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

[wdwfan16]

25 loads a week. We do that in a month. We have the high capacity front loaders, so that does help. Plus we reuse our bath towels. Each has their own towel they reuse.

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

 

[lonegirl]

I am OP and should have added, three boys who play HARD...dirt/sweat daily. Plus they play in "play" clothes, so that's two set of clothes per day: school and play. Soccer three times per week times for two of the boys and husband coaches. Husband is in construction and comes home smelly. Baby in house so that's at least 2 outfits a day plus crib accidents. Husband and I both work out daily so that's two sets of smelly gym clothes. Sheets are changed weekly, we do reuse towels for 2-3 nights. When I met husband, he was a clean/germ fanatic, so I knew what I was getting into!
On the plus side, I never have to pick up after my husband, as he is more of a clean/organized freak than me!

 

[punkin]

I empathize. My DD11 refuses to reuse pajamas and I change our sheets weekly. Both my kids will not reuse bath towels so that's a lot too. I also use kitchen towels and rags for cleaning rather than paper towels so add that in. However I do not have 25 loads per week. That's really a lot.

My washing machine broke down and it took almost 3 weeks to fix it, so I am currently doing backlog laundry and I still think I will be done in less than 15 loads.

ETA: I just saw the OP's soccer post. I do have to agree that my DD11 who is in a sport produces a lot more clothes than the rest of us, and her "uniform" is white so I am constantly washing it.

 

[crjack]

We have a Cabrio washer & dryer set that I really like. It's top loading but does not have an agitator. When I was researching a new set the Cabrio actually had the largest capacity...even more than the front loading.

My small laundry area is now upstairs but I really didnt have the right set up for the front loading doors. I actually like the top loading style - no pedestals and less bending over.

The new machines really do hold a lot more so hopefully you will be able to cut down on the number of loads you do per week. We are also a family of four with active teens and a large dog and I definitely don't do anywhere near that much laundry.

I can easily wash my king size comforter in my machine.

Good luck with your new machines. There have been other threads with recommendations on front loading machines that might help. The LG's seem to be very popular. Also, Feb is a popular month for appliance sales so you should see some good deals.

 

[Kimkimba]

I emphasize. In the winter, I'd say I do close to this. We do have an old washing machine that will be getting replaced fairly soon. My husband usually works outdoors and wears layers so his work clothes alone are several loads a week. And we don't reuse towels.

Summer laundry is so much easier.

 

[SaraJayne]

We're 3 working adults and a sahm. I do a load of 6 towels every day. Sheets get changed every 2 weeks if I'm lucky. My 2 dd's wear 3 outfits a day. Work clothes, gym clothes, and scrub clothes at home. If they go out after coming home say for drinks then it's another outfit which ends up inthe hamper as they don't dare wear it again. Needless to say, I am doing laundry 3 times a week roughly 4-5 loads each time. Then I do all my dh's shirts/pants which means Friday is ironing day. It was so much easier when they were children! I'm beginning to feel like Cinderella.

Pssst...if your children are old enough to drink, they're old enough to do their own laundry.

We're a family of 4 and I honestly don't think we even do 25 loads of laundry a month.

 

[java]

family of 6 - do about 3 loads a day so about 21 a week. 2 dogs, 4 kids and 2 adults. Towels, sheets, kitchen towels. That alone is at least 3 loads.

On the steam stuff- when we were looking our guy told us it basically was a buzz word nothing more. Think about your washer- clothes are getting wet so how is it going to steam clean them? If you use the hot wash cycle- or the sanitize cycle in a regular machine you are doing the same thing without paying the premium for the steam.

On a dryer I can see getting it as it probably would help with wrinkles. But washer- nope don't see it worth the added $$ and neither did my salesman

 

[delmar411]

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.

 

[wdwfan16]

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 do 1/2 as many loads and in 1/4 of the time. The time savings is so worth it.

 

[puffkin]

There's no reason to have 25 loads of laundry per week. That's ridiculous.

I agree. That is incredibly wasteful. Even with the OP's description that still only is 2 loads a day tops. Either she isn't washing full loads or is washing way more clothes than necessary!

 

[mjkacmom]

With our front loaders, I do about 2 loads a day. However, my dryer died on me on Monday, and I couldn't get it fixed until yesterday ($165 - $20 part - wish my DH was handy!). I had stripped the beds, so I did wash at my mom's, and 2 neighbors homes. I don't know about the steam washers, but my front loaders hold almost twice of what my old top loaders held.

 

[DawnM]

I am sure I do about 5 loads a week or so. We have a large capacity front loading machine, but still.....25 loads?

I can't even afford to do that!

We change clothes daily too.

Thankfully our laundry room is large enough that I have put in that wire shelving from Costco and each child has his own shelf plus a shelf for towels and one for me. There isn't nearly as much putting clothes away stuff!

Dawn

 

[mjkacmom]

Dh washes our kids gym clothes waaay more often than I do! It icks him out I will wait to wash them on weekends BUT the kids do not have daily PE & only wear them indoors for 1 hr. 2-3x's/wk. I do believe this is the one and only household thing he is pickier about than me!!!

Wow, dd13 brings her gym clothes home about once a month (I think they make them). However, I don't think I've ever seen her sweat! Ds11 is going to JH next year, and I suspect I'll have to make him bring them home more often - there are many times he needs multiple showers a day (he plays lots of sports - 2 - 4 teams a season).

 

[java]

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.

I would say it cut down about 2 of my loads only. But I do MORE laundry now. as it's easier. So hard to say. My stuff is getting washed more frequently.

 

[rockundergirl]

This is an interesting subject, I was just talking about this with a friend last week. People have very different ideas of what clothes are dirty. My friend has habits that I ( no offense) find really gross. ( btw this started with me finding out she does laundry once every 2 weeks and its only 2 loads, she is a single woman who has to go to the laundry mat to do wash.) She wears certain things many times before washing them and uses certain things many times before washing them. Like her gym clothes she wears like 10 times before washing ! I wash mine every time I use them . Her bed sheets once a month.. mine once a week. her bras she wheres like 5 times before washing , me one time. Even her bathroom towel lasts her the full week. I use mine,, once for my body,, next time my hair,, then its dirty for laundry. I had no idea you could wear clothes more then once with out washing! This is why even tho its just my 4 year old and me , i do about 6 loads a week. Sometime more.

 

[lonegirl]

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!

 

[disfan07]

We have 3 adults in our house.

We dont have a set on what we wash per week. I have 8 sets of sheets for my bed and my parents have about 10 sets of sheets for their bed. We only change sheets every saturday but we probably only wash sheets twice a month because we have enough to last about 2 months.

We alsoo have enough towels to last us more than a week so we only do towel about every 7-10 days.

We do wash jeans every week because we each only own about 5-6 pairs
And we do underwear each week.
Thats all we do EVERY week.

maybe we all just have too many clothes in my house, but both my paretns can got for more than a week befor they have to wash shirts and I can got about 2 weeks before I have to wash shirts.

I mean, I can get like 20 of my shirts into a wash so there is no way I'm doing a load of shirts before I NEED more shirts.

If we dont have enough of somthing for a full load, we wait until we do. Unless we absolutely NEED something specific.

We do probably about 10-15 loads per month (15 is unusual for us)

 

[delmar411]

We do 1/2 as many loads and in 1/4 of the time. The time savings is so worth it.

halving our laundry would be wonderful. If I didn't have to deal with a bed wetter I'm sure we could get our laundry down to just a couple dark loads, a white load and then a couple loads of towels.

Maybe there will be some super sale next month that will put the price within reason.


Whomever has the friend that wears her gym clothes 10x before washing, that is simply disgusting! I can't wait to get my gym clothes off after a single workout, there is no way I'd put them back on again the next day unless I had washed them already.

 

[PinkRhombus]

There's no reason to have 25 loads of laundry per week. That's ridiculous.

No kidding.

2 adults, two kids. I do one load a day plus one or two extra a week.

Load #:

1 - Uniforms (have a weeks worth), plus a few reds, pinks & purples (we have two girls).
2 - Towels
3 - Whites
4 - Darks - Pants and Jeans
5 - Darks - Shirts, etc.
6 - Reds
7 - Kids - this is just a mixture of colors
8 - Sheets
9 - Misc

 

[kellia]

Wow, that is a lot!!! Do you have one of those small size washers or something?

We are a family of 5, I do about 10-12 a week. My sons are 7, so I guess their clothes are smaller and use about the same amount of space as us adults and teen. I do end up with a load of winter coats and snow pants about every week or so for the boys in the winter, though. I don't re-use pj's, but we do use the same bath towel for a couple of days and I cange sheets every other week.

We do have a lot more towels during swimming season when dd has practice every day and has to use 3 towels a day- one for out of the pool, one for after shower, one for her hair. She was shown how to use the washer after she explained all that to me!