Laundry; the dreaded beast of all chores. When it isn’t handled, it seems to multiply and creep over every surface of your space. There are few things worse than finding a pile of laundry you can’t identify as either clean or dirty, or wet clothing that sat in the washing machine too long before being dried. If laundry has been plaguing your life, now is the time to take action and create a system. Keep reading for 5 tips to wash away all of your troubles.
1. Sort
It sounds simple, but so many people never take the time to sort their laundry. There are so many benefits to sorting your clothes. Aside from making your laundry process run more smoothly, sorting can help your clothing last longer and it will be easier to put away. Choose which of the following sorting methods would benefit you most and sort away!
- By care instructions: Reading the care instructions on your garments seems to be something you do when you first get an item but then over time you just stop caring. Pay attention if a garment is intended for hand washing, dry cleaning or if it is washing machine safe. Taking the time to wash as instructed will make your favorite pieces last longer. If you can wash the item at home and you’re going to put it in your heat pump dryer, read the warmtepompdroger informatie first to make sure that it’s suitable to go in there. Additionally, if you find that you’re doing a lot of laundry and always having to dry clothes, make sure your dryer is working for you. Some take a long time and use a lot of energy, costing you time and money. You might want to look into heat pump dryers as they’re much more efficient than ordinary dryers. For dry cleaning, in particular, take the time to create a separate bag that you can grab and take with you to the cleaners. After all, it’s one less load of laundry you have to monitor!
- By color: I am very lucky to have a partner who does all of the laundry. However, I can’t count the number of times I watched his favorite t-shirts fade in color or bleed color onto light-colored clothing because I didn’t impress upon him the importance of sorting by color. Take the step to separate whites, darks and colors so this doesn’t happen to you.
- By family member: Mixing everyone’s laundry in a household can be helpful to create full loads when sorted by color. It can, however, create chaos when it comes time to put things away. To avoid that chaos (and if you collect enough laundry), decide to sort by person and launder their clothes individually. Sorting and washing each individual’s clothing separately keeps everything together from the moment it goes into the laundry basket too when it comes out of the dryer. This sort is also a great way for kids and teens to gain some independence by doing their laundry and/or putting it away.
2. Choose Your Hamper & It’s Location Strategically
Do your dirty clothes often end up all over the place? You either need a laundry basket or you need to put it in a more convenient location. Where does your laundry usually drop? Start forming a habit by placing the laundry basket there. As you get used to using it, place it in a more ideal and less awkward location. Habit-forming isn’t easy. But you can make the transition smoother by making it as intuitive as possible.
You also want to pick the right laundry hamper to match your needs. Think back to how you chose to separate items. Was it by color? Care instructions? Family member? If you have enough space, get a laundry basket with sections and sort based on those categories. Laundry sorters with wheels are especially nice. Leave it in the bedroom to sort as you disrobe, then wheel it to the laundry room if that works with your home’s layout. You can also get sorters that have removable bags which enable you to transport the laundry to any floor.
Do you often find that your clothes are tumbling out of your hamper and onto the floor? Maybe it’s time to invest in a larger hamper. Have only a small vertical space to stage your laundry? Try out a stacked laundry sorter.
3. Schedule Time
Let’s face it; no one wants to carve out time to do their laundry. Even though they don’t have to scrub it on a washboard like the old days, one of the biggest hurdles that will save you a lot of stress is just too actually schedule time for laundry. The best part is, it’s a great task to schedule simultaneously with another task. For example, when you are running to get groceries, throw in a load and rotate the loads when you return. Then do some cooking while the clothes dry! For many people, picking a day of the week that is designated as “laundry day” helps a lot. If your schedule differs each week, schedule weekly according to what you have going on that week. As with anything that you have to do, scheduling the time it takes to do a task will help you avoid procrastination and stress.
4. Tidy Your Zones
If you are lucky enough to have one, laundry rooms are often catch-all locations. Lightbulbs, weird items that didn’t fit in the kitchen where they belong, holiday decorations and more somehow always find their way into those upper cabinets. Although the laundry room can be a great place to store categories like this, they often distract from the main event. The actual laundry supplies!
If you do have other categories in your laundry space, just make sure they are grouped and have a designated area that leaves space for all your laundry supples. Labeled baskets are often a great solution. Detergent, dryer sheets, specialty washes, color keepers, scent boosters, a jar for loose change and items that may come out of pockets should be on the lowest shelf, front and center, for easy access. If you don’t have a laundry room, where you collect your laundry supplies is even more important. Create a laundry caddy for supplies to transport your supplies to the area where the laundry is done. Have a laundry closet? Try a back of the door organizer with pockets to store your dryer sheets, sent boosters, etc. You can buy smaller bottles of products that fit with this system so you have everything you need at your fingertips.
5. Put Away Immediately
You may be thinking, “well, my problem isn’t doing laundry, it’s putting it away.” No one wants clean laundry piled up, cluttering their home and getting wrinkled! Try eliminating the stage where you set down your clean laundry in a basket or on top of your bed. If you can, set up a space in your laundry room for folding and hanging items right out of the dryer before they ever get an opportunity to hit the floor. Then transport the items directly to your closets and dressers all ready to go.
For more help organizing your clothing, and linens straight out of the dryer check out these other topics!
Not only does setting up a good system for laundry in your home clear space, it can also help you dress better and feel more confident. Start each day with the majority of your wardrobe at your disposal and never go digging through dirty piles again. Feeling motivated? Get started now and send us some before and after pictures of your transformed neat and tidy laundry space!
