Mount Laundry is the pet name a client once told me she used for that pile that always seems to live in a hamper (or four) or on a couch or chair somewhere in your house.
Mount Washmore was another clever one I got from Ashes to Wings podcast host, Jenni O’Connor.
Cute names are a way we cope with the irritation of a task that feels never ending. That’s why I’m dedicating an entire blog to the nemesis known as Laundry.
ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY
Look, if laundry consumes your life, it probably means you, like most of the rest of us, haven’t found the system that works best for you. I’m going to share a bunch of ideas and tips with you: Do not think you have to start doing all of them tomorrow!
We learn by trying one thing out for a while, seeing if it fits, then, if it does, adding in another habit when we’re ready. If that original experiment simply is not for you, toss it out and try something else.
All I ask is that you not poo-poo an idea before you try it. I’ve been that person and have wasted hours, days, even years by letting my ego stop me from trying something I don’t understand or I judge to be too difficult for my personality.
An example of this is file folding the Marie Kondo way. I had heard about it, read about it, and watched YouTube videos on it. “I would never be able to keep that up” I said. Then one Friday morning I got a bee up my booty and decided to declutter and file fold my tank tops.
Years later not only has my wardrobe remained decluttered, everything, including underwear, is still file folded. Who’d a thunk it?
THE SYSTEM
We all have to have systems to fall back on, without them we fall apart because we have to think too hard about what the next step is. As you create your system to deal with this laundry issue, here are some ideas to try incorporating.
Do it daily! Wash, dry, fold & put away.
The things that pile up are the things that overwhelm us. The things that overwhelm us are the things we avoid.
If you live alone, you might be able to get away with every other day. But I know in our house of two people every day is the only way to stay ahead of the mountain. (It’s a habit we’re still working on.)
Start it the night before.
This makes a multi-load day feel like it goes faster since that first load is already going in the dryer when you wake up.
Use the Delay Start feature if you have it so the wet clothes aren’t sitting in the washer as long. Load it the night before and set it to wash early the next morning.
Wash a load of hang dry clothes in the evening.
They’ll dry overnight then all they need is to be folded and put away the next morning. Or simply transfer to the closet.
Fold items before they cool from the dryer.
If wrinkles are the bane of your existence this is the best way to get ahead of them.
It does mean timing your laundry so you’ll be available when the dryer is done.
TIPS AND TRICKS
Everyone has to do laundry so there are a lot of great ideas out there that you may not have thought of. Here are a few I’ve compiled.
Time yourself folding/putting away a load.
Make it a game to beat your last time.
Or at the very least show yourself how little time it actually takes to deal with one load of laundry versus five.
Kids make great dryer unloaders.
They need to learn how to take care of themselves. Laundry is an easy place to start, especially if you put them on dryer duty first so they aren’t dealing with all the knobs, dials and buttons of the washer and dryer.
As a side note: My mom always took me to the laundromat with her so I grew up loading, unloading, and folding from an early age and it didn’t scar me. Your kids can handle it.
Leave a laundry basket in the hall outside of the laundry room to remind yourself that you have laundry going.
Even having the buzzer go off on laundry doesn’t always register with us so it’s easy for that task that’s in another room, out of sight, to quickly go out of mind.
If the laundry basket idea doesn’t work for you, get creative and come up with something that works with how you think, like an alarm on your phone or a sign on a mirror.
MAKE IT THAT MUCH SIMPLER
Anything we can do to make this multi-step process simpler is welcome!
Separate laundry that hangs and clothes that are folded so you’re doing only one task per load.
Anything you can do to separate laundry out as early in the game as possible will make it that much less intimidating when it comes time to fold it all.
Separate hampers for presorting can be a huge time saver.
You can get your own hampers and label them things like “his” “hers” “whites” “darks” “sports” “delicates”, etc.
There are also a lot of hampers that already come with two or three removeable cloth laundry bags.
Kids can be trained to use these separate hampers and bags, I swear! I’ve actually seen it happen.
When doing a load a day, throw everything in together!
It can seem insane and counter to everything you’ve ever been taught about laundry, but sometimes it’s really okay to toss it all in together.
Mesh bags for the win. That’s the secret. Get the larger mesh bags and separate items in the wash that way so they come out pre-sorted.
AND FINALLY…THE LAUNDROMAT
If there are too many loads because something got in the way of laundry day, take it all to a laundromat and get it done all at once. Very satisfying.
As I noted earlier, I grew up going to the laundromat with my mom. After college I was back at the local laundromat as the laundry in my building was in a dark unpleasant basement.
It was a fact of life that I would go once a week, or every other week depending on how much underwear I had, to do all of my laundry at once. I would bring a book, or magazine, or if I was lucky my boyfriend and his roommates would need to do laundry at the same time.
Trust me, there’s something nice about stepping away from everything and slowing down to focus on one task to completion. 23 years later, that same boyfriend and I are still roaming through life and laundry together. We even set aside laundry time on any vacation over one week long!
So, there you go. Laundry hacked.
I’d love to hear any hacks or tips or tricks you’ve come up with over the years! Go ahead and email me at kate@soulfulspacecoaching.com or message me on Instagram or Facebook @soulfulspace.coaching.
Happy laundering!