Changing up the Laundry Routine

By this time I had been working on the house for about a month.  Pretty much everyday I had put one load of laundry in the washer for 3 weeks of that month.  Of course this was a huge improvement over the randomness that was my laundry system before I got sick.  I was starting to feel better, and I knew very well that one load a day does NOT work with a family of 6.  At least not with my picky washing habits.

I'll quickly line out my washing habits.  Not because I'm recommending you copy them, but because this is all about honesty.  If something says 'wash seperately' I will ALWAYS do that-exception to the rule is if the item has already been ruined by children playing in the mud and it is now a play item.  If something cost a lot of money (for example our few Matilda Jane outfits), I will was them all by themselves.  When washing things separately, I will wash the darks, the lights, the pinks, the yellows, the greens....you get the picture.  I'm pretty picky about the stuff I wash mixing together.  Why? I have no clue, but I just can't mix them.

So, with my picky washing habits and my only doing one load a day, things were backing up fast.  I had been altering between one cold load and one warm load, so at least the majority of our clothes were getting washed, but they weren't getting through the laundry near as fast as they should.  I HAD to up my load count to two a day.  

Upping my load count meant that I also had to figure out where in my routine the laundry should go.  I liked to finish up my laundry folding at the end of my daily cleaning, but if I didn't start the first load until halfway through, there was no chance of that happening.  

For me, starting a load of laundry is actual a very mindless task.  That's probably one of the few reasons I don't really mind washing the clothes.  So, I decided to start my first load before I ate breakfast, while my bagel toasted.  

I would put the first load of separates in before breakfast.  At my previous laundry starting time (right after I finished the dining room), I would hang up the separates to dry and start the next load.  After I started the second load, I would gather all the clean clothes and fold them or hang them in closets.

When I was all done with my work for the day, I would just move the load from the washer into the drier.  This way, it didn't mater what time I remembered the clothes in the washer, just as long as I moved them before I went to bed that night.

I have been using this system since for over 2 months now, and it is working great!

Please note that my load of separates is always very small-15 items or less.  If it were larger it would not be feasible to do this routine.  

On a slightly different note, at this point my laundry room was back to a manageable status, so I began bringing the dirty clothes from the master to the laundry room every day.  This has since eliminated the need for a clothes hamper in my room!  

I'm sure my system could still use some improvement (I have hopes), but this is a very realistic plan for where I am right now.  


Thanks for stopping by!

God Bless,
Lisa