How To ROCK Laundry Duty & Keep It From Taking Over Your Life!

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If there’s anything that’ll get us busy women discouraged, it’s a mounting pile of stinky laundry with no get-up-and-go to get it done.  Amen?  Dirty clothes are just gonna keep coming so a quick laundry hack to fix this dilemma could be life-changing.  Guess what?   I’ve got the goods you need to pull it off!

Laundry

What if I told you that I hardly ever iron, I never have heaps of dirty clothes around anymore, and I adore doing the laundry because it’s all put away way before I hit the pillow each night?!

Before you call me a weirdo, let me explain.  I’m coming clean.  {see what I did there?}  I gotta be transparent  …  I used to fail at laundry duty miserably.  Miserably.

I used to re-wash loads of laundry multiple times because I’d forget they were in the washer.  The hubs would be looking for work pants and they would be in the dirty clothes hamper because I’d forgotten to wash them.  We’d have to dig through a basket of clean clothes each morning because most items never made it to hangers and drawers.  I’d have to break out the ironing board daily because our clothes basket outfits would be wrinkled beyond comprehension.

Did I mention how much I despise ironing? And chaos?  No wonder I was especially cranky, rushed, and feeling like a big fat LOSER on a daily basis.

I’ve accidentally perfected a few laundry hacks through the years and I wish I could go back in time and tell my young, married self so that I could have spared some of the chaos.  These hacks are second nature now – I just do them daily and laundry duty is not a big deal.  I’m more organized and my family has fresh clothes daily that don’t look slept in.

Hacks to ROCK Laundry Duty

  • Wash one load of laundry at a time – all the way to completion. Don’t start another load until the first load has been put away. This lowers the chaos tremendously. You can move up to two loads when you’ve mastered following through to the end of the first one. Trust me on this.
  • Get those clothes out of the dryer as soon as the dryer shuts off. If you grab those clothes out quickly and hang them up or fold them while they are warm, 98.9% of them will not need to be ironed. If you don’t have a dryer alarm, set your phone alarm.
  • Designate baskets for each family member and place fold-up clothing into each member’s container. Make each family member responsible for finding their clothes container and putting all those clothes away.  I am responsible for putting away only my own & the hub’s.
  • Install a hanging rod in the laundry room for all shirts, pants, skirts, and dresses. Create a section of the rod for each individual. Each family member is responsible to get their own hanger clothes and put them away.  I do only my hubs and my own.
  • Each person places their dirty clothes in the corner of their bathroom or bedroom each day but not in a hamper. Teach each family member to grab their little pile of dirty clothes from the day before and chunk it into the laundry room every morning into your “sorter” containers or on the floor. Stop using big hampers where lots of clothes can hide for days and where you have to hunt for dirty clothes constantly.
  • Teach each member of the fam to use a tide-to-go pen on stains immediately or to spray “shout” on them as soon as they take them off.  You can’t possibly know when they get stains and there’s nothing worse than removing a shirt out of the dryer that now has a stain permanently dried in that you knew nothing about.
  • Jazz up the laundry room so that it’s bright and cheery. Paint the walls an unexpectedly gorgeous color or hang something cute on the walls. Pour your detergent into a gorgeous, transparent beverage dispenser. Why not make your space enjoyable to brighten your mood?

Below you’ll see how I streamlined my laundry room to keep it simple.  You’ll notice that I love my old fashioned appliances {no fancy schmancy ’round here} and I haven’t spent lots of money to improve the system.  Just a couple hacks to make laundry fun and not such a burden.

Make it fun & easy


Ready to do some laundry?

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Shan

Published on HuffPost, Okefenokee Living Magazine, and more, Shan is a Family Travel Journalist with a passion for helping women lose the overwhelm of planning family-friendly trips in the south. She shares travel reviews & insider secrets that Women REALLY want to know about Georgia, Florida, & the Carolinas vacations.

☕️ It’s THE REAL DEAL around here ☕️

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15 Comments

  1. LuAnn Braley
    March 3, 2016 / 9:43 am

    Visiting from Thursday Favorite Things at Katherine’s Corner. I am a new subscriber.

    Ugh. I hate laundry too. Maybe because our dryer is on the fritz. The only household chore I dislike more is vacuuming stairs. Luckily the stairs in our house are not carpeted. WOOHOO!

    Congrats on your upcoming e-book!

    • Shan
      Author
      March 3, 2016 / 8:15 pm

      Thanks, LuAnn!

      I used to despise laundry so much myself. Now, I do really enjoy it and I must admit that I love hanging clothes out on the clothesline in the spring and summer. I’ll have to post about that as well for those who don’t have a dryer (like you are dealing with now).

      Vacuuming stairs doesn’t sound like fun to me either. So glad to have you around.

      blessings,
      Shan

  2. Pam@over50feeling40
    March 3, 2016 / 8:08 pm

    All ideas help! Thanks for sharing with us on the Thursday Blog Hop!

    • Shan
      Author
      March 3, 2016 / 8:15 pm

      Thanks, Pam!

      blessings,
      Shan

  3. Lindsey
    March 4, 2016 / 12:54 pm

    Great actionable tips. I have no idea how a family of 3 can produce so much laundry, but nevertheless, we have TONS. This is very helpful. Pinning, stumbling and tweeting. Happy Friday!

    • Shan
      Author
      March 4, 2016 / 1:44 pm

      Thank you, Lindsey. Great to have you. Happy Friday back to ya.

      blessings,
      Shan

  4. Sarah
    March 4, 2016 / 4:33 pm

    Great tips!! I have a horrible habit of washing the same batch of clothes, over and over again. I’m looking forward to reading your e-book!

    • Shan
      Author
      March 5, 2016 / 10:40 am

      I hear ya, Sarah. Laundry has been a thorn in my side for years. After figuring out simple ways to make it “not a big deal” has been life changing! So glad you are here.

      blessings,
      Shan

  5. Gail
    March 14, 2016 / 10:40 am

    These are all great, practical ways to make laundry less of a chore. Thanks for these reminders. I especially like the idea of making the laundry room inviting 🙂

    • Shan
      Author
      March 16, 2016 / 10:04 pm

      Thanks, Gail. I appreciate it so much. Gotta make all those places we spend so much time – cute as can be!

      blessings!

  6. Lisa Lewis, MD
    March 16, 2016 / 8:35 pm

    These are great tips. I have totally missed the see-the-load-to-completion point. And yes, need to take your advice and jazz up my laundry room. Cheers!

    • Shan
      Author
      March 16, 2016 / 10:03 pm

      Awesome, Lisa! It seems like you aren’t doing much when you do one load at a time but I promise it makes a huge difference in the long run!

      blessings,
      Shan

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