Laundry Tips and Organization

Yesterday I came out of the laundry closet and exposed my private shame: an out of control laundry situation that ranges from piles of dirty, to piles of clean clothes. But I am determined to do something about it. You shared your best laundry tips and ideas that have helped you cope with the task that never ends.

Your Best Laundry Tips:

Do a load every day
Stay on top of it
Small loads are better than waiting until your situation is out of control
Fold your clothes as you take them out of the dryer
Dedicated baskets for each family member
Fold and start a load when your baby is down for a nap
A stain basket – one basket for clothes that will need to be treated prior to washing
Pre-Sort: teach kids that dirty clothes go immediately into sorted hampers (darks/lights/colors)
Wash just shirts, or just pants, and then remaining items for easy folding
Keep a “Worn Clothes” drawer – Kids can stash items they’ve worn once but aren’t dirty enough to launder
Don’t bother sorting colors for baby clothes
Change your laundry room into the dressing room! If you have the space that Sarah does, turn your laundry into the closet and dressing room for your kids. All the clothes stay in one place, reducing the time to sort and containing the mess.
Pay an older child to do it all (love this one)
Have fewer clothes!

I went on the hunt for new laundry baskets: one for each person plus an extra for household linens. I’m convinced that purchasing new, matching baskets will be the start of an incredibly effective system (because I am an American.) After trolling many a store and finding their selection of laundry baskets boring, expensive, or not enough for a matched set, my friend Courtney recommended Big Lots. To my surprise, I found the perfect baskets and at totally reasonable prices.