How often do you do laundry?

[crumbcatcher]

One adult, one child and one cat, averaging about 1-2 loads a week.  I do linens every 2 or 3 weeks, depending on the quantity of cat hair that has accumulated.

I wear my clothes several times before washing and we reuse towels for several days.  My son is 10 and his jeans are usually too grubby to wear more than once, so I end up washing his clothes more often.

Also, much to my mother's chagrin, I wash lights and darks together whenever I'm certain no articles of clothing/linen are going to bleed or leave the wrong color fuzz on everything. That way I can fill the washer whenever I actually use it.

I haven't figured out the logistics of drying things indoors yet, and can't hang a clothesline outside (yay, condo association bylaws).  It will be nice to lower my laundry-drying bill when I finally have a plan.

[wintersun]

Household of two adults.  Now that I have become moustachian I wash fewer loads.  I have a front loader and instead of the 3-4 I used to do I now do 2-3.  I wait for dry days so I can hang my clothes out and no longer wash my sheets every single week.  How freeing it is. 

My DH and I are both in the process of losing weight and so our laundry loads will be smaller by next winter!  We will need more outer layers but our washable clothes will take up a lot less room.  He has already lost 60lbs. His jeans have about 1/2 the fabric of his old ones.  I am going at a more gentle pace but looking forward to ditching the Big Girl clothes.

[kolorado]

I haven't figured out the logistics of drying things indoors yet, and can't hang a clothesline outside (yay, condo association bylaws).  It will be nice to lower my laundry-drying bill when I finally have a plan.

You should look into indoor drying cabinets. Many people convert old wood wardrobes for these.

[greaper007]

Crumb, do you have an unused room you could stretch a retractable line across?   I took my outdoor retrac into the basement this fall an that's what I do.    A bedroom that you don't use during the daytime would probably work great.    It takes longer inside, but you'll get the job done.

[Rural]

1 load per week for two people. Once a month I do sheets and towels, so five loads per month. We don't even have enough clothing to do two loads per week, nevermind per day.

I wonder if we're all comparing apples to apples here. I'm guessing your washer is larger than mine, which will hold no more than 5 pairs of pants at a time, nothing else unless maybe a pair of underwear or two if we're out. But, even rewearing, the two of us go through more than five pairs of pants a week (I swear his have visible dirt every damn day), so for us, that's more than one load already. Add in that we don't go topless or commando, and you get more still. :-)

[Cinder]

In the summer we probably do a load somewhere between every week and every two weeks, depending on when the washer gets full..

Right now in the winter, I end up doing laundry about every other day to  every three days, I just sweat to much while wearing my layers into work, and I have to wear basically all of them (3 underlayer wool pants, outer wind shell, 2~4 chest layers of varying thickness, all wool, outer shell).  When the temps are more manageable (30~55) I can wear less then all of my underlayers at once, and can usually spread out my washings across the week. 

Anyone have any recommendations for really nice thick/warm wool underlayer pants that I could use instead of 2~3 layers of really thin base layer stacked?  I always go with wool since I'm really prone to sweating, even if I'm 'under-dressed' in the number of layers I'm wearing!

[MissPeach]

Usually we do 3 loads for 2 adults and a child. This includes our clothing and household laundry such as towels, sheets, etc.

Does this blog say anything about cloth diapers? I cloth diapered my child and I only had enough diapers for 1-3 days so I had to wash a few times per week. Still it was much cheaper than disposables. If this blogger has 7 children and a few in diapers that could be why she does so much laundry.

[Meggslynn]

We have two adults and one toddler boy who lives outside practically and loves the dirt.

We only do laundry on the weekend. And it consists of 2-4 loads. Including linens.

[greaper007]

Cinder, have you tried polartec pants?   I've had the same north face denali jacket for 15 years, and when I wear it under my 20 year old gore-tex shell I'm never cold, I usually end up having to open the pit vents in fact.

[Cinder]

Cinder, have you tried polartec pants?   I've had the same north face denali jacket for 15 years, and when I wear it under my 20 year old gore-tex shell I'm never cold, I usually end up having to open the pit vents in fact.

My problem is mostly that since I sweat to much, I need something that keeps you warm while wet.  That's why I've stuck with wool.  What materials is it made of?

[HappyMargo]

2 adults.  One office worker, one surgical nurse.
We do 2 loads/ week (one light & one dark load.)

My scrubs are provided by the hospital for work, so the majority of laundry is running/ weight lifting/ gardening/ sweaty, smelly work-out clothes.

[crumbcatcher]

Crumb, do you have an unused room you could stretch a retractable line across?   I took my outdoor retrac into the basement this fall an that's what I do.    A bedroom that you don't use during the daytime would probably work great.    It takes longer inside, but you'll get the job done.

I have been mulling over this idea - I saw a cool five-line retractable thing that lives on one wall, but that you can stretch out and anchor on the other wall when you want to use it.  I imagine hanging it on the open side of the loft railing, where there will be plenty of vertical space for sheets.

It is lived-in space, but if it's hanging overhead and never gets in anyone's way, I think it will work.

[greaper007]

Cinder, have you tried polartec pants?   I've had the same north face denali jacket for 15 years, and when I wear it under my 20 year old gore-tex shell I'm never cold, I usually end up having to open the pit vents in fact.

Polartec (fleece), check out rei at the end of the year, you might find a deal.    If you're handy you can sew them also for 20-30 dollars.   The green pepper has a pattern.
My problem is mostly that since I sweat to much, I need something that keeps you warm while wet.  That's why I've stuck with wool.  What materials is it made of?

[Koala0924]

My scrubs are provided by the hospital for work, so the majority of laundry is running/ weight lifting/ gardening/ sweaty, smelly work-out clothes.

I'm jealous. I'm responsible for my own scrubs.

2 adults / 1 indoor dog.

4-5 loads a week. I separate out my scrubs for their own load, as well as DH's work clothes due to soil factor. 2 loads of bedding / towels a week (indoor dog). And 1 random load from time to time.

[ritchie70]

I do laundry for two households using a fairly small Maytag Neptune washer and dryer. (It will comfortably hold 7 big fluffy bath towels but no more.)

Us - 2 adults, 1 2-year-old.
Them - 1 adult, 1 12 year old.


• Monday night, every other week - our whites.
• Tuesday night - 2 loads of our towels.
• Wednesday night - 1 load of our clothes, plus a load of sheets every 4th week.
• Thursday night - 1 load of toddler clothes and linens.
• Friday night/Saturday morning - "their" clothes, towels, and linens. 4 loads is typical, sometimes as few as 3 (today) or as many as 7 depending on what linens, bath rugs, etc. got sent and whether it's summer (shorts and t-shirts on the kid) or winter (long pants on the kid.)
• Saturday/Sunday - 1 or 2 loads of our clothes.

So I guess 9.5 loads per week on average.

[HappyMargo]

My scrubs are provided by the hospital for work, so the majority of laundry is running/ weight lifting/ gardening/ sweaty, smelly work-out clothes.

I'm jealous. I'm responsible for my own scrubs.

2 adults / 1 indoor dog.

4-5 loads a week. I separate out my scrubs for their own load, as well as DH's work clothes due to soil factor. 2 loads of bedding / towels a week (indoor dog). And 1 random load from time to time.

When I worked as a Floor RN, on an acute care unit, we had buy & launder or own scrubs.
However, working in surgery we are *NOT allowed* to wear our own.  Can't have people wearing in clothes from home that could be carrying cat & dog hair, etc into the OR. Also, the OR scrubs are washed with pretty harsh soaps & hot water (which I wouldn't use at home.)

But, yes, it's very nice now not having to worry about the expense & care of work clothes.  (I started my working life with a Business degree, so had to wear appropriate office suits.  Now with my Nursing degree, I get to wear "jammies" at work!)

[netskyblue]

I'd say an average of 3 loads a week, one being towels only, one being my clothes (office wear), and one being fiance's clothes.  He's a chef, and stuff gets FILTHY, greasy, yuck, and I want it washed separately from my "nice" clothes.  Sometimes a few towels go in with his load, if there only happen to be 1-2 dirty towels.

[MayDay]

2 adults and 2 kids, we do about 6 loads a week.

Reasons why it is that much: DH exercises daily and his exercise clothes get revolting, so they get washed every time.  Kids have some potty accidents.  And we use basically no paper products, so we have cleaning rags, cloth napkins, kitchen rags, etc. 

I have fewer in the summer when I am washing a small pair of shorts and tank top for each person, rather than pans, undershirt, and sweater.

[MayDay]

Perhaps I shoulda dd that although my kids are out of diapers, they aren't out of "messy" yet. 

I have yet to see a day when their clothes are clean at bedtime.  Serve times my son has to change his shirt before he even gets in the school bus.  I absolutely will not let my kids appear in public with food-spilled clothes, unless we are optioning straight to the community garden and home. 

[mc6]

I average 3 loads per week, to include linens. 

Now, does anyone have a good tip on removing set in bloodstains in laundry? 

[happy]

I use an oxyaction soaker. Works very well.

[mm1970]

Generally 3 loads per week (top loader, with agitator), sometimes 2 (now that we have one with no agitator).  Family of 4.

Occasionally will do 4.

We should start hanging our laundry to dry again. But we have to do it under a tent thing because otherwise we'll get bird poop on our clothing.