I counted...25+ loads of laundry a week!

[jakoky]

HI...we are a family of 5 with a lab...i do a LOT of laundry also, BUT i am very picky with how i do it, which is part of the problem....i hate clothes when they pill, or pick up lint from other things...i am very careful with all our good clothes-t-shirts, hoodies, jeans....i will wash 3 blue hoodies together, 4 white ones, 9 red t-shirts...etc...so i probably wash 3-4 loads a day, but only 1-2 goes in the drier...the smaller loads of good stuff is ALL hung to dry, never sees the drier...Also, 5 beds once a week makes 1-2 loads alone...i fight with my kids to reuse their towels, so we use them 2 days at a time...and i cannot rewear jeans,pj's or tshirts myself..i guess i am weird that way...we all rewear hoodies...my dh is an electrician and does some very dirty and cold jobs-he creates me 1-2 loads a week of his own stuff....

My new front loaders are awesome though, loads are half the time, cleaner, and i can fit more in...it is great...

 

[tzolkin]

OP again.... obviously every family is different in preferences/lifestyles/etc. but I was wondering if climate also plays a large part. We live where there is often 100 percent humidity, and it is in the 90's-100's for six months of the year. Even when temps are not high, the humidity here makes clothes/towels STINK. When I am staying with family in Pennsylvania, I notice a huge difference. Whatever the case, I will be looking for a larger capacity washer the next time around. Thanks for the advice!

I agree with you to some extent.

We reuse our towels several times, but they are always completely dry (even in the summer). In the winter I could hang them in front of the stove for 15 minutes and every person could probably use the same towel. (Obviously I don't do this, but I'm just saying they dry quickly enough that they don't get mildewy.)

I do a bit more laundry in the summer because the kids play outside all day and they get sweaty, so none of their clothing is re-worn. But, the summer clothes take up much less room than jeans so it mostly evens out. I hang all our clothes out to dry in the summer, so even if I did more laundry I'm still saving a lot of money/energy by not running a propane dryer.


I do think some people are just wasteful and do too much unnecessary laundry. My aunt and her kids take more than one shower per day and each have to use three towels every time-- body, hair, and put one on the floor. That seems ridiculous to me. I have super thick hair that is down to my butt and I can dry myself with one towel. At least buy a rug and only use one towel per shower if you're not going to re-use them. My SIL will only wear a pair of jeans once. She's a nurse, so she may only wear the jeans out to dinner for an hour, not all day. (My DH is also a nurse and I have to steal his jeans to wash a pair once a week.) SIL has even been known to wear one pair in the morning, take a nap, and then wear another pair on her days off. She's also a large woman-- well over 6 feet tall-- so my brother has to do 2-3 loads of laundry that are just her jeans which are really still clean. I don't even own that many pairs of jeans. My brother does more than twice as many loads of laundry for two people than I do for 5. I think he should let her run out of clothes. Perhaps if she has to wash that much laundry she will discover ways to not produce as much of it.

oops... sorry for the rant.

 

[Katy Belle]

I have no idea... but I will tally it this week and find out!

 

[HLDisney]

I guess the fact that we would actually have to go downstairs to our apt bldg's laundry room to do laundry has caused us to limit our laundry load (too much of a hassle to have to run up and down several times during a span of approx 1 1/2 hours to do a load or two of laundry) We do 3-4 loads of laundry a week and that includes my parents (both retired), my DD and myself. Usually towels are used all week. If, for some reason a towel does get dirty and can't be re-used, we'll use a new one but the old one will just wait in the hamper for the next laundry day. My DD's school clothes are put in the hamper after one use (because I no clue what she might have done at school that day) but if she only wears something at home for a few hours in the evening and all she's done all evening is mainly calm stuff like HW, reading, TV (not something that would cause her to sweat or get dirty), then I have no problem letting her wear it again the next evening.

Yes, sometimes we won't have too many clean clothes to choose from by the last day or two before laundry day but luckily neither my DD nor I are the type that have to wear the "perfect" outfit for a specific day (as long as it's clean and the outfit looks reasonably coordinated) I usually try to plan ahead our outfits for the week and I try to buy clothes that can mix and match well.

Helen

 

[thebeesknees]

If I had to do 25 loads in a week I would move to a nudist colony.

Where's the tag fairy when you need her?

 

[moniot]

We are a family of 4 with another on the way and we have an indoor Black Lab. I try to do 1 or 2 loads a day and I never get caught up. Weekends I do laundry off and on all weekend.

My son is in sports (football - wrestling) so he has his daily clothes (never fails to leave some lunch on his shirt), his practice clothes and his uniforms. My DH is a mechanic (dirty and stinky) and a bus driver and we have a small farm (this speaks for itself). Everything gets washed after it is worn. Towels do not get reused. I work at the repair shop and come home smelling like a "repair shop". I go through tons of kitchen towels and dish clothes.

I wash everything except whites in cold. I hang lots of shirts and pants and shorts.

I do lots of really yucky laundry.

I would love to do only 5 or 6 loads a week. Must be nice but not an option for others.

 

[lisaross]

i use to feel like i was never caught up, But last week i caught up over the weekend and now i do 1 load per day and put a load from the previous day away.

We have 1 hamper in the hallway...we throw all our cloths in there..i fill the basket each morning with whats in the hamper bring it down and sort in the 3 hampers in the laundy room - colors/whites/jeans.sweats..

which ever hamper is full i throw in...i usually mix towels/sheets in with the above. again its only 2 weeks i'm doing this but it seems like its going well - no more doing 2-3 loads every few days and then having so much to put away!

 

[KristiKelly]

for those who have those large capacity front loaders, how many less loads do you do a week now that you have the extra room in the washer/dryer?

I think we could get our laundry down quite a bit with a front loader but the price tag still puts me off.

We are a family of 5 and our laundry went from ~14-16 loads a week to about 6-8, so it did cut in half.

OP again.... obviously every family is different in preferences/lifestyles/etc. but I was wondering if climate also plays a large part. We live where there is often 100 percent humidity, and it is in the 90's-100's for six months of the year. Even when temps are not high, the humidity here makes clothes/towels STINK. When I am staying with family in Pennsylvania, I notice a huge difference. Whatever the case, I will be looking for a larger capacity washer the next time around. Thanks for the advice!

I have the dirtiest son in our state, he could run thru a grassy meadow during a drought and still come out covered in mud Even with that I don't do that many loads of laundry.

We bought an LG front loader - largest capacity they make. We've had it about 18 mo. and I can't imagine life without it now. Yes, they are expensive but worth every penny. Also, if you get the washer you need to get the dryer because you will need the same capacity or your clothes will never get dry.

 

[Belle5]

You don't even want to know how many loads we do when everyone is home like they were over Christmas! All of my kids play sports. Have you ever smelled ice hockey laundry? It is GROSS! We had five soccer teams going this fall--the smell wasn't too much better. Sometimes I think my DH and sons need a towel for each body part...

 

[Handbag Lady]

Wow.

We are just the two of us and we do three loads a week. All at the same time.

 

[sherry7]

Wow, 25 loads a week is a lot...I'm thinking your washer must be pretty small, or perhaps you wash smaller loads.

My family consists of me, DH, and my college aged DS (commutes from home). I got my extra-large capacity front loaders about 2 years ago, and do a lot less loads than before. I usually start laundry on Friday evening, and finish it up on Saturday morning. In an average week I do:

1 load of whites
1 or 2 loads of darks (blue, green, gray, black)
1 small load of red, pink, purple
1 small load of yellow and tan
1 load of jeans
1 load of towels, washcloths, dishtowels, and bathmats
1 load of sheets
2 to 3 loads of DH's nasty work clothes (he does these himself)
1 load of sweatshirts/hoodies during cold weather (DS wears one everyday to school/work, so I usually have a big load of these.)
1 load of DS's super stinky work-out clothes (they smell so bad that I usually add baking soda or vinegar to get the stench out )
1 small load of bras (hand wash cycle)

We do reuse our towels, and everybody has their own color. Each bathroom has a thick towel-like bathmat (like the kind in hotels), so those get thrown in with the towels to wash. We wear PJ's/nightgowns for multiple nights, and jeans usually get worn twice.

The new baby is due in May, so I'm sure that will add considerably to my laundry.

 

[Priorityonecb]

I can't imagine doing 25 loads of laundry a week! We are a family of four. I do about 5 loads a week.

 

[tinytink]

Try it, you'll be amazed at how many loads you do! So we'll be needing new machines soon and wanted to know if those new steam machines are worth it???

I do about the same amount of laundry a week and I was thinking the same thing. I think those steam machines cut down on the ironing as well. It might be worth it since we do so much laundry and I figure it should cut down on the dry cleaning bills as well.

 

[MEM]

I do about 20 loads a week - it sounds better to me to say "3 loads a day". Yes, many of them are micro-loads but my HE front-loader is very, very frugal with water. I am allergic to drycleaning solvent so all of my clothes for work go in my machine on the delicate or hand-wash cycle. DD13 also does her Aeropostale collection separately from the rest of the family's laundry. Since getting the HE machine a few years ago our water usage has gone down by half even though I do more loads.

I usually do a load or two of laundry while I'm cooking dinner and DH or DD may do a load during the day. It may just be that we have fewer clothes than most people and need to wash more often.

 

[rynosmom]

For our family of 4 I do 2 loads per day during the week and 3 each on Sat and Sunday. DH is a Plumber everything goes in the wash daily. Winter time that is almost a load just on him. DS18 runs track and there is no way you can wear those cloths again. DS14 plays ice hockey and baseball and during each season he has practice 2x per week and 2-3 games per week. That being said it adds up and I see my self doing about 16 loads per week.

 

[TxRabbit]

This is such a funny thread...

I totally relate to the Texas effect...humidity is NASTY and it does NASTY things to clothes. I did a LOT more laundry when DS was playing soccer, too. He had a uniform for every practice as well as the games on the weekend. I can only imagine with 3 boys in the house, the towels, the sheets, the mess... And if you haven't replaced your washer in awhile, then you probably can't fit more than one set of sheets in it, maybe two sets of twins...

And call me crazy, but sometimes you just CAN"T wash your nicer clothes with those play clothes or the workout clothes or the mow the lawn clothes... I just can't imagine doing DH's work shirts with the mud incrusted DS's tees. LOL.

 

[finz2left]

Family of 6 and we do about 6 loads each week.

Whoa...what is your secret? We are a family of 5 and have 3 loads of sheets and towels each week, then 1 load of whites, 2 loads of jeans, at least 2 loads of lights, and a 1 of colors....THEN we have school uniforms, baseball clothes, husbands dress shirts... etc.

 

[tzolkin]

Whoa...what is your secret? We are a family of 5 and have 3 loads of sheets and towels each week, then 1 load of whites, 2 loads of jeans, at least 2 loads of lights, and a 1 of colors....THEN we have school uniforms, baseball clothes, husbands dress shirts... etc.

Not the poster you quoted, but we are a family of 5 and also do 6 loads per week. I do a few more in the summer.

Here's my winter laundry routine:
I do 3 loads at a time about twice a week. (I don't do it on certain days, I just wait until I have about 3 full loads, so I may only do laundry once in an actual week and have maybe 5 days between laundry.) Honestly, I do not change the sheets every week in the winter. I alternate and do 1/2 the beds each week. We bathe right before bed, so I figure the pjs and sheets don't have our dirt from the day in them. I also mix most items except the towels into the wash together-- jeans, tshirts, light, dark. If I have enough I do one full load of towels, if not I mix sheets or pjs in with the towels. I only wash full loads. If I think it will be really close, I put in the items I know we're going to want first. If a few items don't fit, they go in the hamper and wait until the next time I do laundry.

We have no school uniforms, baseball clothes, or work clothes (DH works in an OR so he wears scrubs and leaves them at work). I'm sure this cuts it down a bit, but I could never imagine doing several loads of laundry per day.

 

[tinatark]

Okay, I'm LOL at the posters who are a family of xx, with a dog... does the dog wear clothes?

We are a family of 4 people, plus 2 outside dogs and 2 fish, and I probably wash 10 loads a week - change sheets weekly, and we re use towels - I have 6 in my boys' bathroom (1 color for each boy, so when one is on the floor, we ask "Who uses yellow towels?"), 8 in my bathroom - DH and I are on different shower schedules, so we end up using 3-4 towels there for the week. We re-wear jeans (DH and I, not the boys - theirs are nasty!) and pajamas.

I do have a HE washer, so one load is equal to 1.5-2 in a regular washer. Loads are longer to wash, though, my washer (Fisher and Paykel HE/conventional top loader) doesn't have a quick wash cycle option, so cycles are usually an hour long.

 

[LaceyLace]

Wow! I'm REALLY amazed at all the laundry some of you do!

I'm shocked at the number of people that wash towels every day and clothes every day (OP especially washing numerous outfits per day).

I don't get it.... the towel that you use to dry your body after a shower is CLEAN. I use mine about 3-4 times before throwing it into the hamper. ONE TOWEL for both my body and long, thick hair. I just hang it up after I'm through with it. It's dry by next morning.

I wear my jeans 2x at least before washing, depending on what I'm doing. Gosh, unless you're going panty-less, there's no reason to wash your jeans after just one wearing, especially if it's just a few hours after work. What do you all do in your jeans? LOL! Unless I spill something on them, I will wear them again. Same thing goes for tops. If I wear a shirt for just a few hours, I'll wear it again another time. Unless again, I spill something. Or I sweat, lol. Otherwise, my body is clean.

Only thing I wash on a daily basis are my panties.

And by the way, I'm not a slob. I'm a very well-dressed, attractive, and professional female. I'm just not a germ freak imagining germs around every corner....