How long does it take you to do your laundry?

I usually dump the done laundry on my bed so I HAVE to fold it and put it away at some point before I want to lie on my bed. I have this weird aversion to having laundry all over, I can't stand it being on my couch or in piles on the floor.... if it's in a basket short term in my room I don't mind, or in a basket short term next to my dryer if I decide not to fold it yet. I wish I had the same issue with other clutter, like old mail and papers. I can't seem to get rid of that stuff on a daily basis because I'm always afraid I'll toss something accidentally, like a bill or a coupon.

Oh, I totally agree with you on the mail issue! I always think well this might come in handy later. If I would read it first and then decide if I want to keep it or not at least. But sometimes I just look at the address and think, I'll read it later I know it must be "important!"

My husband did laundry for me a few times, a couple times when I was sick to the point where I was flat on my back in bed for 2-3 days, a couple times when I was pregnant and sick, and once while I was gone traveling for a race in Utah. The last time it was just one small load of his clothing and a few items of our daughter's clothes, which he did entirely, but I dimly remember the time he did multiple loads that I had several baskets of clean clothes on the floor in my master for awhile because I was still miserable and sick and wasn't up to getting up and folding it and putting it away. I was so happy that my husband washed and dried 3-4 LOADS of clothes so I didn't really care that they weren't folded, and at least he didn't dump them on the couch, in the hallways, or on the bed where I was trying to sleep lol. I was not thrilled that the hampers were both full and overflowing, and I think he realized that.

Ugh... I would be aggravated too! When my older kids were teenagers, I shifted the responsibility for each of their own laundry onto each of them, because I figured it was sane and normal to expect a 15 year old and a 13 year old to each do at LEAST one load a week of their OWN laundry. Doesn't that seem sane to you? I never asked either of them to do ALL our laundry or one load a day, or several loads a day. I asked for ONE load of THEIR own clothes each week. I didn't care which day they did it, but I did expect them to wash the load, get it in the dryer, and then get it back to their rooms so they weren't tying up the washer and dryer or leaving baskets of clothing everywhere. I didn't even care if they folded it as long as it got back in their room and wasn't left in a pile on the floor somewhere. IT WAS SO HARD TO ENFORCE THIS! And on top of it, they both regularly complained 'mom I need more clothes, I have nothing to wear'. SERIOUSLY?! I think they both had enough clothes to wear a different outfit every day for 30 days! It just seems easier to keep up with things, only let them pile up to a manageable degree so you can still take care of things within a small enough timeframe that you don't get frustrated and just let it go. I use this philosophy with picking up clutter too - I will declutter one area for about 20 minutes. Whatever I can get done in 20 minutes I'll do. Then I'll go do something else. If it needs more, then I'll set aside another 20 minutes - as a person can do almost anything for just 20 minutes, right? It's when someone steps into their house and the whole house is a disaster, and then they just procrastinate because they don't even know where to start.

If I run a med size load, it takes about 16 min in the washer, and then around an hour and a half in the dryer. I usually try to be around while the clothes are in the washer so I can can load the dryer when it's done, then I can leave. I actually have a load in the dryer now I need to fold and put away, but that'll be it, I only have one days' worth of clothing in the hamper

I don't think I would ever do laundry if I had to handwash it all and hang it. I know... that sounds terrible but the time it would take to do that is way too much lol. Is there a reason you don't have a washer and dryer? I can't imagine not having one. I didn't long ago when I had my first apartment, but after I had a load of clothes stolen from my apartment laundry, I just went to my parents house once a week to do it.

I'm not sure if all these 'piles' are dirty or clean, I'm assuming the piles ON furniture are clean and piles on the FLOOR are dirty. I have too many small kids in my house on a regular basis and having piles of clothes everywhere is a bad idea, because kids don't care what they run into or step on, and they think nothing of just throwing everything on the couch or bed onto the floor, and at that point you would never know what was clean or dirty, and if the floor wasn't just mopped and everyone didn't take shoes off in the entry, it would all have to be done again anyway on principle lol.

Ok... here's the thing. All the people who have gone into this 'sample' have a washer and dryer in their home. Some of them have more than one child at home, I do laundry for 3. My daughter doesn't change her clothes 4 times a day, I don't let her. I will do a load as soon as I have enough to do a load, which unless I'm sick, ensures that I don't get behind. As far as bedding, I can do sheets but I have to take the comforters to the laundromat - my normal size washing machine doesn't like california king size comforters or all the pillows. I have to use the industrial size machine for those.

I don't iron either . I discovered it's easy to get wrinkles out of things if you toss them in the dryer along with a damp washcloth for a few minutes. Another way to do it is hang things and turn your shower on hot with the hung items in the bathroom. For stubborn wrinkles, there are also sprays you can use in addition to steaming them on hangers. I think we have too many clothes but I only have up to a week's worth in the hamper when I do a load, sometimes less. I have to gather from both hampers and sort - unless I tell my daughter to toss her stuff in mine. When my older kids were still at home, they were each supposed to do one load of their OWN laundry at least once a week. I thought this was fair, it stopped me from having to do their laundry on top of ours and put the job on each of them. Now if they DIDN'T do a load, then they had piles of dirty clothes, but I stayed firm on that, if they didn't have any clean clothes, it was their own fault, and if they wanted clean clothes, that meant they needed to get off their butts and do a load of their clothes.

I would lose it if I had to hang my clothes to dry lol. It gets really windy here even though it's hot, so I would likely end up with drying clothes blowing off the line and ending up in my pool. Yes... I admit I seem spoiled having a washer and dryer but we have always had a washer and dryer. When I had all 3 kids in the house, laundry was crazy - when I was still doing all of it that is.