Best Proven Family Laundry Methods

Overseeing the family laundry is one of the most time consuming tasks involved in running a household. Learn how to raise your laundry efficiency level and a great hack I learned while researching this article that involves ice cubes!

The Family Laundry System

The Family Laundry “Loads Formula”

Keep in mind ALL the laundry that needs to run through our machines:

• Bath Towels
• Dish Towels
• Rags
• Work/School clothes
• Pajamas
• Workout clothes
• Linen
• Dressier items

In my family of 8, I need to do approximately 3 loads a day just to keep up. I created a laundry schedule to stay on top of it. Laundry schedules need to be tailor made to fit into our lives. If and when my life and schedule changes, I need to modify our family’s laundry schedule to accommodate those changes.

Working The Family Laundry Formula Into Your Schedule

Sit down with a pen and paper. How many are we in our family? How many loads should I be doing a day? It was shocking to me when I had the realization that less than 3 loads a day leads to backup. It was also a relief to realize there was no secret to conquering laundry. Just a naiveté on my part on the actual volume my family produced.

Just because my family formula is three loads a day, does not mean I do three loads a day.

Family Laundry Loads Efficiency

Now that we know how many loads we need to do and when we are doing those loads, we need to make sure to choose which load we do and when, wisely. Choosing to do the wrong loads can lead to total laundry system failure. I am not being dramatic. It’s a real thing.

I can picture it, and I am sure some of you can too. You wake up and throw in a load of laundry. Morning routine, time to leave the house, need to change the laundry to the dryer before you go… and it is full of items that need to hang-dry and you only have five minutes.

When that used to happen, the load would sit there all day. I would finally decide to rewash it after procrastinating because I couldn’t decide if it needed rewashing or not – and then the backup would start.

No time this morning? I want to throw in a load that can get completely transferred to the dryer AND that won’t get wrinkled sitting in the dryer for hours. Bath towels, dish towels, socks and underwear, and pajamas are all examples of loads that would be a logical choice for the scenario above.

If you have a washing machine with a timer, I love to set it the night before to finish a load a few minutes before I wake up. Then I can transfer or hang the laundry first thing.

How I Sort My Family Laundry For Maximum Efficiency

Step one in ensuring success for me, is how and when I sort.

Some people toss everything in together, some people have a million sorting categories (me). My sister-in-law does the former with some sort of color catcher sheet.

Because I have enough socks and underwear alone in a family of my size to fill an entire load once a week, I prefer lots of sorting options. I wash my socks and underwear load on a higher heat. That wouldn’t be possible if I was laundering them with regular clothing items.

There are the classics, like whites, colors and darks. Whites is self-explanatory, but I sort the colors and darks more based on the kind of machine setting they need.

• A more delicate black turtleneck will get washed with the lighter colors that are washed on cold
• A gym t-shirt that might be light green but needs a warmer temperature will go in with my darks. If it is really stinky, I wash it with the socks and underwear load. Throwing a cup of baking soda into the wash is a great way to help get the stink out of dri-fit style work out clothing.
• I also love adding a cup of vinegar to a colors load. It is supposed to keep them bright. The clothing does not smell like vinegar after.

Decide which sorting categories work for you, and what you are sorting into. I use two rolling sorting carts, one with three sections and one with four sections for a total of seven sections. It may sound like a lot, but it gives me enough categories that I don’t have any laundry piles sitting around the house, or on the floor of my laundry room.

Categories I Use When Sorting Laundry

• Heavyweight Items (Denim, Twill/Chino Pants)
• Items I wash on warmer temperature (Mostly Darks, Gym stuff)
• Items I wash on cold (Mainly Colors, More Delicate Items)
• Whites
• Socks and Underwear (Unless they are white, then they go in whites)
• Dish Towels, Kitchen Stuff
• Bath Towels and Linen
• I keep my dirty rags in a bin near my clean rags, so not in the sorter

My categories work for me, I am definitely not suggesting anyone else adopt them. Do what works for you.

I try to sort all the laundry in the house from the different laundry hampers at least once a day or every other day. When I do it often it takes five minutes. One benefit to this is I notice when one of my sorting baskets starts getting full and then I know what area needs washing next.

The other benefit is that I notice if something is stained and needs treatment. The earlier stains are treated, the better chance you have to get them out.

This is also the time when I can untangle rolled up socks, and turn some items inside out. I do this for two reasons.

Reason #1 – If I am hanging clothing outside the color won’t wash out as quickly from the sun if the clothes are inside out.

Reason #2 – If the article of clothing has a print on it. When the garment is inside out it protects the print and keeps it from cracking.

Think Ahead Now, Save Time Later

Now that you are consistently sorting your family’s laundry, and you can see what needs doing, make sure you pause to think! My work is done for the day and I am home for the evening. I still have to get through my evening routine, but there is time to spare for laundry.

I check my laundry hampers and see that the towel hamper is full, I also have a load’s worth in my colors category. That load will need to have items hung.

Many of those items are dress shirts that also require pressing. Wet clothing that sits in the washing machine becomes very wrinkled from the heavy weight of all the wet clothes.

I choose the load of colors over the load of towels.

I am home and have the time to come in as soon as it is finished to transfer items to the dryer and hang dry the other items. This minimizes the wrinkles and saves me time when I am ironing. The immediate hanging/dryer transfer once the load is done means some items may not require ironing at all.

Wrinkle Time Savers

What if something comes up and your stuff does sit in the dryer? Don’t worry! My favorite tip, from my childhood friend Rivky G., will get those wrinkles out. She throws a few ice cubes into the dryer with her now wrinkled clothing and turns the dryer on for another 5-8 minutes. You might need to adjust the time depending on your dryer and load size.

Too Much Stuff Is Always The Culprit

One of the things that made the biggest difference for me with laundry, was getting rid of clothing. Decluttering always wins. Unlike expired medication and torn or mismatched linen though, clothing is hard for people to part with.

I understand. But believe me when I tell you, that you will be happier with less. While I could write an entire article on decluttering clothing, and I probably will, you have got to have faith.

Clothing Declutter Crash Course

Always make sure to have a garbage bag and giveaway box/bag ready.

Start with what is easy. Your kids’ closets! They grow (upwards) still, so they probably have items that don’t fit them anymore. Take out anything that is torn, stained, too small. The too small stuff can get sent down to your next kid or given away. Throw out the torn and stained stuff.

Socks with no match or with holes. Garbage. I used to keep them thinking the match would turn up. They don’t. I usually keep the loner socks on my laundry room counter for a week or so, if it doesn’t turn up by then it gets trashed.

I like to do this exercise when they have only half full drawers. It is an indication to me already of what they are not using regularly. I will call them over and ask them about it. Sometimes they will tell me a shirt has an uncomfortable collar or the pants pocket is torn. Out they go.

For your own stuff. Start with what’s easy, just like the kids. Build your decluttering muscles slowly. You don’t have to do a giant purge, but if you notice you only wear a certain pair of pants when all the laundry is unwashed and you have no choice, get rid of them.

Pay attention and don’t let the clothes that are only “backups” take up valuable real estate and clog up your laundry volume.

The Family Laundry Dot System

This seems like such a no brainer once you know it, but it is absolute genius and a huge time saver.

I only use it for my kids, but it can be used for all members of the family. As my oldest kids are getting bigger, and their clothing can now potentially be confused with mine and my husband’s, I am considering adding us to the system.

How It Works

Starting from oldest to youngest, each child is assigned a dot. Oldest – 1 dot, second – 2 dots and so on. Using a laundry pen/sharpie, I make the dot(s) on the tag or an area that won’t bleed through to the other side.

I have a few boys in a row. They differ by about one size. Opening up the pants to check, or looking for the size adds time to my laundry chores. When all I have to do is check the dots, I don’t have to stop and think, or use my brain, it is just auto pilot. Even my 17 year old daughter’s clothing has dots. She may be between two boys, and her clothing is different looking for the most part, but t-shirts can sometimes be similar, and this way I don’t have to try to remember everyone’s wardrobes.

And then the true genius of the system.

This also has the added benefit of keeping the peace. Sometimes one of my kids forgets he outgrew something and gets upset if he sees his brother wearing what he thinks is his. Checking the tag can clear up any misunderstandings quickly.

Family Laundry Survival When You Have No Time

Families today are busy. Laundry sometimes just doesn’t fit into the schedule. Unless you are ready to to stop sleeping, which I don’t recommend, you need a solution for when you just can’t make it work.

When all of my kids were little and home with me a lot, and before I discovered minimalism, I was LITERALLY drowning in laundry. It was always last on my list, and while I would manage to actually wash the laundry, the piles grew and grew.

I needed way more time in the morning to get everyone ready as I needed to dig through the piles to find them each what they needed. “Being organized” back then meant digging through piles the night before. That is definitely not a pleasant way to live and I would never want to go back to that.

Getting rid of a ton of clothing (we still have plenty to wear!) changed that. Even when I have a crazy week and I need to leave the laundry for the weekend, it never gets as bad as it did then. I can always get on top of the laundry within a day or so.

That crazy time of my life though was the catalyst for a great family laundry hack, that while I don’t use it today, could work very well for you depending on your situation.

How It Works

Trying to find a shirt or sock in a small basket that only has your own clothes does not take too long. I was also able to give my older kids’ baskets to them and have them fold and put away their own clothes. I needed the basket back, so they couldn’t just leave it untouched on the floor in their room.

Today I prefer to just sort, fold and put away. Obviously it is great when I can do that as soon as the load is done. The clothing looks better and everyone loves to have laundry magically keep appearing where they belong. But even when my week is rough, and the clean laundry mountain on top of the counter is big, I sort, fold and put away without the basket method.

Know yourself and what will work for you. If you prefer your family members to fold and put away their own laundry, if you don’t really care about folding clothes, if you literally can’t fit the hours needed to get the laundry folded and put away into your week! This would be a great solution under those circumstances. Where at least the clothing is clean and easily accessible for each family member.

Own Your Laundry, Don’t Let It Own You

Systems and routines are wonderful, but life has its own agenda, and that is okay. We are trying to fit the laundry into our life, not our life into our laundry routine. Sometimes the dirty laundry will pile up, and sometimes the clean laundry does. That is not a fail. That is life.

Although it might seem overwhelming, just start sorting and washing. The piles will disappear and seem a lot less daunting once you get it all moving.

Try to keep laundry on your mind so when you DO have a few minutes you can keep that laundry system moving.

If you have any laundry hacks or solutions, please share them in the comments section below!