It seems that many big families (for purposes of this post, we'll define it as having 4 or more children, spaced no more than 2 years apart) complain about how difficult it is to keep up with the laundry.
We have 4 kids 5 and under, and I notice we're doing a lot more laundry than we did 2 or 3 years ago.
HOWEVER...
I've heard the expression "4 loads by 4 PM" and such -- and she's talking about every day! One blogger with 8 or 9 kids said she does SIX loads of laundry every day.
The point I had for this post? That seems like a bit much!
I know that it probably qualifies for one of those "I'm a bad parent" (in the eyes of the modern world) things, along with letting your kid rid a bike without a helmet, letting them play outside without sunscreen, etc. but we don't give our kids a bath more than once a week usually. And each child has his/her own towel that is good for at least 4 baths. Do the math.
And we don't change our kids' clothes until they get dirty. Not filthy, but SOMETHING has to fall, spill, or drool onto them. Sometimes if the kids are not too messy at dinnertime (depends on what we're serving that week) we'll find that they're wearing the same clothes we put on them after their last bath day. We simply toss all their clothes in the hamper on bath day, unless we put them on them THAT DAY or so.
I mean, they're kids! They don't have B.O. yet.
And the adults are pretty conservative on laundry as well. We re-use bath towels 4 or more times. All you're doing is drying off a clean body, right?
We don't take daily showers. We don't even necessarily take showers EVERY OTHER day. It depends on what season it is, and how much sweating we've done. When I work outside, I always take a shower (pretty much have to). During the winter, twice a week is *plenty*, otherwise our skin gets dried out.
Ladies, please note: when you don't wash your hair too much, it stays much more healthy (softer, less dried out, less split ends, etc.). I guess God made our scalps produce oil for a reason!
Also -- science has learned that Vitamin D (vital for your immune system, preventing cancer, etc.) is only absorbed A) by direct sunlight, not sunlight that has passed through glass and B) TWO days after exposure to the sun. In other words, you have to go out in the sun, and then wait 2 days for most of it to be absorbed into your body. If you take a shower before then, it's GONE. No Vitamin D for you. Hope you have Vitamin D supplements. So the American habit of the "daily shower" is a bad one from a health standpoint.
We certainly don't toss our clothes in the hamper every night. We wear things until they are "worn" -- either they get dirty, smelly, or 3 to 4 days, whichever comes first.
When the kids play outside in the water and get soaking wet, we take the clothes off them and hang them somewhere to dry.
Hand towels last at least 4 days as well, and I'm talking about the high-traffic areas (kids' bathroom, kitchen).
Moral of the story: we might have 5 loads a WEEK, and that's with a baby that spits up on burp cloths, soaks through her diaper at night onto the comforter she's laying on, spits up onto her onesie, etc. The baby is probably 2/5 of our laundry.
Also -- we hang dry ALL our clothes. We don't own a clothes dryer. It's good exercise, the clothes last longer, and last month's electric bill for our family of 6 (all of whom are home 24/7) was only $42! (We don't have a gas bill either -- our house is all-electric). And of that $42, $15 of it was the monthly "customer charge" which can't be avoided.
There's a hint for you on how it's possible to live on one income!
(As an aside -- To state a simple fact, I am an expert on electricity conservation. It's my specialty. I've read everything I can on the subject. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a blowhard, and I don't say something unless it's absolutely true. Humility is about the truth, not about denying one's talents. All good things come from God)
I really wonder what these "4 loads a day" families are doing wrong.
Matthew
Topic: Laundry, Big Families, and Frugality (Read 8664 times)