June 10, 2019
Doing a Load of Laundry Every Day Can Change Your Life
If you’ve been following me for more than a week you have most likely heard me talk about doing a load of laundry every day before because it’s one of my 5 daily tasks. This simple little mind shift takes a little bit of work on the front end and it might take you a week or two to get used to it, but I guarantee that you’ll wonder how you did laundry any other way once get it working for you. Doing a load of laundry daily is a huge component to feeling caught up, less overwhelmed, and in control of this never-ending household task.
MY RECOMMENDATION:
You can work this tip a number of different ways but my personal recommendation is to do one person’s laundry every day and finish with washing sheets and towels on Saturdays (that’s the weekly task for Saturday in my routine). The last laundry load of the week is cleaning cloths washed on hot/sanitize and then I do a CLEAN cycle on the washer and call it good for the week.
HOW TO MAKE THIS WORK FOR YOU:
If you’re skeptical or not sure where to start, here are a couple ideas to make this work for you home.
- Collect all the laundry in the house at the end of the day or just have one hamper in the laundry room and wash what’s in that daily. With three kids we easily have a load of laundry every day, some days there are multiple loads. (This is not the method I use, but a lot of people use this method!)
- Don’t separate the kids’ clothes into whites and darks, just toss it all in on cold. I’ve never had any issues with color transfer with this method. The two big kids fold their own clothes and put them away – this is extremely helpful! Use the summer to teach your kids how to do their own laundry. Here’s a post showing you how to do it.
- For my husband and myself I do separate clothes (whites, darks, workout wear) and we each have our own hamper so our clothes are washed separately. We both work out quite a bit so I usually have a load of workout clothes for each of us weekly too.
- If you work outside of the home, set your washer to start an hour or so before you get up in the morning. Once you get up, toss it in the dryer and fold before leaving or when you get home.
- Don’t have enough laundry for a load a day? Try doing a load every other day or every third day.
- Need to catch up in a hurry? Try my method for quickly getting caught up on laundry.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
- You will always have clean clothes that are ready to wear.
- No last minute laundry sessions to wash that uniform or special outfit.
- No mountains of laundry on furniture.
- Ironing is at a minimum because nothing is sitting in a laundry basket getting wrinkled. I might have to iron or steam something once every month or so.
Just a couple minutes a day will keep you on track for this task and it eliminates doing laundry for hours all at once. Try it!
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Karen C Says
Becky, since finding your cleaning plan, about 4 years ago, doing a load of laundry daily has been my goal. It has been so helpful just to have the expectation that laundry needs to be done. It’s not my favorite task, but most of the dreadfulness has disappeared. I also love the delay start on my washer so I can have clean clothes to throw in the dryer in the morning & have clothes dry & folded before 9am! Now off to start a load…
b r Says
Post authorSo glad this is working for you Karen!
janet Says
I hang most things up when they’re still damp, which means I don’t have to do much if any ironing. I realize that if you have lots of family members that might not be practical, but it worked for me even when both our girls were still at home. Now that it’s just the two of us, I take most things out of the dryer early and hang them on a drying rack or hang them. I think it’s easier on the clothes, takes less energy (I’d really love to hang them outside!), and again, means I rarely iron.
janet
Brenda Says
I see the value if you have a family to wash for, but it’s only me. I just don’t see that I should wash a couple of pieces of laundry a day. Some days it could just be one piece of laundry since I don’t wash my jeans or my blouses every-time I wash them. I have 3 loads to wash during the weekend, My clothes, towels/sheets and my blankets(Have to wash weekly since I have a bunch of cats that sleep on them. LOL)
b r Says
Post authorYes, I would just try washing every third day, or if your weekend routine is working well for you, stick with it!
Monica Says
Reading your post I see you do have more than one load a day. Whites, darks and sport for you and husband, equals 6, plus 3 from the kids, plus towels, sheets and cleaning towels, thats 12+loads. Did I get it right or there is something I am missing?
b r Says
Post authorI recommend doing at least one load a day – here’s our typical week:
2-3 loads for me
2-3 loads for my husband
sheets
towels
3 kids = 3 loads
cleaning rags
Depending on the week that adds up to 9-12 loads a week 🙂
Cait Says
My husband has never been able to understand how a family of 4 plus pets can generate a load of laundry a day (or in reality, more!) I’m going to break it down for him like this!
KNatGU Says
Do you have any recommendation for people using the time of day plan of electricity and working outside the home?
We don’t start our large appliances until after 8 pm. I go to be at 9:30 and am out the door at 6:30am
So I’ve figured out how to work in towels, sheets, and cleaning rags during the week.
I can delay start and then pop into the dryer in the morning and they are waiting for me to fold after work or in the evening.
But I just can’t seem to wedge a full wash, dry, fold cycle into a weekday.
I was just interested in what others might be doing that works for them. Thanks
Greta Says
I am interested that you wash your clean8ng cloths on sanitize, which I assume is hot. My microfiber say wash in cold or warm, but I wonder if this is killing germs. What do you think?
b r Says
Post authorIt washes away some germs in the wash and with the heat of the dryer but I prefer to use the sanitize cycle and haven’t had any issues with my microfiber.
Debbie Says
At first, I really didn’t agree with this but thought what the heck, doing it my way hadn’t been working so great for years. The first week, I did a daily laundry load. But then it was just every 2-3 days. So much easier to keep up with cleaning clothes. Even if I can’t fully do a task a day, even doing half of it makes a difference. I just can’t completely clean my bathroom every Monday so either do shower and commode or double sink. After several weeks, keeping my house presentable is so much easier and faster. Oh, I’m doing a load of laundry now. lol
Amy Says
We are 3 in my household. When I first heard the idea of one load a day back a few years ago, I thought it ridiculous. But I began playing around with the idea. I like to do clothes over the weekend, so we start out the week with clean clothes. My teenage daughter does her own, I do 1-2 loads for myself and my husband, and he throws in a load of his dirty work clothes. During the week I began to do sheets one day, bath towels another day, and kitchen towels and rags on another day. Some days I don’t wind up doing a load, some days it will be 2-3, because I decide to do something extra like throws or small rugs. It really did make it all feel much more manageable than trying to get it all done over the weekend as I had previously done. Each day feels like a relatively small and manageable load and then, VOILA!, it’s done! It is a great feeling.
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Anne Says
We have one main laundry basket in the bathroom which is brought down to the laundry area every morning. I sort it into lights & darks. Bath & kitchen hand towels are sorted and included as well as any full size bath towels that are dirty (we reuse for several days). I do the lights & darks daily, then I do our sheets on Fridays & the kids’ sheets on Saturdays. So, I do two loads seven days a week plus the sheets on Fri & Sat. Sometimes I take Sunday off completely and occasionally I don’t need to do both lights & darks every day. I tried only one load a day and got backed up. It still feels like too much laundry but I think I would need to not wash certain clothing items as much and monitor more closely what the kids are putting into basket. I wish it was only one loaf a day but can’t seem to get it down to that.
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Aster Says
Ah, this is the one thing I wish I could do, but living in an apartment with shared laundry means hauling baskets to the other side of the property, fighting over machines, and waiting for other tenants to get their stuff out of the dryer. Alas, I miss having my own machines!