How often you should do laundry depends on what you're washing. Clothes you wear close to the skin, like underwear, socks and bras, should be washed frequently, while other types of clothing can be worn multiple times before washing.
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 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.
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.
Per week. The general consensus on how many loads of laundry an average two-person home does is around three to five loads of laundry a week.
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.
Washing a load of laundry that's too large or small is never a good idea. Too large, and you can damage your washing machine's drum and decrease its efficiency (in addition to keeping clothes from getting as clean). Contrarily, running loads that are too small wastes water and mechanical energy.
When it comes to small vs. large loads of laundry, a full load is the more energy-efficient option. If you need to do a smaller load, be sure to choose the appropriate size setting on your washing machine. Too often, consumers select “large” and never change it.
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.
Washing your bed sheets about once a week ensures they always stay fresh. Plan to add this task to your weekly cleaning schedule to help reinforce the habit. Keep in mind that you don't necessarily need to wash sheets the same day as you strip your bed.
Yes, you could be making your skin drier than it would be with less frequent showering. This is not a public health menace. However, daily showers do not improve your health, could cause skin problems or other health issues — and, importantly, they waste a lot of water.
It may surprise you to learn that bath towels should be washed after every 3-4 uses to keep them hygienic, according to our experts at the GHI. And for towels used at the gym, we recommend washing after every use; not only are your gym towels covered in sweat, but they can also come into contact with airborne bacteria.
A good rule of thumb is to wash your jeans after every 3-10 wears, or when they start to smell. If you're regularly active in your jeans (think: manual work, anything where you work up a sweat), wash them every 3 wears, but if you're working at a desk, you can probably go through multiple wears without washing.
Age-old wisdom suggests you shouldn't do your laundry on New Year's Day. The superstition says that if you choose this — the first day of the year — to do your washing, you will be washing away good luck or washing away a loved one. Either way, it's something that you might want to avoid.
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.
A wool dryer ball set saves you money
Over time, the cost of buying liquid fabric softener and conventional dryer sheets on a regular basis really adds up. A bag of six Heritage Park Wool Dryer Balls is good for more than 1,000 washes, and costs far less over time.
So, on hot days, do your laundry early in the morning, when energy demand is lower. Winter: Do laundry late at night. While everyone else is sleeping and has their heaters off or in energy-saving mode, you can take advantage of lower electricity rates.
Wash with cold water.
Using warm water instead of hot can cut a load's energy use in half, and using cold water will save even more. Cold water detergents can be helpful to ensure items get clean, and high-efficiency detergents (indicated by the "he" symbol) should be used when required by the manufacturer.
15 pounds or laundry can include: 3 jeans, 3 pants, 5 shirts, 3 towels, 7 pairs of socks, 4 sweatshirts and 9 pairs of underwear. This is a rough estimate and final weights depend on material and overall weight of each item but should help give you a rough idea.
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.
How big is a load of laundry? You have a medium or regular load if the drum is around half full, for a large load you'll have to fill it until three-quarters full, and if you have even more laundry to do, fill it up until you can fit your palm between the wall of the drum and your clothes.
Families, of course, are going to be doing laundry more than most. Young children aren't doing their own laundry just yet. So, it falls to parents to take up the load – or loads. The average family does their laundry once a week.
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.
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.