It seems to me that the relationships of frugal people have less conflict than those of the general population. However, no healthy relationship is completely without disagreement. Mrs. 1500 and I don’t fight often and when we do, it’s about trivial stuff like the thermostat settings. (Mrs. 1500 note: IMPORTANT stuff like thermostat settings.)
We have another disagreement that we need your help resolving. This one is about laundry:
First, we must see the answers from last week’s question when I asked you about goals:
What Are Your 2018 Goals?
Budget On A Stick has ambitious and worthy goals:
This year is all about pumping more money into savings. We have 2 Roths to max out, continue maxing the HSA, up the 401k % and increase the mortgage overpayment. If we have any $$ left it will be sent to a brokerage account!
We also are planning two trips and a bathroom remodel. Definitely, have a busy 2018 ahead of us.
Now that I think about it the Ms. and I should try to get back into shape. Haven’t been running like we used to.
Reader Miles wants to own three investment properties by 30! Awesome!
My goal is to find creative ways to paying down my Line of Credit (HELOC), instead of taking 30yrs to pay off. After this has been paid off, I can focus on using my LOC to purchase my next income producing rental property. I purchased my first investment property last year (Dec2016) and so far have been doing just fine. I plan on having a total of 3 investment properties before I turn 30 (currently 28 as of Oct 2017). Wish me luck!!!
Gen Y Finance Guy is going to dominate the world:
1) Strengthen my relationship with Mrs. GYFG
2) Dress the part. Since getting promoted to the C-Suite earlier this year, I have been slowly making a transition to level up with my professional appearance.
3) Increase net worth to $825,000 (stretch goal is $1M).
4) Weigh 203 lbs (I currently weigh 233 lbs and need to lose 30 lbs).
5) Negotiate $25,000 to $75,000 pay raise. COMPLETED; ENDED WITH $75K INCREASE
The only other big plan is to try to make a baby GYFG in 2018.
Reader Cheri has an idea I really like:
My resolution is to write down and accomplish my top 3 of the day.
This is a wonderful way to be mindful of goals. I may just adopt it for myself.
And Reader Peter may have had the best one:
Be in the moment.
See and feel what life is.
Our Laundry Disagreement
Hi there, Mrs. 1500 back today with the hard-hitting questions. Let’s talk about dirty laundry.
Mr. 1500 feels that we are doing too much laundry.
Mr. 1500 note: I once had a roommate who would cram everything that needed to be washed into one load. It didn’t matter what needed to be washed; it was all stuffed into the machine Japanese subway-style. Mrs. 1500 is the opposite (“I’m doing a jeans load today”). If left to her own devices, she would have 587 different loads, each with 4 items. (Mrs. 1500 rebuttal: This is completely false. I only wash full, large loads. Yes, I separate the clothing so my white whites aren’t being washed with Mr. 1500’s gross, dirty work jeans and oil-changing shirts that somehow end up with a quart of oil on them… Sorry, not sorry.)
Please note that when he says “we” what he really means is the 1500 household. Mr. 1500 currently does 0% of the laundry, which is fine, I don’t mind doing it.
Mr. 1500 note: Bras? Woman’s panties? That stuff terrifies me! Woe betide you if you incur Mrs. 1500’s wrath for doing the laundry wrong!!! (Mrs. 1500 note: This is 100% accurate.)
But mostly, my lack of laundry help is a relic from the days of when I worked and Mrs. 1500 didn’t. Since the first draft of this post was written, I’ve seen the errors of my ways and started doing more of the laundry. Those bras still scare me though… (Mrs. 1500 note: And I appreciate the help. I never say anything about how you fold everything completely wrong…) (Mr. 1500 rebuttal: How the hell do you even fold the sheet with the elastic on it?!?) (Mrs. 1500 reply: Oh, you can just wad that up in a ball. I don’t know how to fold that, either.)
We have 2 children. They both wear uniforms to school, and they wear 2-3 uniforms throughout the week. I work from home 3 days a week, and we all know that Mr. 1500 is unemployed.
Mr. 1500 note (TMI alert): On some days, I barely get dressed. Is working in your underwear wrong? (Mrs. 1500: Yes.)
So we don’t have a huge bunch of clothes that need to be washed. I find myself doing 3-4 loads of laundry per week, although there are weeks where I do more laundry.
Mr. 1500 note: What?! Huh!?!? Three to four loads a week is insanity!
I don’t think this is too much laundry, but Mr. 1500 feels differently.
Mr. 1500’s (Correct) View
Here are my laundry rules:
- Socks and underwear: Wash after one day of use. I occasionally make an exception for workouts (see below).
- T-shirts, undershirts: I usually wash these after one day of use as well. However, if I just sat around the house all day and the weather was cool, sometimes I’ll push this out to two days.
- Pants. shorts, sweaters, shirts where there is another shirt underneath: If I don’t get them dirty and I’m not sweating, sometimes these items go weeks without a wash. When I’m wearing a button-down shirt or sweater, I always have a shirt on underneath. The underneath shirt takes the brunt of my BO and gets washed. When I have pants on, I’m usually wearing underwear. The underwear gets the nasty exposure, so it gets washed.
- Workouts: I exercise first thing in the morning so sometimes, I wear the underwear and socks from the previous day. Why break out a clean pair of underwear and socks only to wear them for an hour?
- Dryer sheets: What kind of a scam is this? What do they even do? What huckster thought these up? Probably the same dude who came up with hair conditioner, another pointless product. Mrs. 1500 swears by this scam though. To dry clothes without a dryer sheet is a crime against humanity in our household! (Mrs. 1500 note: Thank God you finally see things my way!)
One last point: I am flexible. For example, in the summer when it’s hot, that last bullet point doesn’t apply. I’m frugal, but not to the point of being stinky. The bottom line is I wash clothes when they need to be washed. (One last Mrs. 1500 comment: The children are responsible for picking up their clothes and putting the dirty ones into their hamper. Sometimes I find folded clothes in the hamper. I pick my battles, unlike some…)
If it was just me, I’d probably do a load of clothes every 2-3 weeks in the winter and a little more frequently in the warm weather.
You?
This week’s question is simple. How many people are in your family, and how many loads of laundry do you do every week?
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Haha! This was a hilarious post Mr. 1500.
With two young kids (ages 2 and 4), we do a lot of laundry as well! Maybe 5-6 loads a week?
The kids somehow manage to get caked in dirt, food, vomit, and other yucky substances every single day. This means 2-6 pairs of pants, 4 pairs of socks, and 4-5 shirts per day need washing, The kid’s coats and rain pants get washed about once a week, as well as bed sheets, pillowcases, and towels.
It’s a lot of laundry.
I was remarking to Mrs. Tako last week, “Modern life was built on the washing machine…”
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I am so happy to be past the “caked in dirt, food, vomit…” stage.
ditto….down to the last word on either side. Especially the part that says I never say anything when I fold it wrong. I have bad news for ya, as girls get older, it gets worse, much worse. Teenager girls and clothes, it’s an expense you may not have allocated enough retirement funds against.
hahaha, thanks for the warning Chris!
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Uggh! You’re scaring me Chris!
Here’s the same concept using an expandable mesh hamper instead. You might want to go this route if you have larger sand toys that you need to carry around such as buckets or sifters. Items that won’t fit into a standard mesh laundry bag will fit in a mesh laundry hamper.
I do one load a week, that’s it. And I follow the Japanese Subway Style guide and just stuff it all in. It’s always worked for me, things get clean. Or at least they appear to….
As for dryer sheets – stop the madness! The money adds up and they’re laced with all sorts of weird chemicals. To keep wrinkles out use these – https://www.amazon.com/Dryer-Balls-Count-Assorted-Colors/dp/B004W7GNB2
A one time purchase and they work great. I’ve had mine for over 4 years now.
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Yes! Another one who see dryer sheets for the scam that they are!
We do 3-4 loads for a family of 4. My work clothing is one load separate from everything else because it is mostly delicate. My husband and I both do the laundry and everyone folds.
It really isn’t funny reading about someone who does none of the chore criticizing how that chore gets done. That’s the kind of thing that shows up on Captain Awkward because it’s something darth Vader boyfriends use as a means of control. Really not funny.
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Did you read the part about how I saw the error of my ways and now do it?
Awesome post, who would have though that laundry is so much fun to read about!
Cheesy household: three people, 2-3 loads per week (white/light colors. red/green/brown/purple and black/blue). MASSIVE washing machine (up to 12kg), no dryer (we have cloths lines for this).
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Oh man, maybe Mrs. 1500 isn’t so crazy. 🙂 At least you don’t subscribe to dryer sheet madness!
Mrs 1500 is clearly well trained in the art of laundry sorting 😉
Deep bow to our fellow laundry ninja.
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Uh-uh. She refused to adopt rolling which is superior to folding!
I honestly have no idea how many loads we do in a week. I did 1 yesterday and we have 2 today but will probably not need to do much in the next week….oh crap do we need to do sheets?
My laundry rules line up almost exactly to Mr. 1500. Although, sometimes I wonder what the point is for washing t-shirts every day since I sit in an office chair and not exactly active.
I have a confession… (checks to see if the Ms. is behind me) …we split our hots and colds into two different hampers…I wash them both cold!! (winces, expecting a death blow from the wife)
Using hot water is pointless nowadays. The only thing I don’t run in colds and make sure to wash separately from other stuff is the kiddo’s diapers.
Finally, I hated dryer sheets. The sheets would always stick to the baby clothes and then he would get irritations on his skin in that spot so we ended up buying wool dryer balls. They do the same as dryer sheets without all the chemicals.
Budget On a Stick recently posted…2018 Goals, Not Resolutions
Yep, totally agree on the cold too. The Mrs. and I are on the same page with that.
I’m going to tell her…
Noooo!!! 😛
Budget On a Stick recently posted…2018 Goals, Not Resolutions
My husband and I commute together in a car with a manual transmission. I usually drive there, and he usually drives home. The way he shifts gives me crazy eyes. It’s like he hates 4th gear. I don’t understand, it’s a perfectly good gear.
But when I’m tempted to say something, I try to remember that I should just be grateful I don’t have to drive, and that he’s not doing any harm, and if our gas mileage is a little lower than I’d like we’ll survive. I’m not perfect, sometimes I say exactly what I’m thinking and I usually regret it. These little things aren’t worth arguing about. (The thermostat, on the other hand, is worth going to battle for – that’s daily comfort!)
Oh, and you can pry my hair conditioner from my cold dead hands. I don’t think I could brush my hair without it.
Conditioner!!! Our shower has 5,038 bottles of conditioner and a little, lonely bottle of shampoo hiding somewhere. I don’t understand! 🙂
For the record, Mr. 1500’s hair is currently less than one inch long.
I’ve standardized my outfit. Wear the same look every day.
Do laundry once a month. No dryer sheets, use felted wool balls.
Oh and the thermostat thing…
Never use the furnace or air conditioner.
San Francisco Bay Area too mild too bother.
I love you.
Wow, that’s amazing.
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Well, it is just me but I do 4 loads a week. Gotta separate whites, colors, darks and then there is the sheets/towels load. I use Charlie’s soap so no need to additional softner.
We have 3 people and we do about 3-5 loads per week. I usually do the colors and white, but I leave the delicate stuff alone.
Ideally, I’d like to live in Hawaii someday and do very little laundry. Just wear shorts or swim shorts everyday. Well, I guess it’s too humid in HI.
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I like your Hawaii idea!!!
Haha, nicely done. However I’m with Mrs. 1500 on this one. ONE load every 2-3 weeks? Oh, if only that were true…. We have about 3 loads each week (2 persons). We don’t have specific ‘work clothes’, since we both work at the office. I only run the machine when it’s full.
1 load of socks & underwear (about every 2 weeks)
1 load of towels (about every 2 weeks)
1 load of bedding (once every 2 weeks)
1-2 loads of clothing (every week. This is mostly t-shirts. BF wants a clean shirt everyday since he sweats quite quickly. My shirts last about 2-3 days. Vests also last multiple days. We both wear our pants until they are visibly dirty)
Oh no! Maybe Mrs. 1500 is right? Where do you land on the dryer sheet controversy?
I’d never heard of them till you mentioned them! But I don’t live in the USA (Europe), maybe they’re not that common here? Never heard friends/family mention them.
I looked up what kind of problem they should help avoid. And I don’t have that problem in the first place. So why would I need it?
I only put towels in the dryer (because they come out so nice & soft, as opposed to hanging them out). Clothes get 10 minutes in the dryer & then I hang them while they’re warm & steamy. That way I can hang them real smooth & wrinkle free. Saves me so much ironing. I can just fold most of the things straight away & I don’t use the dryer as much. 🙂 Double win.
When I was single, 1 load every 2-3 weeks, japanese subway style.
Now, 4 people. Probably 3-4 loads/week.
Kids wear a ridiculous number of clothes it seems.
I agree about pants-jeans I will wear a half dozen times or more. Shirts worn just bumming around the house twice probably.
“I exercise first thing in the morning so sometimes, I wear the underwear and socks from the previous day.”
Excellent point! As long as you didn’t workout in those items the day before, they’re good to go for today’s workout.
On your question, we probably do 6-8 loads a week. But we have a tiny washer/dryer in our downtown Chicago apartment.
Also, your sketches of Mrs. 1500 keeps making me laugh. I showed one to Mrs. BD and told her I was going to make one of her… she just glared at me and didn’t say a word 🙂 .
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“Also, your sketches of Mrs. 1500 keeps making me laugh. I showed one to Mrs. BD and told her I was going to make one of her… she just glared at me and didn’t say a word.”
Uh oh, you better not go there! Dangerous territory!
And who said anything about a sketch? That is an actual photo! 🙂
You should ask Mr. 1500 what lengths he went to to draw that picture…
Hmm, I think it’s dependent on how many people are in your households. For the two of us, we do 4 loads a week. But we don’t separate out our clothes! We do keep high-end sportswear separate so we can use a special soap for them, but that’s it. Our machine is HE, so we don’t feel too guilty about our laundry habits. 🙂
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With one child in potty training and a kid in uniforms I do a lot of laundry. 4 loads a week sounds right . I generally follow no rules and subway load as well. It drives my wife crazy how I put away clothes as she reorganizes the drawers what seems like weekly. But since I do almost all the laundry she grits her teeth and deals.
I’ve been doing the laundry the entire time we have been married. I fold things the right way, and Mr. 1500 comes along with his “help” and folds everything completely different. I am only sane enough to not look a gift horse in the mouth, and I keep mine shut, but it’s so hard and sometimes I refold things like towels. (They have to be folded a specific way to fit on the shelves…
Right now, I’d say we average one load a week, sometimes two. And I follow almost an identical “should I wash it” criteria as Mr. 1500.
But as our family is growing, and I hear cloth diapers are the hip way to keep poop contained these days, I imagine this will go to something like 4 loads a week pretty soon…
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Cloth diapers are great! One extra load every 2-3 days. Get a wet bag that has a drawstring.
I was laughing so hard at this post my wife (aka Mrs. Stuffed Animal Gal) caught wind of this, which lead to a “discussion” which prompted more questions Haha! I do the laundry in our home (including Mrs. SAG’s undergarments in public because we have a community laundry room). It is only the 2 of us, for now. I normally do two washing loads a week. But sometimes I have to do 3 loads because Mrs. SAG likes to wear a lot of clothes during the winter to stay warm. Normally 2/3’s of the pile of clothes are hers, which seems a bit skewed to me. Additionally, Mrs. 1500, out of curiosity does Mr. 1500 ever leave things in his pockets and you wash them unknowingly, and then Mr. 1500 blames you? This constantly happens to me with Mrs. SAG. As you can see I’m very passionate about this topic Haha! Now off to do the laundry 🙂
Wow, Danny! It’s like you are eavesdropping on our conversations. I once washed his whole wallet!
My wife says, “At least she cleaned out his wallet” Haha! On a side note, I slightly take back what I say as she’s helping with the laundry today.
Oh man, I’m the king of leaving crap in my pockets! Usually, it’s a wad of toilet paper that I’ve been blowing my nose with. The scene when you open the machine is not pretty!
Fortunately, I’ve never left a phone in my pocket.
Not yet…
We are a family of 5 (woth 3 kids under 3, 2 of them still in diapers), and we do 8 loads: one per day plus an extra one on saturdays when i change the sheets and towels. But we cloth diaper, which means at least 3 loads per week! I wash everything together, dont even separate whites and so on. And some days i prewash diapers by hand and then wash them with clothes… heck, i HATE hanging thr clothes to dry so i try to be as efficient as possible. 4 loads per week for a family of 4 doesnt strike me as too many!!! ?
Oh wow, maybe the Mrs. is right?
OMG, the Mrs. is ALWAYS right! (Happy wife, happy life…)
Happy wife, laundry strife.
7 loads per week, one per day. Dad, Mom, Twin Girls (3), and a Boy (2).
Dad wears one outfit and a change of gym clothes each day. Sleeps in shorts and tshirt.
Mom, the same.
Kids wear day outfit, and pajamas.
I am not sure how we produce so much laundry, but we do.
Maybe we just all need to move to Hawaii like Joe said above. That way, we could run around in shorts and t-shirts every single day. Who is with me?!?!!!
I do 3-6, depending on the season. In summer, usually 1 load of clothes, 1 load of sheets/towels, and 1 load of dog blankets (he sheds like crazy, some blankets are for the furniture, others are to keep the short haired, large dog warm). In winter, clothes seem to double to 2 loads, plus a load or two of delicates- sweaters mostly- every few weeks.
I run my own laundry once every two weeks, everything in. Used to run once a week when I was working. Retirement made my life simpler, and clothes less dirty for sure.
When I was single, I never washed my towels until they smelled and were obviously way overdue. #efficiency
Mrs. Vigilante washes them at least once a week. #probablysanitary
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“When I was single, I never washed my towels until they smelled and were obviously way overdue. ”
Agreed! Towels are used to dry a clean body, so they don’t get dirty! No need to wash except when visitors come. That would just be weird otherwise.
3 people in our family. 3..5 loads per week for the adults and unknown for the teenager, she does her own. I do not use dryer sheets or hair conditioner.
Nice work on the dryer sheets and conditioner!
Thanks for the laugh!
I do 1 load per week for family of two, occasionally less during the summer. Caveat: I hand wash and hang dry socks, underwear, and workout t-shirt daily. Another confession: I don’t change outer-garments every day. I use dryer sheets but might stop after reading your article. They don’t cost too much, just $1 for 100 sheets which last for 200 weeks at half a sheet per load, or almost 4 years, but if they don’t really don’t do anything useful I might as well skip them 🙂
Don’t tell Mr. 1500, but I regret buying them at Costco. On the plus side, I’ll never run out of dryer sheets for the rest of my life.
This was a great post! My thoughts are:
Dryer sheets – A total scam, and don’t even get me started on the chemicals!!! I am continuously amazed by how many people are willing to treat their bodies as walking chemistry labs (food chemicalsinside, dryer sheet chemicals on the outside!)
Loads of laundry – As a family of 6, we end up with about 5-6 loads a week. I do have to say that my high-capacity washer will handle a kid’s worth of clothes as well as their towel or sheets in one load. We seem to generate way more colors than whites so I do combine several people’s whites in one load.
Girls vs. boys on laundry – As the mom of 4 teenagers, I can tell you that this is an area with a huge gender disparity. My girls only have to look a piece of clothing and they consider it dirty. I have seen them try something on, decide to wear something different, and where do I find the tried-on but not chose article of clothing? In the dirty laundry basket! Arg! On the other hand, my boys seem to not consider clothes dirty until they can walk off on their own. Also, arg!
Conditioner – If, as Mrs. 1500 says, your hair is only an inch long, I would have to respectfully say that conditioner may not be topic of expertise for you. 😉 Those of us with long hair will almost unanimously come down on the pro-conditioner side of the argument.
Thanks for making my Monday with your post – I had many good laughs reading it!
Thank you for the support, Caroline. He washes his hair with bar soap. Literally rubs it on his head.
And what is the problem?
About 4 loads including one of sheets but we do live across 2 houses though (complicated so we are near the kids mum when we need to be) I think it would probably be 3 otherwise.
I like clean undies so I have night undies day undies and sometimes if I change to go out or something I change them then too. Other stuff socks new each day everything else gets the sniff test before going ether in the basket or the another wear rail but usually trousers two wears t shirts two wears unless it’s hot. Outer stuff a week unless it gets specifically mucky.
Given that we have a 22 months old still in clothes diaper and a 4-year-old, they go through clothes a lot, especially when they go play in the yard. I would say we probably go through like 2 or 3 loads of laundry each week. We try to reduce the number of loads by wearing clothes for multiple days (both kids and adults).
We also exclusively air dry our clothes too, so we don’t really use our dryer.
Whoa whoa, ease up on the hair conditioner – until you grow a foot of hair, and can go without it without looking like you were electrocuted every morning, please leave us some humanity! The dryer sheets aren’t strictly necessary though. They’re replaceable with wool balls!
We have 3 humans and 1 dog, and we do 1-2 loads of laundry per week unless it’s a bedding week. On bedding weeks, I have to do all the bedding in the house plus pillows because we host guests relatively often and I get grossed out at the idea of dirty pillows being shared between people.
I just let JB stay in dirty clothes all day (unless there is vomit, pee, or poo involved) and we adults only change once a day unless PiC works out (incredibly unlikely for me to work out) so we each only have one outfit to wash per day.
I really don’t care how things are folded as long as they’re put away. Mostly I do the folding and hanging up, and JB is responsible for putting away most of zir own clothes already so we’re doing alright. PiC seems to live out of the laundry basket unless I put away his clothes but since he cleans all the toilets, I don’t really care about that much either! Low standards make for less friction.
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“…without looking like you were electrocuted every morning.” This is the look I’m after though!
Oh, well, hand over the conditioner and have at it!
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Just me for laundry and I do it every couple weeks… I think. I found it depends on the limiting factor of my wardrobe i.e when I run out of boxers/ when I get around to it. And I’ll do sheets and whatnot every other laundry day(ish).
Shirt reusability is like 3x, socks 2-3x (as long as they are comfy), boxers 1x, pants infinity. I am aware that I need to do some of my laundry a bit more frequently, but as far as I’m concerned as long as it’s not actually dirtied then a bit of scent is fine. If actually dirty then I’ll move on.
Workout stuff I will reuse for a while, but I make sure to air it out in between uses. Or shower with it on! Works best with quick dry stuff, not cotton!
I read an interview with the head of Levi’s and he said you should never wash denim, ever. If his get too gross, he sticks them in the freezer. I may be missing something, but I didn’t think getting your jeans cold equaled getting them clean.
Ask Mr. 1500, and he probably sides with the Levi’s guy.
Yeah, I definitely wash them if I get them suitably dirty (like the ones I cook in), but unless there’s mud and stuff I’m just not bothered. I wash them because I feel like I should, I just do it less frequently than the rest.
I suppose freezing jeans would kill a bunch of bacteria, but you’ll just undo it the instant you sit anywhere… Little known fact, one of the dirtiest places in a restaurant is the seat. Often uncleaned (like the table), and Every Single Person Who Sits Down Touches It. And restaurants are cleaner than houses by a huge margin (especially when people own cats that get all over everything, ugh). Point being, things are dirty. And it’s how our bodies stay primed to defend from pathogens so I’m not too bothered. Especially to use a toothbrush to clean dirty spots!
We do around 5 loads of laundry per week. Rob and I both workout (or in his case bike commute) 5-6 days per week, plus Kenny changes clothes and moods at the same pace, plus Shirley is potty training. Honestly, we’re just a gross family, so 5 is probably on the low end.
4 people, 7 loads a week
1 oily workclothing Mr. (Mecanic)
1 whites underwear and towels
1 dark underwear and towels
1 red/orange/purple pink shirts etc
1 dark shirts/pants etc
1 light shirts/pants
1 sheets
No fabricsoftner, I use vinegar (to prevent skinproblemd)
No dryer sheets, I use tennisballs
Most stuff dries on the line, only sheets and towels in dryer because -ooh- softer 🙂
Love from Belgium
Whoah, 7! Your washing machines are smaller though, right? 🙂
I guess, we Europeans have the habit of believing everything is Bigger in USA 😉
Oh, for comparison: 1 set of bedding of a double bed is a full load. 2 sets of bedding of a single bed is also a full load. I don’t know what your washingmachine can take?
Ever checked the prices of gasstations for the car in Belgium? Price per liter, not per gallon. You will be disgusted.
Also: taxes on labor…
That is why FI is nearly impossible fir middleclass Belgians…
Hi Carl,
I’m pretty much like you except for work out clothes, I’ve got 2 or three sets and they get washed together in one load with bleach no matter what otherwise they stink. I can’t wear them more than once because I’m a big sweater and they are soaked when I’m finished. Shirts, shorts, and sweatshirts I go weeks without washing. Wife does her own clothes, adult daughter still living at home does her own laundry. All too much in my opinion.
“… I go weeks without washing.” Yes. YES! YES!!!
As a 2 person household, we do 1 load of laundry per week. We subscribe to the Japanese subway style laundry fitting.
“Just stuff it in! The water and detergent will clean it!”
As very lazy *ahem*, efficient, people, we also endeavor to not buy any whites or any clothing that needs to be dry cleaned. Unfortunately, the dryer does not agree with our method of stuffing it in, so it runs for unusually long. Maybe we’ll get one of those racks that MMM has in a few months and try it out!
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Efficient, yes!
Love the post. Funny & very similar to conversations we’ve had at my house. Lucky for me, the hubby does all the laundry so with that caveat… I just appreciate my luck and never say anything except THANK YOU when I find clean, folded laundry waiting for me to put it away. 4 people. 5ish loads/week. I follow the same rules as you do about wearings but workout a lot so that creates a lot of laundry. I don’t think the teenage kids follow the rules about rewear quite as well… and why do they think they need a clean towel after every shower???
“…and why do they think they need a clean towel after every shower???”
OMG! Shower towels need to be washed like once per year! You’re drying your clean body after all!
I do at least 3-4 loads per week for two adults so I think Mrs. 1500 is conservative on that front. ?I think dryer sheets are dumb, but we have a backlog of them so I use them on some things. The boyfriend loves them. And if I even think he touched the washer it gives me hives. He does not bother with sorting delicates appropriately and views following all the user’s manual rules for the fancy new washer and folding as optional.
“… and views following all the user’s manual rules for the fancy new washer and folding as optional.”
Ha ha! I owe him a beer!
With two adults and twin baby girls, we do about 4-5 loads of laundry a week.
Sometimes to conserve energy and increase the humidity in the house in the winter, I’ll line dry some stuff. Also, you can put two loads from the washer in the dryer, which also reduces how many dryer sheets you use.
Finally, if your hair is too short to put a brush through it, your opinion about hair conditioner doesn’t matter. #sorrynotsorry
“Finally, if your hair is too short to put a brush through it, your opinion about hair conditioner doesn’t matter. #sorrynotsorry”
That’s it! I’m growing my hair out just to see if conditioner is really necessary!
I’m a one person household in a rental condo, using a shared laundry room with relatively small washer/dryers. Not all washer/dryers are equal in capacity so ‘number of loads’ may not be comparable… try using a stack washer/dryer after a big front loader….
I don’t buy dry clean items or things that need to be ironed… I’m fortunate to work in a jeans every day engineering job and am not into fancy clothes by preference, so my needs are pretty simple. I also have good quality washable wool items that can be worn several times…
I do one cold wash for of all shirts/jeans/workout clothes/etc and two warm/hot wash loads of underwear, bedding, & towels per week, at $1.75ea. The first load of warm/hot goes into the dryer for $1.50 and once the second warm/hot wash is done, I do the dryer swop and add 50cents to finish it… the first load doesn’t need the full dry time and if I let time expire I have to start at $1.50 again. Using the dryer fluffs everything and makes the bedding & towels softer.
The cold load of all other clothing is hung on a drying rack & dries within a day or so, depending on time of year.
I wash the bedding, towels, & undies (not bras) in warm/hot to clean out all the dead skin cells & dust mites (sorry people, your towel after drying off is filled with critters, which is not necessarily a bad thing) and because I have wicked allergies…
Washing in cold, with mild ‘free from’ detergents, and hanging your clothes to dry will help your clothes last and reduce environmental impact. Using lingerie bags (they come in all sizes/shapes) are great for protecting bras, washable wool t-shirts, and anything else delicate.
If you have kids and/or are prone to food, oil, grease, blood, dirt, etc., stains, it’s worth it to use a detergent with enzymes…and possibly pre-treating BEFORE washing. Once you wash (especially other than cold) you usually bond the stain to the fabric.
Most people use too much detergent… take a wet cotton t-shirt out of the just finished wash and swish it around in a sink of clean cold water…if you get foaming and residue, you’re using too much detergent and/or you packed the washer with too many clothes.. The subway method is not good for cleaning and tends to mechanically stress the fibers of your clothing too.
Dryer sheets are basically a way to add scent to your laundry (which a lot of people want), soften them, and reduce static… the ‘chemicals’ being added are basically another dilute version of soap… so unless you love it, do without… hang to dry, remove damp & shake out & hang or use the reusable balls several folks mentioned.
FWIW, I used to (ahem) work for one of the largest global laundry detergent companies…
Are you available to do Laundry Consulting at the 1500 household? 🙂
Only if you supply local beer! 😉
Hey, I’m an Engineer, it’s all about optimizing, no?
Only beer? That’s totally worth it! Be over tomorrow at 9am!!
Wow! I think I have to side with Mrs 1500 on the laundry! (Although I’m with me 1500 all the way on the thermostat)
We do 5-6 loads a week. We sort by color, so whites in a load, darks in a load, mediums in a load, colors in a load, towels & washcloths in a load, then all the sheets in one load. Sheets are washed every other week, and every other week I also have a load of kitchen rags to wash (by themselves. Small load but they are soooo gross I can’t wash them with anything else). I try to save these up to as big a load as I can, but in the second week I start to run low!
Mrs 1500… I used to find folded clean clothes in my kids hamper as well. Nothing feels like a slap in the face more than that (esp when you work full time, cook all the meals, clean & fold all the Laundry and get them where they need to be all week!). So after many warnings, I finally snapped and relinquished their Laundry duties to them! They were 8 & 10 when I taught them, and they are told to sort, fill the machine & then let me know what color they are doing so I could add my & my husbands clothes to the mix. They have to fold & put away now too. They sometimes (very, very often) need reminding to move their Laundry foward into the dryer, and socks seem to always be left uncoupled sadly on the table, but they do it! And last week my son washed only his bed sheets in one load and holy cow did he get an earful (since he was supposed to announce “washing sheets!” so we could all go strip our beds & wash them together in a nice FULL LOAD. But I think that is how they learn!
I also need to be reminded very very often to move my clothes to the dryer.
“So after many warnings, I finally snapped and relinquished their Laundry duties to them!”
This. This! THIS!!!
Doing the laundry well means you’re saving money on having to buy new (or 2nd hand) clothes. At least for the adults, clothes will last longer.
We’re doing 3 loads per week, but for a couple of adults, so the situation is different from yours.
We do 1 load of laundry per person per week. Our household is 3 persons.
Sometimes a bit less, if we dont work out and laze around. Or when we have been camping (you dont pack much then).
BTW: our machine is 6 kg.
I am still recoiling at people doing more than 10 kg washing/person/week. Cant imagine. But it’s a free country, so whatever makes them happy.
We dont own a dryer, so no discussions on sheets there. However I dont think we would use them, we are not the types. I would research how they work probably and replace usefull functionality in a different way, knowing myself.
We dry outside, or in winter partly inside. Using solar and wind ;-). Our winter temps are around freezing usually, so enough days to have a partial dry outside. So inside doesnt get too damp or takes to much heating.
From your metric comments, I’m guessing you didn’t grow up in the US. Here, almost everyone has a dryer and uses that exclusively to dry their clothes. I’ve been lazy with using the dryer lately, but have two drying racks so it’s not because I can’t… Thanks for the kick in the backside to get back to hang drying. It’s super dry climate here, so we could use the moisture in the air.
Two of us in our house.
2 loads of clothes (darks & whites)
1 of towels every week
1 of sheets every other week
Use a dryer in winter, hang them outside in summer (today it is snowing!) Also use a clothes horse in spare bedroom. Don’t use dryer sheets, or laundry softener. Towels are softer from the dryer so sometimes I cheat in the summer ….
Husband takes his fair share in both filling the machine, hanging out the wash, and ironing! I’m spoilt! (That was from the days when we first got married, both wearing shirts to work, the deal was we both spent the same amount of time ironing, it didn’t matter if I did 8 shirts and he did 2, the principle was established. It’s worked pretty well for the last 40 years!
Time for you to take more of a turn Mr 1500! You might regret doing this post!
We have two adults and two young boys in our family. We do about 2 loads of laundry on Wednesdays and on Saturdays each. That’s about as easy as it gets. I do not separate colors or anything. I never did and we’ve never had a problem. Everything gets dumped in once the basket is full and moves through the cycle.
We do use dryer sheets though, sometimes it just takes away any funk from the manly clothing smells. Plus, we make our own laundry detergent (link on my site), so we save quite a bit there.
And there is a way to fold those fitted sheets. My husband, Chris, actually does them and I just ball them up!
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Since I’m in the business, laundry duty has fallen on me. We recently moved and I have some extra work to do to get our dryer installed so I’ve been taking our laundry to work with me. Don’t tell the wife, but I do all of our laundry together in one load a week. I throw it all in one of those six load machines at our store and it’s all done in about an hour. I fold the towels, sheets and my own and stack hers neatly so she can fold it the way she wants. No complaints so far. I think she’s happy it’s off her plate.
Dryer sheets? I don’t use them, but they are my best sellers right behind Tide.
“I throw it all in one of those six load machines at our store and it’s all done in about an hour.” Yes, this!
Our household is 2 people and 2 messy cats. I do the laundry exclusively and average 3 loads per week. My husband will not re-wear anything, not even pants, but I have separate workout clothes, so we even out. I do wash/change out our sheets every 3 weeks, which adds a load to the weekly total. I also use that load to wash the duvet cover, blanket and pillow cases (our cats are messy!). I also advocate for dryer balls to prevent static, but hubby likes to use the dryer sheets to make his shoes smell fresh (he stuffs the sheets into his shoes when he takes them off).
To fold the fitted sheet: stuff the corners into each other and make the resulting sheet as square as you can. Fold the square smaller and stuff everything, including the folded top sheet into one of the pillowcases for storage.
I do about two loads of laundry a week: a load of white and a load of everything else. My wife says I overload the washer, to which I reply if she’s so concerned about that, she can do the laundry instead.
I say it lovingly, of course.
We go back and forth over thermostat settings too – I always say we need to set it higher than we do in the winter and lower than we do in the summer. I’m really just teasing her, though, and we keep it set where she wants it set.
This is key –>> “I say it lovingly, of course.” 🙂
I would say 1.5 – 3. If its really a half I leave it until the following week. Some is limited supply of yoga clothes, some is not wanting potentially sweaty stuff sitting around too long. I have enough linens I don’t do them every week, like every other.
I think Mrs.1500 is very reasonable in her amount of laundry for your 4 person family.
I agree with Mr. 1500 on most of his points except for socks and underwear. If you turn them inside out they are at least good for 2 days!
I like the way you think!
Good stuff, Carl, as always! FWIW, we do one load of laundry daily and occasional extra load or two during the weekend. So, 7-9 loads a week. With a near-teen kid and a multi-wardrobe household between work, play and home clothes, and with warm weather most of the year, it would be futile for me to even try to reduce this. “Keep your frugality elsewhere” is what I have heard on this topic from my wife. “Yes dear” is what I say – if you are married as long as I am, you get to used to saying this often. I have perfected the art of saying this magical phrase involuntarily while watching TV or keeping my head buried in my phone or computer.
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“Keep your frugality elsewhere”
Haha!
Two people in our household, and we do two loads of laundry every week…one of whites, and one of colours. I work out fairly intensely almost every day (I take Fridays off), and my spouse does manual labour for a living, so our clothes get pretty sweaty and shouldn’t really be worn more than once, for everyone’s sake!
3 to 4 loads a week. Household of 4, Everyone washes their own clothes when they need too. We just purchased a large LG front loader that can tell how big the load is and adjust time and water accordingly.
The two older kids 18+ just throw all their stuff in one load and go from there. I wash undies and t shirts (whites) together. Pants (docker type slacks) and casual button down shirts and work socks together if there is enough room in the washer. Usually it is pants and socks or shirts and socks because washing 5 pairs of pants together is a full load. I’m super fat. I don’t believe in overstuffing the laundry as it needs room to be tumbled in the water for cleaning. I always pretty much wash in warm water. I use 1 pod in the washer (notice how all the laundry detergent commercials show the person washing the clothes throwing in two pods) I think that is a marketing ploy, just like making the toothpaste tube opening bigger 🙂
Towels usually on the super fast turbo clean setting about every two weeks.
My wife on the other hand washes all her stuff together, except the undies. And the most aggravating thing?? Uses 4 or 5 of those laundry sheets in the dryer. I’m like why?? “cuz it gets rid of the static cling” she’ll tell me.
I then take the opportunity to move her clothes from the washer to the (gas) dryer and only use one sheet as often as possible.. I have then asked her if she could find any static cling……no, but she still uses 4 or 5 when she dries… 🙁
So I buy the 200 count double box, Kirkland Signature, from Costco. At least I an make sure they are as inexpensive as possible. lol