Welcome to Part 2 of the series How to Easily Manage Your Home!
If you haven’t yet had a chance to read part one, you may want to check that out first.
Each post in this series will be building on what we did in the last, so I’ll be waiting right here while you catch up if you missed the last one!
Tackling the Two Biggest Time-Suckers
In this post, we will be tackling the two biggest time suckers for moms.
And I think it is pretty safe to say that these are the two biggest time suckers for every mom because they are never done.
Of course, I am talking about Dishes and Laundry.
These two chores keep coming up day after day, multiple times a day and seem to continually need our attention.
It can be really easy to get fed up and just think “Forget it! I’m not doing dishes or laundry today!”
But then of course the dishes and the laundry continue to pile up without our consent, and eventually, we have to take care of them again… only now it takes even longer than before.
So I wanted to share this post about how I went from being very overwhelmed by my kitchen and laundry to realizing they really aren’t that bad… as long as you do them correctly!
Before we get started, grab your Block Schedule that we created last time, your pen, and a notebook (or binder, or the Autopilot Workbook)!
And as always, if you prefer to watch, you can check out the YouTube video that goes along with this post:
And remember if you want to keep track of which routines you have set up and which ones you still need to do, grab the Easy Home Management Checklist!
Step 1: Doing the Laundry
So let’s go ahead and tackle the laundry routine first.
This post will just be an overview of getting your laundry under control.
When it comes to laundry, there is one major rule you have to follow if you want to simplify your routine:
Do ONE load of laundry EVERY DAY, from START to FINISH.
And by finished I mean folded and completely put away in your drawers, or your closet, or wherever you put your clean clothes.
Having piles of folded clothes on the floor isn’t that much better than having piles of dirty clothes on the floor.
So be sure to finish your task every single day.
2) Put It In Your Block Schedule
Now that we know we need to do laundry every day we are going to build our laundry routine into our daily schedule.
(That is we are going to do laundry every day except for our Mom’s Day Off of course… more on that later.)
So grab that Daily Block Schedule that we created together in thelast post.
Now we are going to decide which blocks of the day we are going to be doing our washing, drying, and folding, and putting it away.
Keep in mind that these can all be in different blocks or all in the same block depending on what your day is like.
Options for Work Outside the Home Moms
If you work outside the home all day, here are a couple of options that may work well for you:
Option 1: When you get home from work, start the washer. After you cook dinner and before you eat, switch the laundry to the dryer. And as you watch your favorite show in the evening, fold the laundry.
Option 2: Another option would be to start the washer when you get home. Then switch the laundry to the dryer before you go to bed. Then in the morning before you go to work, fold the laundry.
With the second option, you will still be doing one complete load every day, the order will just be reversed.
Options for Work at Home Moms
If you are home during the day, I recommend that you get your laundry done during the day.
In my Daily Block Schedule, I start my washing machine before I even go down to breakfast.
I switch it into the dryer near the end of my Morning Block.
Then at the beginning of my Evening Block, I fold and put away the clothes.
But like I said before, you can do all three in the same block if that works best for you.
I just like to put the different steps in my laundry routine where it naturally flows in my day.
So write down “wash laundry, switch laundry, and fold and put away laundry” in whichever blocks work best for your daily routine.
3) Put it on Your Cleaning Routine Sheet
Now that you know which blocks of the day you are going to do your laundry in, I want you to put it onto your Cleaning Routine sheet as well.
If you are creating your own template, just write down every day of the week with 6 lines underneath it.
In this next step, I’m going to be showing you the most efficient way to clean your kitchen. But obviously, if you don’t like my way, you can clean your kitchen however you’d like!
There is one rule though, that you have to follow if you want to have a clean kitchen all the time: You need to clean your kitchen immediately after every meal.
I can attest to this rule from experience.
I used to think that it was way more efficient to save the dishes until the end of the day and do the dishes just once.
But the problem with this is that dishes get harder to do the longer they sit there… and the more dishes there are, the harder it is to motivate yourself to actually do them.
I would always tell myself that I would do the dishes after supper.
But what would usually end up happening is after supper I would tell myself that I was too tired and I would do them in the morning.
Well, let me tell you, it’s really a bummer to wake up to dirty dishes every. single. day.
So do your dishes right away, and don’t delay!
2) Put it In Your Block Schedule
Now that we know we need to do our dishes after every meal, I want you to grab your Daily Block Schedule again and write down “Clean up Breakfast” in the correct block, “Clean up Lunch” in the correct block, and “Clean up Dinner” in the correct block.
This will serve as a reminder that this needs to happen before you can do anything else after the meal.
3) Write Down The New System
If you are creating your own templates, I want you to write down how you are going to clean your kitchen in a new, more efficient way on a piece of paper.
If you are using the Autopilot Workbook, you can just grab the sheet called “The Easy Way to Clean Your Kitchen” because I already did this step for you (just because I like you! š
Here is the easiest way to clean your kitchen:
Clean as you Cook
Clean Right After the Meal is Over
Put the Leftovers and Condiments Away First
Tackle the Table
Clean the Counters, Working Toward the Sink
Do the Dishes
Sweep the Flool
Get Everyone Involved
If you struggle to get your family involved, don’t worry about that step for now, we will be covering how to get your family involved in a later post in this series!
4) Put it Where You Can See It
As you (and your family) learns this new system, it’s important to have everyone on the same page.
I suggest placing the sheet of paper that you just wrote the list on (or The Easy Way to Clean Your Kitchen sheet from your workbook) on your refrigerator for easy reference.
Once you have your kitchen and your laundry systems in place, your house will immediately feel and look cleaner all the time!
Leave me a comment down below to let me know how it goes!
If you are ready to get organized and make a plan that will help you run your home without stress, check out my course Put Your Home on Autopilot!
This course walks you through the steps to get your home practically running itself!
In Put Your Home on Autopilot, you will learn how to set up effective cleaning systems, set up your day for success, and start making time for the things that matter most.
In just one month you will go from feeling overwhelmed to in control. And if you have any questions along the way, I’m only an email away!
Especially in this modern age, laundry is supposed to be simple, right?
We no longer have to scrub each outfit since we have amazing machines that do the majority of the work for us.
Yet even with the modern conveniences so many of us have, laundry tends to get out of control.
And when we get behind and are drowning in a sea of clothing, dirty or clean, it feels like there is no way we can catch up and still do everything else that is required of us.
Doing the laundry and cleaning the kitchen are by far the biggest time-consumers in my weekly cleaning routine… because I have to keep doing them every day for them to stay “done”.
Nothing else in our cleaning schedule works this way!
But these never-ending jobs keep building up even when we have just completed them.
Before I had a system down for laundry, it could easily be an all morning task just to fold the weekās laundry.
It felt like such a waste of time!
The Reason Laundry is Difficult
The reason that laundry is so difficult to figure out is that it isnāt a simple task. Simple tasks are easy to complete because you generally stick with the job until it is done.
Cleaning the bathroom would be a simple task. You don’t clean the mirror then wait an hour before you can clean the sink. Everything gets done sequentially.
Laundry is a task with several steps and pauses in the routine. Those breaks (the time it takes for the machine to wash or dry the clothes) make our life easier in some ways, but more difficult in others.
While we no longer have to bend over a washboard and scrub for hours (thank you, James King!), we now have to remember to go back to switch the laundry and fold it.
Our modern conveniences also give us a false sense of accomplishment. After we rotate a load into the dryer wethink, “Wow, look at the progress I’m making, one load washed already, I’ll just pop in another.”
Before long we find ourselves standing over a mountain of clean clothes picking out the one thing we were looking for and leaving the rest to wrinkle for the week.
In this post Iām going to show you The Most Important Step for Never Getting Behind on Laundry Again, My Minimalist Laundry Routine, 12 Tips to Save Time and Energy Doing Laundry, and 5 tips for Saving Money with Laundry.
And if you prefer to watch instead of read, check out this video:
The Key to Never Getting Behind Again
Do ONE Load Every Day, but Only One
I used to try to do all of my laundry on one day. When I did this, I found that I would put off having a laundry day as long as possible because I knew it would be a huge task.
Once I finally convinced myself that we were running out of clothing and if I didn’t act fast we would have nothing to wear, I would tell myself that this time would be different. This time I was going to fold ALL THE LAUNDRY!
By the time the laundry was all sitting there in a pile of clean clothes, it felt too overwhelming to fold and I usually ended up leaving it there.Ā
We would end up going into the laundry room through the week, picking out whatever we needed or wanted to wear, then leaving the rest there to wrinkle.
When I switched to doing the laundry on multiple days, it was a much more manageable amount of clothing to fold and put away at the end of each cycle.
You’ll want to decide on the number of times each week that you need to do laundry.Ā
If you have a small family, you might be able to get away with only doing one or two loads a week. If you have a large family, you might need to do an extra load on the weekends.
I have found that we do about one load per person per week once everyone is potty trained.
(If you are doing cloth diapers like we did, you might need to do an extra load or two of diapers per week. I never folded the cloth diapers, I just laid them in a pile on top of each other so it didnāt add much to my laundry routine. And with the second child, I didn’t bother washing them separately from clothing so I didn’t end up doing any extra loads.)
The most important thing to remember with doing one load of laundry per day, is to do it from start to finish!
And by finish, I donāt mean stuck in the dryer until the next load needs to go into the dryer. And by finish, I donāt mean in a pile on the floor.Ā By finish, I mean folded and put away.
Since our laundry machine is upstairs, I start the laundry before we go downstairs for breakfast.
After we get home from swimming lessons or the park in the morning, I switch the laundry to the dryer. Then, depending on what we are doing that afternoon, I will either fold the laundry after my younger daughter wakes up from her nap, or I will fold in the evening as my husband gets the girls ready for bed.
Completing one load of laundry every day has been a huge cure for the laundry problem I was facing.
If you work outside the home, try starting the laundry as soon as you walk in the door at the end of the day, then switch it over before you sit down to dinner. Then you can either fold it while your spouse puts the kids to bed, or you can have him fold it while you do the snuggles.
My Minimalist Laundry Routine
As with all of my routines in My Weekly Cleaning Schedule, my goal was to make my Laundry Routine as simple as possible.
Here is my Weekly Laundry Routine:
Sunday: Possible Load of Laundry, Start to Finish
When we were doing cloth diapers and/or potty training, I needed this extra day of doing laundry.
Now that both girls are potty trained, I donāt generally do laundry on Sunday. But if we have an outdoor weekend of hiking, camping, or yard work, I can do a quick load of our dirty weekend clothes.
12 Tricks for Never Getting Behind on Laundry Again!
1) Do One Load of Laundry Every Day
As I mentioned above, this is the number one key to keeping your laundry under control.
Do one load of laundry (and only one!) start to finish every day.
And the big key here is to finish the process: wash, dry, fold, and put away.
If this is the only tip you start using, you will immediately stop feeling overwhelmed by laundry.
If you currently feel like you are drowning in laundry, don’t try to catch up before implementing this system.
Doing one load a day will automatically catch you up as long as your washer and dryer hold more that a day’s worth of clothing.
Just start today doing one load, and only one, start to finish and see how long it takes before you are back in control of your laundry routine.
If all of your laundry for one day doesn’t fit into your machine, you may want to invest in high-capacity machines, or you may need to do two loads of laundry per day. But if that is the case for you, you likely have a lot of people in your family and you should have one of the children help you with this task… more on that later!
2) Don’t Wash Clean Clothes
This was something I learned after discovering more about minimalism and low waste living. I grew up wearing something once then throwing it in the laundry.
While I still think this practice is great for undergarments, it doesnāt necessarily apply to other articles of clothing.
Most everyday clothing for adults can be worn 2-3 times before it is in need of a wash. I will often wear one pair of jeans or shorts 3-5 days in a row before I wash it.
It cuts down on laundry which saves me time folding and putting things away.
It cuts down on water usage because I can set the water level for smaller loads and that saves me money.
And it makes my clothes last longer because they aren’t getting washed as often, which also saves me money.
The girlsā clothing typically needs to be washed every day at this point, but I can usually get 2-3 nights out of a pair of pajamas.
Even if I couldn’t use any of their clothes more than once, just reducing my laundry cuts down on the size of the load Iām washing and folding.
3) Don’t Own Too Many Clothes
If you own more clothes then you can wear in a week or two, it is tempting to let your laundry hamper become a mountain before the clothes go into the wash.
Before I minimized my clothing and my girlsā clothing, this may or may not have happened all the time.
Once I downsized the amount of clothes we owned, I was much more motivated to keep the laundry rotation in orderā¦ otherwise, I might run out of things to wear!
I keep our wardrobes to approximately a week-and-a-halfās worth of everyday clothing per season.
*Full Disclosure: I didn’t get rid of their clothing that didn’t make the cut. I simply put it in bins in the garage. Until I’m sure I’m done having babies, I’m not going to get rid of any clothes because that stuff is expensive!*
A slightly ironic aspect of our minimalist wardrobe is that we own very little white clothing. (It almost feels wrong to say it’s a minimalist wardrobe with very little black or white.)
Not only is this because white isn’t the most flattering color on me, but Iām also about as graceful as a rhinoceros in a china shop. If there is something to spill, I make it happen. And it seems that my girls have inherited this adorable little habit.
In addition to not wanting all of my clothes stained with a variety of colors, I also found it challenging to keep my whites… well, white.
I do have a couple of white towels because I wanted to be able to bleach them periodically. Iāve done all the things and tried all the tricks, but somehow they still end up looking dingy.
Ross has requested that we donāt buy anything white again after these towels wear out and I think that’s a great plan.
No matter what I do, I find myself washing clothes or towels more when they are white to try to maintain the brightness.
I have found it saves me a lot of time doing laundry to buy any other color and not worry about it!
5) Don’t Sort Your Laundry
On a related note, not owning white clothing enables me to throw all my light clothing and dark clothing into one load.
So far, Iāve never had anything bleed.
You know the Friends episode where Rachel dyes all of her white clothes with one rogue red sock? Well, it’sĀ a lie, you guys!Ā
If one of the girls has a new shirt that is especially bright and looks like the color might bleed, I will wash it by itself first, but after that, I never worry about sorting the laundry.
The only exception to this rule is that I do wash my towels and sheets separately from the other clothes, for the most part.
Thatās mainly because they are bulky and they can fill up the machine by themselves.
It’s also because I wanted to wash my white towels alone to keep them whiteā¦but we already know how that worked out for me.
6) Work Laundry into Your Daily Schedule
After I get my younger daughter up in the morning, I send the girls to get the hamper. They load the clothes into the washer and we start the washing machine before we go down to breakfast.
After we eat breakfast, we transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
Then, depending on the day, my oldest daughter and I will fold the clothes after lunch, or if we are crunched for time, we will fold them after the girls wake up from their naps.
If you work outside the home, try starting the laundry as soon as you get home each evening. Rotate everything to the washer before you sit down to dinner, then have one person fold while the other puts the kids to bed.
If you are a single parent, fold while you watch your favorite show in the evening!
If you want more information about how to set up your daily schedule, check out this post!
7) Set a Timer
If you have a hard time remembering to switch the laundry to the dryer or remembering when itās time to fold, set a reminder on your phone.
If your schedule is usually the same day after day, have a recurring alarm on your phone for loading the washing machine, transferring to the dryer, and folding clothes.
8) Don’t Leave the Laundry Room to Fold
I used to take all of the laundry downstairs in the evening to hang out with my husband while I folded. But it took FOREVER.Ā
First, I had to move it all downstairs (usually more than I could carry in one load). Then I had to fold it, before hauling it all back upstairs. I find if I just do it in the laundry room it takes much less time.
The only exception to this rule is if you work outside the home and you fold laundry in the evenings as you are relaxing and watching a show.
Folding while you watch is better than not folding at all, even if it takes you a little longer.
9) Stand Up to Fold
I find if I sit down with the laundry piled around me it feels overwhelming and takes longer.
If I stand while I fold, I get it done quickly.
There is something about standing that encourages your body to move faster.
It is also more efficient to fold standing up because I can easily see where all the larger items are in the pile and get those done before I move on to the smaller items.
10) Fold As You Empty the Dryer
Before I began using this laundry system, I would take the clothes out of the dryer to find one thing or another.
Then I would leave the laundry room with the best intentions of coming back later and folding the rest.
I soon discovered that ālaterā never came. The next day I would find myself pulling the laundry out of the dryer onto the pile of laundry from the day before.
Now, I force myself to get everything folded immediately.
11) Put Everything Away, Right Away
Once you’re done folding, don’t delay in getting everything into the proper drawers.
This is a great task for small children to help with. If I want to, I can keep my girls busy the whole time I’m folding by having them run one item at a time from the laundry room to the proper drawer.
It’s a great way for them to burn off energy and it gives me one less step that I need to complete.
If you fold after your kids are in bed, take the piles and place them outside their doors. Then in the morning, have them put their own clothes away.
12) Don’t Do it By Yourself
If you have multiple people in your house, there is no reason that mom should do everyone’s laundry. Ok, maybe there are some reasons like if your children can’t walk yet… but other than that, no reason!
If both you and your significant other work, divide up the laundry chore. You can do this a number of ways, one way is to give each person in the family a hamper and have them be responsible for their own laundry.
It may take a couple of weeks if your spouse isn’t used to doing their own laundry, but once they run out of clothes once or twice, they will start remembering.
When we both worked outside the home, laundry was my husbandās job. He would spend Sundays watching football and getting all the laundry done. Maybe your husband would enjoy this chore as well if he could do something similar. Youāll never know unless you ask!
When my oldest daughter was about 18 months old, I started teaching her how to fold washcloths. Every time I folded laundry, I would separate out all of the washcloths. She would fold them as I would fold everything else. It took a lot more time at first as I would need to help her and remind her to stay focused, but it paid off in the long run.
As she became proficient at the washcloths, she started asking what else she could fold. Between the ages of three and three and a half, she was able to fold every piece of clothing. Now, at the age of four, she folds all her clothes and all her sisterās clothes while I am folding Ross’s and mine.
When my younger daughter was just over one, she started helping me put the clean clothes into the dryer and pulling them out of the dryer when they were done. No, this doesnāt make my life any easier at that moment, but I want her to know she is an important part of doing chores in our house.
When your children are seven or eight years old and older, they can start doing their own laundry. My goal for my girls is that when they are seven, they will be doing their own laundry.
Especially if you have teenagers, this is a great responsibility for them to have. It is teaching them an important life skill that they will need when they move out, all while making your life easier at the same time.
Here’s are the 12 tips you can use today to get your laundry under control for good!
Do One Load Every Day. And only one!
Don’t Wash Clean Clothes. Re-wear your clothes to save time and money!
Don’t Own Too Many Clothes. Decluttering will save you time.
Avoid White Clothing
Don’t Sort Your Laundry
Work Laundry Into Your Daily Schedule. Then you won’t forget a load.
