How many loads of laundry do you do per week?

[gorenje]

... or how frequently you change clothes and home linens?

I read in an article that the average American family washes almost 400 loads of laundry each year.
Considering that washers has big capacity (well ok not always is a full load, but still...) that's an enormous amount of laundy.

Do we Europeans tend to wash less frequently or Americans tent to wash too much frequently?

I'm just curious to hear what you think about it.

I live alone, so I don't have that much laundry to do, so I'm not an average family and cannot be considered part of the statistic.

I change my hand towels every 4 days, not every day because I think it makes no sense to do it, because after one day they are still clean if I use them just to dry my already washed hands.

I change my sheets every week in the summer and every 2 weeks in the winter.

The clothes that come into contact with the skin are changed more often obviously.
Some daily or every two days.

....

 

[gorenje]

... oops, sorry guys for the double post.

I messed up something.

 

[aquacycle]

I have a bit of an odd laundry system. I do it in 2 week cycles. I don't like to wash unless I have a full load. I try to make effort at home to reduce waste - we're big on recycling and eco/green cleaning products and cosmetics too.

Anyway, there's 2 of us at home and both of us work full time in office-based environments, so plenty of shirts and V-neck jumpers to wash.

Week 1:

1 x dark wash (t-shirts, underwear, sicks, trousers etc)
1 x whites wash (bath towels, hand towels, cleaning cloths, bath mat)
1 x bedding wash

Week 2:

1 x dark wash
1 x light coloureds
1 x delicate jumpers
1 x whites wash
1 x bedding wash

Once every 3 weeks or so, I also do a jeans wash. Jeans and delicate jumpers are the only items I will use a liquid detergent on, the rest gets washed with bio powder.

So...I do 8 washes over a 2 week period, plus an extra wash every 3 weeks or so.

8 x 26 weeks = 208 washes
3/52 = 17.3 washes

Roughly 225 washes per year

 

[liamy1]

Average out...

About 14 loads a week.

If washing things like sofa throws, cushions, shower curtains etc and had an extra busy week, can get that closer to 25 washes a week.

 

[mayken4now]

6-8 loads per week. Single family household

 

[iheartmaytag]

Family of Three

Large washer 4.4 Cu Ft. 

We average a load a day, or seven a week. This varies for comforter washing, couch throws, curtains etc.

Roughly 360 loads a year, with the extras we could push the 400 loads per year mark.

 

[gorenje]

You really do a lot of loads. 14 loads a week or 8 loads per week... that's a lot. 14 loads a week for me would be 70 KG of laundy every week.

I wish I could have that much to wash because I love doing laundry

I also tend to wash only full loads, so until a certain load isn't full I don't wash it. (4 or 5 kg)

I do on average 1 load of darks (40*C) and 1 load of light colors (60*C) in one week. (every week)

In the second week I will do the standard 2 loads as above + 1 load of sheets (60*C) + 1 load of light colored towels (60*C).

The third week I will have again the 2 standard loads as every week + 1 load of whites (90*C)

+ 1 extra wash every month for random stuff (rugs or jackets or curtains or whatever need to be washed)

+ 1 extra wash every month for delicate jumpers

+ 1 extra wash every month for duvet cover

So the total for one month will be on avarage 14 loads or approximately 70 KG of laundry. Or 1 load (5 kg) every 2 days cca.

That's approximately 170 loads per year for a single person.

 

[aquacycle]

About 14 loads a week.

Fourteen loads!? Gosh, Liam, how many people are you washing for?

 

[liamy1]

Just...

4 people.

I honestly don't know where it comes from. I did count a full 7 days just once and it came to 24 loads :/

A big thing is towels, none of us can use a towel more than once, we just can't - have really tried.

Also kitchen cloths/tea (pot) towels - I won't wash these with anything else, so they get saved up and run on 95 wash around once a week.

To be honest, some weeks may well be lower (but would say it would never go below 7 loads).

There are a few days in the week, the washer doesn't go on, as out of the house practically from morning until night (after 10pm), but then will have to run at least 2 loads the following day.

In my previous job (contact centre), the shifts were all over the place, so I couldn't usually wash until Friday night - but it used to take up my whole weekend; as I won't leave any appliance on when out of the house.

From Sunday to now (including Sunday), I probably am on load number 10, and have easily another 6 loads to go.

Good job I like washing

 

[mattl]

Wow, 14 a week???  I live alone and might do 5-7 a MONTH!  Usually all at once.

 

[mark_wpduet]

hmm

4 to 6 loads per week.Some weeks more, some less. Sometimes I wash the bedspread and blankets, mattress pad, pillows, while other weeks it's just the sheets themselves.

If I had my old Whirlpool TL washer it would probably be 1.5 x that.

 

[vintage1963]

I love doing laundry so if there aren't many articles of clothing to wash I will look for things that need to be washed. We usually have a full hamper by the end of the week so that's not usually a problem for me to find something to launder.

 

[maytagmike]

I live alone and I do 2 to 3 loads per week. If washing rugs and mattress covers it tends to be a couple of loads more.

 

[gorenje]

Right now I have 5 piles of different loads (reds, towels, blacks, whites and colorfast colors) but none of them are large enough to be washed. They are just half full.

I don't use big bath towels, I find them inconvenient because they are so big. I rather use a regular towel to dry myself after a shower.

Everything you see is dirty but I try to "fold" my dirty laundry to keep it wrinkle free. I don't just toss in the hamper. That's just my habit, it wouldn't need to do so.

 

[yogitunes]

when we fostered 10 kids.....I had laundry galore, at least 4 loads a day.....if I had only one set, they would have been running all day.....

yet, with only three teen kids, I think I have just as much, or at least it seems like it.....plus they have football, track, soccer, and culinary classes, so there are uniforms to wash everyday....

if I had to separate, it would be mostly 2 loads a day.....a lot of times with schedules and other activities, it may be every other day......but it would fall around 14 loads a week, regular laundry...give or take.....

yeah, good thing I like to do laundry......but there are times it can try your patience....

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

I live alone (this will be changing in the next month or so) with my 5 yr old black lab.   I used to do laundry weekly (and whites every other week), but came to the realization I can do the bulk of my laundry (in larger loads) every 2 weeks, so that's what I do.

 

Every week:

~ 2 loads of sheets, normal cycle, hot + extra rinse - Load #1: king set w/5 king pillow cases,   Load #2: 3 or 4 "doggy bedding" king/queen flat sheets, used to cover the bed, sofa, inside dog bed, etc.

 

Every other week:

~ 2 loads of sheets (same as above)

~ 1 load of colors - normal cycle, warm + extra rinse (usually 14 pairs of shorts, etc) - I always wear shorts.

~ 1 load of darks/bright colors - normal cycle cold or cool + extra rinse (14-16 short sleeve cotton shirts = work, Hawaiian, black t-shirts, etc)

~ 1 load of whites - whitest whites cycle, hot w/LCB (personal whites, wash clothes, etc).   When my dad was still alive, I would save the grimy kitchen towels he generated until I had enough for a load (a number of months) then give them the works = whitest whites cycle, steam sanitize with liquid bleach.   They always came out perfect!

 

 

Other bedding?   No other bedding to speak of.   I use only a couple blankets or maybe a down comforter during the coldest winter months.  The last 5-6 months it's been so warm I've only used a sheet.

 

Every 4 -5 weeks I will also do a load of bath towels.  I use 1 bath towel per week, so I wait until I have enough for a load.***    

 

*** I am not a germaphobe and being in Southern California, our humidity is low enough that we do NOT have problems with towels not drying on the towel bar/rack or becoming musty / mildew-y, as with high humidity areas.

 

When I give Westy a bath, that will generate 2 loads right there, towels plus his outside dog bedding/blanket.

 

The best part is I can do 5 loads at the same time and two of them have built in heaters.

 

Kevin

 

P.S... There was another thread about this back in June, here is the link for it:

[this post was last edited: 10/6/2016-11:32]

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www.automaticwasher.org

 

[gorenje]

Wow Yogitunes you house is like a Laundromat. I would be pleased to help your family to do the laundry. You got a nice set-up of Maytag machines.

Thanks Kevin for the response and for the other thread I haven't seen ;-)

 

[brucelucenta]

WASHER PEOPLE ARE NUTS!!!

 

[grwasher_expert]

Wow,never seen so many Neptunes in one room