It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by laundry. You tackle everything in one pile one day, and the next, it seems to immediately build back up again – so how do you stay on top of it all?
It turns out that there is more to doing laundry than throwing clothes in the machine when the hamper is full. From stocking up on laundry room essentials to strategically placing hampers around your home, creating a strict routine is a must if you want to avoid stress, laundry experts say.
These are the six things people who are good at laundry always do and how it helps them create the perfect laundry routine.
Things people who are good at laundry always do
One thing people with clean homes all have in common is a good laundry routine, stopping musty clothing from building up or fresh laundry piles from sitting on chairs and sideboards waiting to be folded and put away.
These are the six easy things they do to make it manageable.
1. Commit to scheduled laundry loads
One of the best organizing tricks to make laundry easier is to schedule your laundry into your week suggest the laundry experts at HumbleSuds. They suggest that for a streamlined laundry routine, you should aim for one load a day during the week and at least two during the weekend.
‘For some, staying on top of laundry is more manageable in small chunks. If this is the case for you, aim to wash, dry, and fold a load daily. Keep it streamlined by putting a schedule in place when you plan to wash sheets, towels, whites, and darks. Or, play it by ear depending on which needs the most attention.’
In a larger household, L'AVANT Collective Founders Lindsay Droz and Kristi Lord say that a daily laundry load could be needed to help stay on top of everything. They recommend establishing a consistent time of day, such as when you first get home from work or when making breakfast in the morning, to start the process. ‘Consistency is key to maintaining control over your laundry.'
‘If daily loads aren't feasible due to a busy schedule, designate time on the weekend to catch up,’ they add. ‘Incorporate this task into a leisure activity by listening to podcasts, watching a saved show, or enjoying a new audiobook. Multitasking with something you enjoy makes the chore of laundry feel less burdensome.’
2. Keep hampers in convenient locations
Another great laundry hack to save time is to keep hampers in convenient locations so that all dirty laundry is collected and not left on floors, giving you a fuller picture of how much you need to wash, continue HumbleSud's laundry experts. Keeping hampers in plain sight encourages everyone to tidy up, they explain. People who are good at laundry usually keep one in their bedrooms and bathrooms.
You can then go around the house with a handheld laundry basket to collect these piles from their usual locations – you will never be left asking for people to dig out their laundry again.
This woven rattan laundry basket comes with a beautiful rolling stand so you can carry or push your laundry to the machine. It also looks beautiful too.
This natural-looking bamboo hamper is compact but not too small to be impractical. It also comes in a range of colors.
Pre-sort your laundry with this convenient two-hamper laundry hamper. It comes with a top shelf, making it ideal for adding extra storage to a bedroom or bathroom
3. Keep mesh bags on hand
It can be easy to fall into bad laundry habits when you are rushing the process and feeling overwhelmed. To avoid this common laundry mistake, Lindsay Droz and Kristi Lord, laundry experts, recommend keeping laundry accessories such as mesh laundry bags, available at Walmart, for delicates with each laundry hamper. People who are good at laundry then separate their laundry as they put it into the hamper rather than when they go to wash it, saving time on the chore.
‘We recommend using two bags per laundry load – one for delicates and one just for socks,’ they say. ‘This simple step streamlines the process of matching socks and prevents them from mysteriously disappearing. Having these items pre-sorted makes it easier to put them away later.’
4. Habit stack
Habit stacking is another great approach if you regularly find yourself doing laundry and cleaning when you feel overwhelmed, continue the laundry experts at HumbleSuds:
‘If the above method doesn’t work for you, habit stacking is a great method to consider. Habit stacking is when you attach a habit you’d like to form to another habit to act as a cue. For example, you can create a nighttime routine that involves putting away clothes. After brushing your teeth, put your clothes away, then get in bed.
‘This can also be used when you wash clothes. In the morning, after brushing your teeth or arriving home after dropping the kids at school, put a load of laundry in the washer. If you are at home during the day, transfer the clothes to the dryer after lunch.’
5. Share the load
Laundry doesn't have to fall on one person in the household. People who are good at laundry usually share the load between family members and motivate their family to clean with them, reminds laundry experts at HumbleSuds. Splitting washing and folding between house members, or even changing who does the laundry on certain days, is a great way to avoid feeling burned out.
6. Invest in quality storage
Although it might not seem obvious, your clothes storage can have a big impact on the ease of your laundry routine, suggests Lindsay Droz and Kristi Lord, laundry experts. The easier your storage is to manage, the easier it will be to fold and put laundry away after every wash.
People who are good at laundry use clothes organizers such as drawer dividers and inserts, label bins, and avoid overstuffing their clothes to make tidying up simpler.
FAQs
What is the right order to do laundry?
When doing laundry, you should follow five steps: sort clothing into colors of fabrics, pre-treat stains to make your washing machine's job easier, run the washing machine, dry clothes (in the dryer or by air drying), and put laundry away. For a successful laundry routine, it can be helpful to do this all in one day so that clothes do not go musty between steps.
How many times a week is it normal to do laundry?
How often you do laundry will depend on your household size and the activities your family members do in their clothes. For instance, people who work out five days a week will have more laundry than people who do not need to wash gym wear. Some households do up to five weekly laundry loads, while others get away with three or fewer. So long as your washing machine is full and you are not running half-empty loads, there isn’t such a thing as too often.
There is more to being good at laundry than having a perfect laundry routine. People who are good at laundry also avoid common laundry room organizing mistakes to keep their routine simple and regularly clean a laundry basket or hamper to keep their laundry fresh – all the small things add up.
