How to Get Your Laundry off the Hot Mess Express

laundry system

Laundry is no joke at my house. As a mother of three children, we are always doing laundry. If we don’t stay on top of it all, we end up at the end of the week with the Mount Everest of Laundry.

Laundry is one of those chores that never end. Not a super encouraging thought, but it is a motivating one. I’m motivated to work smarter, not harder. I’m motivated to organize and simplify my laundry. 

So, here is how I’ve managed to wrestle my laundry system into submission!

The Laundry System You Need!

> Get yourself organized.

>Make a schedule.

> To fold or not to fold?

>Getting it all put away!

>Dry cleaning?

 

Get Your Laundry Organized

Think about what you wash every week and then group it together. In my house, it looks something like this:

Linens (sheets and towels)

Kids clothes (for 3 children)

My clothes

My husband’s clothes

Dry cleaning

Occasional items; pillows, bedskirts, throw blankets, duvet covers, etc.

Make A Laundry Schedule

Now, you want to schedule it out. You want to schedule out your laundry because you are managing the workload. One or two loads a day is far easier than waiting and doing everything at one time. Not to mention, it saves you mountains of clothes to be put away all at once and needing a ton of space to sort and fold.

WHAT MY WEEK LOOKS LIKE:

Monday- Kids

Tuesday- Myself and my husband

Wednesday- Occasionals

Thursday- Kids

Friday- Myself and my husband

Saturday-Linens

A FEW NOTES:

Each person in my family gets 2 towels and 2 sets of bed sheets. My kids have to hang up their towel and use it at least twice. When they start doing 100% of their laundry, they are free to do that on their own time using their own system, but as long as they are still doing OJT (on the job training), them’s the breaks. I do have extra linens if we ever have guests, but those I keep at the top of the linen closet.

Each child has their own hamper. Safety-pinned to said hamper is a lingerie mesh wash bag. To save my sanity and avoid pairing endless socks. All socks and underwear go into these bags. Each girl has a different colored hair tie (you could use ribbon) attached so we can differentiate quickly, **Side note—my kids don’t own a single pair of white socks on purpose. So this bag always gets thrown in with the brights, no muss, no fuss.

 

independent children

Laundry- to Fold or Not to Fold?

Don’t fold it. Or at least, don’t fold most of it.

Let’s be real, this is the worst part of laundry. Getting it into the machine, no problem. Throwing it into the dryer, a snap. Folding every blessed shirt, sock, and pant. I’d rather have my wisdom teeth removed, again.

If you have kids, you know that those sweet little dears toss your nicely folded laundry every time they dig into a drawer. Go ahead and nip all that extra work in the bud. Do your self a solid, head to Walmart, buy yourself some child-size hangers.

You are going to hang shirts, pants, sweaters, etc.

You are going to put the following in a basket or dresser and forget about it: socks, underwear, shorts, and pajamas. Socks and underwear (Bonus: remember all your socks and underwear are still in the mesh bag and already sorted!) get thrown in a bin. Pajamas and shorts get put in a dresser.

Pants get hung two to a hanger. Everything else hung up as usual.

I know you are skeptical, but trust me. Using hangers pays dividends. It speeds up getting it all put away, it makes everything easier to find, and it the laundry stays neat longer.

Linens do get folded, never fear, but since I’ve limited what we all use, it’s never alot of laundry.

laundry system

Getting All Your Laundry Put Away.

After I’ve got everything sorted, if the items belong to my older children, I leave it for them to put away after they get home from school. If it’s for the toddler or myself, I grab the hanging either in my hand or laying it across the basket with the rest of the folded stuff depending on how much I’ve got to carry and take it to the appointed room.

I hang everything in the closet.

The shorts and pajamas get put in their drawer.

The mesh bag with the underwear gets dumped and I throw the underwear in their bin and quickly match the few socks in the bag, throw them in their bin.

Re-pin the mesh bag to the laundry hamper and then I’m out.

My girls all put their own clothes away, even the toddler (almost 4!). It might take her seven trips, but she’s gotta little stool in her room and she can do it.

Dry Cleaning

The frugal part of me loathes the fact that my husband has items that *have* to be dry cleaned, but alas. It is what it is.

So, I have a bag hanging on the back of our bathroom door (drawstring) he drops all his dry cleaning items in there during the week and then grabs it on Friday morning and drops it off on his way home.

Mic Drop.

And that’s how I rocked our laundry!

Every family and household is different, but chunking your laundry up has made a HUGE difference in managing this never-ending chore!

I’d love to hear how you’ve rocked your own laundry! If you have any tips and tricks, please share below!

 

 

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Kristen

Kristen is the founder and content creator at Mom Managing Chaos where she teaches busy moms how to simplify and organize their life and finances. She writes about frugal living, budgeting, productivity and organization.

1 thought on “How to Get Your Laundry off the Hot Mess Express”

  1. Thank you for your ideas on how to save money. Many I have practiced for many years as I raised my own three children. This was in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. I could have written a book on how to be frugal as I only had $100.00 a month to spend on food as my husband was a student the first 3 years we were married. As beef bones were free at the time, I used to go to the store and ask for bones for a dog which we did not own. What beautiful soup they made. I have been frugal all my married life and that has been for 54 years. It is so refreshing to see young women like you pass on this precious information to a upcoming generation. Bless you.

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