Shhh – Big Secret – I hate Laundry!
I hate laundry! Not that it is hard. It’s that it is time-consuming.
What a wonder the modern washer and dryer are. (I often think about how much more I would hate doing laundry if I didn’t have these conveniences.) But because of the way some people do this chore, these modern conveniences don’t save as much time as we think they do.
Even though our washers and dryers greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to clean and dry a load of clothes, studies show that we spend just as much time on this chore as our grandmothers did.
We do WAY more loads.
How often do you change your clothes each day? Do you put everything in your hamper after wearing it only once? We think nothing of changing into different clothes when we get home from work. The same overuse could be true for your towels and linens.
Think of all the water, detergent, gas, or electricity and TIME that it takes to continue this lifestyle. Some of the best laundry management types come from Jessica, from LifeAsMom.com. Jessica’s tips that I liked best are:
- Find a rhythm that works for the season.
- Put a hamper in every bedroom and toss the lid.
- Limit color sorting.
- Create a specific area for cleaning.
- Have a plan for stain fighting.
- Give every person one type of sock.
- Teach the kids to do laundry.
- When your system is no longer effective change it.
I hate laundry! Not that it is hard. It's that it is time-consuming. Click To Tweet
Rethink your system. Set an easily attainable goal to cut back on your laundry routine. Save yourself some time.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
One tip I learned from someone who loves laundry is to hang anything that has a stain over the edge of the hamper. This way, you remember to look closely and pre-spot. If you don’t know a stain is there, it is easy to overlook it before it goes in the machine and the dryer, and then it may be too late to get it out!
That’s a good tip. I hang a spot remover spray bottle from the side of my hamper, so when I take off an items with a spot I spray it right then.
When I was visiting my relatives in Italy as a kid, I had to clean my clothes every week from scratch because my family didn’t have a washer or dryer. So, I don’t mind doing laundry at all after doing it that way. I do notice that as my kids got older and do their laundry, my chore of doing laundry is taking much less time. I can do it after my husband is done working and finish it up the next morning. Yay.
Wow, What an experience. I bet you appreciate your washing machine now. Yes, being an empty nester, I do much less laundry these days.
I actually don’t mind laundry. It was of course easier when we lived in a house and had our own laundry equipment, but one of the upsides of apartment living is the ability to do multiple loads at one time, which is a real time saver!
Sounds like you are taking advantage of your situation. What a time saver to do several loads at once.
I am WITH you on this. My big secret is that my husband helps me fold all our laundry (if he doesn’t just do it himself.) It’s a major exercise in discipline for me… You’re absolutely right, modern convenience makes it so that i do laundry every day.
If you have any additional suggestions I’ll take them!
Thanks for your tips. 🙂
Melanie. Let your husband do all the folding.
It’s so funny how everyone feels differently about laundry. I have clients that LOVE doing laundry and others that not only can’t stand it, but have difficulty staying on top of the process. The larger the family, the more challenging it seems to be. For me, I find doing laundry therapeutic and satisfying. I like that there is a simple system of collecting, washing, drying, folding, and putting away. My favorite part is folding. My least favorite part is transferring the wet clothes into the dryer. I don’t know why, but maybe because I’m short and we have a top loading washing machine, it’s difficult for me to reach in and grab the wet clothes. These days it’s just me and my husband, so there isn’t that much laundry. Once a week works.
Before our daughters went off to college many years ago, I asked them if there were any life skills we hadn’t taught them that they wanted to know. They both wanted to learn how to do laundry. When they were growing up, I did the laundry. They were responsible for putting their dirty clothes into the hamper and putting away their folded clothes, but didn’t have to do the in between part. So before they launched, I taught them both. They went to college with a set of simple instructions. Now they are experts. I don’t know if they enjoy doing laundry or not.
Linda, my mom uses tongs to grab items inside her washing machine. She’s short too.
I taught my boys to do laundry when they were 12. It is a good time management lesson. I really had to let go of wanting it done correctly then they took over though.