Lots of Laundry

With 6 people in the house there is almost certainly a lot of laundry to do each week. Here is how I do it.

There are washing hampers in both my and dh's bedroom and the boys' bedroom. My 8.5yo boy collects them and any stray items left under desk chairs, near the lounge (dh's socks!!) and the kitchen towels. He dumps it all on the floor of the bathroom/laundry.

I sort the dirty washing into 4 washing hampers along the wall and a basin on the floor. My washing hampers are for darks (navy, lots of it, and black); reds and greens; blues; and whites (including grey and other pale items). I have a separate basket for hand washing and the basin is for linens and wet clothes from messes or playing under the hose.

In the morning I put in a light load from the whites or blues basket. When it comes out it gets either hung out or put in the dryer depending on the weather, my mood and how busy the day will be. Next to go in is a dark load from the red, green or darks basket. And it comes out around lunch time to be either hung out or dried.

Each afternoon the washing is folded from the basket near the dryer, which also happens to be next to the back door, where the big boys put it if they had to bring in washing off the line. I sort the washing into a trug per person, and then 2 extra trugs for kitchen linen and baby linen, and, bathroom and bedroom linen. Some days I fold the contents of all the trugs, sometimes one or two, and honestly some days none, but at least the kids are only looking through their own trug for clothes if the drawers or wardrobe are bare.

In the evening just before going to bed I put a load of linen in along with any wet messy things from the basin. I try to get the kitchen towels in but I sometimes forget. I put them on a long hot cycle so all the nasties are gone. All my linen is dried in the dryer. I just like them soft and fluffy.

Now I can get fussy. I do not put either reds or greens into any other load. They are kept separate. I will mix greys, white and pale blues. I will mix navy and black. I don't like putting a dark load in after the linen as left over fluff in the machine may transfer to the darker items.

I wash all of dh's work clothes on one day of the weekend. The lighter work shirts in the morning and his dark shirt, socks and boxers in the afternoon. His shirts are all hung on the shower rail to dry and in the morning he grabs one to iron as he leaves the bathroom. I Do Not Iron. Well, maybe, but not every week, maybe not even every month but certainly not every day.

I have been inspired to share how I do my laundry after reading items here and here.

Best wishes,
Jen
(originally posted on my old blog 24 Oct 2010)