Do you feel overwhelmed with the never-ending piles of dirty clothes in your home? Let me show you how to simplify the chore of laundry!
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Organize your laundry room
First and foremost, you need to have an organized laundry room. If you have a cluttered mess you won’t want to spend time in this room. Spruce up your room so you look forward to going in there!
If you need help with this check out my latest post on laundry room organization.
DECIDE on a laundry routine
Do you ever wait to do laundry until the hamper is overflowing
OR
a family member tells you they have no clean underwear?
If so, you need a laundry routine!
No one routine works perfectly for everyone. However, two routines work well for most people. I have used both, and each one has its good and bad points.
Let’s discuss laundry day vs. laundry every day! Then you can choose which one you prefer!
Wash All Laundry in one day
Choose one day of the week and do multiple loads of laundry on that day.
To be successful at this routine you must dry, fold, and put away each load of laundry as soon as it comes out of the washer.
It will take most of the day, but you can do other things in between the loads.
When you are done, you can walk away from the laundry room until the next week!
This is how I did our laundry when we lived in Kentucky. However, I was still feeling overwhelmed and many times, I couldn’t get it all done in one day. When we moved I decided to try a different approach.
Wash one load of laundry per Day
If you are easily overwhelmed by laundry, which I can be, you might want to try this routine.
Wash one load of laundry each day of the week or each weekday (Monday-Friday).
To be successful at this routine, you need to pick a time of day and remember to put the laundry in the wash at that time. Then, dry, fold and put away immediately.
You should make a schedule for what type of laundry you’ll do each day. For example, Mom’s clothes on Monday, Dad’s on Tuesday, kids’ are on Wednesday, towels on Thursday, sheets on Friday. You get the idea!
I would rather spend a few minutes each weekday dealing with one load of laundry rather than spending the whole day.
There is no best way, just choose which one works best for your season of life!
If you are not successful, try a different routine!
tips to simplify the chore of laundry
No matter which routine you choose, the following tips will help you simplify the chore of laundry!
Wash clothes less
Wear clothes more than one time before washing. If your clothes get stained or smell bad then, of course, you should wash them. If not, hang them back up and wear them again before laundering.
laundry hamper in every bedroom
To keep clothes from landing on the floor or furniture, put a hamper in every person’s bedroom. On laundry day it’s easy to grab the hamper, wash the clothes, and put them back in the hamper to be delivered to the bedroom.
Change how you sort clothes
I used to sort clothes by color and type/texture but not anymore!! That takes way too long! Now I wash sheets by themselves and towels by themselves. Keep reading to see how I sort (oops I mean don’t sort) our clothes except for my delicate items that need to be washed on a gentle cycle.
Wash clothes by person
I used to gather all of our clothes and sort darks, colors, and whites. I also separated the socks and underwear from the clothes. After laundering, I would have to figure out which piece of clothing went to each person and deliver the clothes to four different rooms.
Those days are gone, thanks to the invention of the color catcher sheets!! Now I grab the dirty clothes bin and throw everything in together. If I have both white and red articles of clothing, I simply toss in a color catcher and don’t have to worry!
Set a timer
Do you ever put clothes in the washer or dryer only to remember five hours later that you forgot about them? If I’m busy around the house I can’t always hear the timer go off.
I have learned to set a timer on my phone as soon as I hit the start button on the washer and dryer! Keeps me on task and I don’t have to keep starting the dryer to de-wrinkle the clothes again!
Reduce wrinkles
In a perfect world, we would always gather our clothes from the dryer and fold or hang them immediately. But on those days when that’s just not possible, I have a great tip.
Take a few minutes and lay the clothes out flat on a table or couch. Then you can put them away later or delegate someone else to do that job.
Delegate help
Speaking of delegating, here are a few tips on getting help with this chore!
You do the laundry, lay it out like I showed you above, and then teach family members to fold/hang and put away.
Teach family members to do the laundry with something simple like towels. Then teach them to wash their bedding.
Eventually, you can teach all of your family members to wash and dry their clothes. Assign each person a day of the week to have use of the laundry room!
Well, my friends, I sure hope my tips help you simplify the chore of laundry!
Are you motivated to set up a laundry routine that’s right for you and your family? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Blessings, Donna and Rich
more laundry room inspiration
- Practical Laundry Room Organization Ideas
- Make a Lint Bin for Your Laundry Room
- Organize Your Laundry Room
- How to Have an Organized and Lovely Laundry Room
ITEMS To HELP YOU OrGANIZE
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
These tips and tricks are all amazing, Donna! I’m literally high-fiving everything you said right now. We do the laundry by person and category and it’s such a time-saver! It also makes a huge difference to have the laundry room clutter-free because it makes you not dread doing each load. I wish you lived closer, we could talk organization ideas all day! Big hugs, CoCo
Thanks so much, CoCo! I wish we lived closer as well, I feel like we have so much in common! Have a fabulous day! Donna
This is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing on Fabulous Friday Link Party. We sure appreciate you. Hugs and blessings to you.
Thanks, Renae! Looks like your new link party is going to be a great success! Take care, Donna
Great tips! I’m a one/two load a day person. It’s been working for me for years. I still sort and I’ve never heard of these color catchers that you talk about. I’ll have to investigate. Thanks for posting to Fabulous Friday Link Party!
Lynn
Hey Lynn! I discovered them right before my boys went to college. So convenient for them because they hated to sort the laundry. They were thrilled to be able to put everything together in one load! Sometimes I’m surprised how much dye gets on the color catcher! Have a great week, Donna
These are fantastic laundry tips, Donna! I also prefer doing one load a day rather than a single big laundry day!! It just seems easier to stay on top of things. I love your tip about the color catcher sheets. I’ve never heard of those before! I’m going to have to check those out!! Thanks for such an informative post!
Glad you enjoyed it and give those color catchers a try, they are amazing! Donna