Simplifying Your Laundry Routine

When you have kids, you often have mountains of laundry and full laundry hampers. Our house is certainly no exception. We also both work outside of our home full time, so there is often little time for large loads of laundry (how’s that for alliteration?)

To combat this, we have begun to use the following routine when dealing with our dirty duds.

1. Do a little laundry every day.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is start a load of laundry. Since it takes me about an hour to get myself and two kids ready, I have time to wash one small load. I usually do the “non-dryables,” so I can just hang them up and I don’t have to worry about leaving a dryer running after I’ve left the house. Then, when I get home, I start the second load, which does need to be dried in the dryer. This eliminates the worry of leaving home with the dryer running. Then, I just fold the clothes when they come out of the dryer.

2. Get a washer with a timer.

You can put a load of clothes in your washer, load the detergent, and set the timer. This way, when you get home the washer has already started, and all you have to do is take the clothes out when they’ve finished washing, and pop them into the dryer.

3. Fold one load of clothes each night

If you wash a small load of clothes each day, then you’ll only have a small load of clothes to fold each evening. A smaller load of clothes to fold makes for a smaller load of clothes to put away.

4. Invest in a steam dryer

Did you know you can use a steam cycle on some items of clothing and then they don’t need to be ironed? This saves a lot of time in my house.

5. Iron on Saturday morning

Whenever possible, I like to wake up before anyone else and knock out the ironing. I don’t have to worry about the kids knocking over the ironing board, and I get a few moments of peace to listen to podcasts, watch the news, or just enjoy the quiet while I iron. It’s kind of like me-time that also happens to be productive 🙂

I hope you have enjoyed these tips for keeping up with the laundry. Have a wonderful weekend.