I promised you a few more laundry tricks yesterday! And today, I was so disciplined that I refused to write about laundry until I was finished with it! If you think I’m bragging…no. I never have things together enough to brag! I’m only making note of it because…well, Tuesday is one of my laundry days and obviously, it’s Wednesday. It’s better than Thursday, right? I take what I can get. Remember how I told you I have laundry down to a science that works for me? Yep. Except when I don’t get it done apparently!
As I wrote about my laundry system yesterday, I thought of more than five tips, including a couple that I have JUST figured out, but I sure wish I had known long ago! If you know these laundry tricks and can implement them early, they will save you a lot of time!
Let’s jump in!
5 Uncommon Laundry Tricks That Will Save You Time:
- Store Kids’ Underwear, Socks, and Jammies in the Bathroom (If Possible)—
This tip came about out of necessity for me when I was on bedrest and it was so helpful, it stuck! When my sons were five and three, I ended up being on bedrest for nearly six months! During that time, my mom graciously took my laundry home, washed it and folded it, and then brought it back to my house. (I’m pretty sure I have not thanked her ENOUGH for that!) Yes, I could have turned it over to my husband—he is capable—but he was working overtime and had all he could do to deal with dinner, dishes, baths, and bedtime!
Anyway, to save time and energy for my mom trying to put clothes away, I made room in my bathroom cupboard for their jammies and clothes. I also took some drawer space to store their underwear and socks. This way, ALL of the dirty laundry was in the hamper (or on the floor next to it) in the bathroom because they always got dressed in the bathroom.
We still store their underwear, socks, and jammies in the bathroom. This way, when they can’t remember to bring their clothes into the bathroom with them as they go to take showers, they don’t have to yell to me to throw some clothes in for them!
If you can eek out any space for this, this laundry trick will save you time—especially if you’re like me and have all your bedrooms upstairs!
- Teach Your Children How to Take Their Clothes Off Right-Side Out!—
Seriously! I am just figuring this one out! My kids spend a lot of time at my parents’ cabin and my mom often throws their clothes in to make a full load. It makes her crazy to have to right-side inside-out-clothes! Honestly, I never really noticed how much extra time that takes, but it does!
My mom taught us to take our clothes off right-side-out. I never thought anything of it and certainly never thought of teaching my children this!
Now, I have to work backwards and try to teach my old dogs new tricks! It’s not easy. So, if you have toddlers learning to dress and undress themselves, TEACH them to take their clothes off right-side-out!
- Keep an “Outbox” in Your Laundry Room—
This is another tip that I am just figuring out. As quickly as children grow out of clothes, it can get overwhelming quickly! Enter the outbox. Just have a basket, a box, or even a bag that you can put clothes into that no longer fit your child. If you have room, you can separate it down to give-away, or hand-me-downs, or rummage sale boxes, but if not, you can just do that when your container is full.
Another laundry trick—make a connection with someone who can use your kids’ old clothes! Even if there are some items that you’d like to sell, you’ll have some things that will be great to just give away. We don’t have a thrift store or place that takes donations where I live, so it’s great if I can just find someone who can use the clothes my kids outgrow.
Once your give-away box is full, get it OUT of the house and get a new outbox started!
- Keep Mismatched Socks Together—
For real…WHERE are all the socks going?!? We need to get the Conspiracy Theorists on this case! I keep my mismatched socks in a bin and it is always full! One trick I have learned is that if I keep each child’s socks together in that bin, it is much easier to match the ones that show up at the next folding session!
For years, I was dumping out the entire bin, sorting through all of the socks every time, and then forcing them all back into the bin, haphazardly. That takes a lot of unnecessary time! Go through your entire bin once and match up anything that is already in there.
Sort the missing socks by family member. For example, each of my daughters has her own pile of unmatched socks. Then, the next time I am missing socks, I can just grab her stack, match up the ones that have turned up, and put the rest back in the bin! It takes seconds!
- Matching Towels and Hooks—
This has been a GAME-CHANGER! Okay, maybe this is very basic and it just took me a long time to figure out! This is another laundry trick that was born out of complete necessity!
When our foster son lived with us, he had…well…poop issues. There’s just no better way to say it! So, without going into a ton of detail, let’s just say that he needed showers often. He would take any towel and then leave it on the bathroom floor…every.single.time! Naturally, our other family members were TERRIFIED that he would either use their towel, or that they would accidentally use one that he had used, so they always took a clean towel. I don’t blame them! And of course, since he was leaving his towel on the floor, they did too!
There was a FULL load of towels to wash every day at our house! And that doesn’t even count the extra underwear and clothes, plus the extra bathroom cleaning! I simply could not keep up!
Then, my friend with five kids told me her best-kept secret!
She orders personalized towels in the SAME color for each family member. I am too cheap to do that, so I ordered towels in the same color for each member of my family, and then embroidered a first initial in DIFFERENT colors (a different color for each family member) in the corner. I put up six hooks on our bathroom wall so each person has his own towel and his own hook.
And when I find a towel on the floor, I know EXACTLY who left it there! If the habit continues, that person gets charged $1 every time I find the towel on the floor.
I’m serious. This has reduced my laundry so much! Towels get washed twice a week—they’re all the same color so they all go in the same load—and when they come out of the dryer, I don’t have to fold them! I just put them back on the hooks!
Maybe these laundry tricks are things you’ve known a long time. Hey! If I’m late to the party, I’m just glad to finally be here! But if you didn’t know about these tips, I hope you find them as helpful as they have been for me! Now, slay that beast!
RElated: Laundry Tips and Tricks–Slay That Beast!
