Last week when I made the shocking statement that I was beginning to enjoy Laundry Day, I was asked by MJ to explain the day in more detail. With all of the things going on in the life of a busy woman, the thought of devoting an entire day to laundry is daunting.
I know this. Because remember, I’m no expert here. I’m just a woman who has struggled with laundry forever, trying every “method” of keeping it under control that I found. So far, this method is working for me.
If you’ve read my blog before, you know that focus is one of my big problems. Since there are a million (often worthwhile) things that I’d rather do than clean house, housekeeping issues only come to my mind when they are a total necessity. And although a bathtub or closet can go a VERY long time before my slob-brain deems it a total necessity, laundry doesn’t work that way since my husband refuses to go commando.
So when the necessity arose, he or I would do what was absolutely needed. Undies, socks, kids’ school uniforms, etc. were given top priority and everything else was given “if I can” status.
I rarely “could.”
And even when I felt inspired to do several loads of laundry, I was never caught up. I did try the one-load-a-day method, but even though I made it the focus of my non-negotiable tasks for weeks on end, I would still forget (either entirely or one step here-and-there) and get behind, never to catch up.
A while back, I decided to do a Laundry Day. Years ago, I did this, and I look back at it as the only time in my life when I had laundry under control.
So here it is . . . my Laundry Day:
On Sunday night, I go through the house and collect dirty clothes. Then my little not-a-real-hallway in front of the laundry room becomes my dumping/sorting ground. For the last several weeks, I’ve counted my loads, and there have been 6 to 7. The first week I did this, there were more loads, but that was much more than one week’s worth of laundry. I now feel like I actually know how much laundry we create in a week as a family of 5.
Yes, I’m literally posting a picture of our dirty laundry for all the world to see. For some reason, the piles don’t look as big from above (standing-on-a-chair-above), but they are full loads of laundry.
Sunday night, as soon as I have sorted, I start one load of something that takes longer to dry. Towels are good because the laundry room is right next to our bedroom and jeans have snaps and rocks-in-the-pockets which can be quite noisy. I put this load in the dryer before we go to bed, and load the washer to be started in the morning.
Here is how today went:
6 a.m. – Got up, started the washer and turned on the dryer for a bit longer.
6:30 a.m. – Took the towels out of the dryer and dumped them on the loveseat. Transferred washed load to dryer and started another load in the washer.
6:45 a.m. – Kids got up and had breakfast.
7:20 a.m. – Took boys to school.
7:45 a.m. – Returned home and worked on my Bible Study while my daughter played with friends whose mom had just dropped them off at our house.
8:20 a.m. – Dryer buzzer went off and I switched over the load. Dumped dry clothes on my (made) bed, laying school pants/shirts flat to reduce wrinkles.
8:30 a.m. – Made multiple scheduling phone-calls. Began pulling years’ worth of “stuff” out from under my bed, pausing often to dress Polly Pocket.
9:30 a.m. – Dryer buzzer went off and changed over a load of laundry. Dumped dry clothes on my bed.
9:40 a.m. – Cut up fruit for snack-time and went back to playing the part of archaeologist as I cleaned underneath my bed.
11:00 a.m. – Made lunch.
11:30 a.m. – Dryer buzzer went off and changed over another load. Dumped clothes on bed.
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. – Folded towels that were on the loveseat.
12:00 p.m. – Turned on computer and started writing (and playing).
1:05 p.m. – Dryer buzzer went off and changed over load, dumping dry clothes on bed. The load that I put in at this point is my next to last one. The jeans are in the dryer and since they’ll take longer to dry, I’ll actually wash two small loads while they’re drying, and then dry those together. One load contains a king size sheet and a pillow I found under my bed. The other is made up of three dark towels that I didn’t want to wash with anything else.
So, by the time I return from picking up the boys at 3:15, I should be ready to put my last load in the dryer. Then, at that point, I’ll work on folding and putting away. And since the folded clothes are on my bed, where I’ll want to SLEEP tonight, I’ll get them put away before bedtime.
The main things I like about this system is that I don’t have to prioritize. There were items in my laundry room that had been waiting ages to be washed. They would have been used if they were clean, but I didn’t HAVE to have them, so they always moved down on the list, below necessities. This is embarrassing, but usually when I finally got to an item like that, it was too small. Total waste of space and money . . . . and energy.
I also can see easily which clothes are actually needed. By Sunday, I know that anything that is still clean in the drawers is not truly necessary. That doesn’t mean I’ve pitched all but 7 days worth of clothing, but it has made it easier to purge.
I also found it very interesting to see the variety in drying times of my loads today. Several weeks ago when I mentioned that my towels and jeans often took extra time to dry, a couple of you suggested that I should check my dryer to be sure there wasn’t lint build-up in places other than the normal lint-screen. I thought it was a great idea . . . and have been meaning to . . . but . . . well . . . I haven’t.
My dryer has “Sensor Drying” which I didn’t realize could make such a huge difference in drying times. One load above took two hours, while my small socks and undies load took less than an hour. That’s a big difference. Now I’m motivated to check the dryer, and besides, if I pull it out and mess something up, I don’t need to do laundry for another week anyway, so hubby could work on it next weekend! Even the fact that I CAN pull the dryer out is exciting! Now that I have laundry under control, I can see the (ugly) floor of my laundry room!
Also, I do want to point out that if you have a septic system, this might not work for you. I was discussing laundry with a friend recently (not a conversation my 20 year old self ever imagined I would have) and she said that she used to do all of her laundry in one day. However, when they built a house in the country, she had to stop. 7 loads in one day overloaded their septic system to the point that it actually set the alarm off. Once her husband explained how serious that was, she gave up her system and started doing 4 loads on one day and 3 the next.
And for the weeks when I haven’t been home on Mondays, here’s an example of how I’ve still managed to make it Laundry Day.
*FYI, Laundry Day probably won’t work for you if you’re on a septic system, as it may overload your system. Sorry!
Good point on the septic. I'll be facing that someday, and have a loooooot to learn!
Ok so, from someone who has spent all my life in the country, (and when I say country I mean still have close neighbors country, not 10 miles from the nearest land-line country) I’ve never had to deal with a septic system because we’ve never tied our washing into the system. The pipe extends out from our home in an area where we don’t walk too much and ends preferably about 30 feet up-slope from a tree you want to grow quickly. The 30 feet allows the water to become cleaner before reaching the tree. It’s the best way to recycle.
Case-in-point: I planted two weeping willow trees on the same day in my yard. One in my side yard which nature keeps alive and one down-slope from the washing pipe. Ten years later my side yard weeper is 15′ tall and scrawny. My down-slope weeper is 30′ tall and so wide that I can park 4 cars underneath it.
Okay, so, I said all that to say this: Grow a beautiful tree and wash all your laundry in one day.
Thanks so much for this info! Sounds like a perfect solution!
Perfect solution but unfortunately not up to code in most places. If it wasn’t so much work we would reroute ours from the septic.
PS – I know you read Money Saving Mom – I just downloaded this free ebook and now I just need to actually read the darn thing. :>)
http://moneysavingmom.com/2010/04/living-organized-proven-steps-for-a-clutter-free-and-beautiful-home-free-ebook.html
I try for the load a day system but it seems more like it is 2 loads every other day really. And love the idea of putting the laundry on the bed so it gets put away before bed I may have to try that and see how hubby handles it since he is the put away guy. (I sort, wash, dry and fold – well, boys move from washer to dryer then dryer to me)
That is awesome! I love the little glimpse into how your day runs (Polly Pockets and all!). How long does all that folding take? My husband and I have this "system", where I do all the washing and drying and he does the folding. Only it can take him a week or longer to fold it all (not that I'm one to talk). So, if I need clean underwear, I have to go digging in his office, where the clean loads end up somehow. Anyway, I'm thinking that I should take back the folding aspect of things, but I really loathe that particular task! I guess if I can just make it my Monday night activity, and know that I won't have to fold anything else for another whole week, it might not be so bad!
Very late to comment….but I put on a tv show or movie, and go to town folding. I tend to wash 1-2 loads everyday, but I don’t tend to fold them. Ahem. But 4-6 loads can be folded in about 20-30 min.
I don’t use a dryer, I put everything on the line, but folding right after I take it down was life changing.
I can’t do the laundry day as Dana says, but I do my laundry once a month. Usually over the course of one week. But when I put one load into the washing machine, I take down the dry clothes and fold them right away. It prevents clean clothes piling up, because it’s much faster to put away.
Transform your attitude about folding clothes. For each piece of clothing you handle while folding, acknowledge the wearer … offer a prayer for the person who wears it, that God will bless them with faith, courage, wisdom, etc. Folding clothes can be a thankless, monotonous task, or it can be an opportunity for grace in your life… a step above washing feet. Folding laundry is serving others … right up there with praying in secret.
P.S. I love what you say about seeing what's left in the dresser as being unnecessary. Such a huge plus of this once-a-week system!
I will totally this is one area I do not have under control. I do have a septic system but so far have not had issues…yet.
We purchased a new large capacity uses-only-so-much-water washer and matching dryer last year. what a difference!! I get so much more laundry done faster…now if there was a machine to put it all away!
I really enjoy your honesty. I appreciate your honesty, too. I'm sure you are helping so many people by sharing your experiences.
Keeping up with laundry hasn't been an issue for me, thankfully. I'm curious as to why you don't fold or work on folding the clothes right away? I realize some of it is because you have kids at home and they will naturally cause interruptions, but not sure of the reasoning for cleaning out under the bed or other household chores. I'm not trying to be critical, honest, but would it be easier to take a few minutes after the load is dry to fold and put away? Then you don't have piles to fold that might seem never-ending and overwhelming (to me at least).
Thank you once again for sharing and your wonderful honesty!
I had the same thought as you… not to be critical at all, but I actually do my laundry in a very similar way, in that I do multiple loads in one day and put it on our bed. The thing I do differently though, is that I semi-fold every load while it is still warm from the dryer – makes a HUGE difference in the amount of wrinkles. I fully fold all pants, shorts, pj’s right away, and lay out the shirts in piles by who they belong to. Socks, underwear, etc are left until the end. When I am done all the laundry, I grab hangers and since all the shirts are already grouped together with the necklines up, I can just slide the hangers in and they are ready to hang. I find this saves a lot of time because I only need to put clothes away once when I’m done everything, but I’m also not left with an overwhelming mountain of clothes to fold all at once at the end.
Finding a system that works for you is wonderful. I do pretty much the same thing, except I have 3 laundry baskets that the clean clothes are rotated into so that I don't ever put clean laundry on furniture. I have inside dogs that would love to crawl in it and take a nap, then I would feel like I needed to wash it again. I also hang up adult sized shirts, skirts, or anything that will wrinkle, right out of the dryer. Since your laundry room is close to your bedroom, maybe you could teach yourself to do the same thing right when you take it out of the dryer. It only takes a few minutes with each load. Good job and good luck. Oh, and CLEAN YOUR LINT HOSE!! Very important.
Jeanne and LB, I agree that the BEST way would be to fold right out of the dryer. WHen I was (unsuccessfully) attempting the load-a-day method, that worked really well when I actually did it.
As with everything on my blog, I'm figuring things out. Except for the garage sale stuff, I'm no expert. My reasoning for not folding as I take it out of the dryer is that I feel like I'm racing the clock to get it ALL done on Monday, and the racing feeling is actually kind of fun to me. I'm so unbelievably distractable that I'm afraid if I don't immediately get the next load into the dryer and turned on, I'll get off the rhythm. If I were to take even a few minutes to fold before starting the dryer again, I'm afraid if (or when) something distracted me, I'd not think to get back to it until much later. If I can get the next load drying immediately, then I know progress is being made.
Also, selfishly, I actually like the excuse to have to fold for an hour in the afternoon or evening because I watch a show or two at that time. I generally don't watch any tv during the day at all, so it feels like a total treat to do that.
Like I said, I can't claim by any means that my way is a perfect way, but it's working for me.
Lol – you answered my question… I totally get the “tv watching in a quiet room while you fold clothes” thing.
My family is on a once a day system. We do not have a dryer and dry everything on clothes drying racks. So it is important not to get to far behind. However one warm breezy day can catch us up in no time.
Since we have gotten rid of our dryer we are saving $100 a year on energy and maintenance. Not a huge amount but in this economy I am happy to have a little extra to put away for a really rainy day.
So, today I did *all* the laundry. My boyfriend and I were leaving to go buy him some dress shoes when he thought to go back inside to grab some dress socks to try on shoes with. He was inside for a long time and it dawned on me that maybe he couldn't find any socks because they are in, get this, his SOCK DRAWER!
Indeed, when I questioned him on it and he said he checked in the dryer, on top of the dryer, in the (empty) laundry basket and THEN he tried his sock drawer. Duh. GO ME!
Laundry is under control here, about 2 months ago I began to allow my 11, 9, and 8 year olds do their own laundry. They have their own day and I dont have to sort any of their clothes. And I am not responsible for their lack of clean clothes. I love this freedom. Oh yeah and my 20 yr old does his also.
I SO need to switch to a laundry day. Doing one load a day is not working for me, no matter how long I try and convince myself that it is.
Love what you said about your husband not going commando- lol! I sort laundry the same way- not by color but by priority of what has to be clean next! So bad! I can remember at our last house, often the only clean laundry was either what was inside the dryer, or what was piled on to of the dryer. So bad!
MH and I have a laundry issue as well. I do agree that a laundry day is best for us. If we do not use one day a week as laundry day, then it explodes and takes weeks for us to catch up. We are currently in the catch-up phase since we have been travelling and doing fun stuff on weekends instead of laundry. We both work, but I hope to be caught up by the weekend to get back on our schedule.
I do my laundry over two(or three) days in a row. I used to do it over one, but there was a bit too much laundry to do that easily. My husband asked me yesterday why I can’t do laundry spread out over 3 days. I told him, “Because it won’t get done!”. I need to feel like I am DONE with the laundry. If I spread it out I will feel like I am ALWAYS doing laundry, go into overload and get no laundry done. 😛 He didn’t understand. Sigh.
Any suggestions for those of us who still have to go to a laundry mat?
*Also, the fact that your husband refuses to go commando is weird to me.
This is where I get jealous of all the SAHMs. I wish I could have one day to devote to laundry, but I don’t think my boss would approve that schedule change 🙂 We are in survival laundry mode right now and I totally understand what you mean when you finally get to the bottom of a pile one day and find something like a swimsuit…in December! One of my biggest struggles is that I can’t stand wrinkles and yet refuse to iron. So right now I have 4 baskets of clean laundry sitting on the floor of my laundry room waiting to go back into the dryer for a bit so that they can come out without wrinkles and be folded. My second biggest struggle is putting clothes away. Clean clothes sit in baskets pretty much until all the items in the basket have been worn or until it is small enough that putting them away doesn’t seem like such a hassle.
We have a septic and a water softener. So I have to be careful when washing a lot of clothes. We can fill the septic and use up all our soft water. So I think for me 2x a week would work really well. I used to try for every day, but with only 3 of us in the family (for now) some of the loads were tiny. So I do every other day or every 3rd day based on need. We are having a baby in November, and I intend to cloth diaper, so I will be back to at least one load every day, and 2 loads on the days I need to wash every thing that is not diapers. OH and something that helps with my drying times is to run and extra spin cycle before I put clothes in the dryer, that way they are really “rung out” before they go in to dry. Of course having the hubs clean the dryer would probably be a safer route.
I discovered your blog today, and I’m really enjoying it!
We have always done laundry as soon as there’s enough for a load, and that ended up being a good thing, because I’d never heard of problems with a septic tank! With 3 teenagers, I do at least 2 loads a day.
I have hanging mesh bags and one hamper that we sort laundry into as we go. When the kids were small, I dumped everything on the floor and taught them to sort according to the colored mesh bags. I read another post where you told about making mosaics of colored pieces of paper to teach children which clothes go together. What a great idea! =)
Loving your YouTube videos and this blog!
We are a small family but I have tried several routes to deal with the laundry issue. Kind of nice to have it all dealt with on one day to free you for other things, it is a hangover from when I would take everything to laundromat and take over 5-6 machines at a time.
My routine now is to have most things on hangers, no folding small items (I just make a stack of the items in question, i.e. socks, bras, panties and they each have their own drawer in a highboy for each person). Each of us has a basket and I just make stacks, fold jeans (only two folds here) and put them out for each person to put away.
I wait to have enough for a load but then I do sort by color. I’ve even gotten to point of doing whites with light colored clothes just to make a full load. We are short on space where we live so sometimes the last load is sheets which just get to stay in dryer until next laundry day!
I know this post is dated now, but hey laundry never goes away! I do laundry in one day. Mine and my girls’ gets laid out neatly in the living room to be put away THAT DAY. The hubby’s goes in a basket for him fold/hang/put away. He’s a big boy; he can handle it.
My girls are nearly the same size despite a 3 year age difference, and I have given up sorting their socks, undies and camis. They go into a basket in the laundry room unmatched. That works great.
we’re a family of four and i do laundry almost every day (working, so one full day would not work). we hang almost all our clothes (we don’t even have a dresser in our bedroom, and our boys share one dresser for undies/pjs/socks/swim suits). i’ve found that hanging things helps cut down on time, and drastically limits the amount of clothing we have (and since i do laundry most days there are always clean clothes). we have a 1960s bungalow, so we have some storage, but not a huge amount (ie, no walk-in closets, pantry, etc). i think that we all need to find a system that works, and then tweak it when necessary. i love hearing about how different families deal with their laundry issues!
although many of my bad clutter/cleaning/organization habits comes from my mother, one GOOD habit that she instilled in me and i’ve never had any trouble with was the dedicated laundry day. at least as far as washing/drying goes. my (and her) bigger issue was if for some reason the laundry didn’t get folded ON laundry day (which lets be honest, usually it doesn’t)… it sits in baskets around the house until, at the very least, NEXT laundry day. at worst… well lets just say that there have at times been more laundry in baskets than in drawers…..
but yesterday, oh yesterday! i decided to try your laundry management tip…. the one where you fold the clothes AS you’re taking them out of the dryer… and OH. MY. GAWD. my life is changed forever! I’ve always folded laundry as i’m taking it down of the line on days when it’s nice enough to hang clothes outside, but i don’t know why i didn’t figure out doing it with the dryer sooner!
now if i could only stop reading your blog long enough to actually follow any of the tips and tackle the rest of the house….
A time and energy saving TIP, add a dry towel or 2 when putting wet clothes in the dryer. It cuts drying time way down. It used to take me over an hour to dry 4 pair of my jeans. Since I have been adding my towels to them I can dry my jeans in 30 minutes (still testing and checking but may be able to dry them even faster) this helps me to accomplish my laundry when I intend to as well because I don’t get distracted waiting 2 hours to start a new load.
I’ve been following your blog for a while now and I always resisted the idea of a laundry day. I own a front loader which takes at least 1,5 hours (depending on the laundy program) which is common here in the Netherlands. And I also don’t own a dryer, because of space-issues. These were always great excuses for me to not do a laundry day, because I simply wouldn’t make it in one day…
But this weekend was my first totally free weekend in a while, with good-enough weather to dry and my laundry baskets were piling!
So I decided I should at least try it! On saturday I washed all the clothes, I really love your idea of finding every last piece of clothing (except for that one sock i found under the couch on sunday, boo) because it leaves you no excuses! And then on sunday I washed all the towels, sheets, rags, dishcloths, mops… litteraly EVERTHING that I wash on 60 or 95 degrees (celsius).
Point of this whole story, I washed every last piece of laundry in the house (except for that one sock and the clothes we wore) and when I went to bed on sunday evening I was sooooo happy and satisfied! So happy I might even try to do it again next weekend, when I have less time, but hopefully also a lot less laundry!
So thank you so much for all your great tips! And especially the one about finding every last bit of dirty laundry! (And I’ll first check under the sofa next week!)
I love it!! It really is so satisfying to FINISH a task that seems un-finishable otherwise! And I encourage you to give it a shot next weekend as well! That second laundry day is the one that will convert you to this method. SO much less laundry when it’s only one week’s worth!
Ok, I love this idea. I read through some post but not all so you may have already answered this question: when do you wash your sheets?
I’m way too random on that, still. But when “all” the laundry is done on Monday, I’m able to do a quick load at random times in the week without feeling, “I can’t wash sheets when we need socks and undies!” guilt.
I have 2 sorters ($10 each from Wal-Mart, worth every penny) I spend 10-15 minutes sorting a weeks worth of laundry for 5 of us. Right side out everything, then just wash n dry (whenever I have time), I always fold everything taking it out of the dryer. That way its not a daunting/wrinkled task later, then its just a matter of putting everything in drawers…. (My daunting task LOL!!!).
Know this post is dated, but laundry is timeless. 🙂 The big turn around for us in the laundry department? Sorters – 1 for me, 1 for hubs, and 1 in the kiddo’s room. And now I spend 0 time sorting laundry. And there are no piles anywhere. If I get distracted it’s all still in it’s bin not making a big miss in the floor. And since I don’t have to sort – I can even ask the kids (two 7 year olds) to throw a load in for me if I am elbow deep in something else. Simple – Move wet clothes to the dryer; Throw new clothes into the washer; add pod; push start.
BTW – our sorters are all 3 bins. For the adults it’s darks, lights, then towels in hubs, sheets in mine. Kids have clothes (who in their right mind would buy little boys whites???), a separate bag hanging on the outside for socks (the one exception to the white policy – ALL white sports socks – no matching; who cares when we lose 1 or 10 – and did I mention I could bleach the snot out of them once a month or so?). And literally when the bag comes out of the dryer I dump it sight unseen back into sock cubby where they grab socks every morning. Then towels in another bin (and since they are near the laundry room we also dump the kitchen towels in their bin), and sheets in the last. It’s probably worth nothing I don’t tend to buy the kids red clothes either, or if I do, I make them put it into the bin with dad’s dark chocolate towels.
The other miracle? The flip folder. From the Container store. I actually somewhat enjoy folding clothes with it – something I NEVER thought I’d say. I sit down, start a show, and start folding. The kids also enjoy doing the flipping, too. So they even help voluntarily.
And as the kid’s shirts, etc. sit in cubbies – they look awesome and super organized! LOVE IT!
And the coup de grace – I gave myself permission to dump not fold some things – like socks, underwear, and the boys overwhelming supply of slippery won’t stay folded, don’t wrinkle sports shorts. So now I just sort and dump those things into the right drawers, or better yet have whomever is in trouble pay his pennance by putting them up. 🙂
Laundry is no longer such a chore. And since you started making me wash those dishes every day – neither are the dishes. 🙂
Do you think this cuts down on the water bill? Need to figure out how to get the laundry under control and the water bill toi
No, it doesn’t cut it down. My husband noticed it go up when I started doing a laundry day. But all our clothes were clean!
Monday is my laundry day, and today is Tuesday and there is still a load on my bed, a load in the dryer, and 2-3 more loads of just towels to be washed. I’m still trudging along at the day part of it, but I’ve also started separating clothes fresh out of the dryer as a test of favoritism. Hope to make it easier for my oldest two to see they really don’t need 50 t-shirts each.
I LOVE how honest you are! I just happened to find you on Twitter and love any blogs about cleaning (rare breed who LOVES to clean) so I clicked the link & have been reading through a few posts. You’re fabulous. People need REAL, people need to see that not everyone has it down to a T and can write books about having the cleaning thing down. It takes work!! And a lot of us are too busy or plain just don’t want to. Your honesty is so appreciated not just by me but many. People NEED to know and be reassured they aren’t alone in the housekeeping battle.
I love, LOVE doing laundry…. weirdo over here, I know, but I always procrastinate on the whole “put it away” thing. I have had clean clothes like out for weeks. Lol.
But a saying I learned and adore is “laundry isn’t complete until it is put away.” Basically meaning doing laundry includes the folding/ hanging part. (Or whatever other part you REALLY hate.) It’s helped me and slowly is helping me more bc I kind of use it as a mantra while doing laundry. Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that you rock and I’ll be reading your blog! I don’t even know your name yet but thank you!
Btw totally getting your book now!!
I have tried the load a day method and it works for a bit but then it doesn’t. I have tried everything. Listening to you sounds so much like me. I am going to try to dedicate a day to laundry. Hopefully that works. Laundry is my biggest hurdle. Off to listen to decluttering clothes as I sit in a pile of clean clothes that haven’t been put away in a month.
A capsule wardrobe changed my laundry life. I’m currently doing a “wear the same dress every day for a year” challenge I saw on YouTube, and I started it on March 10, so I guess I’m going to March 10 of 2019. 🙂 I hand wash the dress daily or every other day and launder it in the washer once a week. The guy I’m dating always jokes when we have an event to attend and says, “What do you think you’ll wear”? LOL.
There is nothing like wearing the same outfit day in and day out to make you realize how few items of clothing you really need.
Did you make it doing the whole year wearing the same dress?
Love the podcast and blog! Reading and listening backwards as suggested. You’ve really made a difference in my life! I tried typing a detailed comment earlier but the webpage crashed…so here’s the short version-check out a YouTube video called ‘How I do my laundry-UNCONVENTIONAL! Laundry hacks, tips, and tricks’ by Jordan Page (funcheaporfree). I’ve implemented her tips for sorting the clothes using weight instead of color and cold rather than warm or hot water in most cases. Game changer! It speeds up the drying and folding portion of laundry day (which unlike her video I still do myself.) For me, washing isn’t the hard thing-it’s the drying and procrasticlutter of unfolded laundry that has been part of my downfall in the past. I encourage people to check it out and see if this is something that could help them.
Love your podcasts especially, and wishing your books were sold as ‘books on cd’ as I’m not confident in my ability to download from ‘Audible.’ Otherwise I probably would have purchased them by now. Kindred spirit, thanks for following the call God gave you to be honest and put yourself out there. You are continuing to bless people everyday!
Place a large dry towel in the dryer with pants, towels. It will help wick the moisture out. When you move the towels from the washer open them up. Do not leave them wadded up. They will dry faster for you.
Having a dedicated laundry day sounds so efficient. But, I work full time. I would have to take a day of our weekend to do this. Anyone have any suggestions as to how to manage laundry on a 40 hr a week schedule? I’ve tried a load a day, not only was it unsustainable for me, it made me feel like laundry was never ending. I NEED the feeling of having laundry DONE. That accomplishment and a check off the to do list for the week. If it feels neverending then I give up and just don’t do it till we are out of undies and then just the necessities get washed. HELP!?
Hahaha loved your writing.. Pausing often to dress Polly Pocket xD had me laughing out loud in recognition. Why hide the ugly when they actually the fun parts in life, right?
Great blog name as well, I knew I was your target group even without reading a word 😉
Cheers from the Netherlands!
Rose
Today is my first ever Laundry Day. I’ve argued that I couldn’t do Laundry Day as I’ve gone back to work and the idea of spending all day Saturday doing laundry didn’t appeal. But then, on the basis that Do The Dishes, the 5-minute Pick Up, and the two decluttering questions have turned our home around since the middle of July, I thought why not give it a shot. Will let you know how that goes.
I’m sitting here on the second day of my first laundry day (it started yesterday). I’m experiencing an odd, unprecedented sensation – ALL my clothes are clean, folded or hung, and put away. ALL of them. I don’t think this has ever happened before. It’s so liberating! 😊 It never occurred to me to start doing laundry before I was out of underwear lol. Thank you!!!
So, I’m 11 years late to your party. But I LOVE the things you talk about and say. I’ve just started perusing all your methods, and I purchased the 14 days having your home guest-ready yesterday. I love this idea for Laundry Day, but I’m a full time school teacher….you have probably addressed this at some point in the last 11 years, but what are your suggestions for full time working slobs? 🙂 Any articles or blogs or podcast episodes that deal with this?
Thanks!
I realize this post was written a loooong time ago, but I am just discovering this blog. I would like to share my solution to the laudry dilemma. In my house, when you turn 8 (as in – on your eighth birthday) I teach you to do your own laundry. That’s right, for a month or so I make sure you do laundry on YOUR appointed day, and I watch/assist as you do your own load of laundry. I hate doing laundry. I even hate doing my own laundry. I haven’t done the kids’ (I have 4 of them) laundry in years…unless one of them happens to be sick or injured. It’s a life skill for them, and a life saver for me.
I just bought book as recommended by Joshua Becker. Then I arrived here. And I wanted to share my previous laundry day experience. I must have weird clothes or something but nearly everything I have is hand wash or use gentle cycle, dry flat or line dry. Everything my husband has is either office/business suit, tie and button down or jeans and tees. I am also saddled with a miserably located washer and dryer in a garage where it gets over 100 in summer and never over 45 in the winter. So I manage to keep myself from not doing it ever by following a simple one load a day except Sunday routine. I work 12 hr shifts, commute 35 min each day and have rotating days off but work every other weekend. Those two days are grueling since they are bookended by either the Thurs and Friday before or the Monday after. I don’t have a consistent day off week to week. So my deal is I get home about dinner time and load the days clothes wash based on first seeing the quantity and then deciding if it’s hot, warm or cold load. I put the hand washing on a drying rack in a spare bathtub. In summer I can hang it outside if it’s an at home day. After dinner I put it in the dryer and in the morning at about 5:30 I turn it on. It’s usually dry while I shower, make beds, lunches for the two of us. On Monday I always wash a load of kitchen towels, potholders and napkins. On Wednesday I wash one set of sheets and we change them every other week. Every Saturday I do a huge load of bathroom towels and hubby folds them. He can fold towels but he is incompetent when it comes to hanging and folding clothes.
I have a couple iron clad rules. We do not ever put undergarments in a load with kitchen towels. That is primarily due to germ issues, but my such undergarments are silky and lacy things, and his are black boxer briefs. And my kitchen towels often still have cooking smells. I rarely combine my clothes with his, because they have such radically different washing requirements. I also don’t combine kitchen things with bath things. What then is this crazy schedule I adopted after trying to do 5 loads a day in a slow front loader? I tried. It was exhausting. It’s all I did. Can’t fit two sets sheets in dryer and expect them to not take 90 min. to dry even in nice weather. So one set a week. All the bathroom towels are another. I set the dryer to one hr. It usually is enough. His dark socks, undies, pajamas are a full load. My unmentionables are two – one lights and one darks. They get a 30 min. cycle with no dryer time. His nice things go to cleaners on my Saturday off. It’s only every other Sat, so we planned ahead with at least 14 dress shirts. He leaves before cleaners opens and gets home too late to pick up the stuff so it’s my job. Me, I wear hospital provided scrubs and just wear jeans, a tee and maybe a fleece or sweater to commute in. After I got involuntarily converted from a nice 8 hr evening shift of 3 to 11 to a 12 hr 7 am to 7 pm day shift I had to adapt. I had to give up my laundry day. Our kids are grown so there is a lot less laundry and most of it is done by others (his Mon-Fri and my scrubs). If there’s anyone reading who can’t do a laundry day any more due to being at work ( I’m gone from 6 am to about 8 pm 4 or 5 days a week and he’s gone 5 days from about 5:30 to 5:30 or later depending on traffic and meetings) try my alternative. As soon as we retire we will go back to having a glorious single Laundry Day and we will have moved to our new home with an indoor laundry. I’ve never ever done laundry inside except apartment laundry rooms.
We do laundry everyday. Here’s how my mom and I help together in doing our laundry, so that we can still have quality family time.
Sunday (9:30 am to 11:30 am): Major laundry day (lounge wears, bedsheets, blankets, bath towels). Using washing machine only.
Monday to Saturday (9:30 am to 10 am): Lingerie, socks, hankies, small clothing items. Handwash only. We stand, not sit, while washing small items with soap. Either my mom or I do this, alternately daily.
We are firm believers of small, but impactful habits.