A different look into everyday household routines
You may not stop to think about laundry and ironing too frequently, but there’s a lot more to these processes than you may know. We’ve put together some fun facts, info and statistics for you to learn more about the activities that are second nature to you today.
outdoor laundry
Dhobi Ghat
(Mumbai, India)
Walt Disney World
285.000 pounds
Fun facts, statistics and trivia
The amount of laundry done at Walt Disney World totals 285,000 pounds (that equals around 130,000 kgs, which is the weight of approx 2100 average size person) per day, with 30 to 32,000 garments cleaned daily. That means you’d have to do one load of laundry per day for the next 44 years to match the amount done at Disney. The average family in the United States does 8 to 10 loads of laundry per week, and the majority uses a drying machine. Only 21.2% of families use a clothesline to dry their garments.
Until the 1960’s, dirty laundry was often mailed home by college students to be washed by parents. Modern laundry machines ended this practice, though, because it became a lot easier to wash clothes locally. Have you ever wondered what happens to dirty clothes out in space? Astronauts on the International Space Station don’t have the option of doing laundry, so they eject their dirty garments into the atmosphere where they’re incinerated into dust. In Switzerland, neighbors have to stick to a strict schedule that tells them when they can do their laundry in shared laundry rooms. Due to the number of neighbors, you might have to wait up to ten days for a free slot. Plus, Sundays are completely off-limits — both for using the washing machine and hanging clothes out to dry. Mumbai, India, is home to Dhobi Ghat, the world’s largest outdoor laundry. Garments for schools, hospitals and personal use are all cleaned there.
Household tasks through the ages
When it comes to the time spent on tasks, people who live in the West and use modern technology dedicate an average of two hours a week to doing laundry. If you have a family and do around four loads of laundry a week, that adds up to 208 loads a year using of 8,320 gallons (That equals around 31,500 liters, which is the capacity of approx 105 standard bathtubs) of water in total. There’s always more to the things we do and the items we use than meets the eye, and even the tasks you cross off your to-do list daily can pique your curiosity when you think about them.
