Tips For Laundry Organization | Family Economics

By Trisha

With five active kids, I often wonder if there will be just one day that I can say to the mound of clothes that pile up, “Mt. Wash Me and Mt. Fold Me stop erupting!” and magically I would be caught up on the laundry. However, it always seems that just as soon as I think I’ve done that last load of laundry one of my children secretly come to the laundry room and re-fills the laundry baskets with their dirty, smelly clothes. So, if I can’t have empty laundry bins I can at least have an organized system, right?

My tips to laundry organization:

Timing: Choose a time or day of week that works for you to do the laundry. Years ago, I began doing my laundry while preparing meals. My laundry room is off of my kitchen so it became easy to change laundry loads when preparing meals.

Sorting: Have a basket or bag for each category you sort laundry into. I do one for lights (whites), darks, towels and delicate/special washing. Have a lingerie laundry bag to place your delicate wash items in when you are sorting.

Stains: Pre-treat stained articles of clothing as soon as you become aware they are stained. Allow them time to soak prior to washing.

Folding: To reduce the amount of ironing you have, fold your laundry while it’s still warm. As soon as the drier turns off, fold your laundry. I’ve been known to turn my drier back on to make my clothes less wrinkled.

Baskets: Assign each family member a laundry basket. I use deep plastic dishpans or buckets for each of my children. These are small enough for the younger ones to carry to their rooms all by themselves.

Supplies: Stock your laundry area with hangers, empty baskets to place clean laundry in, small bins for missing socks and extra laundry supplies (laundry soap, dryer sheets, stain removers, etc.) If you have a space above your laundry machine, hang a cloth rod to hang drying clothes or immediately hang dried clothes up out of the drier.

A little extra: Keep a box or bag in your laundry room to place out grown or no longer wanted items in and then donate to a charity.

Off to “Mt. Wash Me” for more “Mt. Fold Me” fun. Do you have a special laundry routine?