Organizing your Laundry {Blog Hop}

laundry

Laundry gotcha down?  Say the word and even seasoned moms like me cringe. It’s just.so.daily.

Or not!  Unfortunately, when I don’t do laundry every day, it piles up.  I was in fall-decorating/school prep mode this week and so the laundry was sorely neglected.  We paid for that today when all the piles of clean laundry were dumped out on the family room floor to be folded and put away.  The upside: five people folding and putting way makes short work of Mount Never Rest.

Families are all different, and different methods work during different seasons of life.  Here are a few quick tips I’ve learned for beating the laundry blues!

LaundryBlues

 

  1. Don’t leave your laundry to chance.  Develop a system!  I wrote about our system in my book: The Guide to Daylight
    1. I’m a fan of chore charts.  Here’s a printable chore chart with many suggestions.
    2. Get your children involved in doing laundry. In our house, everyone is responsible for running their own laundry through if they are eight years old or older.  One person is assigned to make sure the hampers are being run through and then the clean laundry is given to it’s owner to fold and put away.
  2. Organize your laundry room
    1. Use hampers to sort clothes.  In our house, each bedroom has it’s own hamper.  We keep a wicker hamper in the kitchen for kitchen laundry and two in the laundry room for towels and clothes I find strewn around the house. 🙂
    2. Put laundry detergent within easy reach.
    3. Use laundry baskets for individuals or for particular rooms (we have a basket per each bedroom).
    4. Install a hanging rack if at all possible.  We found one that I love two years ago.  Now clothes to be hung up can be hung up straight out of the dryer.
  3. Choose a regular day for washing sheets.  Children can strip their own beds and put clean sheets on with some help. We chose Thursdays—since Friday is errand day and we generate the most laundry over the weekends.
  4. Try to be consistent with the schedule you come up with.  We do laundry every day at our house, but there are 10 of us here on a regular basis. Remember, everyone has bad days/weeks. Sometimes, it just piles up because more pressing things need to be done.
  5. Let go of perfectionism.  That’s all I have to say about that.  You can have your perfect laundry scenario back when the kids are grown.  (We’ll miss this too, I’m told.)

I have never come up with a system that I love for socks.  I’ve tried them all—and right now we just put the mismatched socks in a big basket.  We dump it when it gets full and try to match socks.  About twice a year, I throw the others out.  (I know I can save them for all sorts of Pinterest projects, I just know that I won’t ever do them.)

I’d love to hear your ideas!

Scrub-a-dub,
signature-heidi

Read all of the posts “Organizing Your Laundry” posts on these blogs! And read all about the Blog Hop going on HERE!

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Heidi St John Guide to Daylight

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About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.

45 thoughts on “Organizing your Laundry {Blog Hop}

  1. Peggy Summy

    We’ve just developed our own laundry system, too! And…it got blown to bits when our two busiest laundry days we were away from home. So, 4 loads in one day and now we’re caught up…except for sorting and putting away…which I should be doing right now! 😛 And I’m the same with socks. I leave them on the folding table and if people want their socks, they go get them! 🙂 We have 8 in our family. But living in FL, we don’t have as many socks as others do. 😛

    Reply
  2. Sarah Hays

    We have 10 in our family, 8 children from 15yrs-6mths. Our socks go into a tub, and if you are older than 5, you match your own when you want to wear them. I wear mismatched socks because I like to, and half of my children do the same! About twice a year, we sit down and go through them, sorting to keep or throw away holey socks that we missed coming out of the dryer. It works for us!

    Reply
  3. Vicchair Vanderhoof

    I was just thinking through laundry organization yesterday. Since there are only 4 in this house our laundry amount is not as much as you have. I decided yesterday that Mondays are for my husband and I. Tuesdays are for our nine year old. Wednesday I will do our six year old’s laundry. Thursday we will wash sheets and towels. The weekend we will throw in a load when and wherever the need is greatest. I will see how it works. Training my family to cooperate will be the key.

    Reply
  4. Megan

    We do the same for socks, too! It’s not fun, so I’m really hoping to hear some good tips from your readers. The best laundry change we’ve ever made was turning our basement laundry area into a dressing room. We spent some money to buy shelves and racks for hanging clothes. Now I take the clothes right out of the dryer and put them away. It’s so convenient. The oldest two kids do take their laundry up to their room closets to put away. But my, my husband’s, and my three little ones’ clothes are all right there. When we first did this, friends would ask us if it was a pain to have to go to the basement to get dressed. I told them that we usually did that before anyway because the clothes never got put away. As a bonus, it has opened up our bedroom walk-in closet which we now use as a nursery. It’s a great system for us!!!

    Reply
  5. Tanya Rachels Ward

    Each family member has a washable lingere bag with their name written in sharpie, socks go in this bag before the wash. Now, at least we aren’t trying to figure out who they belong to during sorting! Somehow, socks still get lost, but it helps some!

    Reply
    1. Maggie

      I was just thinking about this last week! Especially since the lingerie bags are such a good price, so it would be expensive to get one for each of the kids.

      Reply
  6. Alecia LeMay Williams

    Organizing laundry is a MUST in my house too. We are a family of 6 and I do1 load a day (completely…wash, dry, fold, put away) except on bedding day (Friday). Then we have 2 loads but I don’t wash any clothes on that day. My 2 older kids (age 6 and 8) alternate the days they do laundry for their chore. On MW my daughter collects everyone’s laundry and washes and on TuTh my son does. I do Friday beddign. For socks I bought each of my kids a bag that you wash lingere in. When their socks come off, they go in the bag. When they wash their clothes they zip up the bag and the socks get washed in there together. What goes in the washer comes out of the dryer that way.

    Reply
  7. Jill Timms

    A friend of mine heard of a neat idea to keep socks organized. The only downsize would be that the dark, and white socks would need to be organized. Buy a mesh panty hose-lingerie garment bag for each person in your house. As each person takes off their socks nightly, they go into the mesh bag. The whole bags can be washed with the contents inside, and each person would be responsible for folding their own socks. The best thing is…… The socks can’t go for a swim and get lost Mesh bags are cheap and can be bought at Walmart, Target, bd probably most dollar stores.

    Reply
  8. Leia Jackson

    We have a sock bag that I stick all socks in that I can’t quickly find the mate to. From there you can look for a mate or wear mitch match, which my girls prefer anyway!

    Reply
  9. Mrs Laui

    We give off socks to the rightful owners and then every so often (or when they need socks they do it) I’ll go through their sock drawer and match them all up. Somehow we end up with very few odd balls at that point. Then I’ll toss the leftovers or I’ve made dryer balls out if a few.

    Reply
  10. Jenn

    I grew up with a basketful of mismatched white socks growing up. So I hate mismatched socks with a passion! We use a safety pin to pin a pair of socks together. When you take them out of the dryer, you just undo the pin and fold together, and viola no mismatched socks!!! 🙂 It makes me very, very happy. Lol Every once in a while I get a hole in a sock where the pin was because it got too twisted in the washer and I didn’t straighten it out before it got put in the dryer. But if you are throwing out loose socks anyways, it’s not any worse than that!

    Reply
  11. Misty Heitman

    I am in the process this week of tackling laundry in a big way. I am making my laundry room a family closet. Laundry has kicked my rear end all summer. We start school next week and I can’t get the school room ready until this is tackled. Please pray for us! 🙂

    Reply
  12. Sharla Williams Orren

    I had a wonderful friend tell me to get each child a bucket and throw their socks in there bucket. Their bucket stays on top of their dresser until they need a pair of sock which they match themselves. It has worked out great!!!!

    Reply
  13. Emily Marley Gillis

    I match socks as I fold. If I have socks without a mate, I put them in a plastic shoebox. Each time I find unmatched socks, I check the box for mates. Some lonely socks have been in there for years. I keep holding out hope that the mates will show up if my children ever clean their rooms thoroughly.

    Reply
  14. Megan South Benninger

    We do the same for socks, too! It’s not fun, so I’m really hoping to hear some good tips from your readers. The best laundry change we’ve ever made was turning our basement laundry area into a dressing room. We spent some money to buy shelves and racks for hanging clothes. Now I take the clothes right out of the dryer and put them away. It’s so convenient. The oldest two kids do take their laundry up to their room closets to put away. But my, my husband’s, and my three little ones’ clothes are all right there. When we first did this, friends would ask us if it was a pain to have to go to the basement to get dressed. I told them that we usually did that before anyway because the clothes never got put away. As a bonus, it has opened up our bedroom walk-in closet which we now use as a nursery. It’s a great system for us!!!

    Reply
  15. Misty Heitman

    One way I am trying is that I bought a small mesh lingerie washing bag for each child. I put their initial on the bag. They put their dirty socks in it. They get washed, and everyone knows whose socks are whose. Then, they get put back away. I am still working on this process, but this is what I am working toward 🙂 .

    Reply
  16. Jill Bolles

    I assigned a lingerie bag to each child (wrote their name on it with a sharpie). It kept all the socks together thru the washer and dryer. Worked very well except for socks covered with grass, dirt or sand, of course.
    We have 6 boys and 2 girls. To easily separate the boys’ clothes, I used a dot system. One dot for the oldest, 2 dots for the next oldest, and so on. When an item is handed down, just add another dot!

    Reply
  17. Janell Lia-Breitmayer

    We have a laundry basket in the bathroom where everyone throws their soiled clothes inside. In he washing room, this gets separated into darks, whites, blues and reds. Towels and bedsheets I wash 60 degrees, they have a separate hamper. Hand wash items also a separate container. I only put towels and bedsheets into the dryer. I hang all clothes on
    Hangers soon as they are done washing, some need not be ironed as they’ve been dried ‘straightened’. My children (7&10) help with hanging socks and undies on our ‘octopuses’. The younger one can iron t-shirts, the older one irons on weekends. Whatever that’s folded or ironed is put in baskets meant for each person in the household. Children put their own things into their wardrobes.

    Reply
  18. Liz

    Only two kids in our family..until October.
    I try to do a load a day, although weekends and holidays I play catchup, because hydro is less expensive.

    Each of my girls have their own type of sock, I don’t fold them, they just get thrown into their underwear drawers. You don’t have to worry about matches because they are the same. When their feet are the same size, I will buy only one type/colour for both girls and they can share the sock drawer.

    Reply
  19. Pam B

    We have a schedule, too. Every child tall enough to reach the laundry detergent gets to do their own laundry. One of mine even asked to be allowed to do his own laundry as I didn’t do it often enough for him! Running out of socks or underwear is a mighty fine incentive for cleaning your own clothes. We each have assigned days and if you need to wash on someone else’s day, you have to ask permission – mama included. When I did everyone’s laundry, we tried putting dots on socks and underwear. One dot for the youngest, two for the next, and so on. That way (supposedly) you add a dot if the item gets handed down to the next child. It sort of worked for us. I was glad when they started doing laundry themselves.

    Reply
  20. Susan Dusseault

    Each child has a laundry day. On their day they do their own wash, Dry, put away. I do mine and hubbies., and household-towels and such. In the past, all socks go into their drawer matched or not. The mate eventually catches up. Another friend with many kids does each persons laundry at once. Clothes are never mixed.

    Reply
  21. Ryan Shels Weems

    Tip. My friend Jan gives each child lingerie bags. When the child has dirty sock/undies they go in the bag. Bags are stored under the bed. Until the bag is mostly full (or the drawer is mostly empty). Then the whole bag goes in the wash and dry. Then instead of sorting through it, the entire bag goes to the child, is dumped in the sock/underwear drawer to start again. End the sorting, or at least some of it!

    Reply
  22. Rochelle Alberti

    The easiest way for me was to limit how many clothes each child is allowed to own. Seriously. And setting aside 1to 2 days a week to wash, fold, etc. That is all the laundry for 8 people. When we have a baby in the house…we do cloth diapers and we wash them every other day (we have about 4 to 6 dozen) or sooner if necessary.

    Reply
  23. Christy

    Laundry always piles up, so when we moved into our new house, I created a rough system & we are working to improve it. Laundry days are Mon. & Thurs. All kids bring brackets to laundry room on there days. At this point I am washing & teaching our oldest to wash. I do must of folding, but again beginning to teach our oldest 2 to help. We fold, put back in baskets & they take to put away. I check every other week or so to make sure they are getting out away!

    Socks!!!! Oh my. My son had a great idea. I do not do socks. If I am folding I may sort them by who they belong to, but as a general rule you get & fold. I asked my so to fold his socks… His reply was, I just put them in the drawer & match them when I need them. Not for me.. I like mine matched, but if it works for him…

    If your laundry doesn’t make it to laundry day…to bad…

    I do random loads now & then for things like towel or kitchen laundry that piles up.

    QUESTION…how, with lots of kids do you keep their clothes purged?? My two little girls just had birthdays & got new ones. A friend gave lots of hand me downs. They have to many. I need to go through sort & get little ones out, put back for younger siblings/ cousins, and get closet functional. It is embarrassing how many close they all of a sudden have. I am going to donate some, but ….

    Reply
  24. Linda

    Each of my children start doing 100% of their own laundry by 12 years old. My oldest daughter does the girls clothes (there’s only 2 in that bedroom now) and the youngest folds and puts away all the towels (she is 5). I make sure they have enough clothes to make it one week and they each have an assigned day of the week. As for the socks…..they just go in the drawer, since they do their own laundry, it’s their socks.

    Reply
  25. Kathleen Dahlgran

    We tried the lingerie bag, but they either forgot to put undies and socks in it or it didn’t get closed up before going in the wash, so we gave up on it. They both match their own socks and if they don’t have a matched pair, they’ll just have to wear mismatched socks (my 4yo doesn’t care, my 6yo is starting to). I used to buy only white socks, then it didn’t matter as much.

    Reply
  26. Jenifer

    One thing I recently discovered to deal with socks are SockSacs! Each kid has their own. Instead of throwing their socks and undies in the hamper, they put them in their SockSacs, zip them up, and throw them in the washer. Now, each child’s socks get washed and dried in the sac. When laundry is done, each child takes their SockSac, pairs up the socks, and puts them away. No more missing socks!
    Note: These can be pricey; however, after doing lots of research (that’s just what I do! :)), I found that other similar types of mesh bags just weren’t holding up to wash after wash. The SockSac brand is made of super strong mesh that can be “put through the wringer” and come out looking like new!

    Reply
  27. Carrie

    Socks- We buy white Hanes socks, since they have color-coded stitching based on size. Has worked for years! All five of our oldest kids, my husband, and I have used these over the years. Toddler socks are easy anyway, since they are much tinier than his closest sibling’s (9 years old). Our eldest grew up and moved out and the girls got girlier, so they sort their own colorful choices or wear them purposefully mismatched. So, Hanes is still selling us 4 easily sortable sizes.

    Reply
  28. Amanda

    A friend just told me a great tip for socks!!! I have a basket with each childs name written on it, thats where the folded laundry gets put. Then they take it and put it all away. That works GREAT. For sock I was still just leaving them all in a basket and pairing them once in a while. ANYWAY, they new way is to put the childrens socks (unpaired) in their basket as the laundry gets folded. Then they pair their own as they put away their stuff. IT IS WORKING BRILLIANTLY!! I have 6 children so this has been a great tip for me!

    Reply
  29. Rachel

    I really need to get organized with our laundry!! We are 5 in our family and our problem are the towels!! My teenage boy uses one clean towel for his daily shower and although he does his own laundry he has a mountain of them in his room!! What I did was to take out all the old towels and just leave 2 towels for him, 1 towel for my daughter, 1 for the baby and 3 towels for mom and dad. The socks is not and issue for us, everyone takes care of their own socks. I use a mesh bag for the baby’s socks and I take care of my husbands socks. Thanks for the ideas of organizing laundry day I will put them to the test.

    Reply
  30. Amanda H. Ager

    My laundry room has issues too. Way more than can be fixed any time soon. I bought that wall pocket thing at a garage sale recently for my daughter. Have a lovely weekend. ♥O

    Reply

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