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.
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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?
Dana says
I have a question…how do you keep your shirts from wrinkling when they’re sitting around waiting on folding day? If I take them out of the dryer and throw them in a basket, they’re a wrinkled mess and I have to throw them back in the dryer. Thanks for the article!
Katelyn Fagan says
Several people keep asking me this, and I have to wonder if my clothes are really that wrinkly? Honestly, if you get to the clothes the next day, most of mine are just fine. But, maybe I’m okay with slight wrinkles, and maybe my clothes aren’t that nice anyway. 😉 I know some people have said that they just fold the clothes as they come out of the dryer or hang them. Do whatever you feel you need to do!
Terri Malone says
Thanks for the tips I have a horrible time with laundry, we also use one detergent although I do have to be careful since my girls have extremely sensitive skin we use one fabric softener and the same sheets, one thing that helps me is my daughter who is ten she wanted more responsibility so she has started doing laundry and is wonderful at doing her and her sisters.
Sarah Lawn says
When my 4, now adult, children were young my washing machine and dryer were in a cupboard in the bathroom as we were short of space in the kitchen and English homes didn’t always have laundry/utility rooms. I would wash whenever the laundry basket was full, dry on the line outside or if it was raining, in the tumble dryer. When collecting from the line, I would fold as I collected, but the tumbler clothes would get put in a basket before sorting. My pet hate was putting away in the drawers, so each person had a colour coded box. Eldest -red, next – blue, third – green and youngest – yellow. Their clothes would be sorted in to their box in the bathroom, then it was up to them to put away. Hanging clothes – I hang shirts on a hanger when they come out of the washer, then they either hang on the line outside or from a line inside. They are hung on hangers straight after if they are tumbled.
I rarely sort whites/colours and tend to wash most things on the same temperature. Our clothes need refreshing rather than cleaning nowadays!
Dr. Mildred Allen says
There are only two of us, and I do the laundry every other day!
I read somewhere that this would work for kids: Each child has his/her own colored laundry basket. Each child is responsible for putting dirty clothes in his/her own basket. Then, when the basket is full, bring the basket to the washing machine for Mom/Dad to wash the clothes. Mom/Dad wash/dry/fold the clothes and put them in the appropriate basket. The child takes the basket, with the clean clothes, and brings it to his/her own room and puts the clothes away. Of course, older kids could help to fold the clothes.
Thanks for the tips!
Shelley says
“Kids clothes are gross”?!? If you just washed them, they shouldn’t be gross.
This would only work if you don’t mind wrinkles, don’t mind massive piles of clothes in you house for three days, and you have three full days to dedicate to laundry. Oh, and you don’t !Ind you clothes colors fading overtime.
I do our laundry on Thursday, all 5 or 6 loads. Whites/lights, reds, colors, black/darks, and jeans. Sometimes my husband’s work clothes get their own separate load. When one load comes out of the dryer, it gets folded (the 8yo folds and puts his own away) and put away.
Katelyn Fagan says
Kids clothes are gross before I wash them… With mud stains, marker marks, food remnants, potty marks, etc. Why do you think I wash their clothes in the first place? And this system does work for me… And my clothes really aren’t that wrinkly, or I don’t care. Either one. And my clothes are cheap, so if they fade over time they fade. Life moves on. And I again don’t really care about wearing faded clothes. But I am a pretty low maintenance, not into fashion, person.
Your system seems like it works well for you! I am glad it does, and that your son helps too. 🙂
Tina says
This is almost exactly how I’ve been doing it for years. Except I have 5 kids and do it all in one day. And I do the sorting on my bed, so I know it has to be done before I go to bed. I like laundry when it has a good system.
Katelyn Fagan says
I agree! Laundry isn’t so daunting when you have a system which you are dedicated about doing. Makes it much more enjoyable for sure. Congrats on doing laundry for seven people in one day!
Diane says
I love your ideas and to each their own. I like reading for education to learn a better way. I also enjoy knowing how something works that causes the improvement. That being said, here are some helpful educational tips and comments:
I use Arm and Hammer w/ Oxi-clean. I like the results and the Oxi-clean is an oxidizer to whiten and remove stains. I have tried so many others, that I have quit changing. If you do have stains that are from food, grass, mud….I used Era for the enzyme action. Enzymes break down the stain first so the soap can lift it off the garment; I also pretreated my children’s stains with an enzyme detergent like Era and let them sit to allow it to work prior to washing and exposing to water. So to know some chemistry and how ingredients work is very profitable and makes life easier when choosing the right products to use. These days with Oxi-clean, it has changed laundry and cleaning styles for some, so I have changed brands as well.
A few more educational tips are:
1) If you use Oxi-clean, do NOT use bleach. They do not mix and are not compatible and will not produce a better product. Use one or the other. So, if I use Arm & Hammer w/ Oxi-clean, I do not use bleach. If I use a regular detergent such as Era, then I use bleach. I can also use regular detergent and then use scoops of Oxi-clean if I buy Oxi-clean in it’s own container instead of as an additive to the detergent. It saves space to buy it as an additive for me since my kids are grown and gone now.
2) Vinegar is a base, which is a rinse. It removes residues. Therefore, it should be added during the final rinse cycle to remove soap from garments, towels, sheets, heavy items; it then makes them seem brighter without any extra soap remaining on them before drying. It also helps with odors, but not mold. It is used to rinse floors, crystal, and china of soap residue also thus making them more clean…squeaky clean and crystal will shine.
3) Mold is damaging to everything. It needs moisture to grow and live; yes, it is a living cell and reproduces. It can cause damage to a person’s respiratory system; allergies, asthma, etc. Bleach is the only killer of mold. The acid will eat and destroy the living cells. The problem is, the mold cells reproduce rapidly as they die in trying to breed and save itself. So, one must prevent any moisture reoccurring or the mold will return. It is very tough and it is a health problem in homes, buildings, laundry, coats, bedding, pet bedding, birdseed, etc. It ruins everything. Make sure clothes are dry….really dry before folding and storing. Darkness also promotes dampness in closets, drawers, bathrooms, etc. Light and air movement helps prevent dampness. There are products made that can be bought to place in closets, cabinets, etc. to absorb moisture and dampness also. My biggest trouble is towels, so I use towel racks and bars, not hooks so the air can circulate and dry the towels. I also run the fan to help circulate and make sure towels are throughly dry and cool before I fold. We never place towels in hampers but drape them over something to hang; all towels. When putting away clean, fresh towels, placing them in another place instead of inside the bathroom where steam from the shower/tub is creating moisture, also is a prevention of mold. You can always grab a towel or two as you enter the bathroom to bathe if you use a shelf, closet, cabinet outside of the bathroom. I do not leave towels or clothes in a basement as basements always have moisture, thus mold spores are always ready and waiting to grow. Low temps also cause moisture to gather, so keep room temps up to dry the air and stop mold. I am allergic to mold, so I have to take action all over my house to keep my lungs ok and my kids safe. Wet carpet and rugs, sleeping bags, window ledges, etc are a threat to health as well.
4) I use Dawn dishwashing liquid for grease because it has a degreaser added to the soap. I use it on oily stains like pizza, sausage, oil, butter, etc. I treat the stains then let sit, rinse then treat with Arm & Hammer detergent, let sit, then wash with proper color of the load.
5) I do sort clothes that are dirty by whites, lights, darks (navy, brown, black, gray), reds, colors…pastel , bolds/brights. Even though I sort many colors when my kids were home, we ruined less laundry with less mixing and color bleeding. I use warm water for whites, all the rest is cool and cold. I do not use hot. With the proper ingredients to the laundry detergents now that work for specific reasons, using them has kept our clothes their best in cooler water and little if any fading at all. We had more trouble when pastels and brights were mixed in with other piles; also if clothes were new and not washed first but that changed quickly, thus #6.
6) Wash all new clothes prior to wearing, used clothes too! Why new? All new clothes have a finish with formaldehyde. I am allergic to it and had severe skin reactions so the doctor educated me on this. It irritates baby skin, sensitive skin, elderly skin also. Why used? There are many kinds and types of detergents and additives to products. One is sawdust which was common in powder detergents. This helps get the clothes cleaner having a “roughness” action. I am allergic to sawdust along with many other materials, so if something was washed in a detergent with an additive I am allergic to, I would break out. Washing it first ,removes the harmful residue and prevents reactions and dr. visits and skin on babies, elderly, and sensitive skin are free from pain and damage.
7) I washed when we had a full load. I also folded at a time when I needed to relax and sit. If the children were napping, that was fine, as they grew they would be up and help. They learned their vocabulary when I would say item name, colors, sizes, who it belonged too, where to put it, how to fold it, etc. They learned categorizing and matching/pairs skills very early and language (such as pair of pants, long sleeves, numbers, sizes) well. When they were 8, they made their own bed by pulling covers up, age 10-12 did their own laundry. If they didn’t have enough for a full load, they asked other family members to add theirs to the washer.
8) After washing, we shook out each item, separating it as an individual piece, plus the prevention of wrinkles due to twisted, knotted garments. It helped us save money as the clothes would dry faster, toss freely inside dryer, less knotting and damage to clothes, and we could then hang up shirts, dresses, tops immediately while hot/warm and as they cooled we never had to iron again! I also threw away any garment that was not permanent press or wrinkle release, etc. To make garments permanent press, they use formaldehyde chemicals. When a person irons a pre-treated permanent press items, the heat from the iron removes the treatment and the cloth material needs re-ironed each time from then on. So, I am careful to buy used clothing at thrifts, etc if I see the garment has been pressed as it will not be wrinkle free and I do not want to take time to iron each time. Now I check the garment labels to read the cotton % and other fabrics and know what to buy or avoid.
9) We had laundry baskets in all rooms, but the “sorting hampers” were placed by the washer and dryer, so they had to keep their baskets emptied if their clothes were to be washed in a full load. If they didn’t have clothes, it was because they didn’t sort their dirty basket often enough.
10) I used to use sheets in the dryer, until the sheets would leave stain marks on my blouses, dresses, pants, etc. Those stains looked like grease marks. I now use the Bounce bar that is stuck inside the dryer or pour the liquid in the rinse cycle. The sheets then became history, except I still place them inside drawers, suitcases, closets, backpacks,etc. as a sachet (I also use powder puffs w/ scented powder).
11) Baking soda is an enzyme booster. It boosts the cleaning action to help the enzyme eat away the stains so the items is cleaner. It is to be used with a detergent w/ enzymes…Era, Tide, All, Gain, Purex, etc. Add baking soda to the wash cycle. Some detergents you buy already have added the baking soda, thus you need to read the ingredients to see.
12) Add soap to washer when it has already filled and ready to agitate. If you add soap to the bottom of the washer then clothes or clothes the pour soap directly on top, it is known to fade whatever places it touches for very long, so best to dilute the detergent first w/ water then add clothes or fill with clothes and water first and add last to wash. I have really had to train my children on this to keep from fading/ruining clothes.
13) If the load is quite dirty, I add a couple of towels to rub on the clothes during agitation to help clean them better. Don’t overload though as it can also be too heavy.
14) Towels will retain detergent more than any other items due to the fabric density, so use less detergent. I use 1/2 the recommended detergent because it cleans as well with my knowledge of ingredients and how they work. I get double the usage before buying more. I usually throw in a towel in each load if it matches the color to help with the cleaning and saving of detergent and it will have less soap residue with better rinsing than with more towels. The heavy items like towels, robes, socks, bedding do not go into a load of their own for that reason but I also consider how delicate/strong the other items are as well. I don’t want to over fill any load with heavy items; sharing have items between loads is better on the machine too and helps get a full load sooner!
15) I don’t usually rinse out pretreatments prior to washing. That helps save money when it is included in the wash cycle with the load. Some items I soak in a plastic container for amount of minutes, or overnight, then dump the whole container into the washer, fill w/ water, add a little more detergent to help the load, add clothes, and you saved on water and detergent. Sometimes I soak in the washing machine too, depending on what size it is to soak.
16) I hang a rod over the washer and dryer, or an over-the-door holder/arm that sticks our like a long hook to hang my clothes on as I take them out of the dryer and hang them up. I screwed a towel bar under a shelf above the dryer to hold all the empty hangers. We hang our empty hangers on the side of our hampers and carry then to hang when we sort clothes.
17) When the children were teenagers, I had to change hampers into tall plastic kitchen trash bins. I bought two; a large dark-colored one for identifying darks/colors and a large white one for placing whites/lights/pastels into.
18) Lastly, clothes always wash better in soft water. Hard water has mineral deposits and it doesn’t allow the chemicals maximum action for cleaning. Soft water makes whiter whites, and cleaner clothes. Soft water also helps prevent any rust stains on clothes. Make sure your softener is not low on its ingredients to perform its best.
I did enjoy reading all the comments and loved the suggestions. I hope to have helped others understand how things work a little better and a few ideas someone might find helpful too.
(Apologies for the length, if I made mistakes, or left something out. )
Diane
Katelyn Fagan says
WOW! That was like the best comment ever!! Thank you for taking the time to share all your wisdom! Great advice here for sure. I already use Arm and Hammer, but might have to look for the one with the Oxi Clean already added (though I use the big box of Oxi Clean). Great tip though for the Era, Vinegar, Baking Soda, and Dawn use though!
Talb says
This really was the best comment ever. So helpful!
chris says
Excellent and informative post, thanks so much!
Savanah Fahrney-Day says
When we had a family closet, I normally did laundry twice a week & everything went into the closet and was laid flat. The next day, I’d match all the socks, put away underwear, and get everything hung up. Very little of our stuff gets folded. Now, that we split the kids into separate rooms, everything gets hung up/folded/put away right away because I don’t have anywhere to just leave it that they won’t mess or a cat won’t lay on the clean clothes.
Where do you store all your clean clothes between the time they come out of the dryer until the end of Day Three when they get put away?
Katelyn Fagan says
Between day one and day two they sit in the basket, near the laundry closet (which is tucked in the corner by our backdoor). After the clothes are folded we take the baskets upstairs (so little people won’t dump out the clothes so they can play with the baskets, because they LOVE to play with the baskets – it’s so much fun!) and put them in their respective bedrooms, either on top of the dresser (in the kids room), or just at the foot of our bed in the master bedroom.
Nicole says
I used to do laundry once a week when I worked. Now, I do one load each morning. Sometimes, I run a load on my way to bed. That way all I have to do in the morning is transfer the load to the dryer. Sometimes I don’t have a full load, but I feel it is worth it not to get behind on laundry. On days when there really doesn’t seem to be enough to wash, that’s when I wash blankets, curtains, pet bedding, pillows and so on.
I also put clothes on hangers the same way you do. I love it! I do separate clothes not only by color, but by weight. For instance, I will wash jeans & towels together because they are both heavier weight fabric. You should do this if you use the automatic dry cycle on your dryer. Otherwise you are over drying the lightweight clothes and they will not last as long.
Now, after everything is folded, I put it all back in the basket in reverse order of how I distribute it throughout the house. Kitchen towels first, since that is the closest to the laundry room. Next would be hall closet for bath towels. My dresser, each drawer and so on. Last, would be my husband’s dresser.
One other thing. I was noticing a lot of greasy looking spots on our clothes that I really couldn’t see until they were dry. By then, it had already gone through the dryer. I decided to clean my washer; something I had seen on several blogs. I never realized how dirty my washer was (10 years). Since then, I have not seen any more greasy looking stains.
Jennifer says
I enjoyed reading about your laundry system, so thanks for sharing!
We have a great system, when we actually do it. My kids are older, so it’s a bit different than yours. First, we pared our clothes down so everyone had outfits for one week each season, plus a couple of spares for extra changes. Each family member has one basket (ours are color coded per kid, so I know whose is whose), and all of their dirty clothes goes into it. Each person has a day of the week to do their laundry: 4yo girl Monday; 10 yo boy #1 Tuesday; 10yo boy #2 Wednesday; 13yo boy Thursday; the husband and I Friday and/or Saturday. The night before their laundry day, during their bedtime routine, their basketful goes into the washer (no sorting), along with their sheets and towel (we have two sets, so the clean spare is immediately put on), soap is added (we use the pods so there is no staining from it sitting on the clothes… and so my kids don’t make a huge mess with detergent!), and the washer timer is set to go off 8 hours later. The next morning, on their actual laundry day, they move the clothes from washer to dryer during their morning routine. Because of the timer, the washer starts in time to be finished when we wake up, but isn’t sitting yucky and wet all night. We homeschool, so clothes are removed from dryer, folded, hung up, and put away either after lunch or after school is finished (or on a good morning, after breakfast before we ever start school!). Since each load is all one person’s laundry, and each person only has one kind of socks, there is never a need to match them. If you have two clean ones, they’re a match; put them on and go! I do our sheets, towels, and miscellaneous laundry whenever the washer and I are both available at the same time. 😉
I have twins, too, and we finally separated their clothes a couple of years ago. One would do laundry so he could wear his favorite shirt, and of course, his brother would get to it first. Or, one would do laundry regularly while the other felt no need to because clothes were still magically appearing in his closet. Now, too, I can tell which one leaves their clothes all over the floor.
Your post made me laugh… I loathe hanging shirts, too! I would rather fold clothes all day long than hang them for 10 minutes. What’s up with that?! It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever!
I really like your idea to shake everything out before it goes into the dryer. I sometimes have a wrinkling issue, usually when something is all twisted funny, and I bet that would take care of that.
Katelyn Fagan says
Thanks for your comment Jennifer! Gives me some good ideas for the future as my twins get older and as we plan on homeschooling too. 🙂 We really need to get our girls another set of sheets and mattress protectors for their bed. It would make things easier when it comes to washing their sheets! And yes, what is up with the hanging up shirts vs folding?? I am glad I am not alone on that one!
Jessica says
I use to hate hanging clothes and then I switched to the process to gathering all hangers before starting to fold then out the shirts on the hangers while folding vs stacking and hanging them later.
Easier and gets done earlier.
Thanks for the post
Lyra Good says
I have six, and I wish we could do just one day of washing! This is incredible though. My kids all have a day where they wash their clothes with mom, so I’m doing kid’s laundry Monday-Saturday and mommy and daddy’s laundry on Sunday’s. I love folding, like you, and I also love putting clothes away so I often have trouble letting the kids help 😉
Keep being awesome!
LG
Maggie Squarepennies says
Hi Katlyn! Great system! When our kids were small I confess I used the pack n play as a gait laundry basket full of clean clothes to fold! Not so great!
I have learned to do one load a day as needed. It works for me. I use old laundry baskets to sort the clothes. When a basket is full, it’s time to do a load. I do separate loads for whites, darks, and lighter colored outerwear. I also keep a separate basket just for reds/oranges/pinks to prevent them fading on others.
One thing I found to save money was to stop buying plastic laundry baskets. They break too soon. Instead I use those plastic storage tubs with the flip to lids. They seem to last forever. And if we are taking a road trip and need a box for transporting something I just use one of those storage tubs.
Deanna R. Jones says
Thanks for the information! Laundry day is usually a day long process, so I have to plan either a day off or one of my weekend days to devote to doing laundry. These tips should help make laundry day go from a day long activity to last only a few hours. I really liked your tip to shake wet clothes before putting them in the dryer. I’m not sure if it has to do with how well my dryer works, or if my clothes are just that wet, but usually it takes two or three cycles to get my clothes dry enough. Shaking them out seems like a good way to make them a little dry so that it would only take one or two cycles for them to be dry enough.
Tonya Corbin says
Tip for drying clothes, 1. try an extra spin cycle if your machine does that, if you notice your clothes are feeling really wet after the washer is done. 2. Throw in a dry towel, I use a full body one, in the dryer w/ your wet clothes. Use dryer balls (foil, wool felted, plastic balls, etc). While shaking out clothes, check to see if anything shouldn’t get dried in the dryer or only needs a quick amount of time, I lay them on top, the heat of the machine helps them dry faster. For the ones that only need a little bit of time, while I check my clothes coming out of the dryer, anything that still feels damp goes back in w/ the items that only need a little bit of time or less heat. Hope these tips help.
I also have my kids help, sort afterwards into piles of each persons items. My husbands hang up items get laid over a chair while we sort. We each put our own stuff away. I do help my twin boys, because they get distracted easily, they will be 6 soon. My daughter has a ton of clothes, so if she changes her clothes a lot, she has the consequence of having to put them all away (a good tip for my boys too), she is almost 9. I hate putting clothes away, my clothes usually takes a bit longer to get put away!
Joy Lyle says
I have a laundry bag in the bathroom for colored clothes, and a separate container for whites…Sheets get piled on the washing machine. When the laundry bag gets full, then it’s time to wash! I hang most clothes outdoors, but use the dryer for husband’s dress shirts and similar items that are lightweight. I choose a favorite TV show in the afternoon, and take the clothes off the line during the commercials, folding in between. The ironing board hangs on the door of a closet near the TV and I use that to fold on, or iron quickly as necessary. For the clothes in the dryer, I try to deal with them as I take them out so I don’t have to iron much. The Shaklee company (refer to website) has a product called Nature Bright which I put in with the wash load, but if something is stained, it’s safe to soak it for several days, and then wash it the next wash day…Although it’s just my husband and I now, this system would work for me with more people in the house.
Deanna says
Someone else may have asked this already, but if you do all the washing on day 1, what do you do with the clean clothes until you start folding on day 2?
Katelyn Fagan says
They sit in their laundry baskets by our backdoor/laundry area until day 2’s laundry period, where the baskets then get brought to our couch/ottoman which is our laundry folding “station.”
marie says
HOly cow. That’s organized. I couldn’t.
I have 4 kids (all under 6), they help, my husband helps..and I’m still doing 2 loads a day..thats 12 loads a week…..and I HATE laundry….and we can’t keep up.
Katelyn Fagan says
Ugh. I am sorry! I hope you can figure something out that helps you not hate it quite so much.
sarah says
Using dryers is so bad for the environment. Do you have advice for hanging clothes to dry in the sun?
Katelyn Fagan says
I don’t because I have never done it. If I owned a home, and had more room, I would look into it more. I think some o her comments talked about what they do with line drying. Hope they might help.
Sabriena says
Sarah, I realize this is a few months later, but here are a few tips for line-drying.
I line dry most of our clothes any time the weather is nice. (In other words, I rarely use the line in winter. LOL) What I do; I turn all the clothes inside-out as I take them out of the washer (except whites), to help keep them from fading in the sun. I wash things together that will dry at a similar speed, so I can gather the whole load at one time. Hang socks and pants upside down, it helps them dry faster. I hang a lot of our shirts and such, but if they are t-shirts, you definitely don’t want to put them on the hangers while wet, I was having way too many problems with the necklines stretching. My shirts, I either fold halfway over the line before pinning, or fold them in half sidewise and then pin the bottoms to the line (if it is a hot day). The children’s shirts weigh a lot less and don’t have as much problem with stretching. Most of the time, I put the shoulders close to each other to prevent extra strain on the neckline, and hang with two clothespins. Sometimes I hang them upside down, too, though. I will admit that I never hang-dry towels. I hate the scratchy feeling of line-dried towels. I have a friend who uses fabric softener, and her towels are soft, but the fabric softener didn’t seem to work for me. Also, underwear I used to hang by the side so they would take less line-space, but they were stretching out too quickly. So now I hang them from the center part. They seem to be lasting longer. My personal undergarments I hang on a hanger on a rod in my laundry room. I don’t like having them outside where everybody can see them. 🙂
Hope this helps. I’m not an expert, those are just a few things I’ve learned in the last few years since my husband and I moved to a dry enough climate that line-drying is possible. 🙂 Where we lived before it was so damp, that line-drying was not much of an option. When we first moved into a new home, it had a clothesline that I was excited to use. I hung the first load and within two minutes the posts toppled to the ground. The moisture had rotted them.
Perla says
Love this.
Me, I wash my clothes once a week. I separate clothes by fabric and type of clothes. Thin material, cotton, jeans and so on, also by style. I wash t-shirts together, shorts and pants, towels. I do tend to keep whites together to add Oxy Clean. My washer and dryer are downstairs, so what I do is pull up a chair and an empty laundry basket after the dryer is done. Lay my shirts on top of each other on the back rest of the chair, preventing them from getting wrinkled. Fold pants and shorts in half and lay them on the chair seat. If I encounter socks or underwear, they will go into the basket. When I finish that load, I add what I have on the chair seat into a different laundry basket. Grab my shirts from both sides and lay them in half on top of the shorts. Once the next cycle is done, I repeat. After all is washed, I take the baskets upstairs, and put everything away when I can without worrying about the clothes getting wrinkles. I do pair up socks at the end.
When I’m ready to put everything away, I make piles on my bed for everyone and put clothes away.
Lamia says
I suspect my family follows the French/European method of clothing management.
We only wash things if it’s visibly dirty and can’t be spot cleaned. This saves a huge, huge amount of money and time, not just water, detergent, wash/fold/hanging, but also cuts down on the fading/stretching & time spent shopping for replacement clothes.
Anything that looks clean, and might have a stale smell gets the European-method of treatment. I put the items inside a bag inside the freezer, and/or a shot of Febreeze and hang in the garage or outside.
We grew up on a farm, same as my parents, and it’s a dirty wonderful world plus they were FRUGAL.
My parents trained us at a very early age and themselves to only wear play-clothes at home. The minute we came home, we changed clothes, rehung our work/school clothes and put on play clothes. The public never saw the play clothes, so nobody cares how dirty these are, just as long as it wasn’t grossly-stained, dripping mud or scream of body odor. And as we all know now, farm dirt and exposure to bacteria primes babies immune system to not-have as much allergies and asthma.
Mom dumped our clean clothes in a pile on our beds, if we didn’t get it in the drawers, it was no crime. By age 8, we were taught how to iron, and to pull wrinkle-prone items out of the dryer immediately and either hang or lay flat. To unwrinkle and item you could also throw a wrinkled shirt in the dryer with a damp towel. By 12, we were taught to iron Dad’s work shirts.
We did play a lot, but only in play clothes or crazy costumes.
Cleaning Schedule on Other items: Underwear/socks/dishtowels/facial washclothes – clean ones everyday. Sheets/Towels – only if visible dirt showed. If the sheets looked clean, it could be a year or so. There were many other chores to worry about.
Lamia says
Also, my folks never bought clothes that showed dirt. We wore a lot of jeans and dark shirts.
Melinda J Mitchell says
I love the sheets only once a year! So, I guess you washed your feet every night before bed?
Also, Kaitlyn, when I first saw someone, sorry don’t remember who, put the shirts on the bed, and put hangers, like you; I thought I’d heard angels sing!! I absolutely dispised hanging up things too!
Elisabeth says
My husband and I don’t fold and match socks. They get put into piles by owner and when put in the drawer they go into a short and a long sock pile (we usually only buy the same brand so it saves on sorting through the drawer to find a matching pair). But he also claims that the elastic gets stretched and worn out faster when you fold them over each other. Kind of his pet peeve 🙂
Dee says
I do laundry weekly, I take my basket of clothes from the dryer to the breakfast bar and fold as I watch tv…. your system seems to work for you,,but I could not deal with the wrinkled t-shirts as pictured..as a larger sized woman, wrinkles just makes me look sloppy
Katrina says
I’m curious about the darks and lights wash! It has always been drilled into me to sort like colors. Does putting all the various colors not really matter? I have a few pairs of jeans that seem like they will bleed for ever so I just wash those together all the time, but my number of loads would seriously decrease if I did lights and darks!
robin reed says
I use the light dark system and it only seems that whites and polyesters attract the dye so I do try to make those a separate load. However, jeans and towels always get a bath together and much like Lamia’s family only once the dirt shows!
Amy Shick says
Question, on day one, when you remove clothes from the dryer, do you just throw them in a pile until day 2, or folding day? What about wrinkles, I love the idea of this method, just want to get it down! 🙂
Katelyn Fagan says
Our clothes are probably a little wrinkly, but after you hang them up, most wrinkles work themselves out just fine. But we aren’t picky. So, yes, we just throw them back in the laundry baskets, and make sure no small children climb in on top of them and squish them and leave really big wrinkles (and dirt) on them. 🙂
Ann says
My shortcut is my kids have different brands and color schemes of underwear and socks. Makes it super simple to quickly identify who’s is who’s.
Katelyn Fagan says
So smart! Great idea!