Photograph Credit: Flickr (Sarah QFD)
With five family members in our house, our washer and dryer get used a number of times each week. Usually I perform laundry tasks on two consecutive days.
During this season of my life, laundry is done on Friday/Saturday, Saturday/Sunday, or Sunday/Monday. The days depend on when we are home or able to work around our other activities.
I know many find doing one load of laundry from start to finish a day helps keep the laundry pile at bay. This option would not work for me since everyday has a different schedule and working around laundry is not a priority for me.
Knowing that the laundry will be done on the weekend, frees me up during the week for other activities. What works for me may or may not work for you. This system is working for me now and may be a solution to doing laundry all week long.
By having a scheduled, organized laundry routine, I find my time is best spent in small sections. The more I follow the same routine, the more efficient I become. My routine consists of four steps:
Step one: Preparing throughout the week,
Step two: Pretreating soiled clothing,
Step three: Preparing on laundry day, and
Step four: Performing laundry tasks.
In the next four weeks, I will cover my organized laundry routine in the hopes you will be encouraged to take a break from doing laundry all week long.
STEP ONE: Preparing throughout the week
During the week, each family member deposits dirty or used clothes into their assigned hamper.
- My two older children have a mesh hamper in their closet.
- My husband and I have two laundry baskets in our closet. The dark blue basket holds dark items, and the white basket holds white and light colored items.
- My toddler has a hamper in her nursery. Any soiled clothes that need pretreatment are added to this hamper. Since my children are messy eaters and enjoy the dirt and mud on the playground, I have a number of items that need to be pretreated each week.
As each family member deposits his or her own clothing into the appropriate laundry containers, I am able to concentrate on other items throughout the week. Besides the occasional stray sock or blanket, almost all the items are in the laundry baskets or hampers each day.
By using time wisely to train my family on my laundry routine, I can rest assured that all items are where they belong. As each member of our family does his or her job throughout the week, my tasks are lightened on laundry day. I will not need to search the house for loose items of clothing. By preparing throughout the week, I save myself time and energy on laundry day.
Question: Where do your family members place their clothing items that need to be washed? Please add your answer to the comments.