This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Kyla P’an. She was wondering,
“How often does laundry get done in your home and who does it?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“Laundry gets done by me every day of the week, except the weekends. I take weekends off!”
Kyla P’an of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“Ironically, I’m sitting down to e-mail after folding two baskets (one light, one dark) of laundry. But it is for the very response posted above by Maggie, and echoed by so many of my friends, that I posed this question in the first place. I cannot fathom doing laundry every day.
For our family of 4 (two adults, a 6yo girl and a 3yo boy) we do laundry every 7-10 days. And typically my husband washes (he finds it therapeutic to combat stains) and I fold. We are by no means slovenly people, we’re just conservative I suppose. Aside from undergarments, workout clothes and socks, many things get refolded and put back in a drawer at the end of the day. I simply cannot get my head around having enough wash to justify a daily load…could someone please enlighten me?”
Jennifer Burden of New Jersey, USA writes:
“I’d say this is one job that both, my husband and I, share. Since our second daughter was born a year ago, he has stepped up his laundry helping!”
Hamakkomommy of Japan writes:
“Like most families in Japan, we don’t have a dryer and our washer is much smaller than the ones my family uses in the US. Laundry gets done first thing in the morning every day of the year except New Year’s Day. When the weather is good, I hang it out on the balcony to dry, then bring it in, fold it, and put it away in the evening. When the weather is bad, I hang it in a room with a dehumidifier, but it still takes forever to dry. If the weather is bad for several days in a row, the laundry ends up taking over the whole house!
The news here even has a “laundry report” section as part of the weather report that predicts if it will be a good day for laundry to dry or not.”
Asta Burrows of Norway writes:
“I do all the laundry, and most of the folding, almost every day of the week!
Last time my husband did the folding, and he was so proud, it ended up looking like this: http://pic.twitter.com/YFtWXxMR, I can’t figure out if he did it on purpose so that I will not ask him again, or if he actually thinks that is the way to do it…”
Ms. V of South Korea writes:
“Between clothes and cloth diapers, it is every day in this house. And I usually do it, though my husband will do a load of diapers if he notices we’re running low. Here in South Korea dryers are a rarity, so everything is air-dried. I’m used to it now and it has kind of turned laundry into a fun puzzle – how many items can I fit into my drying space? How do I maximize air flow for prime drying times? It keeps me entertained. Sunday is my day of rest, so no laundry on Sunday.”
Asha of Nigeria writes:
“We are a family of five: a mom, dad, two girls (ages 8 and 6) and a boy (age 4.) Since moving to Nigeria, I do laundry everyday. I have to because the kids wear uniforms to school and they get dirty. Luckily, we have household help here so I’m not the one folding, ironing, or putting the clothes away. I can’t complain.”
The Alchemist of India says:
“It gets done every day by me, except on Sundays. It is a holiday for me on Sunday, or so I claim! Though we have a dryer, the cloth still has dampness in it after it is out of the dryer and I pretty much have to do what Hamakkomommy does in Japan. On rainy days, we hang out the clothes all around, inside the house! Pretty frustrating, actually!”
Courtney Cappallo of Massachusetts, USA writes:
“I implemented a new laundry system in our house about three weeks ago. The new system has been working like a charm!! I do one load of laundry every day. I switch it to the dryer and leave it there until the next morning. The following day I take the clothes out of the dryer, fold them and always, always put them away that day. I then do one load of laundry, put it in the dryer and leave it there. So basically I am always folding one load, always putting only one load of folded clothes away and always just washing one load per day. My laundry never piles up now and I never have clean, folded clothes just staring at me waiting to be put away. I love it!”
Karyn Van Der Zwet of New Zealand writes:
“Every second day I do two loads of washing. Yes, it’s me and I don’t have a problem with that as I’m at home. Craig folds towels at night while he’s watching the tele – otherwise I do the whole she-bang.”
RoxIsBrilliant of Nevada, USA writes:
“I do my laundry every weekend, unless there is an immediate need to run a small load during the week. My son (5 years old) helps me every step of the way. His favorite part is turning the washer & dryer on. My favorite is folding at the end because it gives me an excuse to sit down and “rest”. We only have to do 2 loads per week (lights and darks) – but there’s also only the two of us.”
Mamma Simona of South Africa writes:
“Good question! In my house it’s my 15 year old daughter’s chore to do a load in the washing machine as soon as the hamper is full and it’s everyone’s duty to put clothes in the hamper to get washed. If the clothes are not in the hamper they simply don’t get washed. My daughter also puts the clothes out to dry. I have a cleaning lady once a week to do the ironing. When she’s sick, or on holiday, hubby does the ironing. I do the sorting and packing away. In my house it’s a real team effort. :)”
Eva Fannon of Washington State, USA writes:
“Wow – I’m sorry to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I’m with Kyla on this one – if you don’t need to wash cloth diapers, why (or who has time to or even wants to) do laundry EVERY day?
We do laundry once a week. My husband has offered to take it all on, but he doesn’t care as much about separating colors and lights, delicates from jeans, etc. So he does his laundry, and I do mine and our girls. My oldest likes to help sort, load the washer, and turn it on.”
What happens in your home…who does the laundry and how often?
And do you have a question you would like to pose to our WMB writers? If so, email us at wmbsidebareditor@gmail.com to see what they have to say.
Don’t forget to visit us tomorrow to check out the travel itinerary for next week!
– World Moms Blog
Photo credit to Joakim Wahlander http://www.flickr.com/photos/wahlander/3709669246/. This photo has a creative commons attribute license.
For Kyla and Eva: MUD!!
Our boys live in the sandpits at school/kindy and in piles/pools of mud when they are home – as preschoolers they would go through 3 or 4 sets of clothes a day. Spring and autumn they can go naked and get hosed down – but there’s too much sun in the summer and it’s too cold in the winter to do that. We would simply run out of clothes if I didn’t do loads of laundry. (And we dry clothes on the line here unless the weather is wet for more than a couple of days.)
That makes sense Karyn. LOL – I have two girls, who pretty much last in one outfit all day.
🙂
hi there,
there was a mix up. i didn’t say that! i don’t know whose quote was attributed to me.
i am lucky enough to have a dryer.
i do laundry every day. i have to because my kids wear uniforms to school. and we have household help who takes care of folding, ironing, and putting the clothes away.
in that sense, moving to nigeria has made my laundry responsibilities far lighter. in the u.s., it was all my job.
it was fun to read what other moms do.
asha
Hi Asha!
I was the Alchemist’s quote from India! Your quote has been added and it’s been updated! Whoops! Sorry about that!
Jen 🙂
@Eva- I doubt anyone WANTS to do laundry every day. When it has to be done you have to make time for it. In Japan at least houses are quite small, clothing prices are higher, and electricity and water are expensive. People own fewer clothes, have small houses that cannot accommodate dryers or large washers,and even if they could most people wouldn’t be willing to pay the substantial electric bill that would result in.
@hamakkomommy, you’ll probably laugh at this, but one of my brothers is a clean freak and does his family’s laundry EVERY day. Not because he has to, but because he wants to (which I do not understand!) But if you don’t wash everyday, you’re right when the laundry has to get done, you do have to make time for it. I honestly don’t have any time during the week (my husband and I both work full-time), so I have to make time to get it all done during the weekend. We have a small stack washer/dryer unit in our apartment (in a closet) and we try to make it an efficient use of water and electricity by running full loads.
We do laundry once a week as we do not own our own washer/dryer. My son who is 14 does his own laundry every Friday after school and my husband does ours and our 9 yr old daughters on his day off. Works for me cause I hate doing laundry.. Reading the way they do it other places was interesting.
That’s so great that your son does his own laundry! When we were teenagers, my mom taught us each to do our own laundry – something I was so thankful for once I went away to college. It was kind of funny to watch some friends at school not even know where to put the detergent in the machine. Thanks for visiting shanson387!
I love this article. I live in Omaha Nebraska with my South African husband and two boys under the ages of 5. I hate doing the laundry. What I hate more is when my husband washes only his laundry, then pulls one work shirt, one undershirt, and one pair of boxers out of the load to dry because he’s in a hurry to get to work. At times, instead of going to the dry cleaners, or to get out of doing his laundry entirely, he will go out and buy new clothes! After the first time he washed only a few of hos own items, I stopped doing his clothes entirely out of anger. He is from South Africa, and is used to having all “house work” done by maids. He,unfortunately for him, did not marry a maid. The last time he left a load in the washing machine in a hurry, we got into a huge fight, which was really immature of me, but he finally heard me. Occasionally he helps out now.
Vanillaffair – that would make me pretty angry too and I think I probably would have done the same – LOL! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
With three kids, the laundry is a constant task. Our kids do the sorting, both adults wash, my husband folds meticulously, and I put away. And then it starts all over again!
Sounds like teamwork gets the job done 🙂