The Life Changing Laundry System for Big Families

Keeping your family’s clothing clean, sorted, folded and put away will become your new normal. How? With this simple laundry system. Using habit stacking, along with an evaluation of how many loads you need to do for your family daily, creates a winning combination. Never again will you need to waste your time frantically digging through a mountain of laundry to locate what you need.

Step 1: Evaluate. How many loads do I need to do a day to keep the laundry running without backing up.

Step 2: Habit Stack. Stack each load you need to do throughout the day with a habit you already do at that time. Make sure you leave time to complete the cycle. Hang/Dryer, Fold, Put away.

Step 3. Implement. This is where you troubleshoot and fine tune the system to work for your unique situation.

How Many Loads Do I Need to Do a Day?

When I first tried researching laundry systems, the number one solution was always to do a load a day. The other one was not folding clothes.

For my family of 8 that would have spelled disaster. I would have had dirty laundry backed up for days. And the “No Fold” system? That just doesn’t work for me.

Every family is unique. What works for my big family won’t necessarily work for yours. But try a guesstimate. For me the magic number seems to be 3 loads a day. Between the actual clothing, towels, linen, dishtowels, rags, tablecloths… it all adds up. But try it out and see what works. You can always adjust based on your needs. Obviously, if I am hosting sleeping company a lot I will need to find time for extra loads of linen and towels, or I may need to reassess and adjust based on what is happening from week to week. But the three loads a day is a pretty basic need for us to keep the laundry system running smoothly.

What Can I Do To Keep My Laundry System From Failing?

Unless something is a habit, it is bound to fail. A habit can be created by maintaining strong discipline for 66 days, which is the average amount of days it takes someone to turn a behavior into habit… OR you can do it the instant gratification way, otherwise known as Habit Stacking! If you haven’t read “Atomic Habits” by James Clear – read it. The book covers much more than Habit Stacking, but for our purposes right now we will focus on this one point. To understand the concept more in depth, you can check out the longer description on the James Clear website here.

The idea is to take a habit that you already have, and pair the behavior you want as a habit, together. People like to use the morning cup of coffee, or brushing ones teeth as examples of habits we already do. They would then pair it with the new behavior. So it can look something like this – “When I brush my teeth in the morning, I will immediately follow that with a quick wipe down of the bathroom vanity”. The only tricky part, is that you need to have enough time to fold and put away your dry clothes, transfer/hang wet clothes, and put in a new load, with whatever habit you are planning to piggyback on.

Habit Stacking in Practice:

Load 1: I wake my kids up at about 7. While they are getting dressed and ready, I do one laundry cycle.

Load 2: Lunch. I don’t always eat breakfast, but I eat lunch everyday. So I prep my lunch, go process another load, then go eat lunch.

Load 3: My 8 year old doesn’t like to be alone upstairs when he goes to bed. I take care of load 3 while he is falling asleep

Planning and Timing are Key to Success

Even once I have set habits to pair my loads to, I need to think things through.

The morning run is when I have less time than the other two times I have chosen. So it is important to me to remember to have something easy to fold and put away in the morning, like towels. That means the towels went into the wash when I processed Load 2 at lunchtime, into the dryer when I processed Load 3 at 8:30, and is ready to be folded and put away in the morning, otherwise known as Load 1.

When I do a socks and underwear load, which I do twice a week, I need time to process it (Yes, that’s its own load. With 4 boys, that’s over 30 really smelly socks every 4 days, plus another 30 less smelly pairs. Plus the underwear, and any really stinky gym stuff). Matching all the socks takes time. But, it’s a quick and easy load to transfer, since most of it goes in the dryer. So, great load to put in the wash at Load 3 time, transfer during Load 1, which I just mentioned is my tightest time, and fold at Load 2 time – lunchtime.

Make the Laundry System Yours

My laundry system would not work for a mom working outside the house, for someone with no time to spare in the morning, or if they don’t have a timer setting on their washing machine. My examples were just that. Examples tailor fit to my life and schedule. Maybe a working outside the house mom would want to do one load early morning and two loads in the evening, or only two loads a day, but making up for it with extra loads on the weekend. Maybe you need only two loads a day, or four. Figure out what works for you and implement it. You will never look back. I dare you to try it.

The biggest hurdle I had was retraining my family to look in their drawers and closets for their clothes! What a novel idea.