# How often do you do laundry? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507 "2013-08-29T16:22:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/41 "2013-08-31T00:54:55Z")
I used to do it once a week. Then one day I noticed we both had lots of clothes and I could probably switch to doing it every ten days instead. We’d save a little money, and I’d save some time. Smooth transition, no problems whatsoever to report. Three times a month instead of four. Could not have been easier! ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/42 "2013-08-31T01:13:58Z")
One day for clothes, one day for sheets and towels. Each day is three loads. Clothes washed in cold, sheets and towels washed in hot, everything dried in the dryer. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/43 "2013-08-31T01:24:23Z")
Single guy, about twice a week. Once for the colors, once for the whites. I don’t really need to split colors and whites, but I like to bleach the whites to get them smelling “hotel-fresh” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/44 "2013-08-31T06:03:47Z")
Every day. I’m OCD about washing, so whites get washed alone, darks/blacks alone, towels alone, sheets alone, coloureds with coloureds. Tablecloths and tea towels get washed together in super hot water. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/45 "2013-08-31T11:14:07Z")
I think I average 3-4 loads a week for the 2 of us. Now that I’m about to go back to work, I may do it all on one day. While I was still in the retired mode, I’d do a load or two a couple of times a week, depending on the weather. (I prefer hanging my laundry out to dry.) I wasn’t sure how to answer the poll, since it can vary from one to 4 days a week - especially in the summer when we use more towels and change the sheets more often. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/46 "2013-08-31T11:22:47Z")
Five kids, all of them in sports. We’re in construction, so get dirty a lot. Every single day between 1-3 loads. ---
**Author:** ![Mathematics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Mathematics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathematics)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/47 "2013-08-31T11:41:50Z")
I do it once every two weeks for just me. It sounds a lot worse when you say “twice a month”. But I just don’t really have that many dirty clothes. I have at least 14 shirts and 7 pairs of pants (yeah, I wear them twice or more) and even more underwear and socks, so I don’t see a problem. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/48 "2013-08-31T13:47:33Z")
When I was eleven years old, one of my ‘grown-up’ ambitions was to avoid as many household chores as possible. So now I employ a ‘cleaning lady’ - and ‘she’ does my laundry. 🆒 N.B. My ‘cleaning lady’ is actually a married couple. As a single chap I only need laundry one a week to stay fresh. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/49 "2013-08-31T13:57:33Z")
Me personally? Since laundry went on the kids’ chore list, very very rarely 🆒 (I do hang out and sort though) Household - about every day or two. Which is actually nice in some ways, since it means we don’t have to have great heaps of clothes. ---
**Author:** ![catnoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@catnoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catnoe)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/50 "2013-09-01T04:24:10Z")
We do laundry twice a month. Obviously at a laundymat. I used to refold everything the Hubby folded, now he folds his stuff and I fold mine and as I fold faster than he does I can usually get to the towels first and fold them ‘my way’. He doesn’t bother with the sheets as the fitted sheet gives him fits. (See what I did there! I make a joke!) > [@shiftless](#): > > I was banned from laundry duty two decades ago when I put something in the dryer on the wrong setting. I’m sure my wife wouldn’t mind if I was somehow able to learn but it’s apparently a complex process that can only lead to disaster unless a female supervises each and every step. Any clothes I fold need to be refolded as well, even my own. Folding fitted bottom sheets is so awful that I am allowed to do that sometimes but the rolling eyes usually put me off. I didn’t get banned from the kitchen but gave up cooking about 5 years into our marriage. He complained one time too many about my bland and boring food and I told him he could do it then. Twenty years later he’s gotten rather good at it. And any skill I may have had is completely gone. I would likely die of malnutrition without him. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/51 "2013-09-01T04:38:58Z")
Never. I’m 43 and have basically never done any laundry at all in my life. There’s always been a maid at my parents’ house, then living alone, then married. My wife also never does laundry. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/52 "2013-09-01T12:16:14Z")
I use a laundromat so I wash every two weeks, usually 5-6 loads at a time. Since they’re all done simultaneously it’s not an all day affair and I get a chance to get some reading in while sitting watching the clothes go round. Once in awhile I’ll do an extra run during an “off” week if we’ve had a pile up of stuff for some reason, and once in awhile we’ll go three weeks for some reason or other. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/53 "2013-09-01T13:46:47Z")
I go to the laundromat once a week. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/54 "2013-09-01T16:46:41Z")
I do my laundry as and when. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/55 "2013-09-01T17:42:41Z")
I do a small load pretty much every day. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/56 "2013-09-01T19:28:08Z")
I do laundry 5-6 times a week, because I live in a condo apartment with in-suite laundry facilities. Consequently, 1. The washer and dryer are relatively small capacity, so it takes more loads to get our laundry done than if we had full sized machines, and 2. It’s very easy to do it, since they’re right there. It’s something I can do by taking maybe an eight-foot detour from doing anything else. ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/57 "2013-09-01T20:45:47Z")
I do laundry about three times a week. I am single and childless and this seems like a lot when I think about it. One load of sheets and towels, one load of darks, one of colours. I do whites about every other week, when I have enough. My dryer died about a year ago, so I line dry everything. Outside, weather permitting, on the line in the basement otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/58 "2013-09-02T10:01:14Z")
I used to do laundry once a week, but since I do the Firebug’s laundry now as well as my own, I’ve had to go to twice a week. With a washer and dryer in the basement at home, the main factors are (a) how much laundry I feel like carrying up and down stairs at once, and (b) the number of times one has to remember to go downstairs and move the laundry along with minimal interruption to whatever else is going on. Three loads on a Friday night/Saturday morning seems to be optimal, and two loads on a weeknight. ---
**Author:** ![KermitTheFrig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/47e85d/32.png) [@KermitTheFrig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KermitTheFrig)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/59 "2013-09-02T12:16:24Z")
Usually two loads of clothing on Sundays. Then sheets/towels mid-week. ---
**Author:** ![CCitizen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@CCitizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCitizen)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507/61 "2016-06-02T18:56:46Z")
I do laundry twice a month – 100% of my laundry is on me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-you-do-laundry/667507.md?page=4)