Laundry. It’s never ending, and left unchecked it’ll get out of out control faster than an unsupervised toddler with a can of shaving cream. I’ve tried a lot of laundry methods to wrangle the washings and have finally settled into a routine I love.
The key for our family has been small wardrobes and daily up-keep. Each kiddo has roughly ten tops (or dresses for the girls) and five bottoms – shorts in the summer, jeans in the winter. They usually only have one or two pairs of shoes, and a swimsuit for the summer that gets replaced by a jacket and beanie in the winter. I know what you’re thinking: what about my fashionista four-year old that loves every dress ever made? Even fashionistas have favorites. Watch closely, it’s the one your kiddo grabs first, the one that gets worn every single time it’s washed. Just keep the ten favorites and pass on the rest.
These small wardrobes only work if you’re doing laundry frequently, which means it won’t have time to build into an overwhelming multiple load monster. If you’re only planning on doing laundry once a week, adjust the amounts of clothes each kiddo keeps. The goal is to have enough that you can skip a couple days of laundry if something comes up, but not so much you can ignore it ’til the pile covers your entire bed.
This is my laundry schedule: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do a load of clothes (everyones mixed in – we own one hamper, I don’t even sort colors, nothing bad has happened yet), Tuesdays I do towels, Thursdays I do whatever needs occasional care such as a load of throw blankets or the nugget covers, and Sundays I do sheets and bedding. I try my best to close the loop: wash & put away in one day. Every night I put the laundry in the washer ready-to-go on a timer. That way, I’m already a step ahead by the time I wake up. Switching to the dryer is part of my morning routine, and I usually have everything put away by lunch.
This set-up doesn’t really make laundry enjoyable, but it does make it much less stressful than previous methods I’ve tried. To make this daily task better, I try to make my laundry area pretty. I’ve added pictures of my favorite people in the world in thrifted frames. I sort and fold right on top of the machines, so the photos remind me of the people I love serving – even if it’s in a never ending chore of stain treatment. I also put the detergent in a thrifted open glass container with a scoop, which eliminates the frustration of fiddling with a cardboard box. The stain remover I use is in the tiny spray bottle, and the change jar is for loose change found in pockets a.k.a Mama’s laundry tips. These small changes have made a surprisingly big impact.
Whatever your laundry method, I hope these tips help you tweak it to become an enjoyable part of your life – it takes up so many hours when added up, might as well try to make it pleasant!
Disclaimer/Reality Check: Obviously, my kids (and I) wear the same outfits on repeat. This doesn’t bug me, but if you can’t handle that, this method isn’t for you. If you insist on overly large wardrobes, please consider not buying from shein, temu, or similar sites – the cute picture you want to post on facebook isn’t worth the levels of toxins and waste, I promise. This column will be about motherhood, parenting, and homemaking for the most part. Sometimes it’ll be a diatribe about mean girl behavior in grown women, other times it might be praise for hands-off parenting. Most importantly, I don’t ever want this column to make another mama think she’s not doing enough. If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are, you’re doing great, keep it up. Sing it with me: no-one is doing it allllll!
