I know that all of you have been waiting on pins and needles for the secret I have been keeping on how to have an empty laundry basket a huge majority of the time!
So I won’t make you wait any longer. But first let me tell you what WASN’T working for me.
“Laundry Day” in our house used to be on Monday. It was the day that worked best for my work schedule when I was still working outside the house and it allowed us to start out the week with clean laundry. I would do 5, 6, or 7 loads that day for a family of 2. 4 loads of clothes – 2 dark loads, 1 light colored load, 1 load of whites, a load of towels, and a load of sheets or rugs. I didn’t mind WASHING the laundry at all or even transferring it from the washer to the dryer. But that is where my enjoyment stopped and the disaster started. I despised the FOLDING part of “doing laundry” especially when I had a laundry basket (or TWO) of clothes to fold.
All those clean clothes got tossed load after load into the laundry basket (a few got hung to dry.) I always intended to FOLD and PUT AWAY the laundry that day too. But it just never happened. Laundry would be done later in the day and I would be downstairs by that time for the evening busy working or spending time with my husband and I would just forget about it. Sometimes the laundry even made it from the basket to the bed. And when we finally headed to bed this is what would happen.
(source)
Ok, actually the pile was so big, it just got pushed into the floor. And for the next several days, we got dressed out of the pile on the floor. Until I got tired of that or needed to vacuum and it got tossed BACK into the laundry baskets. Please tell me I am not the only one that has done this??
Then it was laundry day again and yet another 5-6 loads got added to the pile on the floor overflowing laundry baskets. By this point, we had no clean socks or underwear left in the drawers and we were digging every day to find sock matches or clothes to wear.
Finally I would get fed up, dump all the clothes on the bed (ok, usually it was TOO MUCH to fit on the bed at one time) and fold and put it all away. 2-3 weeks worth of laundry and it would take me over an hour to fold, hang, and put it all away. And. I. hated. it. (Sorry, no pictures of this… way to embarrassing to share.)
I hated the mess, hated living out of piles and laundry basket, hated that I seriously thought about buying my husband enough pairs of sock to last for 3 weeks so I didn’t have to feel guilty for him searching for socks in the pile every morning, and in general I hated laundry!
(source)
Until 2013 started. I was more determined than ever to work on being a better housekeeper, to keeping our home neater, to keeping our bedroom neater.
I don’t know how I came to this revelation, but one week in early January I got all the laundry folded and put away. And the next day when we had enough clothes to make a load, I went ahead and did that load, FOLDED it, and PUT AWAY that one load. I guess I had heard people talk about doing laundry every day but didn’t think for our family of 2 or our lifestyle that it was something we should do. But after only spending about 5 minutes total folding and putting away that ONE load of laundry and having every piece of clothing (except what we were wearing) clean, and put away – I felt relieved and excited! This could work!
So there’s my secret… I do ONE load of laundry every day. From start to finish – washed, dried, folded/hung, and put away.
So this…
happens 90% of EVERY DAY in our home!
Here’s some more tips:
- Our family consists of my husband and I. There are some days when I may only need to do a load every other day. (We only wear one pair of clothes each day normally.) I would say for a family of 5 or less, one load a day should work (teenagers=larger clothes or multiple outfit changes may change that). If you have 6 or more in your family, you may have to do 2 loads of laundry a day.
- The load I am washing/putting away sometimes is 2 different loads. Since all the dirty clothes happen at night when clothes are taken off and pj’s put on, I will usually start a load right then and add any kitchen towels, washcloths, etc. from the day too. Then the next day, in the morning, I will dry and put away that load and then wash another load that evening. Make sense? Other days, I may wash, dry, and fold the SAME load in one day. Just depends on when I have a full load and what else is going on that day.
- I still have so called “laundry day” on Monday (or another day that works for me) as I usually do 2-3 loads that day. 1 load of clothes, 1 full load of towels/rugs, and 1 set of sheets/blankets from 1 bed. Still not bad as towels and sheets were never a chore for me to put away. Again depending on your family size/amount of clothes you may be able to throw towels and sheets in with your regular laundry and not have extra loads.
- Doing laundry every day will allow you to have and need LESS clothes. You don’t need 15 pair or socks or 10 pairs of underclothes. Because only 1-2 pairs will be “in process” of being washed/dried/folded/put away at a time.
- If you have older children, you can assign them to help in this process. They deposit their dirty clothes in the laundry room every day and pick up their pile of clean, folded clothes in the laundry room and put them away themselves.
- If you work outside of the home – wash the load in the morning, and fold that ONE load in the evening.
So I went from having MOUNTAINS, yes mountains of laundry to fold…. to having ONE load to fold each day.. It takes me all of 5 minutes of my time to gather/wash/dry it (since the machines do all the rest of the work) and 5 minutes to fold and put it away.
And you know what . . . I don’t hate laundry anymore! We don’t live out of piles of clean clothes on the floor, I don’t feel guilty that my husband is digging for clean socks, and our room is MUCH cleaner!
This may or may not work for your family, may or may not work for YOU. But I challenge you to just give it a try. Get caught up on laundry this weekend – yes, conquer those piles and get them washed, dried, and PUT AWAY. Then start out on Sunday or Monday by just doing the dirty clothes from that day from start to finish! I try to go by this rule: I don’t put another load of clothes into the dryer until the load in the dryer is FOLDED and PUT AWAY. Don’t put those clean clothes into a laundry basket and walk away!! That is how the mountain begins! 
I have gotten behind 2 times since I started and had 2-3 loads to fold and I am sure you will too. Just start again – get it all folded and put away and begin again the next day doing ONE load.
Want to read some more about this method?
- Leah at Embracing Grace posted about how to move mountains of laundry using this method.
- Clean Mama posted about the How and Why of doing laundry every day.
And I love using my homemade laundry detergent each day! It smells so good and is super cheap!
And if you want a peek into where I do all this laundry, check out my laundry room house tour post and see all the plans I have for making it a room I love and that functions for our family.
I love this vinyl saying! May have to order it and add to my laundry room re-do!
So who thinks I am a total slob for living out piles of clothes on the floor? (Don’t tell me! …unless you do the same! 🙂
Who does the “one load of laundry every day method” and LOVES it? (and why did no one tell me about this method before?)
Anyone up for trying the “one load of day method”? Would love to hear about it and if it changes your life like it has mine.
Love it! So simple and yet (confession here), so unknown to a “pile maker” like me (too). I’m gonna try to do this – really!
[BTW – I do buy my hubby 21 pair of the same socks, just to make MY life easier. He has one drawer devoted to socks. And I NEVER have to match them. He just grabs 2 and they are always a pair! I started doing this 20 years ago and still love it!]
Totally life changing, and I’ll never go back!! Our whole family is far less frustrated now that we always have clothes to wear. lol I just still can’t believe that I went this long without realizing there was a better way. I know one thing- I’m going to train my daughter in this method- hopefully she will never have to get overwhelmed by her own clothing. lol 🙂
(Thanks for the shout out, btw)
I am definitely going to try this! I’m guilty of the “mountains of laundry in a giant pile and digging around to find clothes” thing. And then every few weeks folding and putting away. This is awesome! Thank you!
Finally, a kindred spirit who does exactly the same thing! Right even down to the buying socks part 🙂 I am going to do this from now on. Now I just have to start with the giant pile of clothing on the floor at the foot of our bed and fold that. It’s so simple, but thank you for being open & honest (because you are definitely not alone in this area!).
So when washing for only 2 people, do you really throw ALL clothes in the same load? Jeans, blouses, whites and colors all in one? And how do you justify running less than full loads? Maybe I’m too concerned about the saving energy part, but I definitely wouldn’t want to wash work clothes and jeans and sweatshirts and towels all together.
Hi Lisa – I have two people and on the best of weeks I do about 1 full load a day. (sorry in adv gonna be long!) Due to my skin allergies I wash our clothes separately. Our clothes only touch when we hug and while sleeping 🙂 Anyways – I came across this one load a day thing about 6 months ago on Pinterest. So, I checked to be sure we weren’t running too low on anything and I did one load of clothes for him and the sheets (it was time). From that day on I did one a day – his 4 compartments first (I’m currently a housewife and don’t go through as many sets of clothing as he does) At the end of the week, Everything had been washed and the compartments were filling back up. I wash sheets and towels and misc blankets on Mondays now and I take whichever compartment is full the other days. Now since I don’t wash our clothes together, there are days that I’ll do two loads. But generally it’s only the one. And the only time I do a small load is when his workout clothes don’t make it to the hamper after they’ve dried. (he keeps them in the guest bath to dry so I don’t have to smell em! 🙂 I hope you find a method that works for you so you don’t have the mountains of laundry I used to have!
I’m with you! Actually, I don’t mind doing laundry, but I want to do it and get it done! Doing laundry every day would do me in! 🙂 Often, if we don’t have plans on a Friday night, I’ll do it all Friday night, then I have the rest of the weekend to be Laundry-Free. Yippeee!
I imagine she attempts to wear similar fabrics/colors. If something came up, like a delicate blouse, put aside in a separate bin for a future load.
Yes Yes Yes!!! I totally agree with your method!!! I used to save all of the laundry for one day also – and we’re a family of 6!!!! It would take me at least 3 days to have it all done, and another few days before it was put away. I hated the giant loads, and more than anything I hated sorting socks and underwear for 4 kids!!!! It took me forever. Now I have 3 laundry days, (2 people per day) and I finish it the same day (usually put away too!)
SO much better than ONE laundry day!!!
There are only 2 of us left, and I do laundry when the basket is full. I will put the whites in a basket in the laundry room and do that load when it is full, my husband’s work clothes in another basket waiting for a full load and the rest go in the wash. So I only need to do one load about every 2-3 days! After raising 5 kids, this is like heaven.
Debbie 🙂
mmmm….I would think maybe you are a mouse at my house. I like to do loads at night and then it’s ready to dry when I get home from work or . . . on the rare occasion we get up early, I can throw it in the dryer then. We still have too many clothes. I keep telling my daughter I need to set the timer and do 15 minutes in my room and the guest room!! Thanks for all your share. Enjoy your blog!
Hmmm…may have to give this a try! (and you’re not alone…my recliner has clean, unfolded clothes piled on it as we speak and I’m guilty of leaving it like that WAY too often!) Thanks for the great tip! =)
I love the sound of this laundry method. One load a day to fold actually sounds doable for sure. And with the addition of a new family member (any day) I could use a more effiecient way to do my laundry. Thanks so much for this post :).
Great idea! I usually wash our clothes as soon as the basket gets full. It makes it even easier just to wash all the colors together, although I wash new clothes separately if I think they might bleed. I also take all my husband’s dress shirts and pants to the dry cleaner’s. It’s well worth it not to have to iron:). I wash my young daughter’s clothes with ours, but as soon as my kids get to be teenagers, they have their own baskets, and wash their own clothes, including their bed linens and towels!
I really like this idea! I am one who actually enjoys laundry, but not the best at putting it away. Jason, my husband, says he has to play ‘hide and seek’ to find his clothes. I think I’ll give this method a try and see how it goes. Also, added with folding and putting away that day I will add ‘ironing’ to it because Jason needs ironed shirts each day for work and I am terrible about getting ironing done. Thank you for the idea!
We are one in the same!!!!! My only job around the house is laundry and I despise folding. It’s worse than your situation. Family of 4 and crazy laundry. I even posted a pic on the blog of all the clean clothes heaps. The Hubs hates this about me. I’m going to try your method and see if it works for me. Thanks!!!!!
I’ve been doing one load per day for a couple years now. It hit me to do it that way too, after letting it back up for years. I have to be home more, though, and that might be a problem for women who work outside the home. I love hanging clothes on the line too, so I shoot for getting laundry washed and out in the sun early. It’s helps that I’m Florida. 🙂
I’ve also had the pile to search through and the laundry room floor covered in clothes. Its terrible!!! With a family or 4, I try to do one load a day and I find it nice.
I also wanted to mention leaving clothes in the machine over night or an extend period of time can cause bacteria and mold to start growing in your clothes. It starts within 2 hours. With the front loading machines its a huge issue and will cause mold to grow in your machine extremely quick. Once its inside your machine it can be almost impossible to remove. These two things had “forced” to me finish the load.
Oh yeah. I live in a one person household; I do laundry 2 a week – usually “storing up” towels and “heavy” items for the weekend and a load of work clothes gets done on a weeknight evening – small loads for one person. I’ve found that folding the laundry right out of the dryer, piece by piece, and putting it into the laundry basket to haul upstairs works best for me; otherwise the laundry would sit and cool in the basket and get all wrinkled. Taking it out right away and hanging it on hangers (for dress slacks, sweaters and blouses) or folding (sheets, towels, teeshirts, jeans, undies, etc.) takes 5 minutes usually and then I’m DONE. Glad to hear this method works for you too. It’s a good feeling when you take control of your laundry and it doesn’t take control of you!
I really like this idea. I am widowed and in a couple of months will be moving from a 1700sf 4bd/2 bath , to a 925 sf bd2bth. In my house, my w/d was in the garage, hot in the summer, freezing in winter. Now I will have both in the kitchen. Hurrah, I can throw my dirty clothes directly into the washer, not a basket, and wash when I have enough. The best part is getting rid of more clothes!! Love it……..
I love this method! It’s so much easier to put away small loads. People always look at me like I’m crazy if I say I do laundry every day, but it definitely works best for me!
Okay, I am that mom who does laundry only once a week. I hate laundry but hate folding more then anything. My question is when you do that one load a day are you separating colors or mixing. Thanks again:)
Even if you mix colors, just use cold water and the colors won’t bleed. Plus, they have Tide for cold water and other brands so the clothes (even whites!) get nice and clean. Ive been doing this (mixing everything together) for 15 years and it has never failed me yet.
I tried that years ago and found I love getting it all done on Friday and Saturday. I dreaded facing laundry every day (isn’t that so silly?) now, we get a jump on laundry Friday, do the rest on Saturday, and only diapers or emergency loads get done though out the week. So glad you found a system that works!
Any tips for a renter who only has access to the laundry Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday? Also a family of 2.
Sometimes I do 1 load, sometimes 4 or 5, and sometimes none but I NEVER put a load into the dryer without first at least folding the previous load.
Great post! Your “before” story is totally my life! I do the exact same thing, but I’m SO going to try this every day method. Thanks so much for sharing!
I have multiple piles of clothes to be put away as we speak. We have a cedar chest at the foot of our bed and it is ALWAYS covered in clothes. It would be nice to actually SEE that beautiful peice of furniture. I had tried 1 load of laundry each day but felt like I was ALWAYS doing laundry. I like your idea though of throwing the clothes in at night, then drying, folding, and putting them away in the morning. I think that’s what I was missing in my “routine”; a dedicated laundry time during the day so I was just thinking about that pile of clothes in the dryer all day until I finally got it out and taken care of.
April – I also wash the load at night and dry in the morning. My front loader has a “start” timer so we can set it to start 5 hours after we put it in so that it’s not sitting all night .
One other tip – we are a family of 4 and I HATE having to sort by person as I fold so each child gets 2 laundry days (Sun,Wed and Mon, Thurs) and the other days are reserved for grownups or household. Each child has to collect and put in machine and top off load with towels that may fit…. The front loader is great for this because the controls are easy for my short one to reach :-).. Now when the load is dry, I can scoop off the towels and I only have one person of clothes to fold – no sorting. (all the kids clothes are wash and wear and we wash in cold all together; when whites or lights get dingy I may do a mixed person soaking load to brighten)
If someone has to do a load on an “off day” they are doing it themselves and I do NOT fold it, they have to – LOL – they are MUCH better at planning their clothes now – ha ha!
I grew up with my mom washing clothes everyday. I thought that’s what all people did!! That’s until one day while talking to ladies in my office. They acted as if I was pure insane!!! Little did they know that this was always my secret to not spending all of my wonderful 2 day weekends pouring sweat over all this housework. I grew up with 4 other siblings and mom figured out and showed us early in life how to always maintain a tidy home. Mom worked a full time job and between all the ballet, band, cheerleading and baseball practices there had to be a system in place. Do chore start to finish was her motto. As it turns out, little did I know she giving all of us the tools to success for maintaining a clean and tidy house. It was engraved in us at such a early age that once we started raising a family it was routine. Now, at 75 my mom stills maintains her own household and I’m proud to say it’s still just as spot free as ever!!
Your washer must be much smaller then mine.
For two people, I do about 2 1/2 loads a week.
I can’t lie, I wash all our clothes in the same load: white, colors, etc. Although really, the only whites are the kids’ socks, and I just don’t care if they’re not perfectly white. They’re so often tracked in mud (two little boys), it seems insane to try to make them bleached all perfect again. All our sheets are colors, everything I wear is colorful – I just don’t wear white, really. I just throw everything in together and don’t worry about it. The only clothes that get washed separately are my husband’s work clothes, because he so often comes home covered in toxic chemicals (welder!).
I generally do a load every day, but I’m terrible about folding and putting away. It usually piles up in a laundry basket on top of the dryer. So bad. I do make the kids help these days, now they’re a bit older, they can fold their own (badly, but practice makes perfect) and put it away.
How would you recommend accomplishing this with a two year old and a 7 month old under your feet? I wash laundry every day ( 1-2 loads a day) and yet I still have mountains of laundry that never get put away. I try but between, tantrums, toddler mischief, feeding the baby, holding the baby, and everything else that comes with two under two, I just can’t seem to find 5 minutes to get that one load put away.
My DS (3) loves to help with laundry…give yours a little job to help mommy. Lots of high fives and pats on the back for good work. Put baby in a swing/bouncer or wear baby in a wrap. I often make up silly songs to go along with what I’m working on…it makes it fun. Laundry occasionally gets out of sync here but honestly dishes is my downfall! I’ve been working on loading the dishwasher during the day, running it after dinner…then the next morning the dishes are done and I unload and put away. The hand wash stuff really gives me frets….but I’ve been learning to finish…wash, rinse, dry and put away before I leave the sink. If I leave it for later someone will toss dirty dishes into the clean and I need to start over. Empty sinks make for an easy target and the counter tops are way less cluttered.
Thanks so much for this!! It’s working! Something so simple and yet profound. I shared this on my FB page as well.
With our family of 11 I have to do 3 loads a day to keep up. If I would do it all in one day I would be drowning. Thanks for the blog
I quickly read through some of the replies to this post, but no one mentioned what their bills were like doing laundry everyday vs. 1 day/week. How much of a jump did you notice in your monthly energy bills (water, hyrdo, gas)? Doing laundry everyday can’t be cheap, can it???
What is the difference, doing 1 load 7 days a week or 7 loads in 1 day? It is still 7 loads. If you don’t have a full load I would imagine one could keep it til the next day and do it. Just my thoughts.
I should’ve mentioned. In Toronto, Canada, where I live, hydro (electricity) is metered based on the hour of the day. For example, you’ll pay a higher rate for your electricity in the morning and during prime time (5-10pm) than you would on a weekend. Rates are the cheapest on the weekend. This was introduced in an effort to curb peoples energy consumption and stress on the grid. So, electricity is tiered based on the hour of the day, 3 tiers – low, med and high rates. So, 7 loads on the weekend is easily cheaper than a load a day on peak rates. Now, you could argue that I could do laundry on off peak rates during the week, but that would mean I’m starting laundry after 10pm.
Family of 5. I start washing my clothes on Friday night when I start dinner and hang everything possible right out of the dryer, including T-shirts and jeans. I work out side the home. I don’t iron. Hahaha. I roll/fold undies and put away. The children do their own laundry, still hanging everything possible. Undies and sock, etc in drawers. A little each day keeps the sanity. Towels and sheets first thing on Saturday in between errands. Wash hubby’s stinky gym clothes alone, after the sheets, if they weren’t already done during the week. One pre-teen daughter will not put any thing away or put dirty clothes in her basket. A one child laundry mess maker.
Also, send the shirts out to be ironed. It is cheap for the freedom you get. Usually looks better too.
Hi Lisa, did your husband ever help out with the folding? I understand that both of you work outside the home, so wouldn’t you like help with the housekeeping? I sure am grateful that my husband and I do our laundry separately. Less loads to do for me, and more time to relax!
Hey, I live alone and laundry piles up!! One load a day is the only way to go…but even that eludes me sometimes. I wish I had started when I was younger and had more energy!
If you are just doing laundry for one – I would think 1 load maybe every 2 days would work. try it 🙂
I totally put my clean laundry either in baskets lining the end of the bed piled high, or on the bet to be pushed back into those baskets. I always have more baskets of clean laundry than dirty. it sucks! Maybe I should start doing this.
YES! totally try it! I thought I would HATE doing laundry “all the time” but honestly it takes so little time to throw 1 load in and then fold it when it comes out of the dryer – 5-10 minutes and NO baskets, no digging for clothes 🙂
My husband currently has 2 full baskets – about 2 weeks worth – of his own to put away and I just finished mine. And now there is more running. I will have to try this!
it has honestly changed my life! 🙂 try it.
I have been doing one load a day after having the same revelation. It’s so easy! It’s not nearly as stressful and I definitely feel much less overwhelmed. However, I’m currently on Bed Rest and my hubby is now in charge of laundry…. we’ve moved back into piles of laundry in baskets.
yes, it is so much easier!! And you know what – at least you have clean laundry! 🙂 I am sure hubby is doing his best to help 🙂
I have always done it this way. I get upset when there is a lot of clothes in my laundry room. Of course, when we return from vacation it is different. But most of the time I just do it daily!
yes, I am AMAZED how much better this system has been for me. I absolutely LOVE it! And it is inspiring me to keep other things up better too.
The best habit my parents taught me (we started doing our own laundry at 10) was to fold my clothes as I pull them out of the dryer. I have friends and family that are clean-pile makers but I can’t handle my clothes being all wrinkly and have always folded from the dryer. We have lights, darks, towels/sheets, and my husbands stinky cop clothes that I was separately. That being said, I need to be better about putting away my nice folded piles of clean clothes. I can’t justify a load a day though with electricity and water costs in Hawaii! I try not to let our hampers overflow though.
I only do a load a day if we have a full load. But right now with 5 people in our house – a load a day happens pretty quick with kitchen towels and other things thrown in. And we iron everything right when we are going to wear it. Our clothes used to be SOOO wrinkled after sitting in a pile but now since I am folding/hanging them pretty much right away, I am spending much less time ironing 🙂
Matching socks for my family of seven was a huge headache. Now everyone has several lingerie bags ($1 at Walmart) with their name on it for socks and undies.
so the method I came up with for our laundry is
Monday:Darks
Tuesday:Towels
Wednesday:Whites
Thursday: Colors
Friday:Rugs
Sat: outerwear and
Sundays are sheets and blankets.
We have a family of 7 🙂
Hmmm I can relate.. 🙂
Except mine turns into piles on my ironing board. I have this craziness that doesn’t allow me to fold clothes on our bed (because of mites or whatever could be on it! Pet fur too!). So…I currently have my pile on my ironing board.
BUT I have always used your method. My problem is that I don’t get home from work until around 5, then I start a load… which takes HOURS because my dryer takes 2-3 cycles to actually get the clothes dry… so naturally it stacks up 🙁
Anyone know a solution to a not so good dryer?? I’ve tried cleaning out the lint. No luck!
Erm forgot a part of that! I was going to tell you my usual schedule that I attempt to follow 🙂
I’m goofy and need things to rhyme so I remember… (does anyone else do this!?)
Sunday: Blankets
Monday: Darks/work clothes
Tuesday: Towels (rhymes so I remember!)
Wednesday: Whites (again, the rhyming)
Thursday: Lights or darks again
Friday: Bedding
Saturday: Leftovers
We have a family of just 2, also. BUT, we each go through 2 sets of clothing on work days and my husband is a policeman and he only has 2 uniforms to wear..so I have to wash those a ton!! and… I don’t ever iron 🙂 haaa after going through the dryer 2+ times it never really needs it! BUT I will admit, I just bought my husband extra underwear last week because I can never seem to get his clean and put away fast enough! 😛
Have you disconnected the vent tube that goes outside? That can get lint piled up in it too.
Get a new dryer?
I do laundry every day also! My washer (notice I didn’t say dryer? I don’t own one and don’t plan on getting one) are in the kitchen right by the back door. I thought this was weird at first, but when I move, I will surely miss this feature. It keeps me up on my laundry as that is the first thing people would see when they come over. I just keep the lid open, throw things in as they get dirty, when it gets full I wash it. I don’t sort my clothes as I have never had any issue with anything bleeding on any other garments. The only thing I do separate is my work clothes from towels to keep down on the fuzzies! As for drying my clothes. I live in Michigan, so most of the time my clothes are hung on hangers in the house and on a cute little foldable Y-shaped drying rack.
I use the load-a-day method, and it works great for our family of 5! I have only just recently gotten back on top of the mountain, so doing laundry is no longer a burden. I also use homemade detergent, but mine is a liquid version. Thanks for sharing such a great home management tip with your readers.
Load a day is a good method. But I really hate laundry and mostly I take services from laundry services though it cost me a little more.
I have been a “one load a day” mom for about four years now and it works out great! I hang clothes year around (expect whites and towels and sheets as I wash them in hot water) and so I do wash one load daily and while that load is washing, fold the other load on the drying rack and put them away. Works great and keeps my hampers manageable.
Our family adopted a similar new laundry rule. We have 4 children ages 19, 15, 11, and 9. We were constantly living out of baskets or piles of clean clothes dumped all over the floor. Then a friend asked me point blank, “Why don’t your kids do their own laundry?” Ummm…good question. We made a new rule – you do your own laundry. Each person has a “day” of the week. Each child got their own colored basket which served as their hamper and basket to carry all the clean, folded laundry up to their room. Clothes must be put in drawers on the same day they are cleaned. Mom takes care of Dad’s laundry along with hers and towels and whites. I accept help folding towels and white socks. 🙂 Laundry is never piled up. It’s been wonderful. Everyone has clean clothes and there are no piles of clothes in our living room. WONDERFUL!
I’ve been doing laundry and the other traumatic things, every day or 2 since I have memory! I think I learnt this because my mum used to have a big mountain of clean clothes during the week and I didn’t like it. So, believe us…. it works! Even if you are tired after a long day do it, it’s easier I think!
Love it! I am only a family of one and I have the exact same problem! I tend to empty the basket on the bed so I’m “forced” to fold it before I go to sleep, but the only thing I’m really forced to do is push it off the bed and onto the floor. I’ve been trying to keep up with it lately, but I still get to the point where I have 4 or 5 loads to do at a time. I go through a few clothes a day: whatever I wear to work, change if I’m going out after work, comfy clothes to bum around/sleep in at night. I’m going to try your method, although I probably only need to do it every couple of days. I have two laundry baskets. The plan will be to make sure the clothes go directly into the white or colored basket at the end of each day and as soon as one is full, I’ll wash it. Wash in the morning, dry while I’m at work, fold when I get home. This can’t be that hard.
Hi Ashley B
Have you tried checking the outside vent to make sure it isn’t blocked by anything? It needs to be able to open freely to let the air out while drying. Hope this helps. Lisa
Previously, I had a laundry room with a door, a hanging rod and a basket for each family member. There were always clean clothes in there. Currently, my washer/dryer are in the kitchen with no place to store clean clothes, So I have no choice but to put away the clothes. I hang everything except socks, undies, and shorts. Each family member -4 of us- has a single different type of sock for everyday wear.b/c I do NOT match socks. Bath towels are used for 2 days. Jeans are worn at least twice. I use a laundry sorter and it is the only dirty laundry location in the place. I start a load when I get home, put them in the dryer after dinner and everyone takes their basket upstairs at bedtime. Since I hate to iron more than I hate laundry, I take care of freshly dried clothes as soon as I hear the beep. Empty baskets must be returned by the next afternoon. We also plan our outfits for the next day.
We are a family of 6 and I have completely changed how I do laundry. When my kids were babies I would do it when I had to. This left 20+ loads dirty and waiting to be washed. I finally in this home have a spacious laundry room with a closet. I have put up 2 shelves above the washer/dryer and 2 above the sink. The closet has shelves that can hold 8 laundry baskets(the standard size). All the clean laundry goes into the baskets and when it’s full(one load worth) my kids have to take it up, dump it on their bed and bring me back the basket! My kids are 11,9,7 and 2. The older ones put away their own laundry every time. They also bring down their dirty baskets which hold 2 loads. I do laundry about 5 days a week so we don’t get to backed up. I also painted my laundry room with behr paint and a color called aqua spray. With the one window I have it’s so bright in there and it makes it more enjoyable to do laundry. I am at the point of adding decor and pretty baskets in there now. I also plan to get a pretty runner rug to go in front of the washer/dryer. We do have 4 hanging rack hooks with a total of 40 hooks on them for coats/sweatshirts and backpacks. Our shoes are kept in a closet system bins from ikea in the garage by the laundry room door. Its been great to get them out of the laundry room.
wanted to add my husband does his own laundry and the towels/washclothes. These both have their own dirty baskets to!
Shout color catchers work really well. Throw one in with each load, no worries about colors getting on other clothes. Bright cotton clothes I wash seperate the first time I wash them. White towels I wash seperate because of them getting fuzzies on my sweaters. Everything else goes in together. They’re lifesavers.
I just put a load of laundry in the wash when I go to bed, the next morning before getting into the shower I put it in the dryer and hang/fold it when I am finished getting ready for my day. It hardly ever feels like I do lot of laundry… this has made my life much easier.
I want to try this but I don’t think I can ever catch up! I do the same thing with throwing clean clothes on the bed then they land on the floor then back with the huge dirty clothes pile I have! Someday..
We use a slight variation in our house….we have six laundry hampers we sort the dirty clothes into. One each for blacks, blues/greens/jeans, reds, towels, whites, and khakis. Then my husband or I throw in whatever hamper is fullest. Our youngest child has been sorting his own clothes since he was about 3. We also use the timer feature on our washer so that the load washes right before we come home from work and it doesn’t sit in the washer and sour. We don’t even own a laundry basket, clothes come out of the dryer and get put away folded/hung immediately.
Love doing this & have been doing it for at least a couple of years!! With just the 2 of us I find I do a load about every 2nd day. My rule is to fold as I take out of the dryer – I have a counter that I fold onto and clothes are folded according to where they go. Then when finished folding I just grab the piles and put them away – immediately!! Done!! Only takes about 5 mins or so to do that & not all day!!
I’m starting to do laundry more frequently after I read this post a long time ago, and it has helped a lot. My question for you is, does it bother you to wash things like kitchen dish towels in the same load as underwear? Also, does it bother you to wash anything less than a full load? I could make a full load every day from our family of 4, but I don’t like to commingle underwear with other stuff, and less than a full load makes me feel like I’m wasting water and electricity. But maybe it is worth it to be able to stay on top of the laundry and have it take less time.
Love this idea! As we speak I have towels in the living room, a load thats been in the dryer for 2 days and a basket of unfolded laundry in the bedroom. And yes, it repeatedly gets dumped on the bed as we look for socks–I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Look forward to seeing how this works.
I’ve washed clothes daily (if needed) since first purchasing my own washer and dryer. My girlfriend still washes once a week, and occasionally when I go by to visit, I have nowhere to sit because there’s clothes (needing to be folded) on the couch, the recliner, in baskets on the floor, etc. 🙁
I totally love this idea. With that being said, I do laundry every day as it is-family of 6. Four of them are little boys and they are 4yr old twins, a 2 1/2 yr old and a 6 mo old. I cloth diaper part time, and we often have multiple outfit changes per day. Basically the soln is more “naked time” (time between clothes coming off an pjs going on where boys like to run around in undies/diaper pretending they’re swimming or a Duggar style family closet-which I would love but we don’t have space for! Alas, I’m stuck in mountains of laundry for a couple of decades…
I love this. I use to b a stay at home mom. Now im working and i find it hard to keep up with the laundry. I’m trying this ASAP! One suggestion try sock locks, you’ll love not having to match socks!!!
It’s just me at my house and I still find myself sleeping under a pile of clothes on the bed at times. I despise folding laundry. I have learned that I feel much more at peace if my room is tidy when I head to bed, so I have been trying to work more on actually taking care of the clothes when I take them out of the dryer. Several days of serenity is worth the five to ten minutes of hanging and folding.
I am going to do this as soon as the pile I have on my bed is gone.
Thanks
I’m confused… Do you wash your clothes after just one use? I’m not sure what you’re job is, but if you work at an office (like I do) or as a teacher (like my husband) or in any job where you aren’t actively sweating, then you don’t need to do this. Here’s the secret to keeping an empty laundry basket: Get home from work, hang your clothes back in your closet and put on a pair of PJs or around-the-house-only clothes. I usually wear one pair of PJs all week and wash them on my laundry day (Sunday because it’s cheaper. Check out the time-of-day electricity pricing in your area!) with my work-out gear and 6 towels (2 large towels, 2 hand towels, 2 kitchen towels). Bed sheets get washed every other week.
My clothes never smell because I wash daily and wear deodorant (FYI without washing daily and wearing deodorant I am an embarrassingly sweaty person). If I get a stain on a piece of clothing then I include it in my weekly load of clothes (it’s never more than 1 load of clothing). For a family of 2, this seems like a waste of water, detergent and time.
So;
a) I don’t have floor space for piles of wash, I have a laundry train of baskets that occupies my hallway 🙁
b) I have four children, aged 7-14.
c) i would rather scrub the toilet (AGAIN) than fold or worse, put away the laundry.
d) i don’t sort socks- I make my kids do it, whenever possible.
e) I am INCREDIBLY picky about how things are folded and where they are put away (which is probably most of why I HATE doing it)
there’s my confession.
now, on to my question: What do you think about children learning to wash their OWN? I am trying to get each family member to accept some responsibility for their own laundry, but sadly; I end up with a GIANT mountain in front of my washer inhibiting anyone from getting at the machine. SHOULD I have them Doing their very own? or would just helping with a mixed-load a day teach them enough? We have tired having each child an assigned wash day, but they take the dirty down every day and just dump it all, all mixed up anyway and i get so frustrated i end up doing it myself just to find the floor again. Sigh.
I must tame the beast! At this moment, I have a wash going; and at least 6 part baskets piled up in front from the kids weekend away, our beach day Tuesday, and more.
The fact you have anyone over six years old in your house that isn’t says a lot! The 14 year is almost driving age! You do realise they need to be responsible and learn to manage their own work load because that is life? If you are picky about how things are folded then show them a few times how to do it, if they do not do it perfect, do not get all OCD on them, just chill. You need to start showing your kids life skills now!
Great Post! I have done the pile the clothes on the bed before. I do one load a day and I make sure part of this is about drying, folding or hanging and PUTTING AWAY. It felt weird at first but not anymore!
My hang up used to be that our dryer took 1 1/2 hours to dry a load so despite my best effort to remember to restart the dryer I would forget and I would only get one load done even if I wanted to do more.
Now we have bought our own place with a gas dryer that WORKS and a new washer that doesn’t have an agitator so I get three times the laundry washed at once. I now do one load every 4-6 days (no need to separate our clothes since we wash everything in cold) when all the socks get washed in te same load it is SO much easier to match things rather than hoping the missing sock appears in the next load. We have a family of five and love spending so Much less time doing laundry now. Folding is something I do in front of a movie so it is something I look forward to 🙂 actually, I don’t fold at first – only sort into different baskets. That way if I get pulled away from the job at least everyone can take their own basket to their rooms and have a smaller (contained) basket to search for socks.
Here is a tip for a larger family. We have 3 (2 teenagers) kids and 2 adults. I do two loads a day, same system as yours. I wash everyone’s laundry separate and fold and put away in each room the laundry belongs in. No more running from room to room putting away laundry or doing the extra step of folding putting in a basket then carrying it upstairs to put away. For example Monday and Thursday I wash my husband and my laundry. On Tuesday and Friday I wash my boys laundry. On Wednesday and Saturday I wash my 5 year old daughter’s laundry plus a bonus load of kitchen towels. I take Sunday off. The loads are small and since I fold it and put it away directly in the rooms it came from it is done in 5-10 minutes. Easy Peasy! Everyone has laundry baskets in their rooms so it is easy to keep it all separate. Hope this is helpful.
It is just 2 of us but yes, separating by person does seem it would make it easier.
The thing I hate the most about laundry is to iron. It’s interesting to see how different our cultures are. Here in Portugal, water and energy are expensive and not everyone has a dryer machine. Typically, clothes are hanged on clothing ropes to dry. Here at home we have a dryer but we only use it in winter when is raining. And no one does laundry everyday (it’s too expensive). As we don’t dry it on the machine, clothes get wrinkled. And we have to iron it (here at home we iron no matter how it is dryed). So my question is: do you never do iron or do you have any fabulous trick for that too?
Yes, I iron all the time. I guess I don’t hate that chore – and can’t stand to have wrinkled clothes. I actually iron as we are going to wear something. So iron almost every day but it is very quick just a minute or two.
We are currently digging the clean clothes out from mountains on the floor and hubby is a trooper because he’s yet to complain but I am going to kill all the laundry this weekend and start trying this method!!! I can definitely see this working for me! I needed this post thank you!
We are a large familh of my hisband and I and 6 great kids. We run 3-4 loads of laundry a day. It is never all folded but on Thursday nights when I have class, I started asking the kids to play catch up for the weekend. They like that they get any left over loads folded and put away and I love that we have a fresh start to all that work come friday morning. Two of my kids help by sorting and moving along laundry at set times of the day so I don’t have to run in/home 4 times a day just to keep up. We have been doing this for years. I can’t wait for the day when one load does it and I can be out the door with out a worry.
I can SO TOTALLY relate to this 100%. We are now a family of 4 (5 if you include our dog) And doing laundry once a week was not good for someone who loathes folding…. I have no patience for it. PLUS, I get pulled away by little kiddos demands.
Doing a load or two a day helps tremendously!! I try to do it in the morning and get it out of the way first.
Miss–
Cool advices! I have two children and I involve them into the laundry process just because I want to show them that nothing comes without any effort. Thank you a lot for the article! Elmers End Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
I have the same problem! I have a family of 7!! Four kids and three adults! My mom moved in with my husband and I! I separate all the laundry into piles of whites, towels, kids clothes, adult clothes, and if we have bedding that needs to be washed! Most of the time I can get it all washed and folded but it goes into a basket to be forgotten! I have found out that I have to do at least 3-4 loads a day! But I very rarely get those put up! I have had such huge mountains of laundry it’s filled up the whole couch! I hate putting away laundry! The tips that work for me are as soon as the load gets done I take it straight out of the dryer and fold/hang it. I even have the tiny (dollar store) baskets for each of my kids! So each kids clothes get hung on hangers and all the folded stuff gets put in baskets. My oldest two can put their clothes away themselves (8 & 6). But my two younger ones can’t. I have taught my two oldest ones how to fold and put away their own clothes! But I have found out also that if I have a rolling cart it’s easier because I can hang all of the clothes on it and just roll it through the house and take the clothes to their respective rooms! I also take my younger twos pants/shirts/underwear and make outfits with them, so I’m not scrambling to find a pair of pants that match a shirt! It’s already done for me! I still fail a lot but I keep at it! Don’t beat yourself up over it either! I hope my tips help!
Why in the world do you have all that laundry? Wow! I wash 2 loads every 2 weeks. I have 14 pair of undies and socks for me and my hubby. I have 14 dish rags and 14 dish towels. This is one load every 2 weeks. The rest is clothes and gets tossed all in one load. Your amount is ridiculous. You wear something once and wash it? That’s insane unless you are both doing hard labor. STOP wasting so much water and energy
I’m so happy to hear that people have piles of clothes. I never know what is dirty or clean. I rewash and am searching for matching socks all the time. I am trying this today!
Since we moved, 6 months ago, my poor husband has been sock searching in mountains of clothes most days. He says, I don’t have any clean underwear..to which I reply, all the dirty laundry is washed and in a clean clothes pile somewhere!!!:) I love this plan and I think I can really implement it! Thanks for the small details at the end too! I think those really make all the difference in keeping it done!
I read your load a day keeps the piles away…( Haha thought that was cute & wanted to make Ü laugh in return)… I was searching for a way to make this laundry issue of mine go away. I found your page and as I was reading along I couldn’t help but picture you doing EXACTLY THE SAME thing I do, and yes it made me feel much better. It was when I got to the socks part… Where I almost turned beet red I’m sure! Your thought became my action about a year ago… When I attempted a laundry lifestyle makeover (probably my 2nd or 3rd ATTEMPT) I figured that it would save me time not needing to pair socks, so I took all the socks and grabbed out all of the socks of this one brand my boyfriend has that is just awesome and they last forever… I threw away any other kind! ALL GONE, and now he only has one kind, and ONLY THAT KIND IS PURCHASED…Id get so frustrated when he’d receive another kind for a gift from like his mom or someone alike, and I no joke would exchange them. It’s made it a tad better, but obviously not too much since I am searching on ways to help me AGAIN! I am going to give your method of laundry a shot! I think once I get past the one he’ll day I’ll do alright… Here goes it!!! Wish me luck.
I actually do this same method and it DOES work. I never read about it or heard about it. I just kind of started doing it and I keep doing it because it works. So happy.
I don’t understand how two people can make enough laundry to do one load a day? My husband and I do 2-3 loads a week and we both workout and have jobs. I wash our towels and sheets weekly as well. We have darks, lights and an ‘other’ load. I hang a lot to dry. I sometimes neglect folding but never more than a day. Also my husband does laundry too!! We are both able to do any chore. I have recently started working from home so I’m doing it more now. But when I worked out of the house also we both did it. Maybe with children a load a day would make sense. But for us now there would be 6 pieces of clothing each day. This is not energy efficient or worthwhile, unless you switch in and out of outfits a lot or have a big family.
I hate waking up in the morning only to gather clothes for the day out of the baskets of laundry. We are a family of 6! My husband does his own and I do mine and the four kids and all the towels and linens. Laundry isn’t my only responsibility. I also take care of the kids, cook, clean a 3000 sq ft home, and take the vehicles to be serviced or inspected when needed. All while having sciatic nerve damage with some of the worst back pain ever.
I am a single mom of four and I don’t do nearly as much laundry as you seem to do. Each week I do six loads of laundry – the boys, the girls, mine, whites, towels and bedding. Towels get washed and hung back up. Bedding gets washed and put back on the beds. Clothes gets washed and put away immediately. I do all the laundry on Sunday mornings and it’s finished by early afternoon. I can’t imagine doing it every day!!!!!!
I have done my laundry like this for over 30 years. Had 4 children and wouldn’t think of doing it any other way. I have been known to also wash the clothes of anyone sleeping over knowing they would be ready by morning. My son loved knowing his work clothes were always clean!
I use this method too, after years of being a laundry slob. It has made a huge difference in my stress level. I do want to start putting whites aside though cause they are getting dingy.
We do laundry every day too. Some days more than others, but at least one load per day. We have a one year old so more dirty clothes, bibs and wash cloths than before the baby. The only thing that I do differently is hire my housekeeper to come 2-3 times a week to finish anything left, fold, put it away, wash bottle/pumping parts and clean the kitchen. It usually takes her 60-90 minutes to do this and has been a lifesaver for me since having the baby. I decided to redirect money from pedicures & manicures to get help in this way.
What I find very strange is that you guys don,t iron? In Belgium we spend hours ironing which is so boring. The clothes just can,t be folded when they come out off the dryer.
I’ve read it’s actually better for
Your septic system to
Do one load a day rather than all in one day! Great post
Water bill? Electricity bill? Eco-Friendliness? A lot of energy consumption going on with using our laundry appliances every day. I’ll stick to the weekend as my laundry days. Some Netflix, wine and the chore won’t be such a bore!
Are you my double? You described my life perfectly so you are not the only one out there. I also find out the trick to laundry only after my kids moved away to college -duh. I read your article to see if you had another magic bullet for doing laundry. Still hate doing it. Love your blog.
Never one to judge… We do what we do.
I have done laundry daily for 35 years , had two children and husband , worked full time and elderly parents to attend to during that time… I would never have coped with once per week laundry .
I only do towels and bed linen once per week – we are clean after all. I sort laundry into colours, delicates etc. Always had washing machine going at night so laundry could be hung out next morning before going to work … We are Southern Hemisphere and hang laundry outside to dry … Rarely use the dryer … anything I don’t want outside I put on hangers in shower or garage during day.
No dryer equals reduced electricity bills where we live .
Back to two of us now and still do a small load most days , towels on Sat , bed linen on Sunday ?
We (family of 4) always did laundry as needed. When the kids became teens they were responsible for their own laundry, except for towels which went in the common hamper. Towels get used twice before going into the hamper, and generally I don’t wash clothes after every wearing unless they get stained or sweaty. So, usually there is at least one load that gets done per day, most often husband’s work clothes (operating engineer). Oh, and my husband does his own as well.
That is exactly how it is in my house.As I speak there are separate mounds on my bedroom floor.We are a family of 6,4 boys ages4-11, my husband and myself,all tough I will separate my clothes and do them last. And feeling guilty for our husband’s having to search for boxers or socks.Dont be embarrassed I’m with you Girl!!!!!
You are lucky my family of 7 taught me long ago to do at least 2 loads a day. Mayb 3 on bed change days. It’s the ironing I hate!!:)
How do you sort colors with your method? I do 2 loads white, 2 dark, and one load light. How donuoundpacevthem out?
This system works for me too. Except in a family of five I do one persons laundry each day. Everyone has their own hamper and I do their laundry only. It makes folding and putting away easier too. Towels and sheets on day 6 and 7.
My husband and I have 4 children. I am a full time student and a homeschool mom. I have very little time and loathe laundry. Usually I wash and dry and the kids fold about 5-6 loads at a time. This is usually every 3 days when our laundry room is overflowing! I do no less than two loads a day so it piles up very quickly; not counting sheets and comforters. We also have two dogs so I launder their bedding frequently as well. I am very interested to see if I can try this and stick to it. I would love to get my laundry monster under control!
I’ve lived off of piles. I used to rent and wash at a laundromat, so I would only wash every 3 weeks to save money. (They had huge machines, so I’d always only do 6 loads) We recently bought a house, and right after closing bought a washer and dryer. I thought I wasn’t going to hate folding/hanging as much now that it wasn’t 3 weeks worth of clothes for a family of 4. But I didn’t have a system, so I still hated laundry and lived off piles. This year I’ve become obsessed with keeping up with clutter, dishes, and laundry, so I have a schedule. Mon. Whites and towels, Tues. sheets and lights, Wed. Girls clothes, Thu. Darks, Fri. Delicates and ironing. This has worked for me. Some days I’ll skip a load because there is not enough, and I have a 4 basket sorter to keep my clothes separated at all times. My girls have their own hamper.
This totally describes my situation completely. And on the rare occasions that I would get sick of the pile of clothes and spend forever putting it all away I would get dressed in the morning and automatically try to pick out clothes from the floor and forget that I hung them all up. Do you have any suggestions for someone that lives in an apartment that doesn’t have a washer and dryer hookup?
Another good tip is to make your last load a load of towels (or things that don’t matter that they sit in the dryer.) If you get sidetracked or too tired, you can just fold them the next day.
I am a perfectionist and neat freak, but have never figured out a solution to my laundry dilemma just like the one you have described…with mountains of clean clothes everywhere, but worse because eventually they become mountains of clean clothes & dirty clothes everywhere (cringe). Thank you for sharing your story I think in this instant forward you have changed my family’s life for the better for ever! I can now see and picture how I will achieve this solution thanks to your unselfish and honest testtimony. May God bless your darling family…now I must go and start this wonderful journey in laundry one load a day at a time or maybe three because we have three babies under three 🙂
I JUST started doing this and it’s immensely helpful. I was like you with the huge piles, husband digging for socks, laundry being pushed off the bed. I feel much better about my house keeping. Thank you.
Sounds great theoretically but if you live in New York city, it would not work for most of us – most apartments don’t have washers and dryers in the apartment. We have either communal laundry rooms ( 6 trips up and down to do washing, drying and collecting laundry) or laundromats (which means lugging the laundry to and fro without a car). Wow, doing laundry outside of NYC sounds so uncomplicated from this article. I wish I had that luxury – oh well, I guess I’ll just have a cleaning lady do it like most people in my building.
One thing I have realized is that it is better to do one load at a time. Wash, then dry. While that load is drying DO NOT WASH MORE. Wait until it is dry, folded, and put away.
It sounds like you would get a lot more accomplished doing load, after load, after load with no waiting in between. You do not! You burn yourself out, and procrastinate. Then you throw it in a pile, or a basket. There it stays until you are forced to deal with it.
Throw it in at night before bed, first thing in the morning, or even after lunch. The important thing is you are slowly training yourself to make it easier to handle.
Towels, sheets, or rugs are easy to take care of so sometimes I do 4-5 loads a day. But I get a break in between, and don’t dread laundry.
You just described my life in your “before” description-it’s getting really old! Thanks for pointing out a better way- I’m going to make this the year the mountains disappear!
I have spent an hour on the internet looking for a better way to do laundry. I only do laundry for 2 people also. We live out of laundry baskets and piles on the floor. We currently have 7 laundry baskets. I don’t mind the washing or drying part. It’s the folding that causes me horrible depression. I just want to find socks in the morning and to see my bedroom floor again. Thank you for this article you wrote. I’m going to try it your way!
I live out of piles myself and I am seriously considering getting rid of 3/4ths of my clothes. I wash everyday and it’s just me at home. If I get behind, it’s a clothing pile nightmare. In my bed, on my ironing board and at the foot of my bed. It’s a mess but this article encouraged me!!!!
I live out of the mountains. I am just 1 person and have to pay to do laundry. So every day won’t work, but I think the key for me is “don’t walk away from a basket of clean clothes.” Maybe if I just wash when the basket gets full and unload at the end, I will **literally move the mountains** ?
With one note: If you were like us having clothing of different colors and jeans you would need to adjust for that one load. Dark clothes that are cotton do run colors often, so do the jeans so you just can not wash them with white Tshirts and bedding that is white cotton. I think it might work for you if you shop Target or Wallmart and only use plastic/polyester clothes that have zero cotton and natural colors and are also not safe to wear long run due to chemicals in them that make them and clor them.
Owning alot of clothes is more trouble than it’s worth. No one needs more than 7 pairs of pants and more than 21 shirts. I tend to wash out socks and underwear in a bucket in the sink and hang them on a clothe line in an open space in the house. I wash some of my shirts the same way. For pants, you need to use the machine, too big and heavy. Some times I just wash stuff on a “I need this for the next two days basis”. Worrying about dirty laundry and owning excess amounts of clothes is a pain in the a**. Just own less, wear it out, toss the stuff, and replace it with a new wardrobe.
Thank u so much for this post!!
I have the same problem for just 2 of us. Piles o clean laundry everywhere!!
Thank u!!!
Man my room is definitely roomier ever since I started doing your take one load a day routine. My days of taking on multiple johns are only going you happen on busy times with family and friends. Do you have something that can keep my whites stiff and fresh?
Ms. Homes
Wow this thread is over four years old and comments still coming in. I have to start blogging. How did you start???
Love this solution, I wish it was viable. I live in an apartment where it’s $3.50 for a wash and dry (more like a wash and damp). I just can’t justify the over $30 it would cost. I wonder if it’s worth investing in one of those portable washing machines…
You have saved my life! I swear it’s like you wrote about my life of hating laundry and falling into a viscous cycle of laundry never ending. However, I would actually cry every time I would hear the dryer chime go off but end up just buying my kids new clothes and socks because it avoided doing actual laundry lol.
I dedicated a whole weekend to catch up on laundry and start your 1 load a day tip. Since then, I’ve been going strong on staying on top of my family of 4’s laundry for 2 whole months now!!
Also, I’m doing this for dishes too ;0)
i feel this is so me …we are a family of 6 4 kids ages 3-10 my husband and I I go from being all caught up and swearing never again washing what’s dirty every day and putting it away this will last a week or two and I get busy for two or three days it piles up n I give up on myself then the mountains Begin again until we’re out of clothes and digging washing what we need for the next day n digging it out of the drier repeating this process for weeks till I get the ambition to start again and spend a fricken week to catch back up but I swear one of these days I’m going to stick to this method…I just recently became a stay at home mom this week so I’m hoping being able to do this and not working full time away I’ll be able to keep up.
We call it the floordrobe D: thanks for making me feel a little less bad :’D
We do 2 loads every 2nd day, his and hers, as some of his shorts have velcro and that damages delicate fabrics, and work socks put dark fluff over everything. Secondly there would not be enough for full load every day. We also wash the sheets and towels on another day.
FOr cleaning my bathroom. Are my lists right?
I have used 1) baking soda
2)Vinegar
3)Lemon sap
Thanks For Your Sharing.
My problem is I cant tell the difference between my wife’s clothes and teen daughters clothes, and the 2 little ones clothes. So it’s really hard for me to get them to their destinations. Labeling tips?
Thank you so much for sharing your blog on your laundry dilemma! I thought that I was the only one who absolutely hated doing laundry! I despise it! I have 5 people in my household, myself, my husband and three wonderful “very very messy” daughters. I hate doing laundry. I have done all of the laundry in the house, sometimes upwards of 10+ loads some days when I am way behind on it and then when I’m done one of my daughters (or all of them) will come out with more dirty clothes from God only knows where in their bedroom and fill up a laundry basket….AGAIN! And that just irks me to the core! I love those girls but geez they sure are messy all the time. I live in an apartment complex and have to pay to do laundry. That isn’t too big of deal it’s just the dragging the laundry in and out of the apartment to get it done. I think that is the main reason I just don’t do it until we absolutely have to get it done to have clean clothes! LOL! But I just hate seeing baskets upon baskets of dirty laundry everywhere. I am going to try your method (after I get the 10+ loads done we have already). I just need to do something to get my laundry done and not constantly have tons of laundry laying around everywhere. I sure do appreciate you sharing your blog, it is nice to know that there are more like me out there!
My family consists of my wife and I, and we run through two loads of clothes a week. While it’s relatively easy to actually do the laundry, it’s usually a bit of a process to then sort and fold the piles. I’ll have to give this approach a shot, I imagine it would be easier to put away a smaller daily load. Thanks!
My family consists of my wife and I, and we run through about two loads of laundry a week. While it’s not too much trouble to actually do the laundry, it is a bit of a chore to sort and fold the big piles afterward. I’ll have to give this approach a try – I imagine it’s easier to sort and fold a smaller daily load rather than a giant weekly load. Thanks! ~Joshua
I have done the same thing my whole life since my laundry stopped being folded and put away for me as a little kid… piles, PILES EVERYWHERE! I got more comfortable sleeping under that pile than without it.
Now I have kids and it’s the same. Unless i do a single load baskets worth every two days or so… well… let’s just say you see more laundry than bedroom….