How much laundry is too much?

Izadora

It's just the two of us but I reckon I do 6 loads most weeks - bedding x 2 (one or other of us often ends up in the spare bed so I change both), towels, darks, mid colours and lights - and occasionally do an extra towel or blanket wash. I do wash pretty much everything after 1 wear though. 

SadieO

I have separated laundry my whole life (my hamper is even split into compartments) and washed lights, colours, darks, bedding etc all separately but during lockdown I decided to throw caution to the wind and throw everything in together. My reasoning being that none of our stuff is new, it has all been washed many times so if anything was liable to colour-run we'd already know about it. Plus our day to day clothes (especially working from home) are pretty basic - no fancy fabrics or anything that (in my [perhaps cavalier] opinion!) needs a special cycle. Just plain old jeans, t-shirts, joggers and hoodies, and not expensive ones at that. If anything did get irreparably ruined it wouldn't have been the greatest loss. And you know what, everything has been absolutely fine. It's so much easier and now I don't have dirty washing festering in the hamper waiting for there to be enough in a certain category to fill a load. 

bouicca21

I do the towels separately as they are bulky. Ditto bedding.  Everything else gets chucked in together unless I think the colour might run.  Otherwise, being a singleton, it would be many weeks before I had enough to justify turning the machine on.

General_Grant

calleyw said:

The tea towels don't make a whole load and are used for taking stuff out of the oven.  But I also use a different tea towel each day as a hand drying towel.  I just have a thing that I don't put tea towels in with other stuff it just feels icky to me.  I wash the bathroom towels on there own but they do make up a load as my partner has a bath sheet.  I have one for my hair and one for drying hands after going to the toilet.  The only other thing that goes in with bath towels are my dressing gowns.  I also like to do Tea/bathroom towels on 60.

Yours

Calley

purpleivy said:

Just asking. What can be so icky that a teatowel is so gross?  they are used to dry dishes that have been washed or your hands that have been washed.  Taking stuff out of the oven? That's food based and burnt on presumably or just grease.  

Teatowels go into a 20C wash, Bio powder that has been designed for low temperature and sometimes a sprinkle of vanish powder.  also pillow cases, white wiping up cloths from daughter's, white hand towels and white pillow cases.  It's a 3 hour + wash so I reckon it ought to be clean by then.  

I don't know about calleyw but it's not that the tea-towel would be gross but that I would be concerned about bits travelling in the opposite direction - and I briefly boil tea-towels.

FairyPrincessk

We're a household of 2 adults and 1 cat.  OH wears a suit to work that is dry cleaned on whatever schedule he has chosen. I do a mix of home working and work-working. We both workout almost daily and garden regularly.

I do one load of sheets and one load of towels. OH has a load of white/pale shirts and one of 'other' clothes (dark) that is mostly socks, underwear, workout clothes and a pair of jeans or cords worn after work/weekends. I also do a load of my own clothes that is dark--anything light gets thrown in with the sheets or OH's shirts.  That puts us at 5 normal loads per week. Everything except towels gets done at 40 or below. Towels are done at 60 but I chuck them all in together.

Most weeks I end up doing a sixth load of some sort. The cat likes her blanket doing about every 1.5 weeks. Some weeks I do a wash of woolens or other hand wash items. This happens about once a month or so in winter. I wear shirts under my woolens so they don't need to be washed all the time but keeping them clean helps deter moths. Other weeks I might do the heavy sofa blankets or something of that sort that is only washed a few times a year.

Sometimes it feels like a lot, but the combination of trying to avoid disposable products like kitchen roll, two adults working out regularly etc. and I think it is probably about right. I seem to be in line with what similar households are doing!

hob_nob_bob

There are two adults who live in this house full time, and two children who sleep here half the week. I probably do a load of laundry every day. On a nice sunny day I've been known to do multiple loads on the same day, including sofa cushions and blankets etc, as I love to line dry my items.

Between us we have two lots of double bedding and a set of superking which each get washed once a week - that's two loads alone. All bathroom towels get washed once a week, which again is another two loads in our machine. With the bathroom towels I'll add in the tea towels and kitchen cloths (I use a new one of each every day).

I wash my own clothes at least every second wear regardless of what it is (obviously underwear gets washed after every wear), although my partner will wear his clothes far more often than I do - he never smells and is far less clumsy than I am and manages to keep his items spill-free!

All laundry regardless of what it is, is washed on a 30 degree 57 minute cycle. I do split out whites from coloured items.

We are expecting our first baby later this year so our washing machine will soon be on overdrive!

FluffyBabyPenguin

For two adults and three children I think I do 7-10 loads a week, 8kg machine.

4 sets of bedding (although I don't strictly wash each set every week, I hate changing bunkbed bedding!
Probably the equivalent of a clothes load each, so 4-5 clothes washes per week but sometimes these are half loads/fast loads depending on colours.
Tea towels have their own wash per week (somehow they get very dirty in my kitchen, and I go through 2-3 per day)
Bathroom towels, a load per week.

I wish the tumble dryer was fixed. I am fortunate I can hang washing outside this time of year but I still end up with piles of dry clothes sitting about waiting to be processed to their places. 

Baby #4 due in October and I'm unsure whether I want to do the cloth nappy thing again. It definitely saves money but I don't think I can handle all the extra washing this time around!

maman

FluffyBabyPenguin 

Tea towels have their own wash per week (somehow they get very dirty in my kitchen, and I go through 2-3 per day)
Bathroom towels, a load per week.

I'm assuming you don't have a dishwasher but, even so, how do you get through so many tea towels? I can understand them being wet (we were briefly without a dishwasher during the second lockdown) but why are they dirty enough to need washing so frequently? 🤔

GaleSF63

theoretica said:

I have basically given up on wearing/using white cloths and clothing - makes washing simpler.  Also things that need ironing never got worn and ended up at the charity shop.

Me too. 

There seem to be a lot of organised people here. I have no idea how often I use my washing machine - just when I think I have enough to make a wash, or when bedding etc. needs doing. 

Sky_

I enjoy doing laundry and do at least 6 loads a week, mostly darks as we are pretty active so we change our clothes a lot.  I do have an ecoegg and use that most of the time instead of detergent and most things are washed on a 30 minute/40 degree wash and are dried outside. 

The dog's towels and bedding are washed weekly and add up to 1-2 loads--she's a mud loving golden retriever and we inherited pale carpets when we bought this place, so we use a lot of dog towels!

Cleaning cloths go into a bucket of cold water and are washed weekly at 60 (sometimes 90) degrees with the towels or bedding. Tea towels also go in that load.  I figure that the heat and fresh air (when drying) will deal with any germs.

We are two adults and have a 7kg washing machine.