how do you conquer your laundry & ironing?

[luvmyfam444]

Do you do these daily? have specific days for each? Do you iron everything needed for the week in one episode? Trying to figure out the best way to get all this acomplished & get a routine going instead of waiting until it's all pailed up & then doing it....dh has nothing to wear to work so I've gotta iron all his shirts today (after I wash them all!) Poor thing this a.m. ( at 4:15!!)he had to hunt for something & iron it himself...I've gotta get this conquered!

 

[mickeyboat]

First, I don't iron. I think if DH needed to have his shirts ironed, I might have them cleaned and pressed at the dry cleaners.

Second, I do laundry every day. I do a little in the morning before work and a little at night. Then it doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Can your DH or kids help by brining the laundry to the laundry room, and by putting their own things away?

Denae

 

[bananiem]

One of the best things dh ever did for me was to start taking his shirts to the dry cleaners. They starch them just the way he likes them and I don't have to iron.
I do laundry on Mondays and Tuesdays. What doesn't get done I finish on Wednesday. I buy clothes for the kids and I that don't have to be ironed, except for an occasional outfit that one of us might wear for a special occassion.
I take clothes out of the dryer right after it buzzes and put them on hangers so they don't have time to get wrinkly.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I do at least a load every day- there are six of us. We don't wash towels each time, sheets don't get washed all that often either. If our clothes aren't worn looking or visably dirty, it gets worn again.

DH does his own ironing, I iron for me and the kids, but I try to take stuff right out of the dryer so it doesn't need to be ironed. I'll turn the dryer on for 5 minutes if I didn't catch it when the load stopped.

Kids bring their own clothes upstairs in their laundry basket and put it away. They also fold all the towels.

I think the key is don't set a day pass without checking it out and doing something.

Jackie

 

[vhoffman]

Ironing--What's that?

iI recall my mother having one of those things................vaguely!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

What is ironing? My DH works at home and I'm a SAHM, so no need for ironing. Also, we take our clothes right out of the dryer to cut down on wrinkles. If my DH needed shirts ironed he would have to be in charge of it because that is one thing that I've never done unless it was a favor to him.

As far as laundry, I don't let it pile up and do some every day. I do towels every Friday, sheets on the weekend, my older kids do their own clothes, I do mine (and my DH's and youngest son's) when I have a full load, which is most every day. Some days I have a couple loads.

 

[mickeyboat]

Ironing--What's that?

iI recall my mother having one of those things................vaguely!

When Hannah was 3 and Emily was 2 we were getting ready for a wedding. I got out the ironing board, and Emily says "what's that?"

Denae

 

[DawnCt1]

Even when I was working, I did two loads of laundry every day. Towels all at once, fold and put away, unless it is summer, then I hang them out on the deck. I do white all at once, put away the socks, underwear, etc it that is the only load that I am doing. I usually iron every other colored load, so it makes it worth it to set up the ironing board. That doesn't mean everything gets irons but I can usually do DH's shirts in less than 3 minutes each. Not worth it to me to even make the drive to the dry cleaner. It's actually a lot easier to iron if you have a good iron. I like the heavier Rowenta.

 

[diskids2]

Here's our schedule, which after many trials, works for our family of 4. M- whites and towels (I have two washing machines). T - colored clothes. W - whites and towels. TH - colored clothes. F - whites and towels. Saturday - sheets, comforters, pillow cases, etc. Sunday - day of rest for washing. All ironing for week done. (Keep in mind colored clothes go from Thursday - Tuesday without a wash, but this works for us, especially since we have work clothes/school clothes vs. weekend clothes.)

The ironing is very limited. DH does not require dress shirts. I will spot iron during the week, if the need arises and it seldom does.

I also use the same tricks that other posters mentioned, taking the clothes out of the dryer immediately and hanging it up.

As far as helping out - we have a schedule for that too ( We have a schedule for most all chores - It is a monthly schedule and it gets done the last Sunday of each month, during a family meeting/family time. - this lasts for about 20 minutes and it is MANDATORY - meaning we must find 20 minutes the last Sunday of every month to do it -times can vary.)

This month's schedule for this week: M - Mom T - Dad W - DD - TH -DS F - Mom Sat - DS (Dad and DD have dishwasher duty two days this week, Mom and DS only have it once - we rotate around with those chores - Dishwasher duty means - set table, clear table, empty and load Dishwasher, and take out garbage - we feel that is equal to laundry - which includes fold and put away.

Hope this helps or gives you some ideas.

 

[NMAmy]

Since I work full-time, I do all the laundry on Saturday or Sunday morning. Sometimes DH will do it all but he's had to work partial weekends for several months so I've been doing all of it lately. I take clothes right out of the dryer when they're done and hang or fold them. DH has a clothes rack by the dryer so his work clothes are hung up immediately which cuts down on wrinkles. I don't iron his clothes and he doesn't care so it's a moot point.

I iron my clothes each morning before work. I don't iron dd's clothes--she's 15 and old enough to work the iron if she thinks she needs it but I've never seen her use it yet!

 

[Beth76]

I try to do at least one load of laundry per day. It's amazing how quickly the laundry piles up when you have 4 people! If it gets backed up, I'll try to catch up on the weekend. Ironing usually gets saved for one day and my DH does it since it's mostly his clothes.

I'm also lucky in that I have a laundry chute that goes down into the basement. So all the clothes just get sent down that and they don't get piled up in our rooms. And my laundry room in the basement is closed off from the rest of the basement. I have several laundry baskets designated for darks, lights, whites, towels etc. and I try to seperate them daily, so they're all ready to go.

 

[Miller1412]

I work full time so I usually throw in a load at night when the kids get in the bathtub (our washer and dryer are on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms).

I fold in front of the tv after the kids go to bed and put it away some time Saturday :~). We often just live out of the baskets!!

A tip for wrinkles...If you don't get your clothes out of the dryer on time and they get wrinkled, spritz them with water and throw them back in the dryer with a damp towel then take your shower. Works for me! (How lazy is THAT??)

 

[Aimeedyan]

I do laundry when I run out of underwear and I'm too lazy to go buy more at Target. I fold in front of the TV afterwards.

DH does his own laundry and he does them when he runs out of whites He, too, folds in front of the tube.

I iron the morning of if I need something ironed and DH irons his own the night before.

 

[Christine]

I also work full-time, so my washer starts on Friday night and usually doesn't stop until Sunday. During the week, I might do a "special needs" load if someone wants something particular.

I rarely do any ironing. My DH isn't an office worker, so no requirements there, but if he was, he'd be doing his own shirts. I do iron my son's white school uniform shirts each Sunday evening (he has 5 shirts). I quickly press off anything I need for work the night before. If DD (14) needs anything ironed, she does it herself.

So we basically iron as we go.

 

[puffkin]

My DH and I both work full time, so I do all laundry on the weekend. There are only 2 of us though and I usually do 3-4 loads a week.

I don't iron. Unless it is really bad, it doesn't get ironed. I take the clothes out of the dryer immediately after it finishes and hang them, so they don't really wrinkle.

We also reuse towels and don't always throw clothes in the laundry after the first wearing. That cuts down on some of the laundry. Between work, dinner, and dishes, I just don't want to be doing housework/laundry during the week. I am sure that will change though once we have kids.

 

[SC Minnie]

DH and I both work full time. We have a divided laudry basket and clothes are separated into darks or lights as they are put into the dirty clothes basket. (If I want something washed on delicate or handled special I hold it out). DD also follows the sorting of dirty laundry. When one side gets full then a load needs to be done. We do several loads during the week.

Ironing is another story. Our offices are both 'business casual'. He takes his Docker type pants as well as any button down shirt to the cleaners. We try to get more than 1 wear out of our work clothes (its not like either one gets dirty and sweaty sitting behind a desk ). Anything that needs hanging gets done as soon as its taken out of the dryer. I have a hook on the back of the laundry closet. When this hook gets full (usually once a month because DH wants his glof shirts ironed) I do the ironing.

 

[KelNottAt]

I do about 5 loads of clothes each week. I start on Saturday and finish Sunday: whites, blacks & navies, medium colors, bleeders, and jeans. I do towels and sheets about once or twice a month. (When towels get dirty between washings, we just get a clean one from the closet.)

As for ironing, it's every man for himself at our house. We rely on the dry cleaners a lot (at $.99 per shirt, why not?). DH can usually get by with jeans at work. But, if it's a "Dockers Day" he irons them for himself.

I usually wear my work clothes twice between trips to the dry cleaners. And, since I only wear my "play clothes" a few hours each day, one outfit will last Monday - Friday.

As tweens, my kids have not yet hit the "change the outfit to go with the mood" phase. I'm sure when we get there, laundry will become a big deal and they'll start doing more of it themselves.

 

[MinnieM3]

Easy DH does all the laundry, except DS17 usually does his own. Nothing is ever ironed. So I guess you could say we're clean, just not pressed!

 

[EthansMom]

For our family of 4, I usually wash one to two loads of laundry per day.

I have a holder that holds three different laundry bags so everyone sorts their clothes into "whites", "lights" and "darks" as they put the clothes in the appropriate bag. I know that an almost full bag is a full load in my washer.

I often leave the clothes in the washer or dryer until needed. Since I do so much laundry, nothing sits very long. When I'm ready to fold and/or need to clear the dryer out in order to do a new load of laundry, I run the clothes in the dryer for another 10-20 minutes to fluff out any wrinkles before folding. I always fold the clothes immediately out of the dryer and put them away the same day -- so no piles of clean clothes sitting around getting wrinkly.

As a general rule, we don't iron. DH wears "wrinkle free" slacks and polos for work. He pulls his clothes out the night before and sprays them with wrinkle remover spray as needed. We only iron for special occasions.

 

[Trish Bessette]

Every day....every stinking day I do laundry. Weekends it is a few loads a day as I have bed sheets, blankets, things like that.

What gets me is I could be totally caught up Sunday night and decide to take Monday off. By Tuesday it is overwhelming! Guess that's what I get for having two daughters

Ironing...only if I have to. It's the drycleaners all the way for me