Never putting laundry away

I love ironing so never have a build up. Much easier when you're retired though and have plenty of time. Neither of my adult kids irons much at all but one thing that drives me mad is crumpled duvet covers and pillowcases but it doesn't bother them at all.

My dry washing goes in stages, kitchen table or chair (useful as you can hide it under the table!), makes its way to the bottom of the stairs and eventually moves to our bedroom. It’s at some point put away, or worn. The only ironing done in this house is MrJ’s shirts, which he does himself.

I think its a generational thing. My daughter is the same, piles of clothes everywhere and as for ironing that's a dirty word!! she compensates for this by putting everything into the dryer straight from the washing machine so it doesn't need ironing!! I told her i'd hate to have your electric bill but she says she hasn't time to hang it outside or put it on maidens (clothes dryers ) I'm Glad she doesn't live at home anymore!!

My daily helps with my washing now. It has to be put on a rack in the now disused dining room, dried overnight and she puts it away next day. The only things needing ironing are duvet cover and pillowcase because they are cotton.
I discovered the help who deputises for my usual lady ironing my knickers and tea towels!! Soon enlighten her. Especially with the cost of electricity now.
I do remember the days before manmade fibres, and steam irons when everything even my babies dresses and rompers had to be damped before ironing.

I don't think I've ever been in a house with clothes strewn around - apart from the house Mr A used to share with 3 friends when we first met.

I see no point in washing clothes so they are nice and fresh and then leaving them around to get crumpled and dusty. My ironing basket is often full but is stored out of the way not sitting on the sofa. Anything not being ironed is put away as soon as possible (but not always immediately, might be left hanging in the airing cupboard).

Another tidy one here.

Can’t bear piles of clothing left around.

My Dd on the other hand is generally a very messy moo.

She tries to be tidy, but it’s not my idea of tidy or clean.

I’ve now developed a phobia of going to her house because of all the mess and clutter. It depresses me dreadfully. I can’t bear to touch things as everything is grubby.
And of course, clothes everywhere.

It’s sad really. But nothing I can do about it.

Germanshepherdsmum

Anything awaiting ironing is in the laundry basket. Anything not needing ironing is folded and put away. Anything waiting to be washed is in the linen bin. I can’t imagine living with heaps of laundry, clean or dirty, around the place.

Same here at our house, even when the children were small.

My DS and DIL are similar to the OP's. They seem to have piles of clothes on cupboards, chairs etc. They both work full time and neither of them are tidy people. I would drive me nuts. Surely it is quicker and easier to put everything in one place (the ironing basket) or put it away straight away.

I am babysitting soon and will be itching to tidy up whilst they are out. I won't though as they may be offended

Thank goodness for a utility room and an airing cupboard!

I rarely iron especially in winter months I do think washing piled up for days is a generational thing as both my youngest dd and dil do this however my eldest dd is the opposite washed dried and ironed in a day I've newer seen a pile of washing in her house she's so neat n tidy sharing a bedroom with her messy younger sister was a massive problem so much so we built a partion wall to separate them

Having just spent a couple of months in Australia with my DD and family I wondered if this was more an Aussie thing?! When I visit I spend hours sorting their clothes into piles and either delivering them to bedroom doors or putting on their beds, at 5 and 8 the children should be able to sort it from there - and DD 39 and DSiL 41 should be able to manage it too! However there was a pile of DSiL's clothes which I sorted and folded in the laundry room and when I left 4 weeks later they were still there......!

I can't agree that it is a generational thing. My DS and DD are both as tidy as anything, however my husband leaves stuff all over the place - he suffers from what I call the servant syndrome and I'm not his servant.

I recall, as a child, playing with the boy next door in his house. We had the greatest fun, climbing onto a chair, then the chest of drawers whereupon we jumped down into a mountain of clothing etc. Only later did I realise that this was probably dirty laundry. Although the parents had jobs which would have paid well, they were really feckless. We had a shared wash house and line out back, but they never used these facilities. My mother thought that his mother bought herself new clothes rather than launder.

I don't get it either. I don't think its a generational thing. Our 4 adult youngsters and there wife/partners etc don't do it.

Clothes get washed, dried and put away.

However I do not iron. I have one. I can't remember when I last used it

I will admit to not being very good at putting clean washing away- except my own things. I iron as little as I can get away with ( life is too short for ironing). I dump clean folded washing on a chair upstairs ( in person specific piles) and await its collection. DH is very prompt to put his stuff away but our son ( adult with learning disability) is very tardy. I used to put his stuff on his bed- but he gets in to bed without putting the clothes away so it gets trampled on the floor! Every now and again I crack and put my sons stuff away for him but he will never learn if I crack too often! Sometimes said son sits on the chair - washing and all!

I like ironing I find it soothing. Dirty clothes are in a laundry basket in the corner of the bedroom. Clothes are washed and stuff like tights, socks, underwear are put straight away. Top clothes that need ironing usually get put in an ironing basket and ironed as soon as possible usually the next day. Can’t stand piles of clothes lying on furniture. I’m not super neat over everything but I am over clothes.

I am now a widow and live alone and am what I consider creatively untidy!! I make sure I have a whole load for the washer, hang it out to dry - cheaper and smells so much better and worth doing for me. Then I do iron most of my clothes. Have sensitive skin and always use cotton next to the skin. I iron for comfort with such things as underwear, and make an effort with outer clothes My way is to sort through the ironing in temperature order and then I put a clothes horse at the end of the ironing board and can sit there ironing, listening to music or a play and get the job done. Leave on the clothes horse to air for a bit and then all put away. I am probably a bit OCD as I find it pleasing to think that for a (very) short time everything in my flat including me is clean and ironed and I have a total choice of what I want to wear. At the same time I always have collections of papers about the garden or plans for something I am doing, and notes about various happenings to put in the calendar such as open gardens.
Things which need careful reading such as contracts, I read carefully a page at a time so that I dont miss anything - not that there are many of those thank goodness. They are all on the desk in what to others must look a total mess but I know what I am doing!

GS2 has just informed us all that his clean ironed clothes needed to have some floor time before being put away! He'll happily empty the tumble dryer of all 4 people's clothes and fold them neatly and put them in their bedrooms!

My son does all the ironing. When his future mil discovered that she declared him a keeper!

I really don't mind ironing as have a lovely view of the garden from my ironing board. On sunny days I plug in the extension cable and iron outside - a trait I have inherited from my Mum! I don't enjoy putting the piles of ironing away but since there is only me here now it is not so onerous. Used to drive me mad when my boys were younger and the ironed laundry would lie on the bedroom floor!

I think part of the problem is too many clothes!!! My grandchildren have mountains of clothes. One mountain consists of clean clothes belonging to my granddaughter, another is clothes belonging to my granddaughter that have been worn once. Another mountain consists of wet clothes from the washing machine. There'll be a full load going round in said machine. I have two grandsons with similar mountains and additional mountains of underwear and school uniforms. Then there are my daughter and son-in-law's clothes, work clothes, leisure wear, underwear and gym clothes.

lizzypopbottle I think you are probably right, at least in many cases. There are probably also families who simply don't have enough storage even without having masses of clothes.

We had the opposite problem growing up and when the children were small, we were never well enough off to have lots of clothes so if we didn't keep our clothes tidy we would have had nothing to wear a lot of the time 😁

As a young mum I wasn’t the tidiest, but would always make an effort. Now as a grandmother, I seemed to have passed on the nudity gene to both my daughter and son 🤦🏻‍♀️. My daughter works 4 days long hours, her partner full time equally long hours. I look after my grandson and spend my time between my home and my daughters, their home is mostly always covered in piles of clothes hanging off rads, chairs etc if I don’t fold and put in respective rooms it would stay there all week! The mounting wash basket never seems to empty and they seem to have a permanent floordrope! I feel their busy working lives cause the chaos that then impacts their lifestyle. When I’m at their home it’s like Groundhog Day! I tidy they mess it up - not intentionally but it does become tiresome. As for my son… I won’t go there

*untidy gene. NOT NUDITY 🤦🏻‍♀️😱

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I’ve spent far too many hours contemplating why my eldest daughter and her family seem to live in a constant mess - washing clean and dirty in piles, never ironing, dishes always on the side etc. I find myself always saying well they both have professional jobs, a lot of pressure and not enough time ….. life has changed somewhat but on the other side of that I’ve been there too but always clean and tidy. Yes life is too short to worry about cleaning and tidying but I’m personally much more comfortable generally when it is tidy.
If I’m unwell I couldn’t crawl into bed if the room was messy (probably ocd). What worries me is the kids learn bad habits that will just carry forward to their adult lives, I can’t find it acceptable to leave cups on the side wherever you used them, drop dirty clothes on the floor and never put anything away- sorry rant over !