How to Tame Your Laundry Monster

Laundry is one of those things that can quickly get out of control! When that happens, the best thing to do is usually to jump right in and start folding!

There are several ways to tame the laundry monster, but here are the methods that work best for me when I’m behind:

First, I focus on my heart issue. When there are mountains of laundry all over the place, am I thankful that my family is blessed with plenty of clothes to wear or am I annoyed about the laundry work? I can choose thankfulness.

Then I either:

A. Dedicate a full day to laundry and do nothing else. Wash, dry, fold, iron, put away. All day long. Then I’m done.

B. Spread laundry out over a few days. (This is what I usually do because it feels easier to me.)

Day One: Dedicate an hour to getting started. Gather dirty clothes from around the house and take them to the laundry area. Next, sort dirty clothes and start a load. Work on other household tasks in-between loads. Go the the laundry area about once an hour to switch the load over. Hang everything that needs to line dry and put everything else in a dedicated clean-laundry area.

Day Two: Repeat day one, making sure to wash bedding and towels as well. When you’re washing bedding, focus on one bed at a time and wash in the order that you’ll put things back on the bed. (Mattress pad first, then sheets, then blanket, then comforter.) This way you can put things back on the bed very quickly as they come out of the dryer.

Day Three: Turn on a fun movie that you’ve seen before. (So you can enjoy a movie but also focus on laundry.) Quickly sort all of the clean laundry. We have one basket per person, plus a basket of “extras” where we place towels, blankets, dress-up clothes, etc. Fold one person’s basket at a time so you don’t have dozens of little piles of clothes on the floor. Put away. DONE!!!

NOTE: Once you get your laundry caught up, read this post about how to manage your laundry in just 15 minutes a day!

How do you keep your own laundry monster under control?