Hey everyone! How are you today? I haven’t gone into great detail about the recent BIG change in our house yet (and I will), but you may have gleaned if you subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook that I recently went back to work full-time. It has been both exhilarating and exhausting. I love the job; it has obviously impacted the way I get done stuff around the house, though. I used to do laundry on Mondays. Just…all day Monday…in between getting other things done…wash, fold, put away. But when I knew that devoting a whole day to the task wasn’t going to work anymore, I re-evaluated and now I have a new system that’s been working great! Here are my laundry tips:
- I have never–even before going back to work–done mixed loads of adult clothes and kids’ clothes. My husband and I throw our clothes down the laundry chute where they land in a huge basket, and my kids each use individual hampers in their rooms. They only use the chute for towels. This makes folding and putting away so much easier because I don’t have to run to three separate bedrooms and have so many piles to keep straight. We are continuing to use this system and it’s such a timesaver!
- On Monday mornings before work, I go down and separate what has landed in the basket. I put towels in a pile, whites in a pile, and darks in a pile, then I devote a separate pile for pants. PJ bottoms, shorts, jeans, whatever…just a separate pile for pants. This is because pants and towels are the easiest and quickest things to fold. Keeping the easy stuff together helps me knock out 2 quick loads, which makes me feel so much better about the week.
- If I can throw a load in the dryer before I leave for work, great. If not, I do it when I get home and fold it while dinner is cooking.
- Throughout the week, I work through the rest of my sorted piles, adding in whatever came down the chute the prior day to the appropriate pile. By Wednesday or Thursday, I’ve usually made my way through all of it.
- I save weekends for sheets and the girls’ clothes. They help me fold their stuff and they always put it away themselves.
- I line-dry quite a bit on a clothesline in the basement (where our washer and dryer are). Now that I’m working, my husband often sticks stuff in the dryer for me before I get home from work. Oops! A couple of things have gone through the dryer that shouldn’t have. So now, when I put a load in the wash, I use a dry-erase marker to write him notes on the washer like “black pants” so he knows to throw those things on the line instead of in the dryer.
At first, the idea of doing laundry every day didn’t thrill me. But now I just see it as a task like doing the dishes or making the bed. It only takes 15 minutes a day–sometimes less–and it helps me keep on top of things. You already know if you’re a working parent that the last thing you want to come home to is a mountain of laundry. Your home should be a haven! Staying on top of the laundry will help keep it that way.
Here are some other shortcuts and cleaning tips:
I I like your attitude toward laundry. You are not obsessive, but you get it all done weekly. You children are responsible for gathering their own closes, and folding and putting them away. That will help them as adults. Your husband seems to help some. And when you recognized a problem, you found a solution. You really have it together.