Having clean laundry all folded, hung up and put away is a wonderful feeling.
Almost euphoric! Well, for me it is anyways.
I don’t always have clean laundry but I do have a Laundry Hack.
Do you need a laundry hack? Have you tried everyone else’s 3 step program to an organized laundry room only to fail and then feel miserable?
Forget all that, I’ve got an idea I want you to try.
Once upon a time, I never had clean clothes in my closet. No socks in my dresser drawer and no towels in my bathroom. Why? Because the mere thought of trying to tackle the huge, never-ending mountain of dirty clothes turned me into a sobbing mess.
I would peek at what was waiting on me and just walk off.
This laundry disaster caused me tremendous anxiety. I was so busy being overwhelmed with dirty clothes that I just stopped dealing with the problem instead of looking for a system that worked for me.
There’s a ton of solutions for whatever’s wrong, they are plastered all over Pinterest. My laundry dilemma happened before the birth of Pinterest. I was on my own to figure out something and get back in control of this one household chore.
Chore was an understatement in my book.
One day, I’d had enough. I didn’t want a giant pile of clothes staring at me anymore. I wanted to implement a laundry hack that I knew I would actually do. So I looked around to identify what my biggest obstacle was.
My hangup was hangers.
It finally dawned on me that washing and drying my clothes was never the issue, but folding and hanging them up was. I was a busy mom with a job, housework was one the back burner for me. How could I take care of laundry when there was so many other things that needed my attention too.
I needed a system just for me so I can stop feeling guilty about my laundry problem. Sometimes it was all I could do to get supper on the table, so I wanted the easiest laundry hack I could think of. While picking up toys and throwing them into a plastic tub, an idea came to me.
How mandatory is it to hang up my clothes?
That evening, I went to my local dollar store and bought us each two laundry baskets. One big and one small size for each family member. I also bought one for towels and for miscellaneous items. I already owned one laundry basket for dirty stuff, so I was all set. This idea would either work or not. That part was to be ermined.
I paired each basket with a partner, one big and one small. My method to this madness would be: socks and undies in the small basket and pants or shirts in the large basket. I lined them all up near my washer and dryer to await the results.
Family members could retrieve their laundry out of their respective baskets on their own. If they wanted to put away their laundry, it was all located in their own baskets which I soon labeled with their names.
Towels had their own basket too. Odds and ends such as sheets, pot holders or rugs had their Miscellaneous basket. At a glance, I knew who’s clothes went to what basket.
Over time, I noticed that the laundry didn’t upset me anymore. Slowly, I would put things on a hanger or fold up the towels. But for a long time, just knowing I didn’t have to hang up my clothes was the only way I could cope with doing the laundry.
How you do your laundry is not a contest with your mother, sister or friends. Cross this one thing off your list if it makes you feel overwhelmed by trying my idea of the laundry baskets.
There are so many things that need our attention at home. Our family, dinner, shopping, cleaning, yard work… Geez! The list goes on and on. Take it easy on yourself and do the laundry basket method like I did.
This isn’t supposed to be a permanent solution to getting the laundry done or even completely under control. This is a simple step to calm the anxiety of taking care of clean clothes when you’re busy, exhausted or just can’t stand doing one more chore. Relieve the stress and go get some laundry baskets.
I’m telling you it’s ok if you don’t fold, hang up or put your laundry away.
Enlighten any other laundry impaired friends and pass this tip to anyone that needs it. xo 🙂
p.s. please don’t feel bad if you have a house full of laundry that needs washing… some days just keeping the kids fed is all that’s gonna happen.
LOVE this, I can do all my laundry but hanging it up always seems like a huge chore! Sometimes we live out of the laundry baskets but it causes angst so maybe separating into individual baskets will help!!
Hi Pamela, Get everyone their own baskets. It really makes a difference. Ya know, life gets in the way and we don’t always have time to fold 20 shirts or a bunch of towels. And socks? I don’t even pair them up anymore! lol.
We switched to doing this a while ago. It still drives me potty that people don’t put their clothes away, but I figure that my part of the deal is done once I’ve sorted them into their buckets!
Hi Liz, I agree. Once you’ve washed, dried and sorted, it’s up to the other big people to take it from there. 🙂
I LOVE this idea, but aren’t everyone’s clothes horribly wrinkled all the time? We often live out of the basket of clean clothes but everything always looks awful 🙁
Hi Anna, Sometimes the clothes are wrinkled yes… I dealt with that on a shirt by shirt basis. Now that I’m more on top of it all, I hang up what I can 🙂
Just wondering does each family member have there own laundry hampers in there rooms?
Also wondering do you wash every family members, cloths separate? Like a load for dads, moms, etc… or do you wash & dry; then separate the clothing once they’re dry,and just leave them in the binds “clean” for the members to drab on there own?
Having so many hampers in your laundry room… how does everyone keep track of the drity clothes hampers vs the clean clothes hampers?
Hello Starr, I have one large tub that I use for ALL dirty clothes. When I wash, I get whatever kind of load I’m needing to do and wash everyone’s stuff together. Since I’m the head laundry girl, I just know where everything is. This may be tweaked for how you need to do your laundry. Thx for stopping by my blog!
You’re awesome. That is all.
haha, thank you Susan 🙂
Laundry is the thing that I don’t know how I would ever manage if I had a full time job outside the home. I spend 1/7th or more of my life on laundry. I like it that way right now. I enjoy sitting down to fold in front of the tv all afternoon once a week to fold and watch tv. BUT I couldn’t do that with a job. If I have to go get one, I might try to go with your system, but with 7 kids the baskets will cost me a fortune and take a lot of space!
Hey Crystal, I agree, my little system might be a challenge space wise for large families. I’m amazed you get to watch TV, how do you get control of the remote? lol
For me i used a calendar, I wrote what to do on specific days spreading out all my responsiblities for the month laundry, floors, dusting and cleaning toilets etc. Never doing to much on one day but always feeling like I accomplished something, and that felt great without being overwhelmed. After a few months it all became routine and everyone in the house had something to do everyday. Now so many years later i still count on my calendar.
Hi Lin, you sound like an organized gal…of which I’d love to be but I’m in the Hot Mess Mom category…lol
Haha! Love it! I have fibro and sometimes just cooking supper is enough to throw me off the wall! I was thinking about boycotting clothes altogether – why have so much anyways?
I meant to try this method to see if it’d reduce my anxiety over laundry. Glad to see I’m not the only one frantically looking for a pair of matching socks every morning. #livingthelaundrynightmare
Thank you Valerie