I know it might seem slightly over-dramatic to imply that I have “life-changing” laundry tips to share, but I honestly think it’s possible based on the number of conversations I’ve had (in-person and online) with people who hate doing the laundry with every fiber of their being.
People feel so overwhelmed with this task, and there is so much procrastination and dread associated with this necessary household chore. It often makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong because I DON’T have these same feelings!
If doing laundry is one of your least favorite chores, today’s life-changing laundry tips are for YOU!
My 10 Life-Changing Laundry Tips
1. Buy & Wash Less Clothing!
The more clothing you have, the more clothing you will need to wash, dry, fold, hang, put away, and store.
If you have less clothing, you will have less chance of the laundry piling up because you’ll need to wash in order to have enough clean clothes. This is one of the reasons I truly only have 10 pairs of socks and underwear!
Also, Dave and I usually wear our clothing more than one time before washing it — which majorly cuts down on the volume of laundry we accumulate each week. Here’s how we handle our “half dirty clothing“.
This might seems like an overly-simple or maybe even impractical solution to your laundry woes, but I know from experience that it works!
2. Purge High-Maintenance Clothing
I realize some jobs require more high-maintenance clothing… but if at all possible, stick to low-maintenance clothing that doesn’t require special washing cycles, lots of ironing, or (worse) dry cleaning!
Obviously, with no special instructions, you can more quickly and easily plow through your piles of laundry. With more forgiving fabrics, your clothing will stay looking nicer with less work.
NOTE: Here’s how I wash “dry clean only “clothing at home!
3. Establish a Laundry Routine
Laundry is one of those things that quite literally is NEVER completely finished. Because of this, it’s easy to get sucked into “continual laundry mode” as I call it — always and forever starting another load of laundry (even if it’s not a full load).
My advice would be to pick 2 or 3 times each week when you will do laundry, and then forbid yourself from thinking about laundry any other times throughout the week (outside of an emergency).
It’s there, it’s dirty, you’ll get to it on your laundry day!
For me, it works well to do laundry on Tuesday mornings and Friday evenings. I’ve been utilizing this system for a few years now already and am still happy with it.
Read more about my simple laundry routine, and why I chose the times I did, in this post.
4. Sort Smarter
I know, I know — you all think I’m crazy, but I haven’t sorted our laundry in 10+ years… at least not by color!
I DO, however, sort our laundry by area of our home.
For example:
- I wash all the “upstairs laundry” at one time — and then bring it all upstairs to fold and put away
- I wash all the “main floor laundry” at one time — and fold and put it away
- I wash all the kitchen and bathroom linens at one time — using a little bleach since they are all white
This smarter method of sorting our laundry greatly expedites the time it takes for me to fold and put the laundry away. For some reason, this seems to be the most stressful and time-consuming part for so many people I talk to.
5. Create Designated Areas for Dirty Clothing
If you’re the parent who bemoans the fact that dirty laundry is scattered throughout the bathrooms and bedrooms, stop and first consider if there is actually a designated spot for the dirty laundry in your home.
This does NOT need to be a fancy hamper; you do NOT need space in every room of your house. You DO need a space that is convenient for the other people in your home — otherwise, they won’t use it!
We have 3 areas for dirty items in our house:
- a wicker hamper in our bedroom (for Dave’s and my clothing)
- a cloth hamper with a removable bag in the kid’s bathroom upstairs (they change out of their clothing right before baths, so this works well)
- a small plastic clothes basket in our laundry room (for kitchen and bath hand towels and washcloths)
I understand that having a place for the dirty items does NOT guarantee dirty items will magically end up in that space — but it’s a start!
We have “trained” our kids where to put their dirty clothing, how to pull the legs out of their pants and the arms out of their shirts, where to put their socks, etc. etc. It saves me TONS of time on laundry days — both gathering up the laundry and folding it later.
6. Eliminate Lone Socks with a Mesh Bag
I’ve shared this tip before — but it saves me SO much time doing laundry that I need to mention it again…
I keep a mesh bag pinned to the kid’s laundry basket (see photo above). They put their socks in here for easy sorting and it assures none of our socks get lost, or worse, “stuck” in the washing machine.
7. Put Clean Laundry Away Immediately
Again, this sounds overly simple, but the majority of people I talk with admit to leaving the laundry sit in the basket
I once spoke for a women’s group on the topic of laundry — a full hour dedicated to the never-ending task. So many of the women were completely floored that I actually washed, dried, folded, hung, AND put away my laundry in the same time period.
I promise, I do not have superpowers, and I don’t have a magical washer and dryer. I just stick with it until the job is fully finished because it feels easier and less overwhelming for me that way.
I can fold one load of laundry in 5-7 minutes and have it all put away within another few minutes. However, if I wait until the end of the day and have 4-8 loads waiting to be folded, THAT feels super overwhelming… not to mention how wrinkly and smashed the clothes will be after sitting in a pile all day.
8. Don’t Fold 🙂
Outside of pants, we hang almost all our clothing. This seems to save time AND keep our closets looking nicer. Plus, it’s easier for the kids to hang than to fold — so they can do some of it themselves!
We also don’t fold things like PJ’s, underwear, leggings, tights, etc. etc. We just dump them in bins or drawers and move on.
9. Use Laundry Balls In Place of Detergent and Fabric Softener
I’ve been using wool dryer balls for YEARS and YEARS in lieu of traditional fabric softener (I’ve used the same exact balls the entire time).
I also started using these laundry balls in place of laundry detergent almost 2 years ago (read all about my no-detergent laundry routine in this post).
I’m certain I have saved hundreds of dollars, reduced our chemical use, and never have to worry about running out of detergent on laundry day!
Our boys can match up socks, Nora hangs the shirts, and Dave is my designated folder on Friday nights — usually while watching some sort of sporting event. 🙂
It honestly is a huge help for me to have the others in our house pitching in with the laundry efforts. If you play your cards right, you might be able to completely hand off the laundry responsibilities to your children!
Like I mentioned above, I know my use of the words “life-changing” are slightly dramatic. However, I know so many people who are completely stressed out by their laundry situation that I believe their lives would be completely changed if they adopted many of my tips above.
It won’t happen overnight, but I’m confident this never-ending chore will feel significantly less overwhelming by implementing these 10 life-changing laundry tips!
What are YOUR best tips to make laundry a little less overwhelming?
Carol says
I hurt my fingers many years ago in a work accident and have trouble folding clothes. My husband came up with this idea.
I sort believe he laundry and put it into the washer, he will put in dryer when finished and let me know to put in another load in washer. When dryer is finished he will fold it and I put it away. Great system for us and each load is put away right away.
Andrea says
love this routine! especially since you get lots of help 🙂
Liane says
The only time I hate laundry is when we return from a weeks long camping trip and there are sooooo many loads.
My husband is an executive and wears a clean shirt every day. We send them and his suits out. I dry clean all my clothes to save from fading except tees and summer shorts. I have jeans that are over 10 years old that look brand new. I believe I save money actually by not having to replace things that fade or shrink. I don’t wear synthetics so everything shrinks and I buy fairly high quality clothing like Chico’s or JJill.
I’ve hit on making sure there’s exactly the correct number of everything. So say hubby’s white v neck tees he wears under dress shirts or jockey shorts . I do a load of all white stuff every Monday. But no towels since we have only white kitchen towels and I don’t mix kitchen towels with undergarments. I wash in cold only except for the kitchen towels which may come in contact with raw meat.
I usually have a load of white or very light fabric lingerie too. I use the hand wash cycle.
Colored bath towels are usually a full load. Dirty work jeans worn in garden and outdoor projects are another load. Zippers and rivets can damage other garments. I rarely wear socks that aren’t thin so they go in with the hand washing stuff and his socks, all 24 pairs are black dress socks. Those will go with weekend worn tees.
It’s interesting what we don’t have. Neither of us owns any sweatshirts or baggy bottoms or leggings. That stuff seemed to take literally eons to dry so it’s been phased out.
I spread my loads across the week doing the quick 30 min one just after getting up, and then while it’s in the washer I make the beds and unload the dishwasher. Then I shower and then do the next load. I get up at 6 and I’m out the door by 8:30.
I won’t let the dryer run when I’m not home. A house up the street had a lint fire. So after that we got a fire extinguisher to keep in the laundry room and a smoke detector to boot. That was so scary. I usually have an hour of ironing a week – mostly linens and handkerchiefs. We don’t use paper napkins and I hate wrinkled linen napkins. I’ve got a weeks worth of those also but we get double or triple duty from them. Kids tend to get food on napkins but being kid less they are mostly for etiquette not catching spills. I iron my table cloths also.
I grew up with a mom who stayed home and I pretty much follow in her footsteps except I have appliances she’s never dreamt of. I get it all done and it seems that having the right amount of stuff and a schedule works best. I could go a month without washing sheets but I don’t. I just change them every Saturday and wash them later in the week.
Andrea says
wow — you could write a full post all on your own 🙂
thanks for sharing your tips!
Carla says
Hampers: Like you we put hampers where they are closest to where items are used or taken off. My hamper is in our walk-in-closet, my husband’s hamper is in our bathroom closet, bath linen hamper is in our bathroom closet, dish towels and cleaning cloths are in buckets in our cleaning closet off the kitchen.
Sorting: I currently sort by weight of fabric, which makes drying time for each load consistent – everything in the load gets dry at the same time. Washing and drying by weight of fabric also prevents pilling and allows fabric fibers to last longer. My loads are:
* jeans/fleece/flannel/heavy socks
* t-shirts/knits/socks/other tops
* husband’s khakis and button-down shirts
* underwear/white socks/undershirts (all things white)
* bath towels/washcloths
* kitchen towels/dish rags (as a former nurse I can’t wash bathroom & kitchen linens together)
* sheets/pillowcases (they go right back on the beds)
* cleaning cloths/rags
Frequency: I do all clothing one day and all house linens another day per week. I intentionally do it on days I’m home and my husband is at work. The only time I do a load on a different day is when I’ve worn a gentle-wash item or we’ve worn work clothes for a project; I do those loads the night of or the next day; it saves time on laundry day.
I was raised in a home where my mom did all our family’s laundry but I helped with folding, hanging, etc… I learned laundry when I went to college. I have always done all the laundry in our home. I think it’s faster and more efficient for me to do it. It allows me to check if certain things need mending or replacing. My husband does many things that I never touch like mowing, taking out the trash, getting gas, etc… It works for us. I can’t count how many times he has told me how grateful he is for me doing laundry and for, in his words, making him look like a million bucks.
Folding/Ironing: On laundry day I set up my oversize ironing board in the living room. I do all my folding on it. It’s such a great flat surface and I can stand while folding. I fold and put away everything that needs folding after each load. I iron at the end of doing all loads. I watch Youtube videos while I iron and it becomes sort of a treat. Often, when I fold and iron my husband’s things I pray for him… thanksgiving for him working so hard for us, his health, gratitude that I have a husband to do laundry for, etc… I love knowing, when I put the ironing board away, I’m done with laundry for a week. 🙂
Misc.: I printed off a laundry chart that explains care symbols; I have it taped on the inside of my laundry supply cupboard for easy reference. I also have sticky notes on the inside of my cupboard that I put on the washer as reminders – “Drip-dry item is in this load”, “Turn water temp back to cold after this load”. Using them has saved many an item from getting ruined. I have a little basket where I put cut-off-care-tags to refer to as necessary; I staple the tag to an index card and write what the item is on the card.
I have a small collection of clothes-pins that were my grandmother’s; they connect me to “my women”… both using the clothes-pins and knowing I’m doing the same thing they did decades ago. My grandmother had childhood memories of playing by the river while her mother did laundry on the river. My mother has her mother’s washing board hanging in her laundry space. There are times, too, when I do laundry, that I am reminded of the Scripture that speaks of God making our sins white as wool. It reminds me, when I’m feeling tired of doing.the.same.loads.over.and.over that God forgives me over.and.over.
Andrea says
oh my — what a fantastically detailed system!! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Liane says
We must be twins separated at birth. I’m a RN, husband tells me same thing. I’ve never mowed a lawn or replaced a plumbing fixture. I have the care guide stapled inside my cabinet over my washer, I never mix clothes with towels (towels cause pilling on knits) and I fold on my enormous Martha Stewart ironing board. I put an amazon echo dot in my laundry and listen to podcasts while I iron. I got in the one load a day habit when I worked 12 hr shifts with an hour drive on each end. It was all I could squeeze in. Lots of ironing when the clothes aren’t put away but some stuff just dried too slow. Better now in semi retirement.
Julie says
We live in Australia and my kids wear uniforms to school. I have three teenagers and they have three school shirts each. So I have to wash those every day. As my kids are older and they all do a sport of some sort, I do two loads of washing a day. Every evening after work, I bring in the washing, we line dry in Australia and I then do the ironing and then it gets put away. Most people I know in Australia wash every day. You must have really big washing machines in America, because there’s no way, I could only wash twice a week.
Kelly Glenn says
Yep I agree! I’m from New Zealand and mostly everything is line dryed here. If you are a bit late bringing in (or even getting it out sometimes) and it doesn’t dry 100 percent you have to air it off inside this means guaranteed laundry back up!!!!! Any suggestions for this Andrea?
Andrea says
Hi Kelly!
Hello from West Michigan 🙂
I honestly don’t have great tips for you other than to install some sort of retractable clothesline in a few different places in your home (but you probably already have this).
Another idea would be to find an area for clothes drying racks and put a fan on them to expedite the drying process.
Do you have laundromats? You could bring your clothing there to dry by machine?
Kelly Glenn says
As Mary said electricity is very expensive here, we do have a dryer but I try not to use it as often. I have it running as we speak as we have had a lot of constant rain and I love how quick the washing would be if all my washing was done this way!!
Mary says
My first NZ visit was in October, cold and rainy. I walked dog and baby around the neighborhood and noticed everyone had a drying rack set up in the front window. I am always impressed with how environmentally conscious the Kiwi people seem to be. At my granddaughters preschool, everything from lunch gets recycled, including food scraps that get composted and are used to feed their veggie garden. All in the middle of the city.
Andrea says
this is awesome — thanks for sharing what your granddaughter’s school does! That’s inspiring for sure!
Andrea says
yes, we take our gas dryers for granted (they are not expensive to run!) I can’t imagine hanging everything and waiting for it to dry! Good for you for making it work in your routine!
Mary says
My daughter lives in New Zealand, my take on it is that electricity is so much more expensive that using the dryer isn’t the best option. I would imagine laundromats are expensive for the same reason.
When I’m there visiting, I do laundry in the morning, hope for sunshine all day which always seems to be a gamble and then fluff in the dryer to remove any dampness and soften them up. Saves ironing. Her Fisher Paykel washer is also very small but does a remarkable job spinning the water out so things dry faster.
Julie says
Yes Mary, you are correct. The dryer is very expensive to use. I only use it when it’s raining. Plus I think clothes smell nicer, when hung outside in the fresh air.
Andrea says
wow — 2 loads every day! I know that day is coming for me eventually too 🙂
Sounds like you have a great system for your family! Also, school uniforms sound dreamy! We could eliminate so many clothes!
Julie says
Hi Andrea, it doesn’t help, that my teenagers are all taller than me. At 163cm, I’m shorter than my 14 year old son. So I guess two loads a day is also because it’s like washing for 5 adults.
Andrea says
oh my — yes, the BIG clothes really take up a lot of space!
Tara says
Put the laundry balls on my amazon cart already. Question about sunning them 1-2 times a month. I live in Oregon and we go months without much predictable sunshine from fall to winter. How do you handle the stunning process. I feel like I’m over thinking it but wanted to hear your experience. Also, do you use regular stain treatment products along with those balls?
Andrea says
you’ll love the laundry balls! 🙂
And we live in Michigan (land of no sun from November through April) They do not need direct sunlight — just to be outside for 1-2 hours a month.
And yes, you can use regular stain treatment, bleach, oxyclean, anything you want!
Becky says
I used to hate doing laundry, but I don’t mind it so much now. The only part I don’t like is that my boys have lots of sports gear that will hold up better in the long run if it hangs to dry, which means an extra step remembering to pull it off the drying rack when it’s dry.
Best tips:
Kids are generally in charge of their own laundry. I wash and dry, but put their stuff in their designated baskets and they fold and put away when I ask them to. It tends to sit sometimes, but I don’t worry about it if it’s corralled in their basket. (Eventually I’d like to have them completely do their own, but one of mine would want to run a load with three pieces of clothing in it, so that’s out for now!) We don’t do much hanging stuff because it just doesn’t seem to work for them.
One hamper for both kids, and then I wash when it looks like a full load.
I also don’t sort unless it appears that I have a ton of really dark clothes and only one or two white shirts. I do a bleach load of white towels/kitchen towels/whatever else when I have enough to warrant it.
I often will start a load of laundry late at night and then throw it in the dryer before I go to bed so that I can just fold in the morning and don’t have to wait around for it. I also use the delay feature to make it wash early in the morning so that I can transfer it before I leave for work and then just fold when I get home.
I don’t just pick a day for laundry because there generally isn’t a long enough stretch of time for me. I just keep running it when it looks like I have a full load or I make a random load if I know my kiddos will need their soccer stuff again soon.
I also gave my husband’s laundry folding and putting away back to him. I used to consider laundry my household “job” in exchange for his dish-washing or mowing, but his schedule is much lighter than mine at the moment, so I opted out. 🙂
It’s amazing to me that I don’t hate the laundry any more. It used to be at the bottom of my list of preferred chores, but it’s not so bad now, maybe because I don’t have so much of it to fold and put away.
Sue says
I notice you have the dryer running late at night, I hope it does not run while you sleep, or when no one is home. My sister did that and had a fire in her dryer. Her dog woke her and her husband up, and they were able to get out safely and call 911. Please for your safty and that of your family, run the dryer only when you afe home and awake.
JJ says
Our dryer caught on fire when I had a 1 year old, a 2 year old, and a 3 year old. Thankfully my husband was home, but he was on his ride on mowing our lawn. I chased him down like a crazy lady. All of our alarms went off, and thankfully the water sort of helped put it out. Our basket broke and basically the spinning and rubbing created sparks creating the fire. After that I don’t run it when away from the house or at night.
Same with any appliance. Our front load washer(NEVER will have one again!) spewed forth a flood. Again, we were home, but we had inches of water and lost all our flooring in that area. We have not had our luck with appliances. Now we get extended warranties and such.
Mary says
I’d agree, never leave home with anything running. I had a friends with a house fire caused by the dryer, washer that blew a hose and I’ve had a heating element go out in an oven that threw sparks. Perhaps nothing would have come of it but I was glad I was there to shut it off.
In the house we now live in, the dryer vent is much longer with a couple corners. We try to regularly run a dryer snake type thing down and then blow it out with the leaf blower. I’d feel much safer if it was short and direct. Although the last house we were in, the flap blew up, a bird moved in and got mangled next time I ran the dryer.
Andrea says
Thanks for these great tips Becky!
I do think that the folding and putting away part is a big hang-up for so many people. I’m glad you shared how you are able to avoid that part of the process! 🙂
Alicia says
I am one of those people that HATES doing laundry! For years, I’ve been implementing the load of laundry every day routine for our family of 7. But you make a great point – it is super easy to get extremely burned out doing laundry every day, even if it’s just one load! I might try the 2 times per week method and see how that works for us.
Also, I just want you to know that I buy pretty much everything you recommend – I just added those laundry balls to my Amazon cart!
Andrea says
haha — thanks, Alicia! Glad my Amazon reviews have worked well for you 🙂
And yes, I feel like it’s a nice break for my brain to only have specified days for laundry. I don’t think about it any other times during the week.
Calliope says
Honestly, laundry is my favorite house related activity! Even more so, since last year that I bought a dryer machine (almost no one has one where I live).
There is a tall narrow cabinet with shelves and clear plastic containers for dirty clothes right next to the cabinet where the laundry machine lives. There is one for towels, rugs etc, one for my husband’s and my clothing, one for my son’s and one for whites. I just love pre sorting!
There is also a basket under the kitchen sink for anything downstairs that I bring upstairs every Friday (whites day).
I do a full laundry-dry-fold-put away cycle like you do almost every day or every other day.
On Friday it is also whites and sheets and on Saturday towels and anything extra like living room throws, pillow covers etc
I have timed the period our humpers stay completely empty: exactly 4 and a half minutes….♀️
Andrea says
Yes, I love doing a full load at a time — I HATE it when the clean laundry piles up and I need to fold 4 loads at one time. It feels overwhelming to me!
Summer says
I wanted to mention years ago when my husband use to dry clean his shirts, he wore 6 a week. Five during the week and one on Sunday to church. He did some testing for something unrelated and she found really high levels of dry cleaning fluid in his body. We started washing his shirts and ironing them at home. I am super grateful HE doesn’t mind ironing! I don’t mind laundry, as it’s a necessary household chore, but I also taught my children to do their own young and inside right them own clothing. Self sufficient productive little humans is the name of the game!
Andrea says
hmm… interesting! thanks for sharing!
Katie says
When I worked outside of the home, I needed to aim to do a load of laundry a day because I didn’t want to spend a whole day on the weekend doing laundry, but that might work for some people better than others!
Now that I work from home, I do laundry, coincidentally, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and one load on Sunday 🙂 My household uses cloth napkins, hand towels, etc. in addition to all the typical laundry stuff. I only own white bath towels, and I do separate because I do love bleach. I aim to do all of my laundry in the AM so I can spend my lunch hour watching Netflix while I fold everything – and I wash my dark clothes last so they don’t wrinkle sitting around:
Tuesday – whites/towels, one person’s bedding, throw rugs, darks/kitchen towels
Friday – whites/towels, darks/kitchen towels
Sunday – odd load of nap blankets for school, kitchen towels, etc.
Andrea says
My washer and dryer are humming along right now — Friday night = laundry night!
it’s so nice to have it all finished by the weekend!
JJ says
We literally keep our washer door open, have everyone dump the clothes in, and I wash when it gets full. I fold and put away while they are sleeping, or we have a laundry party where I put the clothes basket in the middle of the living room floor. My kids love music, so they each get to pick a song. We sing and listen while folding. They run their clothes to their rooms and put away and come back for more. This has been fun for us!!! Okay, more for me. Haha!!!
JJ says
Andrea, your other post about washing everything together gave me confidence to not sort. I think one reason I love your blog is you give others confidence and assurance–such a gift!!!
Andrea says
this is awesome! I just told Dave about it — we might have to give it a try. One question, do you ever pre-treat stains? I almost never do this, but wondering how you handle this?
Margaret says
My goal is the same as yours–get it DONE–but my methods are quite different, and may be useful to someone at a different life stage. I do sort my clothes, since I only got a dryer a couple of years ago, and did not wish to walk around covered in lint, which will happen if you wash scrubs and towels together and then line-dry them.
I sort my clothes when I take them off, and have enough of each category to make a full load–so I wash underwear every 3 weeks, scrubs every 2, etc.
Folding similar things really speeds me up. When it’s clothes I pull the drawer out of the dresser and put the clothes away as I fold them on the kitchen counter. That eliminates a whole step, and often the one people get stuck on. I’m a huge Marie Kondo fan, so my clothes are folded so tightly that all my underwear, socks, t-shirts, jeans, shorts, & pjs fit in a small dresser. I hang scrubs and dress clothes only.
Part of my job is doing my patients’ laundry every night, so I’ve had a chance to watch my co-workers, and figure out the most efficient methods. A great many people just do what their mothers did, and never think about efficiency. (I wouldn’t care, but I have to listen to them complain.)
My other real time-saver is to fold on a surface (not in the air), and keep that surface clear. At home I stand at the counter with the laundry basket on a stool and the dresser drawer within reach. At work I fold from a rolling basket, and, since I need to sort by patient, have a room-order area on the counter so I can put each person’s item on their pile as soon as it’s folded. I am literally /3 times faster than my co-workers–and I do 4/5 loads every night. I get to sit down a lot sooner.
Everyone’s situation is different, but if you really THINK about efficient work habits and how to improve what you do it’s time well spent. Organizing time is just as big a payoff as organizing spaces.
Thus endeth the sermon for the day:)
Andrea says
yay — thank you so much for sharing your tips! These are all super helpful!
Kim says
I am totally baffled by those laundry balls. Can you explain how they clean clothing?
Weird, but I don’t mind doing laundry. Speaking of general housework, I would like to know if you have any interest in a cordless vacuum or one of the robotic vacuums. Perhaps a post about that topic?
Andrea says
honestly, I don’t know all the scientific details — but they work for me and they have TONS of positive reviews on Amazon!
As for the cordless vacuum — yes, I have an interest in it, but the ones I want are super expensive so I’ve never made an effort to satisfy my interest 🙂 I’m not interested in a robotic vacuum — we have too many things in the way (chairs, stools, etc.) I can’t imagine it would work all that well for us.