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Have you ever had a moment when you realize how much you used to struggle? I’m not talking about finances, per se, but when you really had just you and Jesus? Our dryer recently broke down and at first, it wasn’t that big of a deal because I managed to have most of the laundry done before it. The unfortunate part came when the dryer took about two weeks to fix and it forced me to go back to my old days of apartment living with only one day of laundry to do.
Y’all…
Doing only one day of laundry is cause for a time suck. It really does take up your entire day and it’s mad exhausting by the end of it. Sometimes, if I have that much laundry, I’m not even bothered to fold it up because it’s just too much.
When we moved to our duplex, I took advantage of having an in-home washer and dryer. It was easy to do some laundry and take care of the rest of the day. I never had to worry about it until it was time to put away.
But old habits die hard. Even though I had access to a 24-hour laundry space, I still had the apartment thought in my head – only do laundry on specific days or just one day a week. Maks and Bear had to navigate as I had piles of dirty laundry on the floor as they awaited their turn to get laundered.
Then, I had a tip from a friend – why don’t you start doing it every day?
The pandemic happened so frequently washing clothes become more habitual than a want. Facts about Covid-19 were still relatively unknown and this was when I temporarily decided to do deliveries just to break the monotony of being at home all day.
So, out of necessity (and a bit of panic), I started to do laundry every day. After I came home and scrubbed every which way I can, I put all of our clothes in the laundry. I also did the towels more as well. Hell, everything got washed more frequently.
And guess what I discovered? I barely had any laundry to do for the week.
It goes beyond just being smarter with my time – it’s also smarter with my money. I’m not doing as much laundry as before, therefore I’m not using the machines at the same all day long frequency as before. I literally put a small load in and be done with it within 90 minutes as oppose as doing laundry that would take all day to do.
But there’s a plan to do this that makes sense. It really makes absolutely no sense for one to do laundry if you only have less than 5 articles of clothing. It also makes no sense if the laundry amount is small enough where you can football carry. It has to be a sizable load but nothing ridiculous; nothing smaller or bigger than that.
So, this is how I did it:
I’m old-school so I like to separate my colors, whites, and towels. Occasionally, I might wash a light towel with my whites or a dark towel with my colors, but I like to keep everything separate. I also like to wash my bedsheets separately on their own as well and not have anything mix up with them.
For some, this might seem a bit more work, but for me, it’s a lot more streamlined. I know what is washed with what. I don’t have to worry about if something bled over or if I accidentally put bleach in when I shouldn’t have. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
On a 7-Day week, this is how laundry typically looks like:
Sunday:
Cleaning day and this is the perfect day for me to do the bedsheets. I strip the bed all the way down and clean the bed cover, sheets, and pillowcases. If I need to wash the comforter, I will go to a laundromat to do so. This takes maybe 90 minutes, sans comforter.
Monday:
Half of the colors. With my son and husband being out of the home at work and school, it’s imperative I keep up with their laundry. I like to wash their laundry more because how frequent they wear the same clothing. Bear, in particular, has two shirts he loves to wear to school so it’s really important I have those washed a lot, lol.
Tuesday:
The other half of colors. Again. The same reasoning as above. By this time, the other load would have been laundered and put away.
Wednesday:
Whites. Despite how many white socks and undershirts we have, there isn’t a whole lot of white clothing we have. I don’t like to wear a lot of white clothing because I found out I’m rather sloppy and careless. I try to be careful but like I said, old habits die hard.
Thursday:
Towels. I like to wash towels every couple of days. We don’t have a lot of towels at home between the three of us and I don’t like to have used towels on the rack much longer than they need to be. Plus, having a warm, fluffy towel just as you get out of the shower is such an amazing feeling!
Friday:
Usually a rest day, but sometimes I’ll pop in something if I missed it during the other days.
Saturday:
Rest Day. Yes, I need to rest on Saturdays. Normally, this is our fun, family time and we get to go out of town or do things. I really like to keep my Saturdays as open as possible and not worry about doing laundry.
So, as you can tell, it’s not that hard. Again, the laundry takes 90 minutes for me to do at any given time and that 90 minutes goes by hella quick. I’m saying this as a working from-home mom with an accessible washer and dryer so I’m showing my privilege.
If you don’t have an accessible laundry room, or this sample schedule might seem to be a bit too much upkeep, don’t sweat the technique! Come up with you own and what is easier for you and your household.
What is your laundry routine? What is your favorite way to get rid of mountains of laundry? Sound off in the comments!
