How to make laundry easier

Laundry is a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be.

I am going to show you a way to make laundry easier, faster and more possible. Because when it starts to pile up,  I don’t know about you, but it seems impossible! But first let me explain what a volcano has to do with this blog post.

I once worked with an endearing older lady in my coffee shop days. She was frustrated with her son because he wasn’t doing chores. Because English was her second language, she didn’t know the word for volcano. So she told him “If you don’t do your laundry, I will throw all your clothes in a pile and make a fire mountain!” Needless to say, we both had a good laugh!

There are five of us. Myself, my husband, my two toddlers and our dog. So that means laundry. And lots of it.

All.the.time.

And there are accidents. Vomit, poop, mud, urine, food messes, liquid spills, you name it, it’s happened. It’s not pretty. Sometimes accidents equal four more loads of laundry that I wasn’t counting on. Ouch!

And even when there are no accidents, I still have to put it away if I want a tidy, comfortable house. So, after years of clean laundry waiting to be put away, dirty clothes waiting to be washed, folded laundry never making it into the drawer, clothes not getting properly dry because the load was too big, I’ve discovered some hacks that work for me and my family.

My best laundry hacks:

1. A hamper for each family member and one for the house. The hampers are great for keeping everyone’s laundry sorted so I don’t have to do that step when it all comes out of the dryer. If you can’t afford Pinterest-worthy hampers right now, just  do what we did and use these from Dollar Tree:
2. For our family 2 loads a day keeps the laundry at bay. But you probably need to add an extra load for each additional family member. 2 a day also keep me from having to do laundry on Sundays.
3. Don’t take the laundry out of the dryer until you are ready to put it away. No procrastinating! This is so important if you don’t want a monster pile of laundry on your bed or in the corner. And when the loads are small the laundry takes less than 10 minutes to put away. I know it’s not fun. Just do it. Use the five second rule. Put on a YouTube video for fun if you have to.  I can proudly say since putting it away immediately I no longer have piles of laundry anywhere. It’s truly a miracle.
4. I fold my laundry the Konmari way. But not perfectly, I do it quickly so the laundry can stand vertically in the drawer and the clothes are easier to find that way and I can fit more clothes in a single drawer. If you haven’t read the LifeChanging Magic of Tidying Up, do so now! It truly is life changing!

   

5. I give myself grace when the laundry piles up because life happens. And I just start where I am. I think, do we all have something clean to wear, clean underwear, and clean socks? Then we are okay.
6. Get creative with where you keep dressers. Seriously. A huge reason why my kids’ clothes wouldn’t get put away is because when I finally had time to put them away, the kids were asleep in their room for a nap or down for the night. In our home, we have a built in set of drawers where I keep most of my kids’ clothing.

Although it is such a bore, there are things you can do to make laundry easier and you might even enjoy it. Just a little.

What are your best laundry hacks? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to find out!

And for more inspiring productivity tips, click here!