By Tanna Clark | Leave A Comment
Laundry got you down? Here are a few tried and true tips that have worked in our house for taming the laundry beast.
1. Do a load a day to keep the laundry monster at bay. If you have more than two people living in your house I would suggest doing a load of laundry every day. Pick a certain time and stick to it. For example: Wake up, do morning routine and throw in a load to wash. Feed kids, clean up and put clothes in dryer. Take 5-10 minutes after your lunch/dinner routine and fold clothes.
2. Fluff the dry clothes. When you are ready to fold laundry turn the dryer back on for 2 or 3 minutes to give the clothes a fluff and most of the wrinkles will be gone. I don’t run to the dryer the second it goes off, so this option works for me.
3. Hang em’ up as soon as they come out. Again we’re trying to lessen the wrinkles. 99% of my clothes are wrinkle free using these tips, however hubby’s dress shirts always have to be ironed.
4. Only buy what you need. Don’t buy 30 pairs of socks or underwear for each family member when there are only seven days in a week. Remember, we’re washing a load a day now, your not going to run out.
5. Reuse your towels. A towel is good for a few uses when you hang it out to dry after your shower. Number #4 can apply here as well.
6. Get the kids to help. Teach your children to be responsible for their things by having them put their clothes away. Don’t wait until they are ready to head off to college. Their roommate will not pick up after them.
7. Put the laundry away. It has to be done. Sorry there is no way around this one, but doesn’t it feel sooo good when all the laundry is done and it is all put away!
ABOUT Tanna Clark
Tanna Clark is a Christian, wife, mother of 3, professional organizer and blogger at Complete Organi{read more}
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These are some great tips. I recently just finished a more in depth series (7 parts) on how to do the laundry on my site (click above) which touches on a lot of these areas, including how I trained my children how to fold laundry in the fold laundry section.
I also think that an important part of getting laundry done quickly, and making sure you can do a load a day, is to make sure it gets put into its proper place, laundry baskets, when it comes off, and not on the floor. Also, sorting is key and I like to combine the two steps of laundry baskets and sorting into one, to save time and energy.
When you have three kids like me (7 and under) and work full time outside the home, you have to get a system and stick to it so you aren’t buried by Mt. Washmore.
I agree with most of your tips, but #1 has me saying, “this is a little impractical financially.” I always keep up with my laundry fine, and I only do white and coloreds once a week with a family of three. I guess if there are more in a family– especially with teenagers, you might need to do it more often. Thanks for your post.
Taylor, thanks for the tips I agree, I try to encourage my clients not to dump clothes on the floor or on the couch. It tends to stay there longer than needed.
Lori, true, if you don’t have a full load it would be impractical. With my family of 5 I have one load each of whites, darks and towels. Then I throw the boys clothes in as one load. They rarely wear anything white except socks. Then if I’m having a good week I will do our bed linens. I also keep hubby’s gym clothes in a separate load (stinky!) I run those on hot or they will smell musty. So I have 6 loads a week easy.
These are some great tips. I would say though as a mother of 5 children. One load a day would not be enough. I have a set goal of 3 loads a day.
Since children have their favorite clothing that they love to wear. And would if we let them wear those favrites everday. So with that I have found that it is a good idea t to have them go through their piles when putting them away and take out items they don’t really want to wear any more. Why have them hanging on the floor or thrown back into the laundry to be washed again.
Jenny, yes I should have put AT LEAST one load of laundry a day in your case! The more children you have the laundry will definitely increase.
Excellent tip on having your children pick out the clothes they don’t particularly care for. My children are not at that stage yet. We have a dress code at our elementary school so my oldest has to wear polos and jeans, the rest of his play clothes consists of camouflage which he loves!
Rule #1 is critical to laundry success! I say “A Load A Day Until It’s Put Away.” I can wash and dry a load, but if I don’t put it away everything falls apart.
Thanks for your post! I just found your site and I love it!