s/o laundry loads. What am I doing wrong?

[mrs.jacinthe]

Ok, so I see that normal people only have 2-3 loads of laundry a week.  How?

I'm trying to understand what we're doing wrong that I have so much laundry.  This is my average weekly wash:

1 load gym clothes
1-2 loads dark towels
1 load white towels
1 load sheets
2 loads dark clothes
1 load white clothes
1 load "other" (sometimes this is curtains, sometimes it's a rug, whatever needs washed)

every other week:
1 load comforter/quilt
1 load mattress pad/pillow covers

Am I just washing stuff too much?  We wear clothes like jeans or sweaters 2x.  I rotate out towels every 2-3 days.  I don't think we own *anything* that's dry clean only.

[bunch]

I definitely don't wash my curtains, rugs and comforters as often as you do, but I still do plenty of laundry. Probably 5 loads for 2 adults and a toddler. One of those is rags and towels, the rest clothes. I'd probably have more but I do t separate clothes and just wash them all on cold.

[emjacobs]

I do:

1-2 loads colors
1 load jeans
1 load whites every other week
1 load towels every other week
1 load "hand wash" once a month
1 load sheets every other week
1 load blankets / duvet cover every month. 

[julygal]

Family of 5:

3 loads colors
2 loads whites
1 load of jeans
1 load towels
1 load sheets
mattress and pillow covers monthly

There is always laundry to be done and generally they are very full loads. I used to get by doing less when we had a larger machine at our old place.

[nessness]

Do you have a really small washer? Do you change your clothes after work?

We probably do 5-6 loads a week, and our 1970s washer is pretty small. I also don't wash sheets or blankets as often as I probably should though.

[emoflamingo]

I do smaller loads and I can do 4 loads after not doing any for a few days.

[emjacobs]

Also we are a family of 2.

[RoxMonster]

We're a family of two and we let our laundry pile up pretty high :/ Trying to get better about that. We usually do all our laundry on the weekends. Typically, we'll have 3-4 full loads per week.

[inkblot]

As I said in the other thread, we do:

1 load whites
1-2 loads darks
1 load heavy darks (jeans, etc.)
1-2 loads towels and/or rugs
1 load sheets

My husband and I do usually change clothes after work, but a lot of what we wear for work is dry-clean only, so it doesn't impact regular laundry.

I am absolutely fascinated by the idea that anyone could do less than that...Even when I was in college, the most I got it down to was 4: whites, darks, towels, sheets--though it was probably every other week, not every week.

[Deleted]

WTH are you doing with all those towels? DH and I have one towel each for the week that we hang up to dry. Kitchen towels change a couple of times during the week, but they are small and don't require their own load. I re-wear the same workout clothes a few times. I dunno, I don't workout that hard, and I don't need clean clothes just to get sweaty. I also re-wear a lot of my work clothes if they aren't dirty, which most of the time they aren't, esp. my skirts and pants. I wear my jeans 3 or 4 times. Sheets get washed once every two weeks (I intentionally cut this back from weekly to save water). Comforter cover is once a month, mattress and pillow covers are once a quarter; if you are washing sheets that much, how dirty are these things really getting? Curtains are once a year at spring cleaning; they get vacuumed with an upholstry brush the rest of the year.

[ktzmoh]

That's a lot of laundry.

Our family of 4 generates probably 7 load a week. I'm guessing about 2 loads of the kids clothes, 2 loads of our clothes. We wash sheets weekly or every other week (more and more it's every other week), that's another 1-2 loads (1 load for our queen bed, one load for the kids beds), and towels are only 1 load per week ( we only wash those once per week).


Mattress pads, quilts/comforters, area rugs, curtains are washed far less often what you are doing.


When the kids were in diapers, we washed those every 3 days, so that was another 2 loads per week but (thankfully) we are done with that.

[prazenjc]

we have good sized machines and do 1 load darks/colors and 1 load whites each week.

we do towels around 1 load/week, maybe a 10 days, since we have at least 2 sets per person available (if you are showering daily and the towels dry thoroughly, why do you feel like you need to switch them out more often than weekly?).

we switch our sheets only 1x/2 weeks (only do more often for DS if he has an accident in the middle of the night).

we only dry clean our drapes and have gotten rid of any rugs (kitchen or doorway rugs) that would be small enough to wash in a washing machine. most of our rugs are 3x5, 5x7 or 8x10 sized ones w/a decent pile, so they are vacuumed during our regular housekeeping and shampooed when needed.

[Deleted]

I don't think you're that far off in all honesty. I think people that do very little laundry a) don't have pets b) have a lot of dry clean only stuff (which I have little of) c) have giant machines.

Things I notice about yours: My towels are all the same color and we only use 1 towel a week per person, sometimes 2 in the summer. So that's only one load for the 4 people in this house plus handtowels and washcloths. I wash sheets every week/every other but I only do the heavy duty comforters and like once a season or. I do things like rugs/curtains/throw blankets/overnight guest stuff on the regular, because 1 load a week is easier for me too keep up with than a massive laundry spring cleaning.

 I average about 10 a week, but I have 3 loads of barn clothes in there most people don't have.

What I have:

3 loads barn clothes
3 loads diapers
1 of out and about/work clothes
1 of pjs/exercise gear/dishclothes (I'm not crazy about germs, so I throw rags wherever they fit)
1 of sheets of some sort
1 of random extras (not every week, but pretty close)
1 of Ruby's clothes

I also don't work in a profession where my clothes stay clean enough to wear again. Recycled barn clothes are gross and the slime I perceive to be on my clothes from school from kid snot and what else makes them feel dirty by the end of the day if the art projects, markers, chalk, ink, sticky snack stuff doesn't first.

[kaylie]

As I said in the other thread, we have large machines and a lot of dry cleaning. We pretty much have one white load and one dark load. Also, in my past life as someone who wasn't a homeowner getting bills for plumbing emergencies, I acquired an obscene amount of clothing. I can probably go at least six weeks without washing any of it before running out of stuff to wear. That includes underwear.

Our whites load includes our sheets and towels. I only wash our coverlet once a month because it doesn't really make bodily contact since the top sheet is serving as a barrier.

I'm a fat lard that doesn't work out and H only does kick boxing twice a week, so not too much in the way of gym clothes.

[emoflamingo]

I use 2 towels when I shower (I have really thick hair and if I let it air dry overnight, it's still wet 9-11 hours later) and so we go through 2 towels a day. We bathe the boys at the same time so that's 2 towels for the bath. Burp cloths, bibs and kitchen towels add up fast with a baby and a messy kid. Monkey also refuses to wear jeans 2 days in a row. I can't because mine stretch too much, but my H is a habitual rewearer of clothing.

[hbomdiggity]

curtains? 3 loads of towels a week?

I don't have curtains. Even growing up my mom never washed curtains.

With 2 people, we maybe go through 2 towels a week, maybe longer. they are hung to dry and used on clean bodies, so they don't really get dirty.

my laundry is:
1 load cold darks
1 load cols whites
1 load warm darks
1 load warm whites
bath towels & sheets - once a month
if i am working out - gym clothes every other week

[emjacobs]

I'll expand on mine.

I use two towels for the week for bathing, and two towels for the pool when I swim. T uses 2 towels.

I wear 1-3 pairs of jeans / week for work, and rarely hand wash / dry clean clothes. This week is all dry clean clothes. T wears a uniform so 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants / week + 2 pairs of jeans and a few T-shirts.

We do all of our barn laundry at the farm so I don't count that since I put it in and someone else finishes it or whatever.

Kitchen towels get thrown in somewhere along the way and probably only once every 2-3 weeks, I have a TON of kitchen towels.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Ahhhh, ye olde towel question. How do we go through 3 loads of towels a week? I'm a swimmer. We have 3 towels total between me and R at any given time. However, every time I swim (3x per week)., I use one bath sheet and one small hair towel. So per week, we go through between 6-9 towels in the bathroom, plus 3 swim towels and 3 hair towels, as well as the accompanying bathmat, hand towels and kitchen towels. And therein is the towel situation at our house.

[heygrey]

i do 4-5 loads a week.

1-2 towels/sheets
1 h's work clothes (only! lest all our clothes smell like a forest and have tiny splinters in them)
1-2 clothes that dry in the dryer
1 clothes that hang dry

i have one set of curtains in our whole apartment and they get washed, uh... they've been washed once in 1.5 years? i wash our throw blankets in the living room as needed, but that's probably only 3-4 times a year. i wash our bed quilt 2-3 times a year - fall, spring, and the odd time it gets dirty.

[bunnymendelbaum]

I don't separate towels, workout clothes or sheets. Is there really a reason to? I do:

1 load colors
1 load whites
1 load darks

We reuse our towels all week. Only dry cleaning is some of DHs shirts.

[Deleted]

Apr 9, 2013 2:03:19 GMT -5 bunnymendelbaum said:

I don't separate towels, workout clothes or sheets. Is there really a reason to? I do:

1 load colors
1 load whites
1 load darks

We reuse our towels all week. Only dry cleaning is some of DHs shirts.

Nah. I separate very little. I just don't see the point and it hasn't killed me yet. I have to do barn clothes separate because they're literally caked in dirt and a load themselves anyways. Rubes gets her own load but it's a full one by the end of the week. Everything else I pretty much toss together save for whites. You'll find random shirts in with my sheets, my pjs in with my work clothes etc. I needed categories for the sake of this post, but more times than not it's whatever fits.

And I do laundry daily like a crazy woman, because dirty laundry sitting around makes me nuts.

[SusanBAnthony]

I wash quilts and comforters twice a year, curtains basically never, and for two adults we go through maybe 4 bath towels a el at most. Kitchen towels get down in with whatever else.

That said with two adults and two kids we wash about 6 loads a week. At least half of that is kids clothes.

[SusanBAnthony]

But why do you not reuse towels? And why do you need so many at a time, and such huge ones?

[ssmjlm]

Well there are 2 of us and one dog. I would say we do about 2 loads a week. DH and I do our own clothes though.

But with my work, I end up with 2 sets of clothes, work clothes and play clothes. Most of my work clothes are washed infrequently and/or dryel/drycleaned, esp work pants. So really I only have to wash unmentionables and play clothes. I can go about 3 weeks, maybe a bit more w/o having to do laundry and then it's about 3 loads.

DH does laundry every 2 weeks and it's about 2-3 loads depending on if he has a full load of whites.

Once a week is sheets and towels. And then about every 2 weeks is a load of dog stuff, beds, towels, toys (if she'll let me), etc.

And don't even get me started on the baby laundry. Girlfriend isn't even here and I've probably done more baby laundry in the last month than my whole life. Have to wash all the gear, wash the clothes, wash the crib and changing pad stuff, etc.

[thatgirl]

Vital Stats: 2 adults, 2 small dogs. Large capacity HE washer
Almost all work clothes are dry cleaned.

Whites
Darks
Delicate whites
Delicate darks
Towels (all towels are light)
Sheets
Rags/mop covers
Kitchen towels
Dog blankets, bed covers, etc
Other as needed (average 3 x month) curtains, blankets, throw rugs etc.

[thewop]

I could probably do one load a day. I need a clean towel every morning (I'm a weirdo), but will use that same towel if I shower in the evening after a workout. So a towel for me, H's towel, H's work shirt (he gets dirty) and underwear, my underwear, our socks, at least one kid outfit, and our workout clothes (we are a sweaty couple). We have a smallish washer so it's not hard to fill it up with everyday stuff. I dream of the day when we can afford a larger washer/dryer set.

[mrssavy42112]

I can’t imagine having to do that much laundry. We’re just 2 people. Once a week we bring 1 large laundry bag to the wash & fold service. The bag is about 4’ x 2’. I highly doubt they sort anything. Probably 3-4 loads in there & we’ve never had an issue with the clothes.

ETA: Oh, I throw everything in the bag. Clothes, towels, sheets, whatever. Obviously comforters are separate. I have so much underwear & dresses that I can easily go over 1 month without doing laundry. 

[Deleted]

Apr 9, 2013 6:26:58 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

But why do you not reuse towels? And why do you need so many at a time, and such huge ones?

X2

[tarheels]

My faux bachelorette self does laundry probably only once a month   And my washer is big enough to wash a king comforter (I routinely thank my 2005 self who insisted on that feature ).

Once a month, I do 7 loads:

whites
darks
reds
white delicates
dark delicates
red delicates
towels

All my towels are white and get bleached together.  I probably keep towels for 10-12 days, but I only shower every other day.  My housekeepers wash my sheets every Thursday.  I wear tons of coral in the summer and persimmon and oxblood in the winter, so I almost always have enough for good sized red loads.  My delicates loads are often larger than my other loads because of the sweaters and blouses I like to wear.

[Deleted]

It doesn't make any sense to me to judge whether someone does too little or too much laundry. Everybody's lifestyle, habits, preferences, etc., are different so unless they are just not washing their clothes regularly at all and are nasty, what does it matter? That being said, here's what I typically do:

2-3 loads darks weekly (DH has a dirty job and everything he wears has to be washed after one wearing. His jeans are often caked with dirt/mud so I do those separately from other darks
1 load lights weekly
1 load sheets and pillowcases weekly (I wash what I strip off the bed so it's clean and ready to go the next week)
1 load socks and towels weekly (we have all white towels)
1-2 loads for bedspread and down blanket monthly

This is for 2 people.