When I became a Mom one of the most daunting tasks that I ever encountered was definitely the laundry. It seemed every time I had caught up I was behind the next day again. Always something to wash, dry and fold. On constant repeat and never ending. It was exhausting and got even harder with each little we had. I made routines and cleaning schedules that I would stay on top of but one missed day would jumpstart the overwhelming piles of clean clothes to be taken care of.
It wasn’t until we moved states and had a smaller laundry room space that I decided to not use our 6 section dirty laundry organizer and omit sorting laundry all together. I mean besides towels… you know lint fuzz that would build up on our clothes. This has been a major lifesaver on top of many other things that I’m going to share below.
So how did I figure out and tackle the daunting task of laundry for my busy family of 6? Well I….
Stop sorting laundry
I used to sort laundry into 6 different sections, colors, darks, whites, hubby’s work clothes, bedding and towels. I had a specific day I would wash each section. And it worked unless I accidentally missed a day and then I was way behind because I had other laundry o had to do to. Every section had to wait a week to get washed so missing one meant doubling up on one day or waiting another week. Wasn’t much fun either choice I made.
So I decided to have 1 tall basket for laundry and I stopped separating. I wash all our clothes together and even mixed in with bedding. The only thing I’ll wash separately is our towels so they don’t get fuzz in our clothes. I have yet to have anything bleed or be extra faded from it. Nothing has worn down in quality and I have no regrets.
Now when there’s new clothes especially reds I will wash them separately the first two times just to take out and bleeding that may have occurred. If your worried about any specific pieces then wash them alone.
Do one load a day
If you have a larger family this is an absolute must! I usually don’t do laundry on the weekend and I always pay for it come Monday and Tuesday when I’m picking up the slack. But when I do it’s amazing! Doing one load a day and not sorting makes life so much easier I don’t have to worry about what section is the fullest or what’s behind. I just toss it all in. And by one load a day I’m talking wash, dry and put away.
Separate by person immediately
As soon as our clothes are done drying I bring them out and place them on the dryer. I then sort them out by person. I have four bins on a shelf above our washer and dryer that belong to each kid and as they come out of the dryer they then get sorted into their bins. I don’t fold anything I just toss them right into it. I separate mine and my hubby’s onto. A pile on the washer and place them with our clothes. My hubby prefers to just “live out of a basket” and I’ve stopped fighting it so he has a basket in our bathroom that I just toss his clothes into. Yes bathroom so I don’t have to stare at a basket of clothes in our room all the time. Although I do have a basket I need to go through and take out to small baby clothes for my youngest.
Stop folding unnecessary things
Folding is probably the longest process on earth. And honestly now that I don’t fold hardly anything I realize how unnecessarily and time consuming it was. My kids clothes I stopped folding completely. They go into their bin about the washer and drier and then into their bins they have in their closet. All unfolded and tossed in. I don’t really think my kids look a wrinkle mess walking around either so it’s been a major time and mom life savor for me.
As I said my hubby’s clothes go into a basket and he can fold them or not. It’s his choice and I not longer fold them or attempt to. I just have to much to take care of running our home and family of 6. Now for my clothes. I fold all my bottoms. Leggings, pants, skirts etc and then hanger all my shirts or dresses. I actually hang dry all my tops so they come out of the washer and get hung up to dry immediately and the. Placed back into our closet once dry.
Delegate putting it away
When my kids bins above the washer and dryer get full it’s their responsibility to put them away. Well my 8 and 5 year old. My 3 year old likes to help but usually needs help sorting them by tops and bottoms into his clothes bins. It has made life super easy and my kids are learning responsibility and part of the family chores. Their spouses will thank me one day I’m sure.
Only keep what you actually where
One of the top things to overload you in the laundry department is having to many clothes. You really don’t need everything you own. Or probably even wear it all. So downsize and stick to your favorites that you actually wear. The less laundry you have the less you have to do. For us we probbaly
Have enough to last us close to two weeks with our doing laundry. And this actually came about when our washer had broke and I had to take our clothes to the laundry mat. I wasn’t wanting to spend every single weekend washing and drying all of our clothes so I would go every other weekend and wash everything. Which is how I realized that a two week amount works for us. And although we have working washers and dryers I still stick with it. Because you never really know when one might decide to not work. No fun at all!
So I hope my list has helped you to see that simplifying your laundry routine is really a life saver that every mom needs to revamp. There’s no need to spend unnecessary amounts of time doing laundry all the time. And especially dedicating an entire day to it. That’s just to much pressure on yourself. Take it easy and er go of the need to do it all how you may have been taught. It really isn’t as complicated when you stick to the basics.
Do you have a unique rhythm that works for your family that you might think will help others. Comment below and share. It’s all about community and helping one another out over here. So I’d love to hear how you do things.
Until next time. Live a life you love.
Xo Jessica!
