Finding The Perfect Laundry Schedule

Laundry is one of the most tedious chores of motherhood. It has taken me years of fine tuning, but I finally discovered the perfect laundry schedule. Or at least it was perfect until last month when my machines went down. So for now I’ve had to adjust the way I do laundry which has taken me on a trip down bad memory laundry lane. Thus forcing me to recall all the different ways I’ve attempted to provide my family with unsoiled freshly scented attire.

Once A Month

This was my attempt to try to avoid laundry as long as possible. We had way too many clothes for the kids when we were new parents. Who can avoid wanting to put your child in every adorable outfit you see? Well I learned that the problem was not just in doing the mound of laundry itself, but in the storing and smell of a month’s worth of dirty clothes. Eck.

Laundry Every Day

This “throw a load in a day” approach didn’t work for me. I would forget about the load in the washer and it would get super smelly or I’d forget it in the dryer and the clothes would get wrinkled. Either way wash, dry and repeat was too irritating for me.

One Person’s Laundry Per Day

I despised this option because you’re basically a prisoner to the laundry room every day. Plus with a large family this laundry schedule is nearly impossible.

Color Sorter Rotation

This is how my mom did it when we were kids. Everyone sorted our colors into baskets in the laundry room and she threw in a load when she felt like it. The problem with this method for me is you never feel caught up. Not to mention it seems like what you need is never clean.

The Laundry Mat

There have been several phases in our life when this was necessary:

A) when the machines are down

B) if our pets bring in a hoard of fleas or

C) God forbid, a lice scare at school forces us to wash every piece of fabric we own

The perk of the laundry mat is to go during off hours and dominate all the machines. The downside is you have to fold and hang up all the clothes at once. And let’s not forget the joy of carting them all home to put away.

After many attempts to find the perfect laundry schedule I finally did.

Once A Week – Alternating Family Members

To make this system work you need to have 2 weeks worth of clothes and linens for each person in the family. I also include one load of household towels and linens each week. Here are some fine tuning tips that have made the laundry in my life a breeze.

• Start first thing in the morning

• Sort all the clothes you plan to wash that day (color sort clothes by individuals and/or roommates)

• Set the piles in order next to the washing machine

• Wash and Dry each load laying out the clothes on a bed, couch or railing so they don’t wrinkle

• Hang up and fold all the loads at once

*When you lay out clothes be sure to keep them sorted by individual. This drastically speeds up the put away process

With this alternating laundry schedule I am never overwhelmed by a large volume of laundry nor annoyed by it intruding in my every day life. It’s also perfect for me because I can multi-task. Just be sure to set a cell phone alarm so you don’t forget to switch over your loads. Then as a reward to yourself, watch a movie while you put all the clothes away. Little by little the kids are helping with the laundry madness and someday they’ll be doing it all on their own. Until that day arrives I’ll continue to try to find fulfillment in providing clean underwear for the masses.