Surveys indicate that American households average five loads of laundry per week, with many families doing laundry more than once a day. By comparison, other countries such as France typically average more like three laundry loads each week.
Laundry is very subjective, but it is recommended that you should be doing at least one load of laundry a week, depending on how often you re-wear clothes and what kind of daily lifestyle you have.
It might feel like all you do is laundry if you're doing about the same number of loads of laundry each year as most Americans, it may not be as much as you think. Americans do roughly 300 loads of laundry per year! That equals about: 0.8 loads per day.
The average household washes 7.4 loads -- about 50 pounds of laundry -- per week. Women do 88 percent of the laundry. Fifty percent of all loads are washed in warm water, 35 percent in cold and 15 percent in hot. Ninety percent of all wash loads are put in a dryer.
Total Laundry Time
Based on these estimates, the average person spends about 260 minutes per week on laundry, or roughly four hours. If that seems like a lot of time dedicated to keeping our duds free of dirt, there are a few simple ways to cut down on washing time.
Shirts and blouses: after 1-2 wearings. Dress pants or slacks: after 2-3 wearings. Jeans: after 4-5 wearings. Sweaters: up to 6 wearings, if worn with an undershirt; 1-2 wearings if worn without an undershirt.
Check out some more interesting facts about habits of the nation: 39% of men and 54% of women reported washing their jeans after 1 to 2 wears. The majority of women aged 18 to over 65 reported doing 4 to 5 loads of laundry per week. Younger people had the highest account of doing more than 10 loads of laundry per week.
Depending on how you fill your washing machine, the sort of clothes you wear and how fresh you like your clothes, the average person does laundry anywhere between one to three times a week. While this may not seem like a lot, it adds up to between 50 and 150 laundry loads every year.
So, it falls to parents to take up the load – or loads. The average family does their laundry once a week. Depending on the family size, this can take anywhere between 2 to 5 hours. For a family with pets, doing the laundry can take much longer.
Most two-person households do three to five loads of laundry a week, so the average two-person household probably does about 15 to 20 loads of laundry a month.
Think you do a lot of laundry? You're not alone: Believe it or not, the average family does about 300 loads of laundry per year. That's about five loads every week! One way to cut back: Don't wash your clothes as often.
Everyday laundry also makes folding, ironing, and hanging easier because you'll only handle a few items at a time. If you have kids who keep changing clothes frequently, everyday laundry is the best option for you since it enables you to keep up with your laundry.
Regardless of the type of appliance you have, you should still spread out your loads. Instead of doing several loads in one day, consider doing 1 load per day or space out 2 loads if you must do more in a single day. Also, make sure you're doing full loads to maximize the water use.
It turns out some items should be washed more often than once a week, while others can go longer between washes (hey, small victories). And really, when it comes to clothes, you should wash them based on the number of times you've worn them as opposed to the amount of time.
Everyday Wear
"If you're wearing something for a few hours, and not sweating, it's probably okay to wait 2 to 4 wears before washing. Or, after a full day's use," says Dr. Gonzalez. "If you're working from home, it's probably okay to wait after 3 to 4 wears before washing your clothes."
Any item that collects a lot of sweat (and potentially bacteria) should be washed after each use, like socks and underwear. Other items like button up shirts and chinos can be washed as early as every other wear. Jeans can be washed inside-out every 4-5 wears as long as they're not raw denim.
The Journal's data comes from a survey by consumer research firm Mintel, which found that last year 60 percent of men aged 35 to 54 did their own laundry. The biggest increase, however, came from men aged 18 to 34. Some 67 percent now do their own laundry, a figure that grew by 23 percent since 2013.
A laundry schedule will vary based on how many people's clothing your washing. My personal laundry routine involves me doing one family member's laundry each day of the week (5 people), towels one day, and taking one day off.
Don't rely on the sniff test — most college students should wash their clothes around once a week. You might need different clothes if you're applying for an internship or going to an interview, so this could alter your laundry schedule. Make sure to also wash your sheets and pillow cases about every two weeks.
In Europe 71% of people do their laundry between one and three times per week. During the pandemic laundry habits have remained pretty much the same with 68% of people stating that their laundry frequency stayed the same regardless and 12% had reduced the number of times they did their laundry.
Depending on how much clothing you own and how big your household is, you may only have to do laundry every few weeks–even once a month! But if you have children or try to keep a minimal closet, you may find yourself doing laundry much more often.
That means you can do a second wash cycle per day which should be enough for most families. In short, you can do two loads every day and still save on your electricity bill. But doing the washing less frequently will save you even more.
So when are laundromats the busiest? As a general rule, laundromats are most crowded on weekends. Since most people work Monday to Friday, they save their visits to the laundromat for Saturday or Sunday.
One in twenty Americans (5%) – including 11% of Generation Z – says they don't do their own laundry. Additional data finds that women (61%) are slightly more likely than men (56%) to say they do separate their laundry according to color. So, should you be separating your laundry?
Try washing before 4 p.m. or after 7 p.m. – Many energy companies charge extra for electricity during their “peak hours,” which see increased energy usage. During the summer, run your washer early in the morning – energy use peaks on hot afternoons.