TL;DR: Wash daily and hang dry overnight!
+ update: Wash full loads only!
For years, we washed clothes on a fixed schedule:
Over the June holidays when I needed to maximise time with the kids in the afternoon, I started running the washer right after dinner. Yes, I would have laundry chores hanging up the clothes later at night, but I wake up to almost dry clothes! On days when I have additional loads, they can be done in the morning and would usually be dry the same day.
- Monday: 2 loads - helper, kids
- Tuesday:1 load - Sito and me
- Wednesday: 2 loads - kids, bathroom mats
- Thursday: 1-2 loads - bedsheets; we rotate bedsheet changing schedule for all of us
- Friday: 1 load - Sito and me
- Saturday: 1 load - kids
Not counting bedsheets, that was effectively one load per pax per week.
Now, it's simplified:
- Daily: 1 load comprising mix of adult and kiddy clothes
- Monday: +1 load comprising bathroom mats, robot mop pads, steam mop pads, other wash cloths
- Tuesday: +1 load of all our towels so I can wash at a higher temperature
- Thursday-Saturday: up to +3 loads comprising bedsheets or Sito's laundry from business trips
So no smelly piles of clothes waiting for their day in the wash. No need to worry about uniforms not drying on Wednesday in time for Thursday coz each kid has only three sets of uniforms. Best of all, we don't need many clothes coz the shirt worn on Monday is back in the wardrobe by Wednesday!
The last point is most useful for underwear! We used to need so many pairs coz each kid wears two to three each day. Accumulating that many pairs for washing day means we need about as many pairs on standby in the wardrobe. So I started throwing out underwear that were too worn - they end up in the storeroom as disposable cleaning cloths for major clean-ups.
In the past, helper would start the washer only after kids had changed out of their pyjamas so the clothes were kept much later in the day. When I took over, I set a timer for washing to finish up by 6.30 am or so, when I would be home from sending the older two to the bus stop. Some clothes would be dry by late morning and thicker ones in the afternoon. This means I still have to fold clothes when kids are home.
Over the June holidays when I needed to maximise time with the kids in the afternoon, I started running the washer right after dinner. Yes, I would have laundry chores hanging up the clothes later at night, but I wake up to almost dry clothes! On days when I have additional loads, they can be done in the morning and would usually be dry the same day.
Now, where's my efficiency medal? :p
Update 9 Nov 2022
So some months into daily washing, I thought that I wasn't maximising the washer. So I decided to wash only when there's a full load. This works as well. Often, I still wash at night. But there were times when I wash after breakfast when the kids throw in their PJs, or mid afternoon when the kids throw in their school uniforms. So I ended up with fewer loads per week while still churning the laundry, yeah!
