Organising a family of fours laundry 4 hours per week

iammumtoone

I don't see how it can work unless it is ironing only as the washing will take longer than 1 hour to wash and dry. I suppose you could sort and and put machine on in your allotted 1 hour for laundry but would have to take out and dry whilst on childcare duties (this would work as long as you are allowed to use tumble drier if its raining etc.) then you could iron that load the next day whilst putting the next load in.

kezlou

I'm being honest here, the family are taking pee out of you.
The others have left so now they want to cheap out and just use you to make up the short fall and make t cheaper for them.
Sorry if i have upset you in anyway.

There is no way you will get everything washed, dried and ironed in an hour. We are a family of four and i'm quite organised on the washing front. You need at least 6 hours to do the washing alone, what with sorting out the different types etc. Then ironing on top of that, no way.

maman

If you really want this job then I think you need to talk with the employer about how the laundry can possibly be done. Perhaps they'd do the washing/drying and you the ironing or maybe have everything dried in the tumble drier. Perhaps they aren't fussy about ironing bedding or underwear. It's not that you don't have the time it's just that the time is too concentrated. Line drying would be impossible for almost all the year. Effectively, you have time for a couple of loads to go through while you're there and maybe one dried in the tumble drier. The following day you could maybe iron some of it, depends what it is. I'm guessing that lots of formal shirts and school uniforms.

I'd contact the employer and ask.

Cleaning is more straightforward as you can start and stop at any time.

15 hours a week (1 to 4pm when children at school) is loads of time to do the work IMO but just logistically difficult with the washing.

Fruball

louisaL wrote: »

Since the house cleaning was dropped the hours were dropped to 3pm - 4pm for laundry 4 days a week and then 4pm I would have to leave to collect the children from school. The parents then want pure childcare from 4pm so homework can be supervised and dinner prepared. Then bath before one parent comes home at 6.30pm.

Whether they or you thought this through or not, if you agree to this then you are being taken advantage of.

I don't iron, but the people I know who do, spend hours ironing for a family of 4 and...

They could be the sort of people that fling things in the wash, even if it has only been worn for a couple of hours, especially if they know they aren't the ones to be washing, drying and ironing it! example - Mr wears shirt to work and changes into t-shirt for a couple of hours before bed - that is 2 tops per day just for him which, no doubt he will expect to be ironed, not to mention trousers or jeans etc.

I remember when I was a nanny, being taken advantage of, and the more you do, the more they expect.

IF you do do it, I would be employing that tumble dryer every spare moment!

If it were me, I would go back to them and say that it is simply not practical to manage it all in an hour a day and offer to do the ironing and a quick tidy round if you have time.

louisaL

Thank you everyone for your honest opinions! Their on holiday till Sunday so I shall speak to the mum on Monday.

Downsizing__for_sanity

Fruball wrote: »

IF you do do it, I would be employing that tumble dryer every spare moment!

If it were me, I would go back to them and say that it is simply not practical to manage it all in an hour a day and offer to do the ironing and a quick tidy round if you have time.

Agreed. They will probably agree that the actual WASHING of it all isn't that hard for the parents to do. It's the sorting out, ironing and putting away that is a pain when you are already working full time. Offer to do all of that for them and see how that goes. Or perhaps they'd like to time how long it takes for them to do one week before you start. Perhaps they would give you more extra hours so you could do it properly for them?

Ellie

DFS

Fruball

My quickest wash is 36 minutes and it takes me a good 5/10 minutes to collect everything and sort it. Then the tumble dryer could be on for anything up to 70 minutes. 10 mins to fold. I don't iron so ironing would have to be added on so, to do one load =

36+
10+
70+
10=
126 minutes

So that is over 2 hours in total.

I would offer to do the ironing but no washing.

gayleygoo

Do the family know themselves how long it takes to wash, dry, iron, fold and put away clothes? They may not if it has always been done for them. If they have a big washing machine, 7kg+, it might be easier, but we have a 5kg washing machine and I do at least one wash per day (or it averages out that way), and I try not to wash clothes unless they're actually dirty, towels get used a few times before they get washed. A normal 30 or 40 degree wash takes about an hour and a half and a 60 degree towel wash takes over two hours.

While you can obviously do other stuff while the washing is on, it can take a while to hang up/out, if it rains you'll be running out to bring it all inside and if you have to dry on a clotheshorse inside, you wont be able to fold and iron until at least the next day.

Fr the first week or two, aim for a "trial run"to see just how long it takes and how you can manage it best. For when the weather turns rubbish in the winter, discuss tumbler dryer use - it may save them money not to use it but it will be you doing the work, not them, since they are already paying someone to do their washing, an extra couple of pounds a week on tumble drying might not make much difference to them, and saves you a lot of time in hanging up and taking down washing! In fact it may work out cheaper for them if you use the dryer, since your hourly wage is surely much more than dryer costs.

If they could put the washing machine on in the morning with a load in it, your hours should work better. It only takes a few mins in the morning and means you won't get the blame if a red sock is in with whites or something! It's all the rest that takes up the time. Good luck!