Laundry Hacks! Easy Tips To Do NOW & Spend Less Time Doing Laundry Each Week!

Awhile back I did a post on how to quit folding your kids laundry and keep your sanity and it has been a very popular post here at Must Have Mom. That means that I am not the only mom out there that HATES doing laundry. Laundry was taking up a huge chunk of my time each week and as a busy mom (aren’t we all?) I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to my laundry and it inevitably would pile up with a handful of baskets sitting un-folded each week and slowly it snowballed out of control. We had a house guest that once woke up at 5am just to fold all my laundry and surprise me because she felt bad for me. Yes, it was bad.

When I realized that there had to be a better way I did some trial and error with some new laundry methods and found out there WAS a way to spend less time doing laundry each week. Why I hand’t realized it sooner was beyond me but boy am I glad I know it now! I’ve been using the laundry hacks I’m going to share with you in this post for almost a year now and I’m telling you they have saved my sanity. Truly. They have.

Everything needs a system in place to make it run efficiently. Laundry is no different. Here are the steps you can take to spending less time doing laundry and more time doing anything else!

1. Quit spending time folding and sorting every family member’s laundry. There are six of us, four kids, myself and my husband, and the time I used to spend just checking tags for size and sorting and folding was ridiculous. I have three boys, two of which are very close in size, so I spent a lot of time checking each tag on the boy clothes and determining which child it belonged to. Now I sort each family member’s clothing before it even leaves the room. Every family member has their own laundry basket. This is KEY to cutting down time doing laundry! By doing this you are essentially pre-sorting the laundry. Now when it comes out of the dryer you know which family member it belongs to and you can take it straight to their closet.

2. Stop folding your kids laundry. I’m not suggesting they are old enough to fold it themselves, rather I’m going to show you how to stop folding it. It won’t be wrinkled and you will thank me later. I could seriously rejoice after figuring this out last year. It has saved my sanity. Read how to do it in my post here: How to quit folding your kids laundry.

3. I continue to fold and hang both my laundry and my husband’s laundry however I quit folding socks and underwear. They DO NOT need to be folded or matched so why waste your time? Socks used to be my nemesis! I hated matching them all. Now that I have quit matching them I’m so much happier and no one in my family cares that they have to grab two socks out of the drawer instead of a pair. You can either buy all the same socks and eliminate the need to find matches or you can be okay with your kids wearing mis-matched socks. Did you know that’s in style right now? They even sell mis-matched socks! Trendy you! As for the underwear, no one sees them. It doesn’t matter if they are slightly wrinkled. Don’t waste your time folding them. I don’t and mine aren’t wrinkled either!

4. Find a detergent you love that WORKS. Don’t waste time washing something over and over again. Start by using a detergent that is tough on stains, keeps clothes bright and doesn’t dull your whites. We love the new Persil ProClean detergent. No matter what kind of detergent you prefer, powder, liquid or power caps, they have it! Not happy with your current detergent? Try Persil! I love the clear bottles that easily show me how much is left in the bottle so I never run out. I always know when I’m running low so I can pick up more. The Persil Power Pearls always get my clothes clean and leave them looking bright! This stay at home mom doesn’t go to many fancy gatherings so the few times I do I want to ensure that my detergent isn’t ruining my dress clothes. I trust Persil with all my clothes from my gardening duds to my favorite dresses.

5. Create a laundry schedule. Pick a few days a week or every day, whatever works with your schedule and do a load of laundry each day. For me I have designated one day of the week to each family member which means that I will throw in one or two loads a day and that keeps me on top of it all. Monday I might be washing my daughter’s clothes, Tuesday my clothes, Wednesday the towels, etc. That way they all get washed once a week.

6. Fold the clothes immediately upon taking them out of the dryer. For me this means not even putting them in a laundry basket. The minute I put them in a basket I will inevitably toss the basket aside for later and the baskets of clean laundry will pile up. If I take five extra minutes to fold them as I take them out of the dryer and then put them away immediately before I toss the laundry from the washer into the dryer then I avoid the trap of letting baskets of clean laundry pile up. This also eliminates wrinkles since it is put away immediately which means you’ll also spend less time pressing or steaming your clothes! Double win.

7. Teach your kids that not everything is dirty after wearing it once. My son Carson loves to change clothes all day long. He may wear three to five outfits in a day. He used to toss them all in the dirty clothes basket which meant five times the laundry for me. I have since discussed with my kids that if they haven’t got something dirty then it may go back in their closet. That goes for jeans too. I wear my jeans more than once so why shouldn’t my kids wear theirs more than once? This is assuming that they haven’t spilled something on them that day (which happens often!).

Laundry doesn’t have to suck hours and hours from your weekly schedule. Using these tips will drastically cut down on your laundry time!

 

What are your favorite tips for saving time on laundry duty?

*The Persil® brand provided me with a sample of Persil® ProCleanTM laundry detergent in exchange for a product review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own.