Less Laundry?
Not exactly true, at least for much of Europe.
Remember modern appliances did not truly spread throughout the Western European and UK populations until the post WWII era. Prior to that many, many, many homes lacked much of the mod-cons Amercians had taken for granted by and large for years. This included automatic washing machines, fridges and even indoor plumbing.
The generations of Europeans born, growing up from say the 1950's and 1960's came into a world vastly different from their parents. For one thing they certianly ate better, this resulted in children growing taller than their parents.
Post war Europe also saw the beginnings of mass consumerism, long part of American culture. Instead of owning say one or two items, people, especially the younger generations began to want and aquire wardrobes of clothing. While nothing as what was going on, on the other side of the pond, it still was much more than say their parents or grandparents would have had when it came to the lower and even middle classes.
As for large amounts of laundry, actually there certianly was, going back ages. Even though bathing everyday may not have been a habit in many European homes, changing of body linen (undergarments, shirts, and so forth), was a bit more frequent. Of course the higher up one was on the class ladder, the more often clothing was changed. Considering the vast number of undergarments women wore until the 1920's or so, this could produce vast amounts of laundry. In the homes of the upper classes, where women and even men changed clothing several times a day, this also generated lots of laundry.
Then there was bed and table linens to be laundered as well.
When laundry was sent out or done at home in coppers, wash tubs and so froth, they tended to be rather large so one could get one with all that washing.