Laundry. One word with so much emotion.
Looking into the laundry room right now I can see the pile of clothes spewing out of the hamper. And I know that not all of the laundry is even in the hamper. Five people can create a load of laundry (no pun intended).
I’ve struggled over the years trying to come up with a good laundry system. One that would help me to keep the clothes washed, folded and off my bed and floor. Most of the time, I can keep up with washing the clothes and drying them. But folding-that’s another story.
This post was originally published March 13th 2017 and has been updated on April 16th 2018.
Mountain Of Laundry
Many days during the week you can find a mountain of clean laundry on my king size bed. I’m very thankful for this giant bed to hold all of our family’s clean laundry.
But then bedtime rolls around and somehow the laundry mountain is still there!?! Now what? I’m tired and want to go to bed but my bed is already taken.
To the baskets go the clean laundry and the baskets to the floor of my master bedroom. Now that it is off my bed it’s less of a problem. I can sleep!
Then morning comes and I have 4 humans riffling through the baskets of clean clothes. Now I have clean clothes on the floor. Next, questions ensue: “Mom do you know where my jeans are?”; “Have you seen my sweatshirt?”; “Is this tee shirt clean?”
This cycle of laundry washer, dryer, bed, baskets then floor was not working. This is no way to begin your day. Something has to be done.
Finding A Solution
I needed to find a solution that was much more manageable and time efficient than doing all the laundry in one day or one weekend.
I needed to eliminate that mountain of clean clothes that ended up on my bed or bedroom floor.
I needed to get my clean laundry folded and put away so I could sleep in my bed at night.
I needed to eliminate family members asking for specific pieces of clothing every morning.
MY SOLUTION :
1. Wash, dry and fold one load of laundry Monday thru Friday.
One load of laundry is started every morning. This chore rotates weekly between my two eldest children.
Clothes are only separated by lights/darks. This makes the task easier for my kids. They use the cold wash cycle so there is no worry of colors bleeding onto other clothes.
Let me encourage you to get your kids in on helping with the laundry! I spend the extra money on using laundry pods to make this job kid friendly. No worry of liquid laundry soap spill. No worry of over pouring laundry soap. I’m happy to spend the extra money on laundry pods to help teach and train my kids!
In the time it takes me to get ready for the day the wash load is usually done and then I move it to the dryer.
2. Wash bed sheets, towels or rugs on Saturday.
Use a weekend to wash the large items.
I like to save towels for a weekend sanitary wash. I find that using the sanitary wash cycle eliminates the musty smell that can linger on towels.
Bed sheets can easily be washed in the morning, dried and put back on the bed before lunchtime. I love the smell of freshly washed sheets!
3. Fold laundry the same day.
This was the area I struggled with the most- folding the laundry. I had to be strict with myself and that’s why I chose to fold clothes in the laundry room.
Once the clothes are dry I stand at the dryer and fold each piece of laundry and place it into the laundry basket. I try to separate the clean laundry as I fold it and place it into the basket for each family member.
Now it doesn’t happen 100% of the time but I aim to do all my folding in the laundry room!
Sometimes I put the laundry in a basket and ask the kids to fold it in the afternoon. Or it goes into a basket and I fold it in the evening while watching a show.
Either way the laundry is getting folded the same day it’s washed. My biggest struggle of folding clean laundry is being tackled.
4. Put away laundry the same day.
When the clothes are folded I bring those piles to the room they belong in and put them away myself or assign one of my kids to put them away.
It has been so nice to have all clean clothes put away and out of my master bedroom.
I no longer have family members asking for clean clothes. When it’s time for bed my sleeping space doesn’t have to be cleared. The laundry has been put in its place!
Finding a solution and implementing this laundry routine has been working quite well. Here’s a recap of the laundry routine:
- Wash and dry one load of laundry Monday thru Friday
- Wash bed sheets, towels or rugs on Saturday
- Fold the laundry the same day
- Put away laundry the same day
Give this laundry routine a try and see how it will eliminate your mountain of laundry. Include your kids or spouse in on helping with the laundry also.
