If you’re anything like me, I despise laundry with the utmost passion. I didn’t like it when I was single, and as a six-person household with laundry up to my eyeballs, my mind certainly hasn’t changed. The laundry pile is the chief disrupter of my peace and can definitely take away from the feeling of having a clean home. Who can really have peace when you can’t find clothing to wear, socks that match, or clean towels?
However, despite never loving laundry, it doesn’t have to be a never-ending battle. I have found some things that have helped make this chore much easier, transforming a weekly headache into an easy routine.
If there are any take-aways from what I have learned, it is that having a good system and consistency is key! It’s about creating a habit that keeps the laundry from piling up, allowing your home to feel calm, organized, and peaceful.
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The 4-sort method
One of my favorite items I have as a homemaker is my laundry hamper. It’s broken up into 4 sections. One for whites, lights, darks, and towels. However, you can separate based on your family’s specific needs, such as adding a section for delicates, or heavily soiled work clothing.
Separating laundry, the moment it goes into the hamper saves time because you don’t have to sort a massive messy pile before starting the wash cycle. It helps you see what category of laundry needs to be done (a full darks basket means it’s time to be done).
Separating laundry will keep your whites, white, and your lights bright. Though I mostly will wash these two separate, I have washed whites and lights together with no problems, though most of the time they are separate washes and is the safest way to preserve color integrity.
The Flaw in One Day a Week Laundry Days
The flaw in the “One Day a Week Laundry Day” is burnout. When you allow clothing, towels, and bedding to pile up, what you are left with is a huge overwhelming pile of laundry, multiple loads, followed by hours of folding, and putting away. This can lead to burnout in a single day, overwhelm, and anxiety throughout the week frantically digging for clean clothing in the morning.
When You Should Do Your Laundry?
- Small family: (Three people or less): When I had a family of three, I would do laundry about once to twice a week. You may find an “every other day” system works well, especially if you are including bedding and towels.
- Medium Family: (4 to 5 people) Two to three loads per week or every other day.
- Large Family: (4 people or more): One load to two per day is a good routine. It makes the job manageable, never letting the pile become a mountain.
- XL Family: I can only speak for my family of 6 that we do roughly 1 to 2 loads per day. for a family that has over 6. we will say 12, I would assume that would lead to 3 loads per day, sometimes 4 depending on towels and bedding. (If you have a large family let me know which routine works well for you.)
The Best time to Start Your Daily Load:
Timing is very important if you are going to keep up with laundry so it doesn’t become overwhelming.
- In the Morning: (For Stay-at-Home): The best time to start a load of laundry is after you wake up. This gives you plenty of time during the day to dry the load and have it folded before you have to tackle other chores in the evening.
- In the Afternoon: Another good time would be right before you eat lunch. This will give your laundry time to go through the wash cycle, then change it out to the dryer after you are finished with lunch. This can also be your second wash of the day.
- Evening: (For Working Professionals): If you work during the day and are not available to do laundry, starting it right when you get home is best. Before you start dinner it should be ready for the dryer. After dinner cleanup, you can spend some time folding.
Setting a certain time to do laundry and sticking to it will give you more free time, less laundry piling up, and leave you time for other tasks- like making Homemade Chai Powder or bulk snacks for the kids.
Still feeling overwhelmed? Check out my post on battling a messy home when you are exhausted.
Four Rules to Set You Up for Success
Rule 1: Sort Clothing before the Wash
Get a Sectioned Hamper to divide your clothing. The moment the clothing leaves a body is the moment it goes into a section in the basket. It has no place on a floor, left in a bathroom, or left on a dresser. This is the rule that will prevent the accumulation of scattered items that only lead to more cleaning later.
Rule 2: Fold it and Put it Away.
As soon as the load of wash has finished, get it into the dryer or hanging on a line as soon as possible. If it sits too long in the wash it will become smelly (requiring a rewash). If it sits in the dryer for too long, it will start to wrinkle. Once the clothing goes into your folding basket, it shouldn’t sit too long after. Fold it and get it put away within one to two hours.
Rule 3: Put laundry Away (Delegate the Task)
After folding the laundry, delegate the task of putting it away. Children as young as three can help by taking their piles one at a time to their dresser. It gives you the opportunity to tackle other tasks or allows you the rest you need. If you have children that are not at the age of being able to help or do not have children, Rule number three is to put laundry away as soon as you are finished folding. This prevents you from putting folded laundry back into a basket when you don’t feel up to putting it away it later.
Rule 4: Organize your laundry space:
Having a neat and tidy laundry area will also make laundry day a much easier task. Make sure you have all of your laundry supplies, like homemade laundry detergent, fabric softener, stain remover, and a trash bin for lint. If your laundry area doubles as another space, like a linen closet or storage area, be sure that the area is kept tidy. Consider using a small bowl or basket for stray items you find in pockets. (Oh, the number of toys and rocks I find in my children’s pockets!)
Creating Your Laundry Schedule
Determine how often you need to do laundry to keep your baskets relatively empty. You don’t need to write a rigorous, minute-by-minute schedule to keep on track unless it helps you. However, when it comes to things like bedding and towels you can set aside a day of the week to be sure they never get forgotten. (Download the printable below)
This schedule is a way to overcome the overwhelm that massive amounts of laundry creates. When you stick to the plan, you eliminate the frantic search for matching socks and save your energy for the things you enjoy.
Example Schedule:
Daily Laundry: Once per day Mon-Sat)
Towels: Wednesday and the daily laundry load
Bedding: Friday (Every other week) and daily laundry load
Extras: At times you may have extra laundry if a child had an accident or there was extra laundry that week. (With the daily laundry.)
Ready to have freedom From the Overwhelm of Laundry?
Download this free resource created just for you! Create a schedule that fits your family and tailor it to fit your unique laundry needs.
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