Life as a busy, full-time working, disabled mom means my housework tasks have to be as efficient and easy as possible, or I risk abandoning them completely to avoid injury.
Doing the laundry is one of my most hated chores, but since there is no avoiding it, I’ve learned some smart tips from cleaning pros along the way to keep things together.
Here are my five parent-approved ways to stay on top of your family’s dirty laundry with ease.
5 parent-approved ways to keep on top of laundry
1. Get everyone involved
Get family members involved so you're not managing it all alone.
Even if you’re not having to clean with adaptive pacing in mind because of illness, injury, chronic pain or fatigue like me, asking for help or working as a team will make life easier.
You’re not the only one wearing clothes or using the towels and bedding in your family, so everyone can pitch in and ease the load.
If you have young kids like I do (my daughter is nine), age-appropriate related tasks are good for building their self-confidence and instilling sensible habits now, which will serve them when they move out and are suddenly fully responsible for all the boring bits of adulting.
For instance, my daughter separates her laundry using our Tota Joseph Joseph hamper, available from Amazon, which has separate compartments we have labeled white, dark, and colored. We each also take our own clean and dry clothes upstairs to avoid those loathsome stair piles.
Excluding children from sensible tasks is something people with tidy homes never do.
2. Don’t overwash
Overwashing puts extra wear and tear on your clothes, and uses up excess power and resources.
If you wear a pair of jeans and head out for a few hours, do you put them straight in the hamper when you get home? Next time, don’t. Overwashing clothes causes them to fade, and frankly, you don’t need to wash everything every time you wear it.
The exceptions are dirty or soiled clothing, underwear, and socks. Towels need to be washed every couple of uses to avoid moldy smells developing, and bedsheets should be cleaned weekly, or more if you’re a hot sleeper or your pets snooze alongside you.
A quick fix is having somewhere sensible to air out laundry, either in the sunshine, by an open window, or doubling up with Febreeze Fabric spray, available at Walmart.
Easily air out your barely worn items instead of washing them, using this discreet, small, and foldaway Joseph Joseph laundry rack. It comes with the hardware needed to install it.
3. Prioritize
Wash only the essentials when you're crunched on time.
If you have a monstrous pile of washing waiting for you, prioritize which items are most needed and leave the rest for another day. It’s OK to say goodbye to housekeeping perfectionism and simply get through the day, or week, sometimes.
If there is just one key item that needs cleaning, try handwashing it for a quick fix that doesn’t involve a full load being washed, dried, and put away.
When handwashing, I prefer using the luxurious-smelling and plant and mineral-based Attitude Laundry Detergent with Essential Oils in Geranium and Lemongrass, available in refillable bottles from Amazon.
I still wear latex-free gloves, available at Walmart, though, as that slippery feeling your skin gets when handwashing is the detergent breaking down the oils and proteins in the top layer of your skin.
4. Spot treat
Spot cleaning quickly saved excessive washing later.
If you’ve worn a top to lunch and it’s still clean apart from that splodge where you dropped something on it, don’t overlook the power of spot treating stains. Liquid glycerin works like magic, even on the most stubborn and old marks.
It will save you the job of putting a full load on, drying, folding, and putting away, as well as getting to the spill as quickly as possible. We love the Tide stain removal pens, available at Walmart, to get a head start when out and about.
5. Do full loads
Half-empty loads waste energy, resources and doubles the task instead of streamlining
Wait till you have enough garments for a full load. The easiest way to measure if a front-loading drum is full, but not too full, is if there is at least a hand's width of space at the top.
Any more than that and you will compromise the detergent’s ability to do its job and clean well. Both the water and the detergent need adequate space to move around the garments, and packing clothes in too tightly will reduce efficacy, resulting in repeated, unnecessary, and avoidable rounds of laundry.
This will have you doubling up all the different elements of the job, instead of doing it once, and doing less laundry and its related tasks.
What to shop
This clever and easy-to-use pocket-sized design is packed with powerful stain removal power, making this a great handbag essential.
Having a collapsible bucket that easily stashes away flat means you can soak stained clothes without busying up a sink in the process.
I highly rate mine as the whole family, even my kiddo, can easily sort their own garments, reducing time spent sorting the family's items by color before washing.
This features a handy section for dryer sheets with a detachable lid, and a hinged door for easy access and hidden storage. Keeping your utility space organized will make it easier to complete tasks.
Handwash or air barely worn items to keep them fresh. This foldaway and discreet mini rail is perfect for the little laundry tasks that will make your busy week easier.
This clever rack elegantly conceals your drying laundry. Not only does it make things look neater in small spaces when air drying is a must, but it helps take away the stress of seeing the clothes there, which signals to your brain that there's another job to do.
Next, learn more time-saving cleaning shortcuts.
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