How To Easily Keep Up With Your Laundry

Do you hate to do laundry? Does just the thought of dealing with the massive amount of dirty clothes have you running in the other direction?

Do you feel that as soon as you get to the bottom of everyone’s laundry basket, someone throws more dirty clothes in it?

It’s never ending. Frustrating, I know. You think you have accomplished a huge task only to see more dirty clothes.

That’s okay! Really.

I am going to let you in on a few little secrets that will stop making you crazy when it comes to laundry. You can keep up with your laundry.

How To Do Laundry Faster

You can get a handle on the ever growing mountains of laundry which I lovingly refer to as Mt. Washmore. Trust me on this. Read on for my method.

I have a few steps that will help to tame that beast called Mt. Washmore.

This one tip will help you to get your laundry done faster and with less stress.

The Number One Habit To Keep Up With Your Laundry

Wash one load of laundry per day.

Sounds simple doesn’t it? Just one load of laundry per day will undoubtedly make your life so much easier. Be adamant that you will only do one load per day regardless of the amount that needs to be done.

The Overwhelming Tidal Wave Of Dirty Clothes And How To Solve It

Simplify your laundry routine.

Don’t be tempted to do more than one load of laundry per day. The last thing you want to do is sabotage your efforts. What I mean is, by doing more than one load of laundry per day, you will feel overwhelmed. It is easy to get side tracked and lose focus on the one task you are tiring to conquer, By doing only one load of laundry per day, you will get ahead slowly. And slowly is okay in the long run to accomplishing your goal.

Change Your Buying Habits

Buy only white towels. Buy only white socks.

Towels and socks are hard to keep up with.

By purchasing only white socks, you will no longer be matching socks or looking for lost soul mates of said socks. No more searching for lost socks which drove me crazy.

A true time saver. Not to mention a sanity saver, too.

Using only white towels, will eliminate the need to remember who’s towels go where. If you are anything like my house, everyone has special towels. No more. Toss the old towels and buy white when it is time to replace them.

Limit The Number Of Towels Per Person

Towels seem to pile up overnight. Not kidding. I almost believe they multiply on their own. That’s why this next step is so important to keeping on top of your laundry.

Only allow each person a limited amount of towels. Two is a good number especially for girls who seem to need one towel for the body and one towel for their hair.

We are looking to make laundry easier and not make everyone miserable in the process.

By limiting the number of towels each person uses, they will learn to reuse towels. No one needs to use a fresh towel everyday.

Tip: Towels should be laundered after 3-4 days, provided they have been hung to dry between uses.

Laundry Needs To Be Separated

I know separating laundry just adds one more step to an already busy schedule but if you want to keep whites from turning gray, this is a necessity. I know from experience.

Separate laundry into piles. Light colors, dark colors and whites. Whites or light colors will turn gray if washed with dark colors. Wash dark colors together. Always wash white separately. If I am not using bleach in my white load of laundry, I will mix in light colors like yellow or such.

For some reason, yellow items seem to dull in color quickly. Have you found this to be true or is it just me?

If you have the space, invest in a laundry sorter. Sorting only takes an additional few minutes but will save the wear on your precious whites.

Additionally, ask everyone to pitch in with the sorting process. More hands make a large task faster!

Do Not Fold Or Iron

Do not iron. Most clothing is wash and dry. Just be sure to remove from the dryer when it is finished. Keep a timer on your phone as a reminder to check the dryer.

Line dry items that are susceptible to wrinkling.

One of the most dreaded part of laundry is the folding and putting away. I think everyone can’t stand folding laundry. My solution is don’t fold everyone’s laundry. How easy is that?

That’s the kind of advice I like.

Delegate! Enlist your kids to fold their own garments and then put them away. This is a great teaching tool.

I like to assign each child a laundry basket, this stays in their room or closet. They put the dirty clothes in and I will bring the dirty clothes to the laundry room in a separate basket. Once I have sorted the clothes into each basket after washing, the child is responsible for taking the basket to their room to be folded and put away.

The folded items may not be to your standard but done is better than perfect.

Managing Linens

When talking about linens, these include anything that has to do with bedding. Sheets, comforters, blankets and such. For this post, I am only concerned with sheets. These need washing more than any other linen.

Sheets should be changed once per week. Designate one day a week for this. Everyone should strip the bed and put on new linens. You will probably need to do more than one load of laundry on this day. I do this on Saturday mornings. Choose what day is most convenient for you.

Then wash, dry and distribute to the family. Folding sheets is good practice. Even better to fold as a team since sheets are rather large. By enlisting a team effort, the folding will be accomplished in record time.

Eliminate extra sets of sheets. Keep only two sets. One set for on the bed and one set to be washed.

Clean Out The Clothes Closets And Dresser Drawers

Stuffing drawers and closets with excess clothes can make a person, just say forget it. Then the clothes don’t get put away. It can be so frustrating to have to shove folded t-shirts into an overstuffed drawer. Then the clothes will be left on top of the dresser.

That’s kind of pointless. Right?

If that is the case, it’s time to start going through the drawers and reorganizing them. By getting rid of the outgrown and worn-out clothes, you will make a lot more room for the clothes that are actually worn.

This one step alone will save you much needed time in conquering Mt. Washmore!

You probably need to go through the clothes closets, too. I did this recently and have been reaping the benefits every day with less clothes to contend with. Read my post on How To Organize Your Clothes Closet for more ideas.

By using these tips, you can find a system that works for you. But be flexible. Be open to change and tweak some steps to better suit your family.

In Summary

• Wash one load of laundry per day.
• Buy only white towels and white socks.
• Limit the the number of towels per person.
• Separate the laundry into like colors.
• Do not fold or iron. Delegate these tasks.
• Keep only two sets of sheets per bed.
• Clean out closets and dresser drawers.

You will need to spend extra time at first to keep up with your laundry. It will take awhile to get to the bottom of the laundry pile by doing one load of laundry per day. But once you do, the laundry becomes so much easier.

You may not like laundry any more but I guarantee you will hate it less!