Laundry can seem like a never-ending chore, especially in a household with young children. Fortunately, implementing some simple tricks can elevate your routine’s efficiency. Here are a few easy ideas you can try today.
1. Start a Laundry Sorting System
You probably already have a garbage sorting system: plastic, paper, compost, and so on. Do the same thing with your laundry.
Set up a few sorting hampers in your laundry room. As items get dirty throughout the week, put them in the right place, so you don’t have to organize them on laundry day. For example, depending on what works for you, create baskets according to:
Color (e.g., whites and darks)
Fabric type (e.g., cotton, denim, woolen, etc.)
Stain severity (e.g., lightly vs. heavily stained)
Functionality (e.g., bedroom items, bathroom items, kitchen items, etc.)
And so on. To save even more time, place the baskets in different locations of your house for easy access.
2. Use Pre-measured Laundry Detergent
Instead of messing around with measurement cups, pick out a detergent brand that does the portioning for you. Laundry pods and detergent strips are great forms of packaging; they create less waste and take almost no effort to use. Simply throw in the number of pods (or strips) necessary for your load size, and you’re done!
For example, check out Tru.Earth eco-strips. They save time and space without harming the environment or your kids’ health.
3. Solve the Sock Problem
Nothing wastes time like trying to find missing socks. To avoid losing them in the first place, put them all in a mesh bag before tossing them in the wash. Now they can’t disappear into oblivion!
Here’s another tip for all you fashion-unbothered parents out there: buy all your family members the same sock types and colors, so you’ll never have to worry about matching them again.
4. Kill Two Birds With One Stone
You’ve got to pick out your kids’ clothing for the upcoming school week anyhow, so why not do it while you’re folding and putting laundry away?
Get small bins for each kid (preferably stackable)
Label them with letters representing each day of the week (M, T, W, etc.)
Toss a top, some bottoms, and a pair of socks (or whatever your kids wear) into each bin as you fold the clothes after washing.
5. Maybe Just… Do Less Laundry?
It sounds like a no-brainer, but your family’s clothes-hoarding habits might be costing you your weekends.
Earlier, we talked about allocating laundry baskets. Add one more for getting rid of old clothes! The less clothing everyone has, the less time you have to spend washing them.
By the way, if you donate your old warm clothes to UGM, they’ll go towards protecting Vancouver’s homeless from cold weather.
6. “Listen Up, Kids.”
As challenging as it can be, it’s important to get your little ones involved in the household chores. Teach them how to do laundry early so they can learn responsibility, and your future self can save some time.
Of course, the younger your children are, the more difficult it will be to allocate complex tasks (like folding and organizing) to them. Sorting is a much easier job to start them on; show them where to place socks, brightly-colored T-Shirts, and so on.
Keep it Simple
There you go - 6 ways you can cut back on the amount of time you spend doing your family’s laundry. Streamlining life’s responsibilities is the key to creating more space in your schedule for the things you enjoy.
Austin Freeman said it best: “Simplicity is the soul of efficiency.”
Which time-saving laundry hack will you try today? Let us know in the comments!
