Does doing laundry cause you a lot of stress? Here are some ways that you can streamline your laundry routine!
With two small girls (ages 2 and 4) who love to make messes, I have a lot more laundry than I’d like to do! Both of my girls have been known to change clothes multiple times during the day (for no apparent reason at all!). And leave dirty socks all over the house.
Since having children, I had to come up with a way to streamline my laundry routine to make my life easier (because who wants to spend hours doing laundry?)
Here are a few things that have helped me streamline my laundry routine. These are easy to implement and make my laundry routine run more smoothly! I admit that these tips are not for the faint of heart, but they definitely make my life MUCH easier.
Wash only when dirty
When I was in college I came up with a great plan to only wash clothes when they seemed dirty. Novel idea, right? Aside from changing underwear and socks each day, I often re-wore certain items (jeans especially) for at least a few days. Not only did this save me a LOT of time and energy it’s also environmentally friendly.
Now, with 2 little children, I admit that I wash my own clothes more often (my kids love to grab me with sticky hands. yikes!) than when I was in college, but occasionally some items can pass the “2nd-day” test.
Most of the time I put my girls’ clothes in the hamper every day (as noted, sometimes we have multiple clothing changes per day per girl). I wear the same pajamas daily for a while and my girls usually do the same.
Don’t sort
Honestly, I don’t sort my laundry. I throw everything in a load at the same time (whites, darks, in-betweens) and I wash on cold. Occasionally, I might separate certain items (for example, when I wash rugs altogether), but other than that I wash everything together.
I even wash (gasp!) dry-clean only items in with the regular clothes (on a delicate cycle) and then hang them to dry. Which leads me to the next point…
Buy durable clothes
With 2 little girls who love to get down and dirty, I try to only keep clothes that are durable and sturdy so they will last.
I’m happy that we get a lot of clothes passed down from friends and neighbors so that I don’t have to worry about spending lots of money on an item only to have it fall apart or get so stained it’s unusable. I buy any other clothing for them cheap at thrift shops or garage sales so if they get terrible worn or dirty, I’m not losing much money.
Related: How to save money when raising kids
Throw dirty clothes in the washer
I have a front loader so this tip doesn’t work as well as it would with a top loader, but you can easily have everyone throw dirty laundry in the washer and when it’s full, wash!
This saves space and time and you don’t need a hamper. (With a front-loader and 2 small kids I don’t do this because my youngest would sneak toys in the washing machine!)
Wash daily
Doing laundry daily might seem horrible at first, but I find that if I wash clothes daily (or occasionally every other day) I feel less stressed. I have only one load to wash, dry and fold. The active work required to do this takes a maximum of 15 minutes. Yes, you have to switch clothes from washer to dryer, but that takes 30 seconds max and you can go back to whatever else you’re doing.
On the other hand, doing laundry one day per week means that I would probably have at least 4 full loads to do and that will take hours and be so stressful for me!
Make it a game
When my oldest was little (around 8+ months) I would sit her on my bed and toss the warm laundry from the dryer on her. She loved it (and still does). This makes it a game for her and less mundane for me.
Sometimes I listen to podcasts or watch a show while I fold laundry. This helps keep laundry from feeling like a dreaded chore.
I know what it’s like to be a mom and have to worry about all the things we need to do to take care of the family. Laundry doesn’t have to be a strenuous chore. You can streamline your laundry routine by making some small changes that can help you master laundry like a boss. Share some of your own tips in the comments below!
