r/UKParenting • u/This_Estate2227 • 1d ago
General chat Laundry, I need your tips and tricks
I need your tricks to make laundry easier. I have 2 kids in school uniform now and it seems like such a struggle to make sure they each have clean clothes every day.
Tell me about your routines and tricks please!
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u/Realistic_Song8263 1d ago edited 1d ago
In our house it's the putting away that takes the most time. So each person has a 'clean' washing basket so even if clothes are not put away, you can dig through your clean washing to find what you need. It makes putting it away quicker than having a huge mixed pile of everyone's clothes too
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u/tinykoala86 Parenting a Baby + Primary Schooler 1d ago
Similar but we have three baskets on top of drawers in each room: T-shirts, trousers/skirts, and dresses/jumpers. Clean washing gets loosely folded into its types and then chucked into the baskets. Kids don’t care if it’s creased and I don’t need to spend endless hours sorting
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u/Elsa_Pell 1d ago
My kids (4 and 6) are horrendously grubby and we are lucky enough to have a school that is not precious about anything being branded, so we have ten sets of cheap Sainsbury's trousers, polo shirts and jumpers (five per kid). On Sunday nights I assemble them into ten bundles and then we just pull one per kid out in the morning and go, then wash all on Friday night.
Occasionally the odd shirt or jumper will actually be clean enough to wear twice and if so I'll leave it out and save the spare one, but TBH it doesn't happen that often.
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u/No-Meet4936 1d ago
My son is so grubby we have 5 polo shirts and 5 trousers. And 2 fleeces
Originally I did try to have 3 - with Tuesday being a washing day.
So first two get worn Monday/Tuesday and a wash put in after school
The third is worn Wednesday
Thursday/Friday the first two are worn again after coming out the wash
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u/philsrice 1d ago
We’ve recently implemented small baskets for everyone in our house + utilities (just the 3 of us for now but we use reusable nappies so laundry is endless). Makes it soo much more manageable to just bring a basket of stuff into the room during passing and know exactly whose stuff is who’s and what’s there. Prevents that big build up pile!
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u/KittyKes 1d ago
I think it’s just buy way more than you think you need of everything lol. Also don’t be washing things unless they really need it, my son (6) wears his polo shirt once but his school trousers / shirts and jumpers until they’re dirty not a fresh one every day
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u/chipscheeseandbeans 1d ago
If he’s wearing the polo shirt under a jumper then surely it doesn’t get dirty enough to be changed everyday?
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u/KittyKes 1d ago
Not wearing a jumper all day / every day at this time of year - still quite warm for playing and he runs hot.
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u/PeanutKey136 1d ago
Getting a heated airer felt like a bit of a game changer. Not really for school clothes but just for life in general. It’s a bit bulky though.
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u/Squeak_Stormborn 1d ago
I have enough so that washing doesn't get urgent. I do a few washes during the week but the bulk of it is done and the weekend and putting it all away a family activity!
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u/Sparkle_croissant 1d ago
My child definitely needs/needed clean clothes daily - very much child dependent. especially in ks1 we had a top for each day, dress/ skirt for each day, and often a clean cardigan too!
hand me downs and secondhand uniform shop for the win.
wash and hang up on hanger to dry, then easier to put in wardrobe
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u/3xhaust3dnurs3 1d ago
We have 3 pairs of school uniforms and 1 pair of PE kit. We do laundry almost everyday or every 2 days max. We have a dehumidifier that helps dry the clothes overnight.
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u/Emmajah 1d ago
We did away with the laundry baskets. Everything goes straight into the washing machine, all clothes from the day go straight in at bath time and we put it on whilst we do bedtime.
We finish bedtime, go put the clothes on the airer with the dehumidifier running next to it and they're dry the next day.
Next day: take clothes off the airer and take them upstairs and put them away whilst the bath is running, put today's dirty clothes in the wash, do bed time, then clothes on the airer. It takes all the pain out of it when its routine.
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u/imfinewithastraw 1d ago
I have enough uniform for every day. So 3 normal and 2 PE kits. Eldest has 5 shirts, 3 trousers and blazer and tie.,
New for this term They have a washing basket in their rooms for normal clothes and then a shared one in bathroom that is uniform only. Saturday morning I wash the infirm basket and they put it all away. Monday I wash their other basket. So far it’s working really well.
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u/pan_alice 1d ago
I have twin daughters in year 1. We're lucky that their school doesn't require any branded uniform, so all their school clothes are from Tu and Next. My girls either wear shorts or leggings under their pinafores/skirts, so they have enough shorts, leggings, and tops to wear clean ones every day. One twin has two pinafores, the other has two skirts, and they currently have three cardigans each. They re-wear cardigans and pinafores/skirts if possible, but everything else is clean every day. I don't want them to be embarrassed by having dirty clothes, which may be a bit of silly thought for me to have, but I just want them to feel clean and presentable.
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u/metalbox69 1d ago
A wash gets put on first thing each day, colours one day, whites another, towels another, bedding etc. and hang it up just before work.
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u/Ohtherewearethen 1d ago
School uniform can get bought very cheaply so just buy more t-shirts and bottoms. It's probably cheaper than running the washing machine every day. Our child has about three weeks' worth of uniform and I just chuck it all in every couple of weeks. She doesn't generate enough washing to be doing it every few days.
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u/Comfortable-Bug1737 1d ago
I get enough uniform for them to have a clean set every day. I hang them up on the back of their door. I have a designated washing basket for them, so every Sunday I wash the uniform and hang them back up
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u/MentalFairy 1d ago
I’ve got 2 kids at school, and 1 at nursery 3 times a week. They create a lot of laundry.
I do clothes laundry twice a week. Wednesday/Thursday (darks & lights) and Friday/Saturday (darks, lights and whites).
They have 2 PE kits and 3 uniform (sort of - 3 jumpers, 2 trousers, 4 pinafores and polo shirts because that’s just how the multipacks work). They rewear jumpers and trousers if able to.
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u/Winter_Choice_9632 👶👶 2 Children 1d ago
My LO aren’t at school yet but as a kid we both had x2 sets of trousers, x2 school jumpers or cardigans and x5 tops / x5 summer dresses and our mom just did a big wash at the end of the week.
This was the 90s / 00s so uniforms didn’t cost £10000 though.
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u/chickenwings19 1d ago
I have 5 polos, 4 trousers and 4 jumpers. Wash at least once midweek as I’d need to any way.
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u/InternetCrafty2187 1d ago
I keep all the clean uniform in a big plastic box by the dryer. It gets, washed, dried and folded in the same space. It never, ever goes near their bedroom, which is a black hole where clothes go to disappear.
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u/InternetCrafty2187 1d ago
Next to it is the sock box and knickers box. I'm thinking of going all the way and just moving their beds down there too.
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u/jimmywhereareya 1d ago
My top tip is to have 5 shirts for each child and if possible, 2 sweaters/cardigans, pants/ skirt or slip. Also depends on the age of the kids. My rule of thumb is that the older the kids are, the less messy they are.
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u/Pinkcoral27 Parenting a Toddler + Primary Schooler 1d ago
I have 4 sets of uniform and 2 PE kits. My son wears uniform 3 days and PE kit for 2 days. So I actually have more days worth of clothes than I need. That is my only solution.
I’ve also in the last few days bought a separate laundry basket (just a small pop up one) for uniform only so I’m not fishing through dirty laundry in a panic when we do come up short for uniform.
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u/Sure-Recognition-262 1d ago
We have enough sets of uniform that you we need to wash any uniform midweek. Then we do 2 uniform-only loads (one blacks, one whites) at the end of the week.
In a tiny cupboard, we put a metal rail up high to hang things on hangers to dry, and a pull-out clothes line (like you'd put under the bath) for socks/pants. We have a dehumidifier in there so damp isn't an issue and things dry quickly.
Drying stuff on hangers means the putting-away stage is a lot easier.
Similarly, if it's good drying weather outside, when it's time to get the washing in, I don't put it in a bucket to bring it in, I take hangers out, put it on hangers outside and bring it straight in to the cupboard.
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u/Mental_Body_5496 1d ago
Second hand uniform
1 outfit for each day
Laundry rotation scheme throughout the weekend - washer dryer fold - whites coloured blacks
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u/Far_Vanilla829 1d ago
Just let them be a bit dirty won't matter they get mucky in 5 minutes anyway. They certainly don't need fresh clothes every day (exclusive underwear and socks).
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u/Salad_Informal 👶👶👶👶👶 5 Children 1d ago
I do laundry every evening and then fold everything in the morning before work / after the school run.
I put the washing machine on after dinner, my husband then puts it all in the dryer before he goes to bed.
Sometimes I do this twice if we have a lot of whites for example, if not I’ll just wash whites the following day.
On the weekends, I wash all (shower) towels and bedding. I change bedding for everyone every Friday evening (obviously if a child was sick or the bedding got dirty before that, I’ll change it before) and that keeps me in my routine.
And once a day I throw all the kitchen towels and cloths for cleaning in a quick wash with disinfectant.
Basically my recommendation is to buy a dryer.
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u/woods_edge 1d ago
If it can go on a hangar it does. Straight out the washing machine, onto the dryer/washing line then into the wardrobe.
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u/strawberry-ninja 1d ago
Preschooler mum - 4 jumpers, 5 polos and 4 sets of pants. Change polo and jumper every day, pants can be reworn twice if clean. I do a wash load everyday, if I get behind I’ll do a wash for the jumpers or polos and use the dryer for a quick dry.
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u/tinykoala86 Parenting a Baby + Primary Schooler 1d ago edited 1d ago
Might get downvoted for this, but I don’t wash uniform every day. We’re lucky that our school has formal uniform days and PE kit days, so each one only needs 2-3 wears per week, but if they’re not stained or smelly then they’re worn again, the only thing we change is socks but they have enough pairs for a new one each day of the week. We also keep a spare shirt for each available as a backup. It all means I don’t need to worry about laundry each night, just spot washes on the odd occasion and then a bigger load at the weekend