Radical laundry reduction

sammy_kaye18

Well as someone who is in the middle of wash day................

Today is not my favourite day it has to be said - today i have to tackle

• bedding (changed every fortnight)
• towels one big load done once a week - because we seem to have loads of them
• all my work clothes
• all bfs work clothes
• 2/3 loads of sprgos clothes

then on a normal weekday i have at least one basic load on of other stuff - small bits, underwear, socks, tshirts, pjs.

Youd think i had loads of us living in the house - but there only 3 of us, my bf and son. Son seems to go through clothes like theres nothing else on earth - bf ive seen change clothes 4 times a day before and me whos quite happy to spend was day bumming around in her chequered Pj bottoms and pink top because its comfy and ive no plans to go out other than to the washign lines and back.

Im quite happy to wear things for two days if they arnt dirty/smelly and little one will wear the same clothes again provided hes not covered in paint, pen, crayon, mud or food. Bf does wear things agin but he doesnt know it - i tend to find things hes worn one for liek 2/3 hours (say like after a bath at ngiht) refold them and put them back on top in his draw.

rozza216

austin,

my mum never had a washing machine. she used your method of washing in the sink everyday. she would soak the clothes then scrub them with a green fairy washing soap!

It was part of her os daily rountine!

mary43

I remember doing the same thing. Had a Burco Boiler and a mangle when I first got married............OH insisted on white cotton sheets but by the time they'd been through the mangle very little ironing was needed (thank goodness!)

miserly_mum

pigpen wrote: »

My oldest throws clothes at the wall.. if they fall off they are ok to wear..

It is also bit of a gripe with me too that people EXPECT the children to be dirty/have no clothes etc because there are so many of them.. I hate stereotypes

Hi, I know exactly what you. I have 6 kids and was a single Mum aswell for a few years.

I feel people are more judgemental of you if you have a lot of kids :mad: .

Made me a bit paranoid about them being "clean and presentable" all the time.

When they were all at home I had more washing than a chinese laundry

Little_Miss_Saver

Its interesting to see how much washing other people do, I don't do much washing compared to some of you though

Its just me & DS and I do the following loads each week, they are all done at 30 degrees except for whites which are done a 40 degrees.

1 x Whites
2-3 x Darks
1 x Towels
1 x Sheets (Mine one week - DS the other)

I'm feeling a bit paranoid now

LMS xx

moanymoany

Bedding - every 2 weeks.

Everything else, wear for a week, turn inside out and beat off the solids - then wear another week!!!!!

Pants clean every day. Everything else I wear until I drop something on it when eating. Sometimes jeans or trousers go for a week - if I'm a clean lady!!

It is a modern thing to wear clean everything every day. I really couldn't be doing with so much washing.

buxtonrabbitgreen

We all get changed after work/ school. So kids wear the same uniform all week apart from shirts which get changed every 2-3 days. I have 2 uniforms so half a week each. and the clothes we change into tend to last 2-3 days. Bedding once a week. There are 4 of us and I only do a load of washing every 2 days, except for Saturdays when I change the beds.

pigpen

mary43 wrote: »

pigpen - don;t worry.........your lad will get out of this phase.........they normally do. I had two sons and the youngest was totally different Often its a girlfriend that makes a difference.
Sadly in the case of the lad we're looking after at the moment he realy couldn't care less and I've found the more I say about it the worse he is.
He does have a bath every day though...........obviously working on the principle that if the body's clean the rest doesn't matter.............lol

Let's just say mine is probably moe like the one you are looking after :eek: He used to get washed/showered 2 or 3 times a day not I'm lucky to get him the bathroom that many times a WEEK!!

He is worse when he has a gf.. I can't keep up.. he often has 3 or 4 on the go..

Spendless wrote: »

Pigpen - so do you wash all PJs every day, or just the PJ bottoms?

the whole lot!

csarina wrote: »

Foot note: my youngest son had the smelliest feet this side of heaven.......he had to take socks with him to change into at lunchtime when he was at school..........nothing we did made any difference, then suddenly he got a girlfriend, and started washing his feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had this .. also with DS1.. Turned out he had athletes foot so bad it was only just 1 step away from trench foot!!!! His socks are rock hard if they are left to 'dry' once he has taken them off.. and if he leaves 1 sock inthe bathroom you can smell it the second you open the front door.. he can literally wring the sweat out of his socks when he takes them off!!!

Churchmouse wrote: »

HJ, I'm so pleased to read yours come home from school dirty. Not one of my four boys ever came home with so much as a school tie that could do a second day:rotfl: (well not until they were a good deal older!!!Like 17:rotfl: ) I positively encouraged staying in uniform to save another set of clothes:o

Mine are mud larks too.. they keep their uniforms on because they have usually got whatever they had for lunch and half the playground on them already..

miserly_mum wrote: »

Hi, I know exactly what you. I have 6 kids and was a single Mum aswell for a few years.

I feel people are more judgemental of you if you have a lot of kids :mad: .

Made me a bit paranoid about them being "clean and presentable" all the time.

When they were all at home I had more washing than a chinese laundry

I'm so glad someone else 'get's it'.. it is difficult for many people with fewer children to understand quite where I am coming from with that one.. I'm not just loopy.. lol

minibudgetgal

Hi,
Used to wash absolutely everything after one wear! Now am minger....check this out:
- My work clothes.....aired and reworn. Washed after two wears
- Hubbie's shirts are washed after every wear, but his trousers are aired and reworn.
- Kids' school shirts are changed daily, they are boys that like to wear the meal on their sleeves! Rest of it stays on til it looks too gruesome
- New thing: Everyone gets their own towel which they are responsible for drying on their radiator.....I pick them up twice a week when I do the ashing haul.
- Bedding....every two weeks.
- Underwear...every day, gym stuff...every wear.

Dont wash swimwear anymore, just rinse and dry. Given up using the tumble dryer, too expensive. Also just started using half of my usual product to wash the clothes. At first I thought it wouldnt be as clean, but tbh have not noticed the difference. Am recent convert to only putting on full loads at a time.....loving the sudden absence of constant washing and drying and piles of ironing everywhere. (she says looking at a big pile now:mad: )

Reasons: Basically to save money. electricity DD is £70 a month! And Ecover, bless its cotton sox, aint cheap. Love this site for all the money saving tips!

purpleivy

I never put the full amount of powder in the WM, but have cut even further and adding some soda. Seems to be working great. Must be saving a fortune on powder.

Got a letter to day the direct debs for gas and elec are going up. I've nagged the kids and now they put them on heated rail after use, it's made a big difference. DS is better than dd at this.