Big families: how do you deal with all the swimsuits and wet towels?

[BamaTanya]

We joined a pool club for the summer. We are ALL having a blast. However, with one bathroom to rinse out/hang the stuff for 5 dc . . .

 

What should I be doing differently? What do you do during pool season to keep up with the added laundry?

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

I hang our wet suits and towels outside on the clothesline.

[MomofSeven]

We joined a pool club for the summer. We are ALL having a blast. However, with one bathroom to rinse out/hang the stuff for 5 dc . . .

 

What should I be doing differently? What do you do during pool season to keep up with the added laundry?

 

I put my 7 yo son in charge of making sure everyone's suit is hanging. My 9 yo dd is responsible for putting the towels in the dryer when we get home. When we had a deck, she would hang them out there.

[chiguirre]

I only have 3 kids, but I love my wooden drying frame.

[Quiver0f10]

I hang our wet suits and towels outside on the clothesline.

 

This is what we do too.

[Virginia Heather]

I, too, have a wooden drying rack in my laundry room. My original intention was to have it set up on an as-needed basis, but w/ 2 year-round swimmers, it's turned into a permanent fixture, much to my dismay!

[stephanie]

We too hang our towels and suits outside on a rack that I bought with separate hooks on it. It gets full sun all day so they get dry pretty quick. However, you have to be careful of the suits b/c they can fade sitting in the sun all day to dry. After a few days I take the towels and chunk them in the wash for a fresh smell. My kids swim here at home off and on throughout the day and night so the towels can definitely add up!

[momofkhm]

and I do have 2 bathrooms so it's not an issue here, but for those bemoning the wooden drying rack space on the floor. My mom bought me one of these. It works wonderfully! No set up or fold down.

[Lolly]

We have a towel rack in each bedroom. They look like a quilt rack that sits on the floor. They hold multiple towels.

[Julie in Austin]

We aren't that big of a family, but . . . I just put up a bunch of hooks in the garage and they have to hang everything up there when we get home.

[SheilaZ]

Towels go straight in the dryer. (Every kid has a differnt color towel and is responsble for his own.) Swimsuits and damp t-shirts go a wire rack in my laundry room.

 

On our "off" days, I wash everything.

[Robin Hood]

I hang our wet suits and towels outside on the clothesline.

 

 

I make my kids hang thier own "outside on the clothesline" and reuse them a couple of times.

[Frontier Mom]

I keep a folding drying rack set-up in our garage so the sun doesn't fade them so quickly.

[Tap]

We have one competitive swimmer who swims 5-6 days a week. His towels have been at the pool, and so those must go into the laundry immediately. We wash towels every other day so even if it is damp when it goes in, it will be washed within 24hours so I don't worry.

 

Swimming pool floors are covered in viral warts, fungal spores, any many other nasty skin conditions. I won't let them reuse a towel that had even a moment on those floors. People may be clean when they come out of a pool but they are not clean when the go in!

 

We have a sprinkler system, no pets and soft grass so we are the neighborhood wet spot in the summer. Because of this we often have a pile of towels by the end of the day. Since the kids are hot, sweaty, and covered in sun screen, I won't let them reuse those towels either, so again they all go directly into the wash.

 

For suits:

 

We have the Whirlpool Duet washer and drier. They are stacked and I have strong magnetic clips that attach to the sides. Since they are vertical there is a lot of space to hang things. The clips are used whenever I need to air dry something or for suits that need to dry.

[Sasharowan]

Chuck them all in the wash. I usually get them 2-3 suits a year (boys get hand me downs for older brothers) and so they can rotate them as needed.

[Caroline]

We hang ours on the back porch in direct defiance of our homeowners association by-laws.

[Christine]

We joined a pool club for the summer. We are ALL having a blast. However, with one bathroom to rinse out/hang the stuff for 5 dc . . .

 

What should I be doing differently? What do you do during pool season to keep up with the added laundry?

 

We have a basket. . .Everytime we go to the pool, and then return, all suits and towels hit the basket and go straight into the wash, get dried, and then returned, neatly, to the basket. The basket is then placed back by the door. (Also, helpful, as when next we go, I don't have to hear, "I can't find. . .")

 

And, yes, I do wash every time (even if we go daily).

[Tracey in TX]

Hang suits over respective bathtubs and towels on our patio table. (Clothesline is preferable, but not allowed in our HOA.)