I do not profess to be a gun at keeping on top of my washing. It really is a suckful job and I am not a fan of it. I would rather clean the toilets than get super fussy about the washing basket. BUT the reality is it has to be done, and pretty much every day!
Keeping on top of the washing and how well you do that does also depends on your family and how they wear their clothes. For us, I have 3 boys who wear school uniforms and a lot of sports training clothes. My husband is in a trade so no need for shirts and fancy pants. I wear casual stuff and can re-wear my stuff sometimes without washing.
Sooooooooooo for me, the goals is ALWAYS to wash less and only when/what I have to. Doesn’t mean we’re dirty! I just aim to make that basket minimal at all times.
Here are a few washing tips…
1. Do it daily
I find that leaving the washing for a few days just makes me feel stressed out and angry. So I always make sure I am washing at least one load a day.
2. Wear something more than once
My boys throw on training shirts and shorts after school and I will always make them wear them again. No need to wash something which has only been worn for a couple of hours.
3. Use only one basket
Ain’t no body got time for lots of baskets and fussy pre-sorting. I have a huge pull out washing basket in my laundry. I don’t let it get out of control, because there is then no one where for the clothes to go. It’s a good reminder to get on top of the washing because once it’s full I can’t put stuff anywhere else.
4. Sheets straight back on to the beds
This saves you double handling everything. That is, sheets never need folding and putting in linen cupboards taking up space. I just wash and put straight back on the beds.
5. Put away daily
This sounds good doesn’t it? I am not great with this sometimes. I try to fold washing and put it away daily, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. I have a single plastic tub which clean washing will go in, but once it’s full I know it needs to be put away.
6. Use quick cycle
With less dirty clothes I run my washing machine on a quick cycle so I can get it out on the line quicker.
7. Don’t wear white
If you hate washing and the pre-sorting that comes with it, don’t wear white! Except for the cricket whites in Summer, we don’t wear a lot of white. I just don’t want to wash it, so I don’t choose white clothes when shopping.
8. Don’t be fussy
If undies, socks or t-shirts come out of the wash inside out, I don’t even fold them in the right way. I just do a quick fold, put in each pile and move on. The kids will fold their own clothes in the right way when they wear them.
9. Hang it out before you go to bed
If you start the day running like I do, it can be mid-afternoon before you realise you didn’t get the washing out! So I try to put a load put before I go to bed each night so that I know it’ll be drying the next day
10. Folding is quicker than hanging
I feel that hanging things is also double handling because it takes an extra step and I am lazy. A lot of my kids’ clothes are folded (not super neat!) and put in their cupboards. I do the folding in the laundry and then put away. I will only hang the good stuff.
♥ KC.
