Death by laundry?

There is the natural assumption that because we are such a large family I must spend every day slaving over the washing machine and tumble dryer.
They could not be farer from the truth.
Infact we were all shocked when watching a recent programme about large families to see how much laundry they actually got through.
I do not consider myself, nor my children as unclean, however this was laundry on another level.
We are very sensible.
If something has been worn once and is not dirty nor smelly then hang it up to air and use it again. There are obvious exceptions to this, these include underwear, teenage t shirts (and sweat) , school shirts, and socks!
The main complaint are large , thick hoodies, of which we have many, as we have many teens! I am constantly hauling these out of the laundry basket and asking people to re use them! They can be worn three or four times before they need a wash. Likewise jeans, chinos, jumpers and coats.
Therefore with the economy drive on 'does this item actually need a wash?' our laundry and washing are swiftly cut by half!
The other golden rule is not to do it in the daytime, if you do this, believe me, it does take all day and you waste valuable hours.
I usually put a wash on when I wake up, and the by the time I have everyone ready it can be hung out or hung around the house to dry (we try to avoid the tumble dryer as much as possible as it is expensive to run).
The other times I do laundry are in the evening inbetween dealing with everyone. It is very easy to explain homework whilst unloading a machine or dryer and you often get some help as well.
This means our laundry by and large does not impact on our lives too much.
There are times when this does not work, school holidays are awful, as are the few days following our road trips each year when the laundry seems truly insurmountable. That is when you realise you do have a larger than average family size!
The other time? sorting out the socks! We could clothe the entire continent of Africa in mismatched socks I am sure.It is a cruel twist of fate they go into the washing machine as a pair and come out alone.
Everyone sorts out their own plies and Susie's job is the ironing each week, so I never have that unpleasant task other than the baby clothes and more complicated outfits she doesn't want to ruin.
Having lots of children does mean lots of laundry, it also means lots of helpers and lots of ways to cut back as well!