Washing for a large family

MadelinesMum

My lovely 6 yr old boy comes home from school with thread bare, dirty knees on his trousers and half his school dinner dripped down his school jumper. Last week he had a massive blob of blue ink on his shirt - about 4" x 4" and he took it off when he got home and I had to stop him putting it in the bin, bless him.

Lilyplonk

Oh for the days when kids only used pencils in school

And why, oh why, don't schools go back to having grey coloured shirts as part of the uniform - life would be so much easier for mums.

Boys were far more careful about their clothes when they wore short trousers - otherwise they got 'painful, scabby knees' instead of holes .

System

hide the bath sheets. One bath/shower and they are flung in the wash... sod that!

pelirocco

Bigger washing machine and tumble drier . We had Maytags the same type as they have in the US , take large loads but most importantly wash and dry very quickly

Emmala

We are a family of 5 - 2 adults, 3 children aged 9, 7 and 4. All three kids are at school so each night sock, pants and polo shirts go in the wash.....trousers/skirts and jumpers/cardi get worn again, all week if not dirty!

DH is away a lot so has the habit of dumping a suitcase of washing in front of the washing machine from time to time, but I figure that as he's a grown up (!) he can manage this himself!

I put a load on every night, and once new things have been washed and I know they won't run, it all gets chucked in together to make a load up.

Towels - we each have our own and thy are used and left over the bannisters to dry/air, then DD and DS2 take theirs for swimming and then thy get washed! DS1 swims for a club which means three lots of swimmers and towels on top - but I do these when he comes in on my 20 min wash. (same for football and rugby kit, though these are done on a 'proper' wash if muddy!)

I have Bosch and it's fab! The 20 min quick wash (or 15 min for a 30 degree wash) does the job for most washes - though I wash towels and bedding on a 'full' wash.

Ironing - I start with the kids stuff then do mine, and do DHs last so that if for some reason it doesn't get done he can do it himself!

Oh, and if the washing has built up, do a 'knickers and socks wash'.....plus any pjs and face cloths......it means a whole load which doesn't need ironing!!

I also check if something needs washing...if not it gets worn again. DH and DD are b**gers for wearing something for half an hour and chucking it in the wash!

Also, limit the ironing....I used to do everything (as taught by my mum) but now, I don't do pjs, fitted sheets or the underside of duvets. I think how much ironing you do is personal choice though.

Lastly....if/when the kids are at school, they don't need as many clothes....try and co-ordinate colours as much as possible so most of what they wear goes with everything else!

Lilyplonk

Judi wrote: »

hide the bath sheets. One bath/shower and they are flung in the wash... sod that!

just like rae18 - as it's only OH and me, they go over the bannister to get dried off before going back on the towel rail :rotfl:!

When I visit my daughter's house, I can't believe the number of towels lying around wet on the bathroom floor - the kids just help themselves from the cupboard that's in the bathroom! If it were me, I'd be keeping clean towels in MY bedroom where they couldn't get at them without asking first .

Perhaps give older ones a bath and a hand towel each and tell them they've got to last for at least half of the week - so if they want a dry towel each time, they need to make sure that they hang them up to dry off again !


When I was a child growing up, we had no running hot water in the house, so it was a 'good strip-off wash' every night (courtesy of a boiled kettle) with a 'cat's lick' to wake you up in a morning - baths were once a week using the water from a freestanding boiler.

School uniforms were changed as soon as you got home (being re-worn the following day) and 'playing out clothes' would last for at least three days before being changed. Laundry was only done once a week - on Mondays of course .


In this day and age, with the number of baths/showers that we all have - I doubt if anybody gets 'all that dirty' that towels can't be re-used a few times.

OK it's different when men are working down pits / in steelworks /driving steam trains / roadsurfacing / in construction, agriculture / mechanics etc - but how many of them actually do jobs like those .

Big Tip - don't let men who do 'dirty jobs' have access to anything other than Navy Blue / Dark Brown / Grey towels when having a wash/shower/bath :rotfl:!

parkgirl

There are four of us in our house - me, dh, dd and ds. It's a nightmare - I swear that it breeds in the basket. Hubby helps ds get dressed mornings and uses flannel and towel. He just hangs them on the nearest radiator but never seems to use the same one twice. It gets to the point where I don't know what's clean and what's not. The three of them are also terrible for putting dirty stuff on top of my clean, ironing (or smoothed clothes ha ha). Does my head in. Also, dd is going through a phase of "trying on" - meaning that whatever isn't going to pass muster on the fashion parade today ends up on the floor and (inevitably) gets chucked in the basket when she just can't be a***d to pick it up and put it away. I have now got to the point where I just have a quick look at it and sniff it and if it smells okay it goes back in the wardrobe. And how is it that everyone but me always wants the tee that is at the bottom of the drawer (and can't just lift stuff out and put it back again)? I continue in the quest to educate them.... lol

louby40

Washing is never a problem for me. There are 4-6 of us (3 teenagers) and I (and OH) work fulltime.

Don't use a tumble dryer. Pants, socks, school shirts are clean on everyday but school trousers are checked and worn twice (three times if ok). Work trousers are worn 4/5 times before being washed.

Towels are used multiple times. I only wash bedding every other week and NEVER iron quilts (creases fall out within a day)

I have a big airer and hang it all on there....also hang stuff on hangers and a thing from wilko with loads of pegs for socks. Probabaly do a couple of washes during the week and same at the weekend.

I actually quite like washing and ironing.

Louise

bossymoo

Broomstick wrote: »

One day, a sensible washing machine manufacturer will think to put an alarm on the machine itself.

x

Lol, I have an LG washer dryer model and it does just that, it sings a little tune at the end of the wash cycle. Bit annoying really. But, it does alert me to it, and stuff gets hung up quickly so cuts down on ironing.

Pleaseadvise

7 of us and my tumbledrier use has got out of hand lately. If only it didn't rain so much!
Clothes sorted by colour - a pale load and a black/denim load most days. Less often, a red/purple/deep pink load. Rarely, a deep blue/green/turquoise load.
Then there are bras, delicate dresses and anything with sequins on, which all need hand washing.

No one else in my household will touch the washing machine, though I've tried to teach them! One day my husband found the shirt he wanted was dirty. He found me in the utility room - the washing machine was on, the drier was on, I had a basket of warm clothes in my arms that had just finished. He flourished the dirty shirt in my face and said 'Don't you EVER do any washing?' Naturally I burst out laughing, but he still didn't get it...