Two hundred years ago laundry definitely did not take place on a weekly basis and when it happened, it was a multiday, all hands on deck experience. The ladies of the house, unless they were very high born, would work alongside the servants (at least until the Victorian era, when more shunned the activity) in order to get the enormous task finished. The wealthier a family, the more clothing they possessed, the longer they could stretch the time between washdays.
