Why do our children still bring some washing home to mum and dad?

Have your children flown the nest only to return with their washing? With reasons such as ‘their washing machines aren’t as quick’, they’re ‘too busy’ or, worst of all, they just ‘don’t want to’? It seems parents around the country are still washing clothes for their grown up children. From uni students to young home leavers and children well into their adult life the ‘launderette of mum and dad’ has a key role to play. Indeed, 11% of adults still take washing to their parents when they themselves are well into their 30s.

There are some reasons as to why they our children may need some extra help

• Living in halls or shared accommodation and the difficulty in getting clothes washed and dried
• Not having access to a tumble dryer and not wanting to dry clothes inside because of dampness and mould.
• Difficulty getting everything done when working lots of hours
• Confusion over how to look after your best clothes in the wash.

With 18% of adults willing to travel up to two hours to get their mum and dad to do their washing, it’s clear that a lot of people are prepared to go to great lengths to get this done for them.

An average family uses their washing machine 260 times a year. But how many of those washes are full of dirty clothes? Would only washing clothes that really needed cleaning save us money by reducing the number of washes a machine does? To choose the best washers and dryers combo, check a handy guide from unclutterer where you can see the features you should be looking out for when making your purchase.

Some rules around washing could maybe help as these will get the whole family into good habits  – and may be beneficial for when children fly the nest.

• Are the clothes in the basket actually dirty? If they’ve only been on for an hour, fold them up and save them for another outing.
• Make sure you don’t underfill or overfill the washing machine. Ask others in the family if they have any clothes that need doing before you start the machine off.
• Understanding the correct temperatures and cycles your clothes should be cleaned on. Can you wash your clothes at a lower temperature or shorter cycle? This is one way you can help to save money around the house.

Two big reasons that your children could be turning up with bags of washing to be done are the lack of time and the fear of getting it wrong. But, at what age do we think our children should stop coming home with bags of dirty washing? Beko’s survey says the average person stops doing this aged 23 – but some children never stop using the facilities of the ‘launderette of mum and dad’. We’re sure though, parents don’t mind helping out, but an incentive may be nice!