Laundry?

[ORChick]

I've always dreamed of having that perfect laundry room with plenty of natural light from numerous large windows looking out on some pretty scenery, a great work counter with a drop down ironing board, places to hang up clothing for drying on the hanger, plenty of bins and shelves for storage, a utility sink, and a good sound system/radio.

Bliss....

I had one sorta like that once but it wasn't large enough and didn't have any of the storage or utility sink. I had hinged an old wooden ironing board to the wall and had made curtains out of old 50s era aprons of different designs and colors that I had hung with clothes pins onto twine...it was charming but I just needed more space and storage/working areas.

Bee, if you find out how to manage a room like that in a small space please let me know. I might even do more ironing in a room like that . My laundry room is just wide enough for the washer and dryer; there are 2 cupboards above, and I put in a couple of shelves, and a spring loaded rod from which to hang clothes over the machines. Not even a sink! Though it is right next to a small bathroom. Both these rooms are against the back wall, which is against a hill, so no windows at all, large or otherwise. I do have large front loading machines, so I can fit more in any single load, but I do dislike washing a small load in the big machine. Supposedly the machine can sense how big the load is, and adjust the water, but I'm not so sure I believe it . (Does the refrigerator light really go out when the door is closed? Don't answer ) DH and I are both retired; before we were I was certainly doing more wash - my nursing whites, and his good shirts for work. But now, not so much. I also tend to skimp on the amount of washing powder; half the recommended amount of commercial stuff as a beginning, with a bit more for really dirty loads. Once a month or every 6 weeks I'll do a load of whites in hot water with a bit of bleach; otherwise, everything gets washed cold.
I dunno - reading all that again .... maybe I do have lower standards

ETA - My laundry room is downstairs, but the laundry line is upstairs, strung over the covered deck (no place else to put it). Most of the clean laundry lives upstairs as well, and the ironing board is in my sewing room, also upstairs. Could be that I consolidate my laundry as I do just because all the components are so widely spread out

 

[Beekissed]

My laundry was in a dank, dark basement setting once and that was when I moved it to the aforementioned room upstairs. I found that laundry tended to mount up and be forgotten when it was out of sight downstairs. :/ Even though this house did have a really cool laundry chute in the bathroom that led to the basement laundry facilities.

I have lower laundry standards also....I don't make myself a slave to the clothing or the washing machine. I only iron when I want the peace that comes along with smoothing creases and wrinkles, which isn't often nowadays.

All that became much easier also when I started making the boys do their own laundry....it really cut down on them just throwing an item of clothing in the dirty clothes because they didn't want to hang it up to use again. Now, of course, it's just MY laundry....which I do about every 2 wks.

 

[DianeS]

Two adults here. I do "regular laundry" each weekend - that consists of one load of whites and one of darks. I also wear a lot of red, and I normally let that one pile up until I'm out of red clothing, then I wash all red things all at once with nothing else in the load, every 2 weeks. The towels (bath towels/washcloths/hand towels/dish towels) are used for several days to a week before putting in the laundry bin, and I do those all together when it will fill the machine, which really depends on how quickly the kitchen towels get spilled on.

The machine here isn't very big, otherwise I'd probably let our regular laundry pile up a bit more.

 

[Living the Simple Life]

2 adults and 2 kids

During warm weather we have 4-5 loads per week - light regular, dark regular, light dress/work and/or dark dress/work, towels. During the winter we have a jeans load also. Bathing towels are used for a week (we typically bathe 2-3x per week, extra if grubby/sweaty). Dish clothes and towels are changed every day.

I re-wear my skirts, pants and dresses 2-3 times before washing (I sit at a desk - how am I getting dirty?). Kids wear their jeans 2 days. In summer we have more actual articles of clothing because the kids are getting dirty playing outside, but you can put a lot of shorts and tee shirts into a load!

I expect our laundry to actually go down as they continue to get older and we keep working on the "not just throwing something in the hamper because it is convenient" or "let's actually find your pajamas instead of getting out a clean pair" scenarios :/