Laundry…
Need I say more?
It’s the never ending pursuit of empty hampers and and a well dressed family.
Fresh smelling sheets and soft towels.
And most days it feels downright impossible to accomplish all of that!
Most people just do the same old laundry routine day after day without even stopping to think about whether or not it really works for them.
Well it’s time for a change, because there is an easier way!
I’ve spent years struggling to manage it all as well, and after a lot of careful consideration, assessment, and lots of trial and error, I have found some incredible solutions that have changed the way I do laundry!
These laundry tips and tricks will help you to find out which areas of your laundry routine can be simplified and re-worked to save you tons of time and energy!
1. Have a washing schedule in place
Here are two examples of good washing schedules to use:
Wash everything on one day a week.
Or
Wash one or two loads a day throughout the week.
Doing a load a day seems to work best for larger families or people who have a lot of laundry.
Breaking it down into smaller jobs throughout the week can help it keep from piling up on you.
Once a week may work best when you only have a few loads to do every week.
If your kids are old enough to do their own laundry then using the one or two loads a day method while also assigning each person their own laundry day is a great way to do things as well!
Think about how much laundry you typically have to wash and what kind of routines your family has and create your laundry schedule around that.
It’s all about creating a schedule that works for you and keeps you sane!
2. Only buy one type and color of socks
This way you can avoid having to sort through and find the matches to dozens of different types and colors of socks.
Once clean they can all just be thrown in a drawer together and any two can be pulled out when you’re ready to wear them.
This does take some initial investment into buying all new socks, but trust me if you do this for each member of your family it’s going to save you hours a week in sorting!
I put off doing this for so long, but once I finally did it, I truly wished I had tried it much sooner! I cannot even believe how much time it’s saved me every week!
3. Get the family to help
Have each family member either help with laundry or do their own.
If your kids are too young to do their own laundry they can still help out by folding, sorting, or putting clothes away.
It’s always a good idea to get kids used to helping with laundry from a young age. This will make the transition to doing their own laundry so much easier when the time comes.
Even my two year old helps out with laundry by separating all the socks he finds or putting away clothes in his dresser!
4. Use fewer products
You don’t need 8 different laundry soaps, bleaches, stain removers, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets to get the job done.
In fact many products you buy now have a multipurpose version.
And quite honestly some products are not even necessary at all!
Fabric softener for instance, can do more harm than good.
Using it on your towels can actually make it harder for them to absorb water later!
And using it on your microfiber cleaning cloths can make them no longer buff and shine surfaces properly.
I personally have never found a need for fabric softener or dryer sheets, I just use a high quality laundry soap.
Which brings me to the next tip…
5. Buy higher quality products
Let’s face it, laundry can be a dirty job, a really dirty job.
That’s especially true when you have kids and pets.
And there is nothing worse than going to put a load of kids play clothes in the dryer, only to see that they are still full of dirt and need to be rewashed, am I right?
If you find that this is happening repeatedly than you probably need to invest in a better laundry soap.
I’ve used many a cheap-o brand and let me tell you, it is so not worth it!
Using a higher quality soap means your clothes turn out smelling better, feeling softer, and looking cleaner!
All with zero extra work and only a few more dollars on your part.
Plus when using a better quality soap you usually don’t have to use nearly as much soap per load as you do with a cheaper brand, so it may not be as much of a cost increase as you think!
6. Ditch the ironing
Is ironing becoming a thing of the past? I wonder, because I honestly can’t think of one person who does this regularly anymore!
And you really don’t need to unless it’s absolutely necessary (think special occasions) otherwise if clothes get wrinkled try this instead: spray them with a bottle of water until slightly damp, and then throw them in the dryer for a few minutes.
Promptly putting away clean laundry, and hanging clothes up rather than folding them in a drawer are also great ways to help avoid wrinkles!
7. Forget folding
Yep that’s right, you’re never folding again!
Well maybe not NEVER again (don’t we wish?!) but you can definitely fold a lot less than you do.
Shirts and pants can be hung up instead of folded.
Underwear can simply be tossed into a drawer with no folding needed.
Even most baby onsies and kids clothes can be sorted into bins or baskets without being folded.
Instead of folding every single thing, save this time consuming step items that need it the most.
8. Use multiple laundry baskets
Using multiple laundry baskets allows you to pre-sort your clothes however you wash them.
If you wash by color then have a basket for dirty colors and a basket for dirty whites. If you wash by person then have a basket for each person’s dirty laundry plus another basket for extras like towels and cleaning cloths.
This makes it easy to keep laundry separated by type and eliminates the need to spend extra time sorting through clothes before every wash!
And while we’re on the subject of laundry baskets…
9. Strategically place your laundry baskets
Place laundry baskets in whichever area of your home that laundry tends to pile up.
For some people this may be in their individual rooms, or it may be the bathroom, or the laundry room.
No matter how nice and organized your laundry basket set up is, chances are that if it’s not conveniently placed where everyone is taking off or changing clothes, it won’t be used much.
10. Never start what you can’t finish
Wet clothes left in the washer too long quickly begin to smell of mildew.
And the longer unfolded laundry sits around the more likely it will get wrinkled and possibly mixed up with dirty clothes or left to collect lint and dirt on the floor.
Don’t start a load of laundry unless you know you are going to dry, fold and put it away in the same day!
If you are washing multiple loads on one day you can wait until all of your clothes are washed and dried before folding and putting away all of the loads at once, but still make sure you are getting it all finished that same day.
If you’re still struggling to make yourself finish what you started then another great idea is to place laundry on your bed after it comes out of the dryer.
That way you have to put it away before you go to bed at the end of the day instead of putting it off!
11. Plan ahead
Lay your clothes out the night before to avoid pulling clothes out you don’t need and leaving things in a mess in your rush to get out the door in the morning.
This works great for kids too!
Either lay their outfits out for them every night, or if they’re old enough encourage them to do this themselves!
12. Don’t wash as often
With certain exceptions like socks and underwear, most clothes can be worn more than once before needing to be washed.
Do a quick check for stains and odors and then fold or hang up your clothes as soon as you take them off so that you can wear them again.
If you find that it’s hard to do this every single time you undress, designate a laundry basket or a dresser drawer for clothes you plan to wear again.
That way it’s quick and easy to take them off and then toss them in a drawer or basket for next time.
You can either leave them there or go through and fold and hang them all again later on.
13. Cut back on how much you own
You probably don’t need 8 sweaters, or 4 heavy winter coats. Get rid of the excess.
A simple wardrobe means less to wash!
Packing away seasonal clothes can be another good way to avoid having as much laundry around to wash, but be careful that you don’t use that as an excuse to keep way more clothes than you need!
14. Simplify, simplify, simplify
Does one member of your household need to use a special laundry soap due to allergies or a skin sensitivity?
Switch everyone to that product!
Did you originally put your dirty clothes basket in the laundry room but now you find yourself or your kids always leaving clothes on the bathroom floor?
Move the basket to the bathroom!
Even after you take the initial steps to create your laundry routine, never stop thinking about any and every way to make it a little bit simpler and more effective. All of these small changes will add up to a lot of saved time!
And that brings us to the last (and possibly the most important) laundry tip…
15. Make it fun!
Laundry can be a boring task undoubtedly, but you can make it more enjoyable (or at least bearable!) by listening to music, an audiobook, a podcast, or even turning on your favorite TV show while you fold and put clothes away.
Another great thing to do to while folding is to make phone calls!
Call up your mom, best friend, or whoever is is that you’ve been meaning to call.
You’ll get caught up in the conversation and before you know it the laundry is done!
So there you have it!
Remember that reading these 15 laundry tips and tricks won’t help you at all unless you use them!
Start small and make it a goal to try at least 1 or 2 of these tips this week, and see how much they improve your laundry routine!
Next week, keep doing those things and then try 1 or 2 more as well.
You’re way more likely to make changes to your routine that last if you start slowly rather than changing everything all at once.
And once you’re using all 15 of these tips in your daily routine, don’t stop there!
Continue to look at your biggest laundry problems and keep coming up with ways to simplify and improve your laundry routine every day!
Let me know in the comments, what laundry tips and tricks do you use to save time?
