Laundry Tips to Keep You Sane

I have three kids under the age of six. Doing laundry and picking up clothes takes up a lot of my time, not to mention sorting, folding and putting clothes away. I have tried a few different tricks and systems and have discovered what works best for me.

I used to pick up clothes off the floor in their rooms and stuff everything I found into the laundry basket. One day it dawned on me. My daughter changes shirts 3-4 times a day for minor reasons, like a little wetness from washing her hands. It occurred to me that I have been washing, folding a putting away perfectly clean clothes. When they were really little, under 2, everything they wore for more than an hour was dirty, but now they can wear things again and again. Now rather than automatically throw items in the hamper, I pick up the clothes and see if they are stained with food or paint. Then I fold them in a pile that my kids can put away to wear again, and again. This saves me a lot of time and money. The amount of laundry that I do is greatly reduced. I save on the time and energy it takes to wash and dry, soap and wear and tear on clothes.

I have taken this to the next step with my clothes. If I get a spot on a shirt or pants, I'll try and get it out with a washcloth and some water rather than automatically throwing it in the laundry.

One of my least favorite chores, and fortunately one that my kids do well, is folding and putting clothes away. My son is at the age where he appreciates money and keeps coins in a bank. He'll do just about any minor chore for a quarter. He is really good at putting his clothes away with this small cash incentive. My daughters of course, love to do anything he is doing!

I keep a clothes basket in each bedroom. Each basket gets filled with primarily one person's clothes. Rather than sort the laundry by color and then wash, I just wash and dry one basket as a load. I almost always wash on cold and most of their stuff is T-shirts and jeans so I mix some colors, darks and lights. My son's socks and underwear don't have to be a brilliant white. This saves a ton of time folding, sorting and putting away. All the clothes that come out of the dryer belong to one kid, go in one basket and gets returned to their room and put in their drawers. It is so much easier and faster to match up socks when they belong to one kid.

My kids put away their clothes in their basket. They seem to like the fact that a basket contains all of their stuff and take a little more ownership over the task.

I own about 10 square, plastic laundry baskets. All the same. They are square and stack together so they save space. Having a lot of baskets helps with the sorting and folding. I have one basket for each kid, one for sheets, one for towels, one for kitchen items.

My son is only six but I've started to plan ahead. I only buy him athletic socks that are white with a black character. All the same. I get white athletic socks without a character. It makes it a lot easier to match up socks and sort when they are all the same. It's boring but who cares! Who looks at my socks! My dress socks are all the same too.

This last Christmas, each kid got his or her own bath towel. Lame, I know, but they love their towels! I found pink ones for my daughters and a blue one with boats for my son. Because they have their own towels, which get returned to hooks in their rooms the towels get used over and over again.

I am always looking for ways to save a little time. Cutting corners and being efficient allow me to have more time doing the things I enjoy. I would love to hear if any of these ideas work for you or if you have any laundry time savers of your own.