Listen, I get it: laundry sucks! I try not to call tasks around the house “chores” since it has a negative vibe, but laundry is a chore for me. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s a sucky, sucky chore.
But, laundry must be done and because it’s one of those things that can get out of control real quick, we need to find ways to stay on top of it. Otherwise, it becomes a huge overwhelming mess that’s hard to crawl out of. No one wants to feel overwhelmed by laundry.
So, we need to learn how to conquer and totally crush a system that will not only be simple, but practical for all households.
Because I loathe laundry so much, I dove pretty deep into how I can help other moms learn how to build a system that works.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by laundry and can’t seem to get rid of the mountains of dirty and clean clothes around your home, these tips and my own secret method can help!
Let’s dive deep into why laundry can be overwhelming, some tips to stay on top of a home’s laundry, and even how I was able to get through my entire family’s laundry for one week in under 50 minutes!
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Why Laundry Sucks and is So Overwhelming
I think it’s pretty damn obvious why laundry is so overwhelming for many of us. It. Never. Ends.
As soon as you are caught up, you’re totally not because one of the kids just trashed their entire outfit with spaghetti sauce. Good luck getting that out of a white shirt.
This can be a very hard mental roadblock to get past especially for all those Type As out there (hello, that’s me!). I know for myself, I feel accomplished when I finish a task or goal. With laundry, I used to feel like a straight-up failure because I never felt accomplished or even done with the task.
That is until I realized I needed to accept the fact that laundry is a never-ending cycle. So, instead, I started to focus on the best system for laundry that would allow me to be the most efficient. To me, that means less time spent on the dreaded, stupid chore so I’m all about it.
Laundry is a never-ending cycle and the sooner we all learn how to embrace that fact and come to terms with it, the sooner we can move on from the hatred we all feel.
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Reasons You are Overwhelmed by Laundry
I think it’s important to address the exact reason you are overwhelmed by laundry before implementing any of the tips below or my secret method. If you don’t tackle the root cause, you will most likely end up where you are today: completely overwhelmed by piles of clothes!
Once you’ve identified which area you are struggling in below, try to address the root cause first before moving on to the tips or my secret method. Tackling the root cause first will ensure your success. If you only address the symptoms, you will never truly get a hold of each mountain of laundry at home.
Now, let’s figure out why you’re here and why you’re overwhelmed with laundry!
You Have Too Many Clothes
You could simply just have too much when it comes to clothing. Especially if you have a large family. You can quickly accumulate too much clothing through gifting and hand-me-downs for the kids. You may just need to start with decluttering your clothing before moving on. Sometimes we just don’t even realize how much stuff we really have and that having too much is actually the issue.
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You Don’t Have a Solid Routine
Look, we talked about how laundry is never-ending, right? If we know that, then we should also know that the only way to stay on top of a never-ending cycle is to have a solid routine in place. Check out the cleaning schedule post where you can grab a free cleaning schedule and decluttering guide to help you get started!
Once you have a routine in place, monitor it and make sure it’s the right routine for you and your family. If something is not working, tweak the routine as needed. You’ll definitely want to read to the end where I go over my own unique method to tackling laundry each week! My routine and method are very different, but maybe it’s what you need right now!
You Haven’t Accepted the Never-Ending Cycle
People can simply be overwhelmed by laundry because they know it will never end. This is why I felt overwhelmed, but I had to recognize this was why before I could put systems in place to help me. I still don’t love the fact that laundry is a chore that never ends, but I have accepted it and I have built it into my routine so I’m not overwhelmed by it.
This can definitely be a mental block and something you may need to overcome on an emotional level before you can find peace with the never-ending laundry cycle. This is where I really needed to focus so I could finally gain control over my own family’s laundry. Once I realized this was the root cause of why laundry was so overwhelming to me, I was able to address it head-on and I’ve finally gotten to a place where although I still consider laundry a chore, it’s not overwhelming any longer.
You Don’t Know Where to Start
I totally get this. You may just be so overwhelmed by the amount of laundry you have to tackle that you just don’t even know where to start. You may need to sit down and map out a plan that will work for you. Think about setting some goals to help keep you focused on where you need to go.
I’d also suggest keeping your goals small to start. Maybe one day all you do is sort out the laundry you need to get done. The next step is to just do one full load of laundry from start to finish, then maybe your next goal is to implement just one of the tips below. It doesn’t matter how small your goal is, at the end of the day it really just matters that you start somewhere and keep going.
Now that you’ve identified the potential root cause of your hatred for laundry, let’s dive into some tips you can start using right away at home. Then, let’s dive into the secret method I use to do all my family’s laundry in under 50 minutes!
16 Best Tips & Laundry Hacks to Help When You Feel Overwhelmed by Laundry
1. Turn Clothing Right-Side Out Before Washing
Teach your kids (even little kids!) to turn their socks & clothes right side out before putting it in the laundry hamper. This helps with folding and it is a lot faster! Even if your kids don’t do it, before adding clothing to the washing machine, turn all your items right-side out to ensure the laundry is washed most efficiently and it will save you time when folding.
2. Color Coded Laundry Baskets for Easy Sorting
Have color-coded laundry baskets so there is not sorting when doing the laundry. I only had space for a white and black laundry basket so we just sort by lights and darks. I’m really don’t go crazy with the sorting, but I do still like to keep lighter colored items separate from darker items just in case there are any new clothes mixed in that tend to bleed. Other than that, I may separate towels if they were used to clean up a nasty mess, but I don’t spend a lot of time sorting.
3. Use Cold Water
If you really don’t want to spend time sorting out your laundry, just use cold water to ensure colors don’t bleed onto one another. Cold water helps your clothing to last longer anyways as it isn’t as harsh on the fabric.
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4. Don’t Wash Clean Clothing
My daughter will wear an outfit for literally 20 minutes and then decide she wants to wear something else. She used to throw those clothes into her laundry basket until I realized what she was doing. I don’t want to wash clothes that are actually clean! Make sure your kids aren’t throwing clean clothes into the laundry basket because they think they’re dirty; making more work for you!
5. Get Your Family Involved!
As soon as our kids showed interest in helping around the house, we started to teach them about the tasks that needed to get done. Now, my daughter who is 5 can sort, fold and put her own laundry away.
For now, both our kids are interested in helping the family so it’s the perfect time to get their help and show them how important it is to contribute to the family. They actually have fun helping so it’s a win, win! Check out our FREE chore chart for kids!
6. Buy Less Clothes!
Buy less & do less – the less clothing/laundry you have, the more often you’ll be forced to wash them to have clean items. This saves you money and makes sure you are never behind on the laundry!
If you are prone to letting the dirty laundry pile up, this is a great hack for you! Less clothing is one of the benefits of decluttering!
7. Declutter Clothing on a Regular Basis
Get rid of clothing items you no longer wear so putting your own clothes away is faster and easier with more space! Sometimes having too much laundry is the culprit for feeling overwhelmed.
Use the hanger trick in your closet and turn your hangers the opposite way. Once you wear the item, put the hanger on the right way. After 6 months, anything still facing backwards you clearly don’t wear so donate them!
Don’t forget about your linen closet as well. We often forget how many pillowcases, blankets, sheets, and bath towels we accumulate over the years that we just don’t need.
8. Use Good Quality Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener
Make sure you use a good quality laundry detergent and fabric softener so your clothes last longer. Sometimes spending a little more on these products can save you more money in the long run. The only time I actually use fabric softener is for our towels. I figure the less chemicals I use on our clothing the better for my family’s health and our budget.
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9. Get Rid of High Maintenance Clothing
Get rid of clothing that requires a lot of effort like clothing you can only dry clean. This saves you money and trips to the dry cleaners. I don’t know about you, but I hardly ever dry clean my clothes that need it so they just sit in a pile in the garage. I should definitely get rid of those (adding to my task list in my planner now!)!!
10. Find a Laundry Routine That Works
You need to find a routine for laundry! We know it’s not going away and will never ‘be done’ so we might as well build a system that makes things easier for us! You can use a cleaning schedule and incorporate laundry in that schedule.
Finding a system that works for you and your family is the best way to stay consistent.
11. Keep Laundry Sorter Easily Accessible
Make dirty laundry easy for kids by having laundry baskets in several areas of your home. We have one in each kid’s room and then two main baskets (light and darks) in the hallway closet. I will empty the kid’s baskets when I’m ready to start laundry into the two sorted baskets if they haven’t done it yet.
12. Sock Hack for Laundry
Don’t lose socks by having them all go into one mesh bag and wash them all together. Socks can actually get stuck in your washer and dryer to never be found again so this makes sure those lone socks don’t happen.
13. Use a Timer
I use this hack A LOT! I mean, A LOT, A LOT! It’s one of my favorite ways to make sure I get things done quickly. This is especially important when doing my laundry because of how much I hate doing it. This is the very reason why I timed myself when trying out my secret method for the first time. I wanted to see if the method truly worked to save me time so I used this hack to see if it worked and it did!
Set a goal, set your timer, and get to work! Try to finish before the timer goes off and then try to reduce the amount of time each week.
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14. Have a Good Space to Fold Laundry
I use one of two spaces to fold my laundry as soon as it’s done in the dryer. If I’m incorporating a quick load during my morning or evening routines because I had extra time during the week, I fold laundry straight from the dryer right on top of the dryer. As soon as I fold all the laundry, I put it away.
If I’m using my secret method (keep reading!) to do laundry which is more typical, I use my bed for the ultimate amount of space to keep things organized and all together.
15. Put Laundry Away
Don’t wait to put clean clothes away. I used to be so annoyed by laundry that I’d fold it and then let it sit in piles that I’d just ignore. Or, I’d throw the clean laundry in a hamper with the intention of folding it and then just tuck the hamper away in my closet to sit. It’s so much easier to just do the laundry right away so it doesn’t get wrinkled and it doesn’t sit in piles.
Read on to see what method I use that batches both the folding and putting away of laundry and helps me get my whole week’s worth of laundry done in under 50 minutes!
16. PRO TRAVEL TIP
If you happen to be traveling and there is a washer/dryer available, do the laundry on the trip! Seriously. It sounds like an awful idea, but you will thank me. You can pack your bags with clean, folded laundry and all you have to do when you get home is put it away!
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How I Did a Week’s Worth of Laundry for a Family of 4 in Under 50 Minutes! My Secret Method!
Now, this method may not work for everyone, but because I hate laundry so damn much, it works for me and my family. It’s my secret weapon and the only reason I can get my laundry done so quickly! Plus, being a working mom makes it hard to get to laundry during the week.
We typically only do our laundry on the weekends and usually all at one time. There may be weeks where if we have a vacation on the weekend, I use a daily task approach to laundry so it’s done before we leave, but using the batching method is most typical.
I tried timing myself one day to see how efficient I really was with this batching method and I was able to do all of our laundry in just under 50 minutes TOTAL in just a single day!
This is a huge accomplishment because we go through more than a normal family of 4. My husband and I workout most days of the week so we rack up extra dirty laundry. Plus, my hubby works in a hospital so he usually throws his work clothes in the laundry basket as soon as he comes home. He can easily go through 3 outfits in a day. With young kids who love getting messy and who are outside all the time, their outfits really add up as well!
So, here is the method to the madness for on Rivera laundry day:
Step 1: Sort, Load and Wash
The first thing you need to do is sort out any piles of laundry that aren’t already sorted out.
I have a white laundry basket and a black laundry basket in the hall closet. Everyone in the house (even my 5 year old) knows to add their dirty clothes to the right bin so I don’t have to really sort things out.
If my daughter hasn’t unloaded her room bin into the color coded bins, I sort those into the colored bins myself.
I’m also working on everyone turning their socks/shirts/pants right-side out before throwing them into bins so I can also avoid this step myself, but it’s a work in progress.
Step 2: Folding/Sorting
After each load of laundry is done, I fold them right away, but don’t actually put anything away just yet. Here’s what I do for each load:
- I make my bed first so it’s ready for a folding party
- I fold and sort by room (where the folded clothes will end up) after each load is done
- I throw all socks in one pile and do all of those together because we all know how socks can get thrown in different loads.
- Lastly, I place all items that should be hung in one pile and hang them using the quick 60-second hanger method (next step)
Step 3: Socks/Hanger Items
- Sort and fold all socks at once
- Have a stack of hangers right above the stack of clothes that need to be hung up
- Put one hanger on the first item then fold the item down so all clothing is still stacked
- Repeat the 60-second hanger method until all clothing items have hangers
Step 4: Put Laundry Away
For the 4th and final step of batching my laundry, I then put everything away in one swoop. This means I put all loads of laundry away by room only once instead of folding then putting away right after.
Using this batching method of doing my laundry, I’m able to save so much time. Now, if I have some downtime in the morning after my morning routine, I will try to fold an extra load of laundry just to get it out of the way. However, I have found this batching method to be the most efficient for my family.
Still Feeling Overwhelmed by Laundry?
I hope that you found some actionable tips here that you can implement right away at home. These are tips I use on a regular basis in our home and obviously, I’m a huge fan of batching my laundry into one day so it’s as painless as possible.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by laundry especially when you’ve tried to ignore it for so long and it just becomes unbearable. You don’t know where to start, the feeling of less laundry just seems impossible, and you don’t have a first step planned out on how to tackle the piles. These tips and this secret method should get you on the right track to tackling your laundry once and for all!
I’d love to hear what tips you tried or what you’re doing at home so you aren’t overwhelmed by laundry. Please share your thoughts or tips below in the comments. I’d also love to know if you tried my secret laundry batching method and what you think!
Be sure to share this post to all your friends who could use the help!
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
