Are you concerned that you’re going a little over-the-top with your washing? Do you feel that your laundry pile is continuously growing, and that you may never see the bottom of the basket again? Or are you worried that you don’t clean your clothes enough?
If you’ve been pondering over one of these questions recently, you’re in the right place! Because I can confirm to you right now that you are not alone with these thoughts.
Whether you’re a busy mum, a fresher in uni or a professional who works long hours every day, everyone has laundry worries.
So, let’s put your mind at rest and solve the issue at hand – how many loads of laundry should you be doing each week.
Note: The figures below are based on a seven-day week, a four-week month and 52 weeks in a year. Of course, this isn’t an exact science, and the average figures are likely to fluctuate as you consider the various factors listed in the section below.
The general consensus on how many loads of laundry a single person does per week in the UK is actually difficult to pin down. And this is largely because there are so many variables to consider.
For example, the single person in question could be a single professional adult with limited time to do laundry, so they can only schedule one or two washes in a week.
On the other hand, they could be a student at uni who delays washing clothes for as long as possible.
Further to this, the person could be extremely organised with a laundry schedule, and they follow their routine to the letter. On the flipside, they could be very disorganised when it comes to washing items, and they end up doing lots of half load washes instead.
Or an individual might have a large capacity washing machine (10kg), so they can wash more laundry at once. In doing so, they eliminate the need to do small regular washes. In contrast, a single person may have to use a launderette and this dictates how much washing they can do.
These are just a handful of situations a single person who is doing laundry may find themselves in, and as you can see the type of life a single person leads will heavily influence how much laundry they actually do per week. And this will directly impact how much washing they’ll do in a month and a year.
So, with this in mind, here are some figures for you to take into consideration.
How Many Loads of Laundry Does Each Person Do on Average?
Per week
An individual in general, is likely to wash anywhere between one to three loads of laundry per week. Although, depending on their unique circumstances this could be more or less.
For example, a single person who wears a uniform to work, may have to do an extra “uniform load” per week, in addition to their regular laundry.
Or, an extremely organised single person may split their washing up into loads. For example, a coloured wash, a white wash and a bedding wash. This would increase how many loads they do a week.
Further to this, a single student at uni may wash one load of laundry per week, or they might clean one big load of laundry every fortnight. Or if they’re very lucky, they might not do any laundry at all because they take it home to wash.
Per month
If each person does one to three loads of laundry a week, they would do about 4 to 13 loads a month. The average person would probably do around 8 or 9 loads of laundry a month.
Per year
Based on the assumption that each individual does one to three loads of laundry a week, they would do about 50 to 150 loads a year, probably around 100 on average.
How Many Loads of Laundry Do 2 People Do on Average?
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.
Different people give quite different figures Some MoneySavingExpert commenters claiming that they only do two to three loads of laundry a week, and some Mumsnet users saying that they do up to five loads a week in a two person house.
Typically, the figures vary because some people wash bedding and towels more frequently, and some people have more kit-based clothes to clean.
Per month
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.
Per year
Based on the assumption that a two-person household does three to five loads of laundry a week, they home would do around 150 to 260 a year. The average two-person household would probably do about 200 loads of laundry a year.
How Many Loads of Laundry Does a 3-Person Household Do on Average?
Per week
The general consensus on how many loads of laundry an average three-person home will do is around six to eight loads of laundry a week.
Per month
Working on the basis that three people do six to eight loads of laundry a week, you can assume that the average three-person household would do around 30 loads of laundry a month.
Per year
If the average three-person household does 30 loads of laundry a month, they will do about 360 a year.
How Many Loads of Laundry Does a 4-Person Household Do on Average?
Per week
The general consensus on how many loads of laundry an average four-person home will do is around eight to ten loads of laundry a week.
Some forum users on Netmums.com that argue that they only do four to five washes a week, which is half the amount of laundry listed above.
However, in these cases users note that they do have a large capacity washing machine (11kg), so they can actually do much bigger loads, in comparison to someone who has a smaller capacity washing machine (8kg).
Per month
If a family of four completes nine loads of laundry in one week, they will do about 40 loads of laundry in a month.
Per year
If the average family of four does nine loads of laundry a week, they will do about 470 loads of laundry in a year.
Factors That Will Directly Impact How Much Washing You Do
The average figures listed above will be directly impacted by the factors below, so much so, that you may find yourself washing more or less than you need to because of them. You might even find that your washing is affected by more than one of the points listed below too.
Consider these points.
Your lifestyle and interests
Your lifestyle will almost always impact how much washing you do, and this will be the case if you’re a single person or a large family.
You may be a sportsperson, a rugby player for example, who needs their kit washed and dried multiple times a week.
Or you might be an artist who washes their paint-splattered clothes regularly, or perhaps you go to the gym several times a week and you need your gear cleaned before you go, for example.
As you can see, depending on what type of lifestyle you have, and how many outfits you wear per week, you may have to increase how much washing you do.
On the other hand, if you have a lifestyle that surrounds more leisurely hobbies and interests, you might find that you don’t need to change your clothes that much. Hence you might not have to do much laundry per week.
Your job and school uniforms
What you do for a living will certainly impact how much laundry you do. If you have to wear a uniform to work, for example, you will likely have to wash your uniform(s) once or twice a week.
Additionally, if you wear shirts and blouses to work, they often get a little bogged down with sweat as they day goes on, so they are likely to need washing more often too.
If you work in a manual job, the type of clothes you wear will have to be washed regularly because they will get dirty and stained very quickly.
Of course, if you work from home, you can get away with wearing your PJ’s if you want to! So, washing special clothing isn’t going to be that big of a deal.
In addition to the above, if you have children, you will likely find yourself washing school uniforms at least once, if not twice a week. The more children you have will also increase the frequency of these washes.
Do you wear clothes just once?
Another factor that will likely increase how much laundry you do is if you wash your clothes after one use or not.
Generally, clothes can be worn a few times before they are washed, unless they’re marked. But some individuals prefer to clean clothes immediately after wearing them.
If you wash clothes after wearing them once, then you will do more laundry per week than someone who wears clothes multiple times before washing their items.
And while having clean clothes is good, washing clothes so often isn’t exactly environmentally friendly, or wallet friendly!
Not only will it work out expensive to launder clothes when they’re not dirty, but it can impact the quality of the material too.
It does come down to individual preference in the end.
How much time do you have available?
If you have a busy schedule to follow you may find it impossible to complete more than one to two washes per week. Perhaps you can only manage to wash a load of laundry every two weeks.
On the other hand, if you have plenty of time available, you might find yourself finding laundry to wash just because you have time to do it. These washes could be needless in the grand scale of things, but these types of loads make your total weekly washes increase drastically.
The time of year you do laundry
It’s not uncommon for individuals to wash more laundry at certain times of the year.
For example, during the summer time, and when the weather gets hotter, people may change their sweaty clothes more often, and they might go to the pool and have swimwear to wash every day. This will increase their weekly washes.
Also, during the summer is a great time of year to dry clothes, so people often take advantage of the sunlight and pop the laundry on the line.
On the flip side, it’s hard to dry laundry in the winter, so people might be less interested in doing lots of washing at this time of year.
It’s also not unheard of for people to do more washing when they’re about to go on holiday, or when they get back from a holiday.
Whose laundry is it?
Another big factor that will definitely impact how much laundry you do is, whose laundry are you washing?
Baby clothes, for example, should be washed separately and on a delicate wash.
Adult clothes don’t necessarily need to be cleaned on such a setting, so you’d have to run a separate cycle for these items. This would be an extra wash per week for you to consider doing.
Plus, baby clothes get dirtier much quicker and may need to be washed more frequently over the course of a week.
Older children, in comparison, often have lots of different clothes to be washed during a week – PE kits, rugby kits, school uniforms and general clothes.
There are lots of different loads here that need to be catered for, although these items could be mixed with an adult’s clothes, if need be.
Adults, on the other hand, can have any number of clothes to be washed—gym kits, training kits, work clothes, uniforms, fancy clothes and general everyday clothes. Again, there are several loads of laundry to think about doing here.
Each and every item of clothing has to be washed in a particular way, and the more people you add to a house, the more diverse your washing piles will become. This, in turn, will mean that you will have more loads of laundry to do.
How organised are you with your laundry?
Some of you will be meticulous with your washing piles and they’ll be split up into sub-categories and weights. Then there’ll be some of you who just throw all the dirty clothes in the machine and hope for the best.
If you choose the former method, not only will your entire laundry process be longer, but you’ll end up with a lot more loads of laundry to do each week.
But if you try the later method, you could reduce your loads of laundry drastically, you could speed up the washing process, and you might only end up doing a wash or two a week.
The type of laundry you wash
A factor to consider is what laundry you plan on washing per week.
While it is more hygienic and good practice to wash bedding every week, it’s unlikely that everyone will do this type of wash on a weekly basis.
Some of you may skip this wash for a few weeks! If this is you, you’ll be able to save yourself doing a bedding wash!
Further to this, not everyone washes towels every week. Instead, they reuse them and clean them every fortnight. You’ll likely have a bulkier load of towels to wash, but this may actually make for a more economical cycle.
Similarly, there are individuals who don’t wash their delicates often, and they would rather wait until they run out of clean underwear before washing more.
Skipping a few washes out per week like the ones listed above will help to reduce how many loads of laundry you have to do. However, how hygienic it may be is up to you to decide.
On the other hand, if you love cleaning then you’ll probably wash towels every week, bedding will be stripped regularly and delicates will be cleaned often.
In this case, you’d end up with a lot more loads of laundry, even more so if you clean the bedding of each member in your home every week!
How many clothes you have
It goes without saying that if you have wardrobes full of clothes that are bursting with items, then you probably won’t have to wash clothes very often. In this case, you could wear all your clothes and wash them all once or twice a month.
Of course, leaving all your clothes to pile up isn’t exactly ideal, but if you’re not into doing laundry it is a backup option for you.
However, if you manage your clothes well and you only have a set number of items, then you might find yourself washing your few items more frequently. So, you may end up doing an extra load of washing here and there throughout the week.
The practical side of doing laundry
In an ideal world every home would come with a washing machine and a dryer. Sadly though, this isn’t the case. And in many homes, and flats in particular, there isn’t room for a washing machine, let alone a dryer. And in these cases, people turn to launderettes for help.
And while most launderettes are conveniently placed, and are ready to use, you have to be quite organised when it comes to doing laundry in such places.
You cannot, for example, keep running back and forth to a launderette with bags of clothes, two or three times a day – it isn’t practical. Plus, you’re not guaranteed to get a machine and it would be expensive.
Instead, you have to prioritise loads of washing, and schedule when you will go down to do the laundry. So, you might find yourself washing bigger loads of laundry one once or twice a week, rather than doing three or four washes a week.
Bethan has a passion for exploring, reading, cooking and gardening! When she’s not creating culinary delights for her family, she’s concocting potions to keep her house clean!
