January 25, 2012
The How and Why of Doing Laundry Every Day
Why Would a Person Want to Do Laundry Every Day?
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no mountains of laundry to deal with
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clothes are washed more frequently, so stains don’t set
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it’s a routine – you are more likely to continue it once you start
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less – “I don’t have any clean socks, pants….”
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noless baskets of clothes in corners of rooms that need to be folded -
clean clothes that are put away gives you a feeling of accomplishment
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more frequent laundry = smaller loads = less time folding and putting away
How Does a Person Do Laundry Every Day?
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come up with a system – time of day that it works and how you will approach it
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5 people in the family/5 days of the work week = everyone gets a day and then sheets and towels are done on Saturdays
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I do laundry in the very early morning or evening
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the kids have one little laundry basket each and all their clothes get tossed in the laundry unsorted (whites/darks/brights together) and I run the washing machine on COLD water – if they have a new outfit, that gets washed by itself first
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my husband and I each have a hamper that’s divided into two sections – whites and brights/darks – I wash our clothes separately and on separate days as two loads each (whites and brights/darks)
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I love the way my detergent and softener smell, so that helps for some reason
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I try to put laundry away right after it comes out of the dryer, otherwise it will sit – making sure laundry is not wrinkly is motivating for me (does that make me weird?)
So how about you? How do you do laundry? What’s your system? Does it work?
Stevie @ MooreBabies Says
Inspired from a previous post of yours that I read, I am TRYING to do the laundry everyday thing. I used to have a habit of waiting to do it every few days (which, when you have a hubby and 2 daughters under 3 means (a) yes stains set and (b) LOTS to do). I did pride myself in that I would “lay the clothes out straight” as they came out of the dryer so they wouldn’t wrinkle. However I hated to put stuff away so my pile of clean flat clothes would grow and grow.
I am seeing the light now 🙂 Thanks. And I’m trying to get this to work.
Diana Says
I do my laundry on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and it works really well. Kisses
Tabitha Says
I have done a load a day for the past year and I love it! Got away from it the last couple of months, but it is the first thing I do in the morning while the boys are getting ready for school, and after getting them on the bus, it is ready to be put in the dryer.
I hate laundry and this is making it a lot more bearable.
Ashley Ratliff Says
We are very bad at letting laundry mountains form… especially for me since I HATE doing laundry for some reason. The Mr. usually does it but he doesn’t sort or turn clothes the correct way before washing and has ended up ruining a lot of my work clothes. He (which should be us) also never fold anything until a mountain has formed. We’re definitely going to be implementing your process as soon as the we get the laundry caught up over the weekend. I’m actually very excited!
Dorothy Says
Definitely a load (or 2 or 3!) per day, 6 days per week so I can (hopefully!) have zero laundry on Sunday.
L x Says
A load every day, hang it out to dry during the day then iron it at night, makes for small amounts of ironing at any one time 🙂
Jill S Says
We are a family of 5 so I would wash ALL my oldest son clothes on one day with no separating? And then my daughter on another day and so on.
pamelotta Says
In my almost 17 years of marriage, I still haven’t figured out how to do laundry every day. I really want to, though. It makes so much more sense than killing myself and never getting it done in one day. My problem is having 3 girls close in age and size. I guess I could do all of theirs in one day and the rest of us on other days.
Not sure if this is a good tip, because some people don’t like to use bleach, but I almost always do my light colored sheets and towels at the end of the day because I use bleach and I’m prone to forget about a load of laundry once I walk away. Using bleach means that even if I forget that load, it’s not soured the next afternoon, I mean morning. 😉
Thanks for all your great organizing tips!
Heather Says
I LOVE to do laundry so that has never been a problem in our house of 4 plus a dog (but the other areas yikes!) I do laundry almost everyday because I can’t stand it sitting around in baskets looks messy. I also love the smell of fresh laundry. My Shaklee products came yesterday so will be using the laundry products today. I usually start it early in the morning so it is folded and put away by the end of breakfast. Sense of accomplishment to start the day. I don’t sort too much either, kids together and hubby and mine together, dog has her own.
jobrunelle@msn.com Says
There are nine of us and for twenty years I start every day by throwing in wash. I do dark, light, red then white. Fold, hang and put away every day. It’s just an ongoing sysem that never really becomes a big project. Works great for me.
Bea @ CancunCOOKIES Says
I do one full load every morning, dry, fold and put in the owner room… I do 5 clothes loads a week (2whites, 2brights, 1dark), Tuesdays to Saturdays and I wash all linen on Mondays… When I do whites, I soak in detergent and oxiclean with half the amount of water for a couple of hours, then fill the washer and turn on, that helps my whites stay whitier…
Simply Jen Says
OMGoodness….this post is seriously “time-perfect” for me! I am really having a hard time keeping up with the laundry, and my poor baby is wearing “dirty” pants to school today. I find if I even take one day off, then it’s all down-hill for me. I think it’s time for me to come up with a system…follow through with it…and see what works. Thank YOU! for posting about this.
Have a wonderful day!
Jen
Jennifer Says
I have heard that the system of doing a load of laundry a day is the way to go. I am ready to give it a shot! Now that my kids are older (6 yr old twins and 10 yr old) and involved in so many things, I need a way to not spend my ENTIRE Sunday doing laundry!
Jennifer
Tricia Says
I’m the same way…have to do a load a day. I also do mine either early morning with the rest of the morning rush or after the kids are in bed. And you’re right…you feel accomplished if you have clean laundry folded and put away.
makingitfeellikehome.blogspot.com
Rose Says
I don’t like running a partial load, because I want to try to conserve water and electricity. I always wait until I have a full load. What I do (when I’m on top of things), is I gather laundry from all the laundry baskets around the house every morning and put it in the washer. If it’s full, I run it. If not, it’ll stay there until the next day when I gather more laundry. Once I have a full load, I run the wash! When I stay on top of things, I usually don’t have more than 1 load a day, and I occasionally get to skip a day.
Kellie M Says
I’m a laundry every day (but not on weekends) person. This has worked well for us. I typically don’t dry our clothes (with exception of underthings) completely, so it’s usually just one load a day due to drying space. I added the laundry loads to my cleaning calendar to help keep me on track. (i.e. Mondays – sheets, Tuesday – clothes, Wednesday – towels, Thursday & Friday clothes)
Sarah Says
I’m a 5-day-a-weeker myself. It’s something new I started in the last couple months and what a huge difference it has made for me! Before, I was doing ALL my laundry in ONE day! And it took FOREVER! Love spacing it out now because I feel like I’m not having to do as much. I throw it in the washing machine in the morning before school/work and then toss it in the dryer as soon as we get home. Loving this system!
Delloraine Says
Wednesday is laundry day at our house(6 of us). We start on Tuesday night. we sort into 5 piles and treat stains in the hallway so that I can get started early on washing. When the buzzer goes off we keep it going and I watch a tivo tv show while I fold and hang the clothes. I put that load away and the next one is usually ready. I also do some house cleaning or cooking prep while this is going on to fill time between loads. If I don’t miss the buzzer I can be finished washing by lunch and have it all put away by 3pm. I add rugs if the weather is conducive to line drying. Some of the piles have more than 1 load in them.A single day wash day helps me to get it all put away and it doesn’t pile up. I also don’t feel guilty for wasting water on a small load.
Suze Says
I try to not wash on Sunday. My machines allows me to load now and program to run later. It is great to wake to a load ready to hang on the line when I get up. This also allows me to do an extra load if needed and in summer the washing is out before it is too hot.
Anonymous Says
I used to do laundry on Monday & Thursday (there are 4 of us), but now that I do a load each day it is much better! I throw a load in in the morning, making sure I open the door to keep the clothes from souring, and when I get home from work I dry that load. I can set my delay wash feature, but I only have liquid Tide right now and I have to use powdered detergent for that feature. I think I will try what the previous poster said about having it timed to where I can have the load finished before everyone gets in the shower of a morning!! Gotta go buy powdered Tide!!
Angie
Kylie Says
I have been a load a day person, always!!! I doesn’t always get folded though, my weakness.
We also have 5 in the house and I love your idea of a day for each person. I am so snagging that one!!!
Kimberly @ bktribe.blogspot.com Says
The load every day system just doesn’t work for me. With a household of 8, I do wash 2 days a week, usually 3 or 4 loads. Start first thing in the morning and it’s done by mid-morning. The rest of the morning is used to fold and iron (well, it’s supposed to, lol.) Then my youngest 3 sort and fold socks when they get home from school. My oldest two are responsible for washing and folding towels on Mondays. And I try to wash one room of sheets each Monday or Tuesday (i.e. the little girls room, the boys room, our room, the big girls wash their own.) This works for me.
Claire Says
Hello Becky – those are some great tips on organizing laundry – can I add my 2 cents worth? I keep a spray bottle in the laundry room to treat tough stains prior to throwing clothes in with load – the bottle is diluted with 8 parts water and 2 parts 1000+ Stain Remover. It works on sooo many stains – for me and my two teenagers it has saved us throwing away paint stained cloths, blood stained t-shirts, red wine stains (mom) – gentle and safe – I just love it! Claire PS if you want to check it out here is the site – http://www.1000plus.ca
Anonymous Says
Ok I know I’m weird, but I love doing laundry; washing, drying, folding (putting away – not so much). I gather all the dirty clothes every morning, sort darks, colors, whites. Throw one load in (we have way more darks in our house). Dry and fold when I get home from work. I keep a basket for each of us in our laundry room and sort clean clothes into them as I fold. When the basket is full of clean clothes (2-3x wk) I carry it up and put them away as my two little ones get ready for bed. My teenagers have to put their own away (after a bit of harassment). I don’t let anyone else do laundry, my bad, but they all know how. Helps having a main floor laundry room that’s big enough for 4-6 baskets. If it was in the basement I would never do laundry. Next house it WILL be on the bedroom level.
Anonymous Says
I love washing
annette Says
There are only two of us (Hubby & me) so I do a load a day during the week and take off on the weekends. My schedule looks like this: Monday and Thursday- Whites/Brights, Tuesday and Friday – Dark/Reds, Wednesday – Sheets/Towels, weekends – NO Laundry! Works for me
Sharon Says
This is the first time I ‘ve ever posted a comment on anything ,but I had to share my interesting story.For years my husband and I have had ” moments “over his laundry.When he was growing up ,his mom did every stitch of laundry … EVERY DAY..Granted ,they didn’t have much but ,by golly ,it was done by the time they were getting ready for school each morning. To this day my husband has a mild,quiet panic attack if he can see the bottom of sock or underwear drawer.. Just happened again and that’s how I came to wonder how often others do their laundry..guess I ‘ll have to give in and try the ” load -a- day” method..thanks..I feel better already:)
Jessica Says
I’ve just started figuring out a system for my laundry. So far I’ve noticed that it’s been keeping the dirty clothes off the floor and the clean clothes from staying in the laundry basket. I would have to say that my main motivation is seeing how clean everything is now! =) Thanks for the extra tips. I’m going to have to try some.
Lori B Says
We don’t have a dryer, so washing at least one load a day is a must for us! During the warm months we could easily wash and dry 5-6 loads at a time on the line, but when we hang indoors we only have room for two loads. We’ve been washing this way for over twenty years, and it works beautifully! We never have piles of dirty laundry lying around, and since it’s so easy to fold as we take things down from the line/ drying rack we never have piles of laundry waiting to be folded, either.