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Sometimes a quick and simple tip that can make the mundane a little easier or make your life a little better makes a BIG difference. This is a new series here on the blog where I’ll be sharing simple tips, finds, and suggestions to make life a little easier. I’ll be sharing these tips regularly on the blog and on Instagram – make sure you’re following along!
Today’s tip is one that you might have heard from me before because it’s one of my 5 daily tasks. Do a load of laundry from start to folded and put away every.single.day. This might seem overwhelming at first, but I promise you, it is a huge component to feeling caught up, less overwhelmed, and in control of one of this never-ending household task. 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.
You can also 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. I don’t separate the kids’ clothes into whites and darks, I 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! I also use white vinegar as my fabric softener – this helps with color-fastness. For my husband and myself I do separate whites from darks and 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.
Why is this a good tip? You will always have clean clothes that are ready to wear. No last minute laundry sessions to wash that uniform or special outfit. 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!
A couple things that might make doing laundry a little more enjoyable:
- Have a mountain of laundry staring you down? How to quickly catch up on laundry
- Looking for a safe alternative to fabric softener? Wool Dryers Balls to the Rescue!
- Have kids? Let’s Do Laundry – Simple Tips to Teach Kids
- My favorite laundry products are here on my Cleaning Favs page
- Curious what my laundry room looks like? Here’s my laundry room tour.
Lisa Says...
I would love to do a load (wash/dry/fold/put away) every day. I don’t have a washer/dryer in my apartment. I have to go down to the laundry room. I am grateful I don’t have to leave my apartment building to do laundry. So….what would be the alternative to every day?
b r Says...
Post authorIf there’s more than one washing machine, I would do the laundry weekly – use 2-3 washing machines and get it done at once 🙂
sehendri Says...
Our children are grown, so with just hubby and I here, I was doing laundry about every 2 weeks. Since I started with Clean Mama, I have done a load of laundry every day. I thought that would make me feel like I was ALWAYS doing laundry, but I LOVE it. When I was doing it every 2 weeks, it would take me from morning till late evening and sometimes some left over for the second day. I had piles of dirty laundry all over the kitchen and clothes baskets of clean clothes ready to be folded and put away all over the living room! Since doing a load a day, I feel as if I’m not even doing laundry because it’s just toss in the washer/dryer, fold and put away…All it takes of MY time is maybe 10 minutes! I LOVE doing my laundry this way! Thanks for the suggestion!
Miranda Says...
Hi- Love clean Mama! Thanks for all the great tips- wondering about vinegar as fabric softener. Do you add it to the fabric softener dispenser or just put it in with the clothes, if so when do you add it? Thanks!
b r Says...
Post authorHi Miranda! You are so welcome 🙂 I add it to the fabric softener dispenser but you can also add it to a fabric softener ball as well!
Betsy Says...
I love reading your posts! I would like to try using white vinegar as fabric softener, but wondered if it would make our clothes have a vinegar smell?
b r Says...
Post authorHi Betsy! No vinegar smell whatsoever!
sheldon wilkie Says...
I normally wash and dry shirts for ironing.Are you suggesting that I no longer iron my shirts for work?
Andrea Hawkins Says...
Hello! I love reading your blog and have been following your daily tip for doing a load of laundry every day for about a year now. It has changed my life! The kids always have clean uniforms for sports and we are no longer searching baskets for a specific clothing item.
One thing I have not done is routinely clean my front load washing machine. I have avoided doing this because it says I need to use bleach. I have been trying to become more eco-friendly and don’t even have bleach anymore! Is there a better option to use for cleaning that will get the job done and be nice to the environment? Vinegar maybe?
b r Says...
Post authorI use white vinegar! Check out this post:
https://www.cleanmama.net/2016/09/how-to-naturally-clean-any-washing-machine-free-printable.html