridiculous it is hygiene!

Towels, you rub off dead skin cells then dry them to the fibres of the towel then rub the dead skin cells over yourself the next time you get dried.. the thought makes me feel sick, maybe just one of my quirks.. but yukky!! We do have separate towels for hand drying after using the loo, these usually end up being used to mop a puddle off the floor and washed then.

I only use the dryers for undies if it is at all possible the laundry goes on the line the airer or the radiators (though that is pretty useless when they aren't on lol)

I am more concerned about the inefficiency of my central heating and hot water boilers at the moment than whether my WM's are on a dozen times a day! Also how much waste we actually dump in landfills which can be recycled. Plus the emissions from my appliances are nothing compared to a car which I don't have, or flights to foreign places, which I don't do. Also buying local produce so cutting down on food air miles, I do what I can but I won't wear dirty clothes or force my children to. I'm sure we all do what we can to an extent but I doubt any of us are willing to majorly compromise our levels of cleanliness and hygiene.

Onto loads 3 & 4 already today.. though that should be it unless they bring me down another huge mountain. All hung out on the line... the weather forecast said it would come nice this afternoon so I hung the towels out in the rain!!

Right.. off to wash another wet bed and duvet!!

Oh.. at one point she wet the bed so badly I would dry her wet duvet and only wash it once a week or when it was stinking! THAT was unpleasant!! lol

patchwork_cat

PLease for all people who wash towels daily, copy what the Germans do and use a flannel to get most of the wet, dead skin cells off. Dry allover with flannel then do personal bits. If you did this and just washed the flannel it would be a lot less impact to the environment. You could have 7 each if you wanted at the cost of them from Home Bargains.

pigpen

heehee.. I'd have to use 20 flannels!!!

... currently with 16 towels on the line.. and 12 pairs of jeans!

Linda32

Myself and OH here.

Undies changed everyday, OH changes his T Shirt for work everyday but uses the same jumper and trousers all week, although he does wear overalls which protects them.

I wear the same skirt for work for three days, change top every two days or every day if its hot weather.

Bedding and towels once a week.

Tea-towels and dishclothes every few days.

I wash the bedding, dish clothes, tea towels and whites when I have a full load which is normally once a week.

Other clothes when I have a full load.

Two pairs of overalls every two weeks, I tried 3 pairs but the machine couldn't cope, these are oily mechanics overalls.

comping_cat

I wash all underwear after one wear, tea towels and hand towels are also daily. Bath towels depends, if the children and i have all had a bath/shower, then the towel is washed immediatly, if its just one of us, then it would be used a second time before being washed. Bedding is done weekly (try to keep to the same days each week, but i dont panic if its out by a day or 2).
Now clothes are a different matter. I wash my tops daily, and my trousers/jeans/skirts every 2 or 3 wears. The children, well, it depends - they are too young to be sweaty (although DS is now getting to that age) but old enough to not drop dinner all down their fronts, so it depends on what the clothes look/smell like. If its still clean, they can wear it a second day, if not, its straight in the wash.
I only iron if i have to (wouldnt go out in creased clothes) but if im quick enough hanging it out from the WM, and then hanging it up after picking it in, i find most of our stuff doesnt need ironing.

BrandNewDay

fizzel81 wrote: »

I always seem to have a huge amount of washing on my line when the weather is like this compared to neighbours (next door for example has 2 people more in there house)

what do you wash after one wear if this makes sense, i wash everything that has been worn, all my microfibres, teatowels and hand towels, bath towels are washed every second bath time.

Cot sheets and blankets are done every other day and oldest son and my bedding is done every 3 days

i then have my nappy wash nightly (2 in nappies)

i would love to cut my washing as it seems im forever washing, ironing folding and putting the stuff away

OK, I wash all my clothing with every wear with the exception of jumpers and jeans. I also am likely to hang my skirts up after wearing them to church or wherever.

We wash our bathtowels a couple of times a month. I just sniff them to see when they've gotten manky. Washclothes are more often: I keep a diaper pail for all washcloths/dishtowels/cleaning rags. I change my cleaning rags at least once a day, but I do rotate them "down." Meaning, I towel starts out clean to dry my hands in the kitchen. Then, it gets used to wipe down countertops. Then, it may be used to wipe down other parts of the house, like living room surfaces the kids have made sticky or the high chair or something. Then, it will be used to wipe down the bathroom. The final stop for any cleaning rag/kitchen towel is either the toilet of the floor of the bathroom or kitchen. Once it's touched the toilet or a floor (or gotten otherwise visibly dirty) it goes into the diaper bin.

Bed sheets get changed every week or two weeks depending on how busy I am. When we have a spate of sunny warm weather, I will wash EVERYTHING to take advantage of it. If it's raining a lot, the sheets may go two weeks between washing. (Unless, um, OH and I have made more frequent washing necessary. *cough*)

Chipps

One thing no one seems to have mentioned yet, is that if you take off clothes & hang them up on a coathanger, any creases are likely to drop out & they will be aired, and then they won't be "smelly" for the next time you wear them.
(of course, I am talking about clothes that do not actually smell of BO or cigarette smoke or whatever, and are not actually visibly dirty) - those I would put straight in the wash, but airing clothes does make a big difference. And after all, it costs nothing!