by Having twins means you will be doing more laundry. Just how much will depend on each twin, but I’m confident that your laundry will at least double. And no, not just double because there are two. It will likely double from what you are doing right now for the entire family.
We went from a family of four to a family of six when our twins were born and we doubled our laundry even though we only grew our family by 50%.
You will see several peaks in dirty laundry during your twins’ early years.
Newborn Twin Laundry
Newborns will have peaks of spit-up episodes and blow-out diapers that will cause you to change each baby multiple times a day. Take into account that you’ll also be washing burp clothes, blankets, and mattress sheets when these accidents occur.
Oh, and your twins will likely find joy in having these accidents while you are holding them. So count on washing your clothes, too.
Solid Foods and Laundry
Once the twins start feeding themselves, they will also need multiple changes a day since they will be covered in food. Even if you strip them down or use bibs during meal time, they will find a way to soil their clothes.
(RELATED: Check out the Dad's Guide to Twins Youtube channel for additional helpful twin tips and tricks videos.)
And like with leaky diapers, food messes are easily shared with those around the table. Expect to wash at least one outfit of your own clothes worn while feeding the twins.
Potty Training Laundry Increases
When the twins start potty training, your laundry volume will peak again. As they master their potty skills, your twins will go though multiple outfits a day due to accidents. If you don’t have a huge stack of clean underwear and pants, you will have to wash them everyday just to keep up. Even if you have extra clothes, you’ll probably want to wash the soiled clothes just to kill the smell.
Also consider any towels you use to clean up accidents. We found that during the early days of potty training our twins, the combination of accident-soiled clothes and clean-up towels easily created a daily load of laundry.
Prepare for the Laundry Avalanche
Prepare for double the laundry, detergent, and water bill. We found ourselves running the laundry almost every day with newborn twins. Soaking baby outfits don’t smell the best if you leave them in the dirty clothes hamper. So even if you don’t have a full laundry load for your machine from the kids alone, you’ll likely combine it with other household laundry to get a fresh start on the next day.
Picture by Sean Freese
So, my wife is pregnant with twins right now and we already have 3 kids. Our laundry is already at the avalanche point. What do u suggest in getting a handle on the laundry before it gets completely out of control.
@Aaron – just plan to do laundry every day, especially with newborns and 3 other kids in the house. Make it part of the routine like every morning or every night before bed.