Wash Day Blues

Penny-Pincher!!

I do a washload at least every day, but about 3 of these a week are because of medical issues:o So as a family of 3 our average washload per week would be about 9 loads. 2 is for bedding (we have a superking size and DD has a single), another for towels and the rest clothes, uniforms etc. So clothes wise its about 3 loads a week.

DD normally leaves her uniform on when she gets in from school as she has about 1.5-2hrs of HW each night, then we have dinner, shower and settle down for the night. After she has a shower she puts PJ's on-these will do her 2/3 nights.

Up to a year ago, I was doing about 20 loads a week and this was before I got so ill....loads was due to laziness on all our parts and was washing clothes that werent dirty! Now I even check DD's washing before it goes in the machine:D

She has a clean blouse daily, and I only wash her skirt/jumper once a week. Her PE shirt is done each week too, but her bottoms and PE sweater is done when dirty or after a few wears. Clean undies daily. Her weekend clothes will normally be a pair of jeans and 2 tops.

OH wears jeans every day which he will get about 3/4wears and normally a clean top every other day. He showers daily so never smells:D Clean undies daily. PJ bottoms/t-shirt will last him 3/4 nights as he doesnt sleep in them.

I wear PJ's most of the time as I find them the most comfortable to relax/rest in. These will last 2 days and I dont sleep in them. If we go out, I wear jeans normally and a shirt which will last me a few wears as Im normally only out for hospital visits or short time away. Undies clean daily and shower daily too.

1 load a week is whites/smalls and the other 2 mixed loads.

Our WM broke down last week and we have a 8kg one coming friday. I am hoping that this will save about 2 loads a week:D

HTH

PP
xx

angchris

its not the washing thats the problem its the drying:rolleyes: im trying to be good and not use my tumble dryer (havent used it for a year now :T ) to save a few pennies on the leccy. i have a permanant airer in the corner of my living room now which looks most unsightly but ive given up caring about what other people think! with a teenage lad that plays football everyday i seem to be permanantly washing the contents of a muddy field off his clothes :mad: it is a struggle sometimes but i make sure the washing doesnt build up or i have no chance of drying it all unless i can get it outside on the line. as soon as i have a full load of darks or whites its on, sometimes i have whites hanging around for a week or so to build up so i have enough to do a full load as theres no chance of me buying white clothes for my son other than school shirts because they all get wrecked :mad:

Spendless

Thanks for all your replies and ideas. What brought this to a head, is I got behind when I was ill other week, and then the TD broke down. It had been repaired twice before and no longer wishing to throw good money after bad, we have now replaced it but it meant for a few days I didn't have one at all, and even more washing built up.

If I were able to get on top of the washing, I might even look into stopping using TD as much. I don't use it in summer as I prefer the smell of line dryed clothes.

Today as I have been tidying up I have actually looked at the odd items I have picked up, instead of throwing them automatically into wahing basket. I also think if I could get to the 1 load a day, then what would work for us best is to put it in the WM last thing at night, but DH turn it on as he left for work the following morning. That would mean it would be washed and ready to be dried by the time I got home from school run in the morning, and I could make this my first job to do.

Some one mentioned a linen basket with 3 seperate compartments, can anyone do me a link so I can see what one looks like? We keep the linen basket on the landing, which is very narrow so I would need to see if it would fit.

moggins

I know this feeling too well, I've just worked out that the children get through 3 changes of clothes per day. school uniform, play clothes and pyjamas. It's no wonder I can never get on top of the washing

Spendless

I read the following tip in a mag and having been meaning to post it.

I was frequently losing one half of the pyjamas, which meant I would end up having to put child in a mis-matched set which means the two correct pieces don't get washed together meaning one half fades before the other, and then they need replacing more often.

When sorting out, I now fold the pyjama top inside one of the legs of the pyjama bottom first and then fold the trousers. This also takes up less space in drawers.

Mr_Proctalgia

Spendless wrote:

I read the following tip in a mag and having been meaning to post it.

I was frequently losing one half of the pyjamas, which meant I would end up having to put child in a mis-matched set which means the two correct pieces don't get washed together meaning one half fades before the other, and then they need replacing more often.

When sorting out, I now fold the pyjama top inside one of the legs of the pyjama bottom first and then fold the trousers. This also takes up less space in drawers.

You can also fold complete sets of bedding together and store in one of its own pillow cases - So it is simply grab and go!

Buy all your socks in bulk and the same colour. - No more orphan socks!

Wash jumpers inside out - Less pilling!

Almost all light colours are fine in either a dark or a white wash, after they have had a few washes from new.

I'll think of some more in due course......

amazon_spice

The matching duvet bits in a pillowacse is brilliant. Thankyou. I can never find the matching bits!

dempsey

I have a recycle pile of kids clothes, I run the iron over them, then can see quickly and clearly if it really does need washing.

Try to sort washing into piles of like-items, wash all underwear and socks together, trousers together, and best of all tops together as they can be hung up on hangers on the bedroom doors to dry, then they are already on hangers when you iron them, some don't even need ironing with this method.

Spendless

Thank you, I do already do some of these things, including keeping bedding inside each other, and washing all same items together. I only keep white items totally seperate from other colours.

I am considering buying all socks in same colour though as this would def help.

Spendless

well I currently have in my wash basket 2 white socks and 1 white pair pants and that's it :T . I changed DD when she came home from nursery, I had to as she announced she had just wee'd on the carpet:rolleyes: , so changed her and kept clean white polo shirt for tomorrow and that was it.

Then I went to brought DS back from school and DD fell in the puddle outside our house that the pair of them had been told not to be messing near:mad: . Undeterred I took off her wet jeans and made up a load including both kids coats that I was going to do at w/end anyway. DS changed to go to Beavers, and when he got in changed into his PJ's, so I went thru his school clothes and Beavers uniform checking what was clean, what was dirty and then changed into PJ's myself putting my dirty underwear in basket but leaving other clothes to be worn tomorrow, I also made DH change into his slobbing round house shorts so I could put his u/wear on wash basket as well, so this made up a small load which is now washed and currently being dryed.

I feel one whole lot better looking in laundry basket and seeing only a few items in there. The ironing is also currently being caught up with, so hopefully sometime next week we will be totally up to date, just as we go away and then have Christmas and I have to start all over again:rotfl: