Trying to get a handle on laundry....how do you keep it under control without it controlling you?
I make one separate load of whites a week, but usually everything gets thrown together. I feel like we are living in piles of clothes, both dirty and clean. I have weeks where I am really on top of it, but I feel like when I am it is all I do. Any tips? I have 4 kids under 7 and while I can have them help a bit, it is still rough. My husband is also super busy. Help. I’m drowning in clothes. Haha!
6 answers
mamajen210
We have 7 in our family- everyone is assigned a day. They each have their own basket so I don’t have to sort, and I’m only getting after one kid a day to put things away. Don’t take the load out of the dryer until you can fold it, otherwise it piles on the couch, or bed, or floor… I had 4 under 4, and it’s rough. When they were small I never folded anything. Just getting it back into a drawer was a win, and good enough! I don’t sort kids colors, except white church shirts go with my whites. Use cold water & colors don’t bleed!
- rachel—I never fold anything either. What’s the point. We hang up dresses and church clothes, and everything else gets tossed in a drawer.
- mhcorons80
My kids learned to do their own laundry at age 9. Of course, I helped when they needed it, but they know it’s their responsibility.
It’s made a huge difference in our family, and taken the stress off of me.We also have the “one basket” rule. Our kids are allowed ONE basket in their room of clean clothes. It can be a basket that needs to be folded, or one that is already folded & they just need to put it away. (Our son will wear those same clothes week after week, so he never has to put them away.🤦🏻♀️😅)
moni190
My kids are on the younger side still, so what I do right now is that on laundry day, once the clothes are clean, instead of putting them away (in closet or drawer) and then go back every day to fetch all the items I need all over their room times 3 (socks, tshirts…) I just do 5 daily bundles for each and set myself for the whole week. I put them in something like this: https://a.co/d/cod40u6 and keep those in the living room because that is where they/we dress them for school after breakfast. This also avoids drama as to what to wear, they only get to pick a surprise bundle each day lol.
The rest of the clean laundry then goes into their ind shelves, but since it’s not that much anymore it’s easier. It might not save a lot of time on laundry day but makes my mornings 100% easier.rachel8302
I made two changes to laundry that changed my life! First, I use the Shout Color Catchers :
https://www.amazon.com/Catcher-Laundry-Maintain-Original-Clothing/dp/B01B0ADMP8
It allows you to put in all the whites and colors together. I put in an extra sheet if I’m washing something for the first time (because the colors bleed more) then wash every on warm/cold.
Second, I got laundry baskets for each kid. They each got their own color and they just sit on the floor in our laundry room.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KH9BB23
All clothes get dumped in the hampers without sorting them. Then I wash them, dry them (I do one about load a day so it doesn’t get overwhelming) then when I pull them out of the dryer, I just toss them into the appropriate kids laundry basket. they put away the clothes from the basket each Saturday (we just carry the basket to their room). My 5 year old I still help with putting stuff away, but the two older ones (both 8) have to put theirs away on their own.
- katiebenson—My kids also have their own baskets and it’s been so helpful!
- jsirenica3002
Okay, here’s our maximally low effort laundry system:
1 - We don’t own whites. (Other than special occasion items.) The ones we do own I accept will just get vaguely stained over time and they’re kids so whatever.
2 - Everyone’s laundry is done separately, so there is no sorting. Each person in the house has completely separate laundry baskets, laundry days, etc.
3 - We own a preposterous number of single-load cheap hampers with sturdy handles. These are NOT bags that have to be removed and re-hung to an attractive hamper setup, they are free standing baskets that have their own space in the corner of the room.
4 - Every child has THREE separate hampers that are color coded by child— one in their bedroom upstairs, one either in their bathroom or as a backup clean one to rotate in, and one downstairs. (The downstairs setup is just a set of 4 smaller vertical hanging baskets with labels, so it doesn’t take up much space). Adults just have one basket in their room because they’re capable of putting their own clothing in it, but it’s still separate from each other.
5 - Whenever clothing is removed, it instantly goes in the corresponding person’s closest hamper. (Or, at minimum, all clothing is put into hampers in the end of day light pickup.)
Dirty clothing that returns home from school also goes in the downstairs hamper at backpack check time. This is the only sorting that is ever done.6 - Every morning as the kids are having breakfast, either adult will just gather up all the laundry of the most-in-need-of-laundry person. They grab one of the upstairs baskets, merge it with the other baskets of the same kid, and toss it in the wash. The pacing of this is, it’s usually about a single load. Then later that day, whoever has time puts it on to dry, and then puts the basket of clean laundry all belonging to the same child back in that child’s room.
7 - We don’t fold clothing for kids.
8 - On less busy weeks, someone (parent, older kid, younger kid with help) will quickly sort and stuff the clean laundry back in that kid’s drawer. On more busy weeks, we just dig clean clothes out of their basket each morning.
9 - Every kid ends up getting washed 1-2x per week, and every adult once a week (or occasionally every other week if busy).
It’s an upfront invest in baskets, but it reduces laundry to literally 15 mins a day. (5 mins to gather and start it, < 10 mins to sort, trivial to change machines and bring back upstairs.)