We are a large family of six, and it can be a daunting task to know how to do laundry fast for so many bodies.
My husband likes to change his pants (at least) after work for some “chillin’ shorts.” And my daughters like to play dress up, and my three-year-old likes to “accidentally” get himself soaking wet at the sink, and my baby’s poop doesn’t like to stay confined to a diaper.
Add those to clothing changes because of swimming, ballet class, or colder/warmer weather, along with the sheets, blankets, and towels, and the laundry piles up quite literally day after day.
Hate cleaning but love a clean house? Pick up this printable Spring Cleaning Bundle and you'll be able to clean it all without feeling overwhelmed!
But, I figured out a laundry system for doing laundry that is perfect for our family. It’s a tad lazy, child labor heavy, and completely manageable so that I’m not feeling overwhelmed by another daily to-do chore.
I wanted to help you in case you are drowning in laundry piles, by sharing how to do laundry fast for a large family in only three days.
This system may not be right for every family, but I am sharing lots of our laundry tips which many will find useful no matter how you do laundry. If the ideas below don’t work well for you, check out my follow-up post with some great ideas from others on how they do laundry in their homes.
My laundry system is pretty simple: I wash everything on the first day, fold and organize everything the second day, and hang and put it all away on the third day.
Then I have four days of the week where I am not doing laundry at all (unless an incidental washing needs to occur).
With this laundry system, I am not drowning in laundry piles. There is only one day of the week where you’ll see piles of laundry on my couch so that I can fold it. Thus, it’s how I do laundry faster yet a tad lazier. Perfectly realistic.
How to do Laundry Fast – Day 1
One day a week is designated as our Wash Day. For us this is Monday. On Monday I wash everything: my clothes, my husband’s, my twin girls’, my son’s, and my baby’s; dish towels; and sometimes even sheets and towels (occasionally I’ll wash these on a Saturday instead). To keep it simple and quick, I employ the following time-saving principles when it comes time to do laundry:
1. Use the same laundry detergent for everything.
This means I am not paranoid if baby items get put in with some adult pieces, or some lights with darks. Our kids don’t have sensitive skin, nor do we, so we just use whatever detergent we have (which is usually whatever is on sale). We often use Arm & Hammer (ironically the variety that is free of perfumes and dyes and made for sensitive skin).
We’ve been using Arm & Hammer for quite a while, probably over a year. It does a better job than Tide did for us, and it costs a lot less. We also pre-treat with some Resolve, and sometimes (always to the kids stuff) add some OxiClean to the wash cycle.
Using the same detergent for everything saves time because I don’t have to do smaller loads of laundry or use special detergents, which would mean more loads and more time.
2. Separate whites and colors for the adult clothes (at least).
Laundry 101 on how to do laundry is to separate you light clothes from your dark clothes because dark clothes tend to eek out their dyes onto your nice bright whites, sometimes permanently tinting them pink or some other color.
My husband and I wear a lot of white clothes, because we are endowed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which means we wear white undergarments/underwear underneath our clothes every single day. To make wash day and separating the whites and colored clothes easier, we have two laundry baskets in our bedroom, one for whites, one for colors.
The kids are learning to separate their lights and darks, but it’s often just all mixed together (and I pull out their whites and stick in with ours).
But, if you didn’t want to separate them, you can always buy this product. Many people love them and swear by them!
3. If clothing is shed downstairs, it just goes into the laundry room.
Our bedrooms and laundry baskets are all upstairs, but our laundry machines are downstairs. Sometimes clothing will be shed downstairs. Instead of making a child (or my husband) take their clothing upstairs, we just put it in a small basket that sits on top of the washing machine so it’s there, ready for wash day. We also place dirty kitchen towels in there too. These random pieces of are added to the appropriate washes on Wash Day.
4. Wash Adult Clothes and Kid Clothes Separately
Washing just adult clothes together, and just kid clothes together, makes it easier to sort and organize on day two of my laundry system. It bugs me to find my husband’s sock after I had already packed our laundry basket to go upstairs. Also, sometimes kid’s clothes are extra gross and dirty, so I don’t want them washed with ours.
5. Shake out the wet clothes before putting them in the dryer.
I feel like shaking out wet clothes before putting them in the dryer is the secret step in how to do laundry properly. My mother always did this. I thought it silly as a child, but now I get it.
This has two purposes: the first purpose is to catch any lingering stains, especially on my kids’ clothes, which I can then treat thanks to this FREE Laundry Stain removal guide. If I took the clothes out of the washing machine a handful at a time, I’d likely miss them.
We don’t have a lot of money to spend replacing stained T-shirt, skirt, and pants for our kids. I want these clothes to last a good while, even if I bought them at awesome online consignment shops. So, if I can catch a stain that isn’t quite gone after it’s been washed, and save it from setting-in in the dryer, I am very happy later!
I then pre-treat the stain (again, as needed), and throw it in with the next wash.
The second reason I do this, is to help with wrinkles and to speed up drying time.
When everything is matted together, squished up in a ball, it isn’t going to dry very fast. Also, if that pant leg is stuck up inside the jeans, it won’t dry well and when it does it will be a wrinkly mess. I don’t iron hardly at all (occasionally some clothes for church), so keeping things as wrinkle-free as possible is important.
I (usually) take this time to shake them out, turn them right-side out, and button, zip, or snap things closed. This also helps speed up folding day when I catch some of the inside out clothing on day one.
*Bonus Tip on How to Do Laundry You Forgot About: Alida of The Realistic Mama shared this great tip with me: If you forgot you started some laundry, and a load sat in the washer a smidge too long, you can add a few drops of Purify Essential Oil to a wet wash cloth, throw it in the dryer with your wet (and slightly stinky clothes) and your clothes will actually come out smelling fresh, saving you from rerunning the washer!
How To Do Laundry Fast – Day 2
Day two of doing laundry for a large family consists of folding and organizing all the clothes to proper baskets to then be taken up stairs to their respective rooms, to be hung and put away on day three. I actually really enjoy folding clothes. Day two of my system is probably my favorite. The following are some things I do that make folding and sorting easier.
*Update: Many people have asked about where my clothes are between Day 1 and Day 2. Here’s the answer: they sit in four laundry baskets inside or just outside our laundry closet on the floor.
Yes, our clothes are slightly wrinkly, but because we lay them all flat for a day before hanging up most of it up, they naturally de-wrinkle. We also don’t care if our clothes are a little wrinkly and no one has ever told us our clothes needed to be ironed.
1. If it is going to be hung, don’t fold it!
Seriously. Why waste that time and energy? In our home, all of our shirts are hung up. Instead of folding them, I just lay them out in piles, one pile for every member (twins count as one member in this case), and lay them flat. This also greatly speeds up hanging time on day three (I’ll explain it below).
2. Fold pants according to owner.
Again, keeping piles according to owner makes sense for being able to put them away as quickly as possible the next day.
3. Throw all the socks in a pile. Match them up last.
Socks have a way of getting stuck inside of other clothes. Just keep them all in a pile and save them for last so you don’t have to backtrack when you find that stray one later.
4. Enlist help from your kids (and maybe your spouse too).
My children are young – 6, 6, 3, and less than 1. But, the older three all help with the laundry. Sometimes my son flings around our nicely made piles, but we’re working on it. He likes to hand me things to fold, and he helps more on day three.
My daughters fold towels and blankets, turn pants and tops right side out, match and roll socks, button and snap items, fold bottoms, and lay shirts and underwear in neat piles. Helping mom with laundry is one of their weekly chores. And they do a great job. They now do almost all of it by themselves, and do it for all of the kids.
5. Load the Baskets the smart way.
Stack the laundry basket with folded items first (largest first like towels/sheets, then pants), then other folded items – socks, jammies, shorts, underwear, and lastly flop those piles of shirts, with the largest on the bottom, on top of the basket.
How to do Laundry Fast – Day 3
Day three is my least favorite day, and the one that somehow doesn’t always get done on the third day of the week. I do not like hanging shirts. It’s like a pet peeve of mine.
But, I have done a few things over the years to make it easier and faster (because I would rather fold everything and put it in drawers than hang shirts for 15 minutes).
1. Hang the Shirts on the Bed
Because I have stacked all the items that need to be hung on day two of my laundry system, hanging shirts is so much simpler! I grab all the empty hangers in my closet and put them on my bed. Then I lift off those piles of shirts, and simply slip the hangers into the collars, one at a time, just flipping down the top shirt’s hanger, so I can access the shirt under it, and slip the next hanger in it, as so on.
When I get a good stack of 6-10 shirts with hangers in them, then I put them on the hanging rod in the closet. And since they are organized by person already, I don’t have to jump around at all! I continue to do this until they are all hung and put away!
2. Have your kids hang their shirts
My daughters have been helping me hang up their shirts for years. Not only is it great to get them involved in another household chore, but it works on some fine motor skills, balancing, and the ability to work through a little frustration.
Of course, I blaze through much more than do, using the above system, but having them help, even when they hang shirts up backward, or a little sloppy, is much better than me just doing it all “the right way.” I am all for teaching those life skills!
3. Have your kids put away their folded clothes
I also have my kids put away their nicely folded pants, underwear, and socks. It’s pretty easy for them, and we now have a nice big dresser that easily fits their clothes. It also helps them know where certain pieces of their clothing is, making it easier for them to dress themselves.
4. Put them all away in one sitting
I have found that splitting up hanging from putting away clothes is not a great idea. Because, it seems that none of clothes will get put in the drawers then! Just suck it up, and empty the entire basket. That way your new dirty clothes from the week can get off the floor, and have your bedrooms looking nicer, sooner.
And that’s it!
Be sure to check out my follow-up post for even more great laundry tips for managing your laundry system smarter, quicker, and cheaper!
I don’t know how other people do laundry in their homes, so tell me, how do you do laundry fast? Do you do it like I do and wash everything in a day? Or do you do a load every day? Do you have any other tips for speeding up the whole laundry process?
Lauren Tamm says
Wow Katelyn, you are so organized Brittany Bullen might start to worry we have some weird thing going on around here. I have a confession to make, I don’t sort kids and adult clothes and I don’t sort any colors. I don’t sort a thing, ha ha. I just throw it all in there, and yes, I use the same detergent for everything. I do really need a laundry day though to help streamline things around here. I also don’t fold things than require hanging–excellent tip and time saver. Matching up the socks last could probably save some time as well. I’m going to try it.
Lauren
Brittany Bullen says
Haha Lauren, thanks for bringing me in on the conversation. I actually wrote a post about our laundry system recently too! Although I’m not sure it really counts as a system, more like a short cut since I don’t sort or fold anything!
Katelyn, I don’t know about you but I really struggle with keeping this whites white over time. I’ve tried everything and at this point I’ve pretty much accepted that they’ll go grey eventually. Any miracle solutions you’ve tried?
Brittany
Katelyn Fagan says
Brittany – I am sorry! I don’t really. If you are talking about garments staying white, I don’t think it’s possible. I remember the lady who helped me pick them out telling me that they are actually bleached or something to make them white, and made it sound like they just will gray over time. But, I will keep my eye out. I keep meaning to try out this pit stain removing trick I’ve seen on Pinterest and see if it really does work. Want to use it on my husband’s work shirts. I’ll keep you posted if (or when) I do!
Oh, and I’ll have to see what your laundry system looks like. 😉
Chicago Catt says
My grandmother used to swear by bluing agent for keeping whites white in the laundry. As someone mentioned, natural cotton is actually a bit gray. To get that bright, crisp white add the bluing agent – tell the people at the temple too; drain cleaner is dangerous!
Mrs. Stewarts Bluing Agent is on Amazon. You probably can find it locally and not have to pay for shipping.
Vicky says
Hanging things in the sun can help whiten them. It was a tip I got for my cloth diapers.
As for forgetting about a load in the washer, I do this all the time. No fancy essential oil needed, just a drop of liquid fabric softener on a wet cloth. Saves me rewashing.
rose says
i use spray nine for pit stains and hang on the line on a sunny day. the sun bleaches them naturally
Kris says
I too hate the way my undergarments go gray. I asked about that when I purchased some recently. The cotton fabric will go gray if you put bleach in it. the natural fibers are NOT white, so they have to “dye” them that color. When you use bleach it takes out the color and they go gray.
I have a son who works at one of the temples and I was with him one day and asked the laundry detail how they keep all the whites clean. They told me that they purchase the dollar store drain cleaner and use that as detergent. It keeps the clothes whiter. They use one bottle per load. I did that recently and it seemed to work….
Also if you want your clothing to stay white you MUST sort whites from colors. The colors leach a little color into the white clothing every wash. I remember my grandmother’s clothing was always really white. She limited her load size and did more than one if she needed to in order for the clothing to be able to move around in the wash better so it will better clean. Hanging clothes (especially whites) outside to dry in the proper weather will also keep your clothing cleaner because of the bleaching effects of the sunshine.
I hated doing laundry as a young mother too, and learned to keep it up better when I got sick and my visiting teachers came and took my laundry to help me out. I was extremely embarrassed and never let it get out of hand after that. Now I do laundry almost daily.
Jamie says
A little trick I use for pit stains on white shirts is liquid cascade. Just put some on and rub in…stain gone after wash!
Kathy says
Hi, My Grandma used La France
Laundry Whitener~ she called it LA FRANKY, lol it is very cheap, and worked better than anything we have tried, we had 13 kids & 3 adults , So we had ALOT of clothes to do!
Needless to say the kids all had to help, even little ones can separate clothes, dark colors , whites , towels & reds, when dried~ we put a load on a table everyone grabbed something & folded as well as they could & separated into piles, socks were together in 1 spot, then we separated by size, colors, etc. we than had a mating game. we matched the socks as best we could,rolled them then started plunking our brothers & sisters on top the heads with them, lol
they wasn’t allowed to plunk back until then found so many matching sets & rolled them together so it was like a race to us! we all pitched in for housework that day too, we cleaned 1 room at time 1 time each week, from top moldings to under the beds & floors. Grandma & mom would pick up during the week but we would do dusting, window washing, moving furniture, etc on the cleaning /laundry day. we did not go outside or watch cartoons until we did our cleaning & laudry & everything was done . It sure didn’t hurt none of us to help out. Now that Im a Grandma and my kids & grandkids are older, they come over and help me out a few times a year , we have a cleaning party, everyone helps in the spring & fall , I make desserts, we cookout, clean & paint & eat all 16 of us, if the neighbors come over &we put them to work too :0 I have some good neighbors always willing to help:) We laugh & talk while we work, it makes it fun
Yvonne says
Oh I love that comment, what a great story & traditions. Sounds you all have a great love for each other and have fun doing it as well.
Loring Hammond says
To the commenters that don’t sort your loundry: If you wash your whites with your colors, especially jeans, they will go grey really fast. I don’t see how you don’t sort out the reds from the whites at least! Do you have a lot of pink undies?
Loring Hammond says
We have a hanging bar in the laundry room. Clothes get hung straight out of the dryer. No wrinkles, no second step, no middleman. I always forget clothes in the laundry, and I’ve never found anything that really gets out the musty smell except a short rewash.
Katelyn Fagan says
I’m glad you enjoyed my tips Lauren! It’s all about working smarter, right? And sometimes I’m lazy and don’t separate whites and colored too. And usually random piece of kids get thrown in our loads and vice versa, but overall, keeping them separate speeds up our folding day.
Mary Garbutt says
If you can train hubby and kids to fold socks together when they take them off, then when you are sorting, you just safety pin the pairs together at the toe, wash them in the correct batches, then when you sort, there is always a mate still attached! Ive always used diaper pins, they last much longer and dont bend and snag the sock. But they are running low now, and I cant find them anywhere.
Ana Lynn says
I wrote about my laundry pet peeve as in – it never seems to go away! But I usually do my wash on Saturdays and sometimes I will iron – my mother’s things mainly because she cannot imagine not having ironed clothes. We mostly air dry as dryers are not so common in Croatia. Thanks for the tips!
Elizabeth says
I try to do one load of laundry or more a day. That way I don’t feel overwhelmed and it helps. I don’t have enough clothes to wait to do it all on one day. I also have different hampers for whites and colors. That way, when we take off dirty clothes, we either put them in the white hamper or the color. When I go to do laundry, I just throw them in. I must admit that I don’t “shake out” my clothes. I think it takes too long, but I have been victim to hidden stains. Do people actually use different detergent for different laundry? lol. Love that.
Mothering From Scratch says
{Kathy} This is a great guide for everyone. I am always looking for ways to make laundry easier. I agree with you that separating laundry by person can be easier.
marie leslie says
Great laundry tips. Sounds pretty similar to our house. We, too, do one detergent, one softener (we actually use white vinegar) , etc., for everything.
I’m a one-day a week washer (obviously more when I had four little kids at home), but I couldn’t stand the constant laundry piles, so we started laundry day when they were little.
One thing that’s made a huge difference for me has been a place to hang up clothing and to fold and sort as it comes out of the dryer. Being able to get it out and get it done all at once makes it go so much quicker and pretty much eliminates any wrinkling.
My kids have been responsible for sorting dirty laundry since they could tell light from dark and they all are responsible for putting away their own–and for sorting that sock-and-underwear basket (we do that too). Now that they are in high school and getting ready to go off to college, they take turns doing the family laundry so they’ll be laundry experts when they go off on their own.
Katelyn Fagan says
If I had an actual laundry room or area, I think hanging and folding as you go would be a great idea. I still don’t want to hang things one at a time though. *shudders* Hanging is the worst to me for whatever reason! lol. And I have used white vinegar and baking soda (separate washes) for our towels before. It works really well! Thanks for your comment Marie.
(I would have replied sooner, but I just rescued your comment from my spam folder! Glad I actually checked for real comments before permanently deleting them all!)
Mary says
I too, hang my clothes as they come from the drying. Why takes them from the dryer and crammed them in a basket to get all wrinkled up? Socks and underwear might be a little different. But to string out laundry day over three day?. If I had a large family of which I did, when I did a load it would get completed that day. But then I did clothes nearly every day. Having diapers and bed wetting child did’ help. And for goodness sakes, sort out those. Clothes!
Caleb says
Do you have any suggestions for those of us that have to use a laundromat? I have to go to one at least twice a week. I would love to find a better way to do my laundry. Thanks.
lynne says
Im not sure how much it costs you to do your laundry each week, but for my daughter, it was actually cheaper to “RENT” a washer and dryer than what she was paying at the Laundromat. we have a few of those places here where we live.
Gayle says
Your system sounds good but it would drive me nuts having the same laundry hanging around for 3 days. I have a system where I do a white/light coloured load & a dark coloured load each Monday, Wednesday & Friday. I never use a dryer, so it’s hung on the line & as I take it off I fold it into the basket, I keep the things that hang up on top & hang them up straight away.
Rachael says
Here is how I do it, because I live in an area of the country where mold and mildew can happen after just a day or two and I am limited on my time. I do laundry every day. I don’t sort out colors from whites. I got rid of all dry clean only or hand wash clothing and pretty much everything that says “iron”. I limited my kids an myself to 10 outfits per size per season (these are bought every year by the bagful at thrift sore bag sales for $5.00 a bag this way I only spend $20.00 a year on clothing for my three kids I buy my spouse and myself two new work type outfits per year preferably at the thrift store). Every kid has a different color of sock for fast sorting and so that they can be paired up with any other sock they have. I have a rule, if you don’t put the unused clothes back in your drawer you lose the privilege of picking out your own clothes. (Because of this rule I no longer have extra laundry) I don’t fold my kids clothes because I am their mother not their maid and if they want them folded when they get older I will be more than happy to teach them at that point in time but for now I am a full time student and only have 24 hours a day like every other human. For my kids I have one drawer for tops, one drawer for bottoms and dresses and jackets hang in outfits so that I don’t have to help them in the mornings when time is limited. The school jumpers, shirt and leggings and corresponding flowered headbands all hang together as an outfit.
Bedding gets done every two weeks, pillow cases get done every week. Towels get done every week. I use a homemade detergent made with dawn dish soap that gets everything out. I whiten with lemon juice and remove odors with vinegar.
I do not fold my bras and underwear but I do match my socks and fold my husbands underwear. the rest of our clothes are either folded or hung.
Katelyn Fagan says
Wow! You really have simplified everything! I have often thought about limiting the wardrobe too. Saves you money and time. Sounds like you got a well-oiled machine in your house as far as laundry is concerned! Way to go!
Melinda Mitchell says
I don’t fold undies or bras either. Just roll socks. For awhile we had all tops in 1 drawer, and bottoms in another for girls- no hanging clothes at all. They were at their dad’s every weekend, so no church. But it took so long every morning, for them to pick out their own clothes, that now I roll up outfits, top, bottom, panties and socks, and put in their drawer. Then I ask, “Blue pants, or red?” If they need a choice that day. Most they don’t. Sped up our get ready time so much!! I learned that from a mommy blogger.
Valerie says
Very interesting laundry system! It seems to really work for your family, but I wear a lot of dress clothes that have to be ironed anyway. I may to have to try and implement this at my house. Thanks for sharing!
Stacey Updyke says
I love this idea but don’t your clothes get really wrinkled if you don’t fold or hang straight out of the dryer. Wrinkles drive me crazier. I’m constantly do laundry and am sick of it!
Katelyn Fagan says
Yes, some of the more delicate fabrics do, but most of our clothes are just T-shirts and jeans, and don’t get very wrinkly. I’d experiment and see if it might work for you.
Ammy Do says
Wow!! You are amazing, I wish I could do that, but I don’t have a dry machine. I have a lot of white clothes too, because my husband and me are LDS too.
I have to wait for clothes dry outside. And I have laundry almost all the week
Sarah says
Although this tip messes with your schedule, try hanging up the shirts when they are still wet. You are going to do it anyways, and then any stains don’t set, and your shirts last way longer too! It’s what I do, and I never really throw out shirts anymore!
Theresa says
omigosh, that’s exactly what I do! Saves a step, saves energy. and is easier on the clothes making them last longer. I don’t buy dry clean clothes, or clothes that require ironing. There are way too many pretty tops that don’t require ironing! Anyway, i wash them, then stand at the washer for a few minutes putting them on hangers. I reach in, grab one item, shake it out (just like you are doing for the dryer), but then I put it on a hanger. I put leave these in the utility room, then the next day, go get my dry clothes and put them in the closet. It works so well! I do the same with bras and underwear, except I hang them on the side of the laundry basket. Again, the next day, I throw them back into the laundry basket and put them away. Not using heat on bras and underwear also makes them last longer. I do throw in jeans, shorts and t-shirts in the dryer, since those will be folded, and jeans take too long to dry, they will get smelly. But overall, hanging clothes straight out of the washer saves me a step, saves the clothes, and saves energy! Win-win-win!
Jojo says
Love these tips. Our spare room is horrendous and I hate hate hate folding.
Just a question.. your header said if it’s not going to hang don’t fold it?? I still fold what I don’t hang, because it fits easier. But I love your routines with putting the hanging things last on the pile. Need to adapt this.
Thanks for the advice!
Katelyn Fagan says
Sorry! I realize that was a typo! Oops! I meant to say if it’s going to be hung, don’t fold it! I still fold all my other clothes that will be going in drawers. Oops. Good luck getting your laundry under control Jojo!
mamma k says
I love this, however i’m curious how you would alter this schedule if you didn’t have a dryer? We don’t have a dryer and I have to hang all laundry. In the spring summer and fall, it’s not much of a problem but in the winter it takes hours and sometimes even overnight to dry cloths on the line and I don’t have any space to hang it up in my house.
Cindy says
I have a family of 5 and we could never do laundry this way. We simply do not own enough clothes. Condensing laundry to one day does not alter the number of loads that are done, so I do 6 loads a week roughly. If I only washed one day I’d have 6 loads to wash at once- no way! And then six loads to fold in one day?!
I do one load per day, usually at night.
If I’m too tired to fold at night it sits in dryer and I fold in AM.
Clothes go directly in machine – no hamper no sort.
My oldest can fold. All my kids put their small pike away-once a day makes for small piles.
Husband irons his own shirts.
Sheets towels done on weekends and kids make own bed when old enough.
I am fortunate to have a laundry room on 2nd floor! Makes a world of difference when doing at night! Plus I have a lot of helping hands.
Katelyn Fagan says
Sounds like your system works well for you! I kind of like that clothes go directly in the wash machine… But I know that would be easier with the laundry facilities upstairs where the bedrooms are.
Mo Koo says
I actually really love doing the laundry. Laundry and dishes are my two favorite household chores (prob the sense of completion when the laundry room and sink are empty).
Anywho, we only have one little one so laundry is not too overwhelming. But once the brood increases we will be applying this little tip I got for washing baby socks. Use a delicates bag for socks and undies! Each person in the family gets their own and through the week all socks and underware go into the the bag. Then simply wash in the bags for automatic sort when they come out of the dryer. Pairing is up to the kid. One whole load with no work required! Just what we all want.
Katelyn Fagan says
Nice tip!! I really should pick up some of these dedicates bags.
phoe23nix says
Thanks for all the tips! Even though it’s just my husband and me we still generate a lot of laundry, because in addition to our work and relax clothes we go to the gym regularly.
Our machines are on the first floor and bedrooms on second. I have a basket and delicate bag in our room. In the laundry room I have another delicates bag and four baskets: lights, darks, whites and an empty one to transport the laundry to the dryer since that machine is in the downstairs closet (long story). If dirty clothes are taken off or unloaded downstairs they’re sorted at the moment. Every few days I take our bedroom basket down to be sorted.
Mornings I’ll usually throw a load in the washer before work (after showers) or before the gym. By the time I get home that load’s ready for the dryer. I’ll put that in right away so it’ll be working while I’m doing other things. I keep extra hangers in the closet to hang work shirts, sweaters and pants as they’re done.
Keeping on top of the folding is where the laundry monster has been winning lately. Sometimes I’ll fold before work but usually daily prep gets in the way, even though I already do most of the latter the previous night.
The other tip I can offer is I pair my socks together with safety pins. I keep the pin in while wearing –it’s not bothersome. Then when I put the pair in the laundry I simply pin them back together. Occasionally the pin comes loose during the cycle, but usually the pairs of socks come out of the dryer ready to be put away. This method has saved me sooo much time over the past five years or so. Even though my husband prefers his socks folded, mine are super easy.
Katelyn Fagan says
Great tips! I agree that finding a good system for actually folding and putting them away is the real battle! Washing and drying is the easy part. I’ve never heard the safety pin idea, but I’m sure that can save time! I would more worry about ripping a hole in my sock doing that. Has that been a problem?
marla says
When my kids were young (3 yr old twins and a 1 yr old), my husband and I both worked full time on different shifts plus I pulled weekends and call @ the hospital. Laundry became an overwhelming SaturdayIevent. Biggest hurdle was sorting, then navigating the piles – washer/dryer next to kitchen, not in a basement. After purchasing 2 sets of mesh laundry bag hamper stands, we initiated the color game: white bag for whites, another for light colors, brights, darks, etc. Using the kids ‘ markers I made color matching strips which I adhered to the upright tube of the hamper frames. Whenever the children undressed, they matched the clothing to the color strip, stood back on the “free throw line”, and tossed clothes in the appropriate hamper. As a bag filled, I would launder a load or two midweek. This greatly diminished the weekend piles, and made the drudgiest of chores a game.
Katelyn Fagan says
Awesome!! And I love the color coding match up game! I’m glad you figured out something that worked better than the ALL in one day marathon (and on a day that should be your relaxing day off!). Congrats on twins too. 🙂
plant4lover says
We used a system similar to yours when my kids, 3 boys, were young, with 3 upright laundry baskets in the hallway outside the bedrooms. One for whites, one for mediums like dress shirts and slacks, and one for darks like jeans, dark socks, and dark t-shirts. Eventually we had to add a fourth basket for athletic and sports clothing. The boys would deposit their clothes in the appropriate basket after changing and on their way to the bathroom at bath time. It was easy to see when a basket was full and a load needed to be done. I usually did one or two wash loads a day, often in the evening. I hate to iron and so I usually tumble clothes only partly dry and then hang them up to finish drying overnight, giving them a good ‘snap’ before putting them on the hangers and making sure the collars and plackets were smoothed out. We installed 2 lengths of electrical conduit pipe fro the bottom of the wooden rafters for plenty of drying space. Then the slacks, hung on slacks hangers to dry, are very crisp looking and can be folded neatly for the boys or hung on different hangers for mine or my husbands work slacks. And the shirts are already on hangers, so they got carried up from the basement ready to go into their closets. Each boy had a different style athletic sock so we could tell whose were whose. For the twins’ clothes we did resort to an initial on the clothing tag to keep track of individual clothes since they wore the same size and they didn’t share clothes.
Folding of the underwear and socks would usually be done in the family room or bedrooms and the rest of the family would often help find their items and fold them. The clothing that was hung up to dry I would fold and put in the individuals room to be put in their drawers by them.
Sheets and towels get done once a week. Sheets come off the bed and go directly to the washing machine or laundry room floor to wait their turn. Many times they go from the washer, to the dryer, and then right back onto the beds so no exact folding is needed.
Although my kids are no longer in the house, my husband and I still have the hallway clothes basket system and it’s easy to tell when a load of clothes needs to be done. Now he will carry a basket to the laundry room and start a load. Also, by the time my boys were teenagers, they were also participating in the laundry system when requested. It was good training for when they went away to school and lived on their own.
Katelyn Fagan says
Thanks for sharing your system! Sounds great!
shawn says
hi I’m curious if the clothes left for folding and hanging the next day become wrinkled?
Thanks!
Katelyn Fagan says
If I leave them in the basket for more than a day, yeah, they start to get wrinkly. But, I’m not too picky about wrinkles… And most lessen after being hung. But, yes, ideally you want them to get folded or hung within about a day or you’ll have wrinkly clothes. Shaking out the clothes before you put them in the dryer helps some too.
Kh says
We have to use a laundromat right now so we are always behind on laundry. I’ve tried multiple ways to keep up. The best way for us was having time frames. Mon-Wed was kid clothes. Thurs and Friday was household laundry. Saturday and Sunday was for adult laundry. I had one basket for each category. I don’t separate colors from whites unless I have the patience for it that day or if I have something brand new that could dye the whites. I will wash the clothes and separate in to piles immediately so things don’t get wrinkled (laid out flat) then put away. If I stick to this, I don’t have much laundry to take care of. But since we have a laundromat here and run out of laundry money, we are constantly drowning in clothes. I hate it.
I actually really like that u have a laundry day or days. We always have laundry everywhere. I’m hoping once we have our own washer and dryer I can just wash a load whenever I feel like it. When I had one kid I would wash when our one laundry hamper was full. Now that I have three kids and three hampers its not as simple as that.
Kaci says
I am not a stay at home mom, so I don’t have the luxury of spreading laundry out over three days. I do all this in one day. It comes from being in college and waiting until I was completely out of clothes to go to the laundry mat to do laundry. Now with a family of five I make it work. We just make sure we have enough of socks, underwear, and outfits to get us through at least 10 days. No I don’t go ten days between washes…but you never know when accidents might happen. We usually spend one weekend day at home just hanging out. So I dedicate that day to laundry and general housework. This forces me to wash everything, dry everything, fold or hang everything, and put it all away in one day. I cannot tell you what a relief it is to not have to worry about laundry all week long. I am not good at a lot of things when it comes to being organized and keeping up with housework…but when it comes to laundry I am a freak.
Katelyn Fagan says
Nice! I think it’s good in a lot of ways to have a big cleaning day all together as a family. I’m assuming you have the whole family chip in to really make this system work so well for you. And it’s okay to have one things sorted out in your life. 😉
Jane says
I use the same laundry for all of my clothes, too! Rockin’ Green Soap is super great at getting stains and whatever funkiness out of everything and I don’t have to use much per load. It’s really only a couple of tbsp. per load. And I love that the scents are so fun! It makes laundry a bit more bearable when my soap smells like watermelon or lavender mint. You should check it out!
Anna says
I loved the hanger trick. I will definitely try that! Only advice I would give is some my friend gave to me when my kids were little…I used to iron kids school clothes everyday … She told me to remove clothes from dryer right away(still hot) one piece at a time.. Put on top of closed washer and flatten with ur hands quickly(like an iron) smoothes out all of the wrinkles. Ironed look. Then I place into their individual baskets. Put away the next day. Has saved me so much time!! Haven’t used an iron in years. Obviously if u can’t be there when dryer buzzer goes off,simply run for couple extra minutes when u are ready.
Katelyn Fagan says
Glad to you liked my hanger trick! It has saved my sanity! And great idea about the school clothes. My kids aren’t in school yet, but I could see how for certain items this would help.
Nicole says
I’m a little confused about the Day 1—>Day 2 transition. Where is all yor laundry overnight between washing and folding? In a pile on the couch or in a basket? Doesn’t it end up all wrinkled?
Katelyn Fagan says
Yeah, usually it hangs out in a basket overnight. And I don’t have fancy clothes that I really care if they are wrinkled or not. Mostly just jeans, shorts, tees, and sweats around here. Never bothered me. And I have only noticed major wrinkling when Day 2 happens several days later. Lol. Most are great the next day.
Elizabeth Christensen says
When my children were little and it was so hard to keep up with everything, I gave everyone a basket on the floor near the dryer and sorted clothes straight out of the dryer into that person’s basket. If it never got folded, at least we all knew where to find it and the system could keep flowing. I found that I really liked keeping the clothing separated by person. So, when I moved, I made sure that everyone had room for their own hamper in their closet, and I have four in my room to separate whites and darks for both myself and my husband. (I use hampers that are made of 3 or 4 bags hanging on a frame.) Everyone knows that their clothes need to be washed when they are running out of clothes, and I hear this wonderful question, “Mom, can I do my laundry?” I help when needed, but having mom fold clothes for them is a surprise and a treat, rather than an expectation. I try to keep up with my husband’s clothes, but if I get behind, he knows where they are and can do it himself. The kids collect towels for me as needed, and I wash them and ask someone to fold and put away (usually during chores around lunch or dinner time). I also help with mixed loads after they play in the snow or the creek. We have 7 kids and one on the way, and laundry is never a mountain in my way, even though the machine is running pretty much every day but Sunday.
Katelyn Fagan says
That’s awesome Elizabeth! If we had a more designated laundry space (instead of a closet) I could see this working, well and if my twins really had separate clothes. 😉 I think it’s necessary to get the kids involved, especially in a large family.