I have a huge high-efficiency washer, though, from my time using cloth diapers. It makes a *big* difference.

In the summer when line-drying is quick, and right now when we’re using the dryer, I do a load every other day with sometimes two loads in one day. In the fall & spring when I’m line-drying but it takes a long time, I usually end up doing every 2 or 3 days and then using the dryer on an emergency load on the weekend – I’m working on learning to do that, I didn’t extend my line-drying season til this year.

I kind of miss the laundromat, just doing it one afternoon & having it be done…but I didn’t have as many dirty clothes then, either.

Four our family of four, we have 2 loads of clothes per week in the summer and 3 loads per week in winter–and that includes towels. We do 1-3 loads of linens, based on whether we’re just washing sheets or comforters, too.

We have a Cabrio, which holds a TON of clothes, we’re skinny, and pants are worn 2 days. Also, we use one set of towels per person per week (they’re used on a clean body–they’re probably the cleanest thing in the laundry). We’re also skinny!

So that’s about 1 hour/week. Seems a lot better than the example here.

I just do a load each morning. I fold what’s in the dryer and put it away, move the wash into the dryer, and put in another load to wash. It takes about ten minutes a day, so around an hour a week. Since it doesn’t pile up it takes no time to put it all away, and it has really made an unpleasant, cumbersome task into a piece of cake.

Best,
Amanda @ http://www.kiddio.org & http://www.housemade.org

To the person so concerned about fecal bacteria remaining on bath towels and “mixing” with the dish towels when washed – our bodies were never intended to be entirely bacteria-free. Your body hosts more bacterial cells than its own cells. Deal with it. Washing your bath towels with your kitchen towels isn’t going to make you sick. All those cleaning products you’re probably sparying around your kitchen are far more likely to be harmful to your health than a few potential stray bacteria.

My husband also does his own laundry, so that again, he has nobody to blame but himself if he’s low on clothes. I do mine and the younger kids’ in one load twice a week, usually, and the sheets and towels as needed. No way do I do a load once a day. We’re a family of five.

My daughter generates more laundry than my wife and I combined.

-for the person who asks about combo washer/dryers… you don’t want one. We’ve used them in Europe, and they are very slow and don’t dry the clothes in the way that a separate dryer does. You need to quickly grab the stuff and hang it up when the cycle is over
-I use two sizes of bar mop cloths for dishes – the smaller one for washing, and the larger one for drying. I change these every morning, and more often depending on what I’ve wiped up. They are inexpensive white terry cloths, not pretty, but real workhorses. You can buy them cheaply at restaurant supply stores. I also use white or slightly off-white terry faceloths, change them at least daily, and wash all the kitchen and bath cloths in a small load with bleach once a week with my DH’s white workout tshirts.
-I then do a load of “flats” – towels and sheets – once a week. Buying them in similar colour families makes this easier.