Confession: Laundry Day is my favorite day of the week. If you loathe laundry (as I absolutely have in the past), I want to give you a peek into how I’ve structured my laundry time to make it enjoyable for me. I’ve tried lots of different tips and tricks and settled into a routine that works for me and my family. It’s all about finding the joy in the mundane of your life and I find that nothing feels more mundane than laundry, so if you can find joy here, you’ll find it everywhere.
Here’s how I make it work:
-Plan for one day a week (you might end up with two days). I know for sure that I’m going to do laundry on the same day each week, but I also know that occasionally there’s an extra midweek load because somebody wet the bed or needed their basketball jersey washed or whatever. But I am NOT going to do a load every day. That makes me feel like I’m on some kind of laundry hamster wheel that will never get finished. I do it in one day, then (ideally) forget about laundry until the next week.
-Have hampers in each bedroom and one spare. Every child has a hamper and they put their clothes in there (and if they don’t, they get to be Mommy’s Special Laundry Helper). I also have an extra hamper on top of the washing machine for kitchen towels, random socks I find, a shirt that got too much spaghetti on it to go in the hamper, etc. I want to make getting laundry into hampers as simple and convenient as possible.
-Collect everything (don’t forget kitchen and bathroom towels). On the morning of my laundry day I do a sweep through the house and collect the guest bathroom hand towel, any kitchen towels or dishrags, towels that were on the bathroom floor or hung over the shower door and the stray socks collecting under the couch. The goal is that by that night EVERYTHING will be clean for one minute and during that one minute I’ll feel like a superhero.
-Sort. I like to sort the clothes. I know not everybody does, but sorting is an easy way to make sure you don’t accidentally wash any action figures, you can turn the pants the right way, fix the balled up socks, pretreat major problems, etc. It also means my nice sweater doesn’t get washed with my child’s sweaty jersey. For our family of 8, I usually end up with 1 load of delicates, 2 loads in cold water, 1 load in warm water, 1 load in hot water. If I start at around 8:30 a.m. I have the whole process done by about 8:30 p.m.
-Start with the things that take the longest to dry. I wash my towels, blankets, and my things that need to air dry first. That way they have all day to get dry and I won’t go to bed with slightly damp things strung around the house.
-Enlist the help of your kids. Kids can bring you their hamper. Kids can switch out loads. Kids can take the laundry to where you’re folding. Kids can put their own laundry away. Kids can match socks and fold towels. Depending on what kids are home when, have them help with tasks that are developmentally appropriate for them. At the group home we lived in, second graders were doing their own laundry unassisted. Teaching your kids these skills early is a good thing.
-DUMP. I dump all the clean clothes in a massive pile on my bed or the couch. This is because I am a person who is motivated by big messes. If I left it in the hamper, I would just never fold it or put it away. When I dump it out, I feel compelled to clean it up.
-Folding time is self-care time. I make folding time work for me. I watch a good documentary every week while I fold. I lock the door and just enjoy some adult quiet time. I might even have a snack up there with me. It’s kind of magical. This does require the help of my husband, but he also wants clean clothes so he’s willing to work to keep the kids out of my hair for the 90 minutes it takes.
-Separate out the clean socks. I put one of the (now empty) hampers out near me and if I see a sock, I throw it in there. The last folding thing I do is match all the socks in that hamper.
-Take a minute for organization/purging. As I’m folding, I’m evaluating– does this still fit? Is it too stained/ripped to keep? Do we have too many of these? I pull things out to give away or to store for later. (I have a tub to put those things in.)
-Delivery time. Kids take their own clothes to their rooms plus one extra thing you need help with (bathroom towels, kitchen towels, cleaning rags, etc.). Partner big kids with little kids to help get all their clothes put away. My three year-old is now capable of putting away her own laundry, so train them young and you’ll be amazed what they’re capable of.
-Make laundry day a day for room cleaning, too. While I’m folding laundry, the kids do a deeper cleaning of their rooms. I put out the vacuum and they actually like doing that themselves. It’s one day a week we make sure things aren’t getting out of control in each room.
-Do all the hanging-up last. As I’m folding, I set things that need to be hung up in a separate spot where they can lay flat. After all the clothes are put away, I go hang them up (the kids can’t reach that high yet).
-Eat ice-cream. Laundry day is also ice-cream day. If the kids clean their rooms well and put their laundry away, they get ice-cream. And Mom and Dad do, too.
-Tweaks for working parents: I love that I get to work from home, but I see how that also means this system is more simple for me because I can be there to switch out loads as needed. If I were not at home, there are a few things I would change. I would sort the clothes and start the first load the night before. I’d then get it in the drier so things have all night to dry. I’d stick the second load in the wash, but not worry about the drier until the next morning. In the morning I’d start that second load in the drier, then throw the third load in the wash. By the time you get home you have two loads ready to fold, one ready for the drier and you could put a last load in the washing machine.
If you love your laundry routine or my suggestions don’t work for you, this is by no means the way everyone should do laundry. I just know I’ve enjoyed reading about how other people do laundry and it’s helped me refine my own routine. I kind of hate how accomplished I feel when I’m able to hang up the last thing and know I FINISHED IT ALL in one day. It’s one of those simple joys. So take what works for you from this feel free to share your tips, too!
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