How Many Loads of Laundry Per Day? (Or: I have reached a new pinnacle of boredom.)

In My Humble Opinion
21

Single person, living alone. My apartment complex has a washer/dryer room. I do usually two loads of laundry a week, one warm, one cold. Depends on how busy I am and how many quarters I can scrape together, though. I have enough clothes to last more than a week, but I gots to wash my towels and sheets.

I also usually end up going to the dry cleaners once a month or so. I have several dry clean only things and they take turns in getting cleaned.

Four loads of laundry a day would be pretty overwhelming, even though laundry is probably my least hated chore. I find folding to be calming and meditative.

22

2 adults, washer in dryer at home.

4 loads a week:

whites
darks
mediums
towels/sheets (in the winter, with flannel sheets, I have to make two loads for sheets/towels)

Sometimes, if it’s a light week, I can eliminate the “mediums” load by combining appropriate clothes into whites or darks.

I just can’t imagine washing towels every day, they are drying clean water off a clean body! I really only wash towels once a week because the bathmat gets grubby and it all gets tossed in together.

23

There are just 2 of us, and I do 4-5 loads a week, all on Sunday, usually.

I kinda like doing laundry - I enjoy folding clean clothes, warm out of the dryer.

24

Family of five here; me and hubby, three kids, ages 17, 13, 4. Hubby is only home on weekends, most of the time, so I try not to do any laundry (except of course what he brings home dirty) over the weekend; try to reserve weekends as family time. Most days I do two loads. The towels don’t get washed every time. Sheets get washed once a week, and all fit in one load. I guess it averages out to about nine loads a week, unless I’m doing the bath mat and such.

25

I do my laundry once even two weeks, but it’s two loads worth.

How do you do four loads a day?

26

I think I need new towels. If I don’t wash them every day, they smell musty to me. Maybe our bathroom is damp, so they never dry out adequately.

How do I do four loads a day? You mean, where does it all come from? Towels–probably 8 per day, account for one load. The little kids usually have at least one outfit per day, sometimes two if they play outside or get grimy inside. (We have a lot of grimy activities.) My clothes. The older kids clothes. Blankets and sheets (I wash these ALL THE TIME, because a lot of them are dragged into the living room during the day, and I don’t want anyone sleeping under them after they’ve spent much time on our carpet. Also have to keep 2nd son’s bedclothes really clean, because of his allergies. And then I do several loads / week of my sister’s stuff.

If you count my sister and her daughter, I actually have 6 kids. :slight_smile:

Now keep in mind: I’m not fussing. I’m incredibly grateful to have a washer and dryer. I went for years without, and by the time we finally got them, we literally had MOUNTAINS of laundry.

I do remember watching a tv special about a large family (can’t remember how large it was) and being shocked that they did five loads of laundry every day. I couldn’t believe anyone could generate that much! But now I understand, I think.

We also don’t have really huge wardrobes, so we either wash frequently, or wear dirty clothes.

27

Every two months at a laundromat, honest. I hate it so would go buy more underwear or socks or permanent press shirts - have a few, originally nice, all-cotton-hate em, take 2 cycles to dry, can’t get the wrinkles out–haven’t owned an iron or folded underwear since I got out of the navy years ago. Have 3 hampers in a spare bathtub/room, one for each class-black sox, white underwear, permapress shirts/pants/bedlinen, etc. Currently 1 person in an apartment.

Usually fill 3 or 4 heavy-duty washers and spread it over 6 to 8 dryers. Try to go when uncrowded-usually Sunday noon. Takes 2 hours and about $15 in quarters. Most tedious part is putting all the permapress shirts on hangers before they wrinkle. Now work at a casual attire job so no white shirts or ties anymore. They all shrunk, anyway.

28

I’m in charge of laundry here, and there are 3 of us. Usually, it’s about 3 loads a week - one light, one dark, one towels/pillowcases. I do all of it on the weekend, or sometimes in the middle of the week if I have an afternoon without classes.

Sometimes there’s an extra load for sheets, gym stuff, lab coats, or delicates, but the average is about 3 a week.

I can’t imagine doing a load every day. I guess when you have a few young children running around making messes, things get dirty faster, but four loads a day? If I ever have children and my laundry piles up to that degree, I’ll start dressing them in plastic clothing so I can just hose them off.

29

2 adults, one infant. I do laundry about twice a week, usually 2-3 loads each time. I work part time and I am home on Tuesdays and Fridays, so that is when I do laundry. Usually one day is my stuff and one day is Husband’s stuff, with a load of baby laundry each time. Once a week for towels and sheets.

Sometimes there is that additional emergency load because the baby erupted or something needs to be done for the next day, but on the average I would say 6 loads per week. As the baby gets bigger I bet that will increase - right now he has a lot of laundry but his clothes are tiny so one load gets a lot washed.

I like folding laundry too, especially the baby’s things. All those tiny pants and onesies. But I also hate putting it away…why is that such a hated chore?

My husband won’t take his stuff out of the dryer either! He will go down to the dryer, get clothes out of it to wear and leave the rest in the dryer…aaarrgh! Bring it all up with you!

30

We have two adults and two largish children (both girls, but not clothes horses). I do six loads a week (although I count the three different gentle-cycle loads - light, dark, and red - as one load because I dry the things that can be machine-dried all together). On the weeks that we change sheets, it’s seven loads, and if everyone decides to change sheets the same week, that one will be eight. So I suppose, all told, I average one load a day, although I tend to do it twice a week.

31

College student. The coin-operated laundry room is halfway across campus. Two loads (one light, one dark) every two weeks or so. If I’ve got too many clothes to fit in two loads? They fit anyway. I’m talented. And broke.

32

Two adults, two kids, ages 10 and 4. My laundry schedule looks about like this:

Monday: whites and light colors. One load.
Tuesday: dark stuff to be washed in warm water - socks, underwear, and most of the kids’ clothes. Usually two loads, occasionally one.
Wednesday: dark stuff to be washed in cold water - most of the adult clothes plus all synthetics. One load.
Thursday: sheets, towels, and other linens. Varies from one to three loads.
Friday: the “specials” - swim class gear, the kids’ outdoor clothes as needed, anything that needs to be washed in the delicate cycle. Most weeks that’s three loads, but they’re generally small.

Saturdays I do catch-up if needed and Sundays I just don’t do laundry.

For a total of eight to ten loads per week. How many kids do you have that you have four loads per day?!?? :eek:

33

I work at home. I wear pajamas all day. I’m lucky if I do 2 loads of laundry a month.

34

I started doing my own laundry when I was 14 or so, because I was getting pissed off that my 7 year old brother was getting my underwear and socks, and vice versa (Mum, how the hell am I supposed to fit into this?)

Now it’s just me and the missus, and I do about 3 loads every 10-14 days, all at once, in the big giant machines in my apartment building. That’s about 5 loads if I have to use the regular washers, but you can easily fit two loads of stuff in each dryer and have it done in 30 to 40 minutes.

But we cheat, even when we have houseguests, and only go through one towel each per week. As long as you have a real rack for your towels, and not a hook on the wall like my mum has, they’ll dry very well. Maybe you should install towel racks on the back of the kids’ bedroom doors? Or get them valets? Cutting out 8 towels a day is like, what, 6 loads a week less laundry?

35

I’m still not seeing four loads a day. How often do you wash your sheets and blankets? How big are your towels? Everyone I know does no more than two loads per week, usually one. If your are doing laundry for eight people, that would be between 8 and 16 loads a week, or 1 to 2 per day, but not four. Is your washer tiny?

36

My household generates a lot of laundry. It’s me, my husband, and our 2.5 year old. We tend not to wear clothes more than once without washing, and we usually use rags instead of paper towels. We wash way more towels than we need to, because we don’t usually hang them up properly. We’re trying to change that. Plus, my husband wears really bulky clothes! I am the designated laundress because I kind of like doing it, and I’m another one who likes folding.

Every week, I do at least one load of lights, one of darks, and one of mediums. I do the bleach-wash, the rags, and the sheets every other week or so. Towels go in with the clothes, usually, but sometimes separately. It just depends on how much I have of each thing. I usually do two additional loads, which may be the towels, another load of darks, blankets, or something like that. So, I average 6 loads per week.

I wanted to get out of the constant laundry cycle, so I decided to do it once per week. Since our washer takes a really long time and because I work outside the home, I can’t do it all on one day, but it’s still one big washing. I start on Monday evening, and usually finish by bedtime on Tuesday. I do it this way so I just don’t have to think about it at all during the rest of the week. Once in a while, I’ll throw in a load on Thursday, but not usually. That throws off my rhythm!

One nice thing about my system is that doing wash consistently once per week on the same day(s) means you can better plan your wardrobe and other needs. We’re on a tight budget, so I like to plan and justify my purchases. I used to run out of bras every week. So I was able to determine that I needed buy X number of bras. I never even come close to running out of underpants, however. So, when I’m tempted to buy some more, I can easily talk myself out of it. We have a zillion towels, having been on the receiving end of a lot of towel hand-me-downs. Our linen closet is too small to hold them all, so I put some of them away in the attic. I know that the ones that are in the closet are plenty to get us through a week, even a week with lots of guests.

So there you go. I am incredibly disorganized, and often feel like my life is going out of control, but I’m on top of my laundry situation, at least. If nothing else, my laundry life is going smoothly. :slight_smile:

37

Family of four. I do a load a day on average, unless I goof off and let it stack up. I hate doing laundry.

38

Family of three … me, Mr Aspy and Small Girl 1 1/4.

We do laundry whenever the basket fills up … that works out to about 2 loads every 5-6 days. That would be a lot more if we were washing nappies, but we use a nappy-wash service for that. Sheets every couple of weeks. I’d say we average a load every two days.

For all those who wash their towels every day - please put your fingers in your ears and sing “la la la I can’t HEEEEEAR you” because what I’m about to say may shock and horrify you.

Not only do we only wash our towels about once a week - we all use the SAME TOWEL! :eek: But we do hang it up well between washes. Small girl doesn’t necessarily have a bath every day either, only when she’s filthy (ok, that’s almost every day anyway!)

39

When I’m staying on top of the laundry, it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 loads a week. Scrubs, darks, lights, and either whites or reds, generally.

Bodypoet, you rewash clothes over a little cat hair? Invest in one of those roller thingies to get the cat hair off. Or you could do like me and just go around covered in cat hair. (Hey, the cats are going to wallow on me and get me all hairy after I dress anyway.)

While you’re at it, get some blankets that are specifically for dragging around the living room or designate some of your existing blankets for that purpose, and keep the sleeping blankets on the bed. Then you won’t have to wash them so often. That’ll cut down on your laundry significantly.

40

Parents had a family of 5 kids. Washed 4-6 times per week.

I honestly don’t know where you’re getting all this washing from.