How did we get here?
Have you ever walked into your laundry space, seen the piles, and thought, “how did we get here?” My laundry routine was so simple when I was by myself, I did two loads a week and that was that. When I married my husband I had to switch to three or four loads a week, but still had no trouble keeping up with the piles. Two children later, I feel like laundry has just exploded. I swear its growing or multiplying somewhere while I’m not looking. Not only do they get more clothes dirty, but they also get my clothes more dirty (hello smeared banana and pizza stain). The other day my oldest actually walked up to me and grabbed my shirt to blow his nose on. There’s no denying it, they’re adorable, precious, little mess makers!
I struggled for about a year trying to do a lot of laundry on a few days, thinking that if I just got it all out of the way it would be done and not a bother. But the problem with that was the towels used to wash little faces would mildew sitting for a few days, and the blow out clothes from the baby had to be dealt with right then. Then there was the overwhelm. I’d find myself looking in at the piles of laundry and thinking, “I just can’t today, maybe tomorrow.” Except, tomorrow there were new piles. I actually bought a sign for my laundry room that says, “I was going to throw in the towel, but then I remembered how much laundry I already have.” Eventually my mother would take pity on me and we would have a “laundry party,” washing and drying some 10 loads of laundry in a day. My mom is such a blessing!
For a few days I would feel great about the laundry. I could sit back and relax, the laundry was all done. Until there was a pile. Once again, the cycle began. I’m not sure what I would have called my laundry routine, but it was clear that whatever it was, was not working. I started looking at different blogs and seeing what their laundry routines were. Some people said that a once a week laundry day worked for them. I’d already established that didn’t work for me. I remembered a long time ago when my mom had read a book about the Fly Lady system, and decided to see if there was any information online. Sure enough I found her website, and began to read all her things! She recommended one load a day. There’s no way, I thought. Laundry is too time consuming! How would I manage to fit it into our schedule every single day. Then I figured that I had nothing to lose, what was the worst that could happen? I’d fall behind on laundry? That nightmare had already been realized, so I figured I might as well give it a chance.
What finally worked:
To begin with it was not easy. Trying to fit in washing, drying, and folding a load all in one day was hard. I would get up and start a load, and forget about it for the rest of the day. I became the queen of restarting loads of laundry, (inefficient and costly). I think my record was rewashing the same load three times before it made it into the dryer. Trying to fold laundry in the evening did not work for me. Between making dinner, playing with the children, doing dishes, sweeping the floor, and doing bedtimes, I just didn’t have it in me to start folding laundry at 10:00pm. One morning I had a load of laundry that had gotten washed and dried from the night before sitting in a basket. My baby was up early so I thought, why not get ahead on the day and fold. It worked so well, I was able to get my laundry folded and put away, before my toddler woke up.
I started trying to choose times of the day to get in the habit of checking in on the laundry routine. Our laundry room is upstairs, on the same floor as all the bedrooms, which is a big blessing! First thing in the morning, I fold a load, and start a load. To begin with I tried to be specific: Monday I do sheets, Tuesday is for my clothes, Wednesday is for the kids clothes…but that much rigidity didn’t always line up with what was needed. Sometimes the kids baskets were overflowing, and my husband’s was practically empty. I ended up deciding to just make a mental note of whose baskets were the fullest, and that person’s laundry got done that day. I go and gather the laundry, and get it going before we head down to breakfast. At nap time we all head back upstairs and I switch it over to the dryer. That is the last step of the day for laundry. I was surprised that by noon I could be done dealing with laundry! It took me a few days to catch up on the piles, but eventually I got there.
Avoid Overwhelm
I cannot tell you how helpful it is with overwhelm to set parameters. No matter how many loads there are, I only do one a day. Yes, occasionally if we are really messy, or someone is sick, or we go on vacation, I get behind again. But I don’t stress or let it overwhelm me. I just begin my day by folding the load from the day before, start one load of laundry, switch it to the dryer, and don’t mess with it again until the next day. So many chores in our home are repetitive. You’ll never have the dishes done for longer than 5 minutes, or the laundry completely done or the floors totally clean. All we can do is to plug away at it, being diligent to care for our homes and families. I make myself lists of habits that I try to do every day, and if I have done anything with the laundry, I give myself a big check mark! Side note: does anyone else add things they’ve already done to their lists so that they can get extra check marks?
So that’s it for my laundry routine! It is simple, and everyone has to find what works for them, but this is the one laundry routine I have tried that was worked for me. If you’re looking to revamp your laundry routine, try doing a load a day! Remember to find times throughout the day that work for you, and don’t let yourself feel overwhelmed because it isn’t all done all the time. It never will be and you’re just setting yourself up to fail. Enjoy the process of crafting your own habits for your home, and let me know your laundry routines below!