7 Laundry Tips for Busy Moms
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Here are a few tried and true tips that have worked in our house for taming the laundry beast.
1. Do a load a day to keep the laundry monster at bay. If you have more than two people living in your house I would suggest doing a load of laundry every day. Pick a certain time and stick to it. For example: Wake up, do morning routine and throw in a load to wash. Feed kids, clean up and put clothes in dryer. Take 5-10 minutes after your lunch/dinner routine and fold clothes.
We are a family of five and I tried picking one day to do a laundry marathon and I learned the last thing I want to do is spend one whole day doing laundry. Throwing in a load every day is so much easier and less time consuming.
2. Fluff the dry clothes. When you are ready to fold laundry turn the dryer back on for 2 or 3 minutes to give the clothes a fluff and most of the wrinkles will be gone. I don’t run to the dryer the second it goes off, and I don’t expect anyone else to either.
3. Hang em’ up as soon as they come out. Again we’re trying to lessen the wrinkles.
99% of my clothes are wrinkle free using these tips, however hubby’s dress shirts always have to be ironed. If you don’t have any hanging space try using the InstaHanger on the back of the door or on a wall near the laundry room.
4. Only buy what you need. Don’t buy 30 pairs of socks or underwear for each family member when there are only seven days in a week. Remember, we’re washing a load a day now, your not going to run out.
5. Reuse your towels. A towel is good for a few uses when you hang it out to dry after your shower. Number #4 can apply here as well.
6. Get the kids to help. Teach your children to be responsible for their things by having them put their clothes away. Don’t wait until they are ready to head off to college. Their roommate will not pick up after them.
7. Put the laundry away. This is a no brainer but the most loathed part of the laundry process. It has to be done. Sorry there is no way around this one, but doesn’t it feel sooo good when all the laundry is done and it is all put away!
Find more of my tips at Complete Organizing Solutions (http://www.completeorganizingsolutions.com)
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6 Comments
The tip about running the dryer for a few minutes before folding is a great idea. Clothes do seem much easier to deal with when they come out of a warm dryer.
Has anyone tried that new dryer softener bar that attaches to the drum and stays there for months? I always forget to throw a dryer sheet in so this sounds like a good idea to me.
I too like the idea of running the dryer again to fluff the clothes (and I already do this, fairly often), but keep in mind that you are using additional electricity when you do this! Not only might this be hard on the household budget, but is not exactly conservation-minded. I'm not lecturing, again, I do this too sometimes, but something to keep in mind.
I have been trying to "train" myself to do a load a day, and most weeks I do pretty well. Slackers take heart: I don't do it at the same every day and I come out just fine, although you might find you naturally fall into a pattern when have been doing this for awhile (I tend to mostly do clothes at night, since my kids are pretty messy and I don't like to give the stains time to set in).
One final tip: use those little blue dryer balls (I forget what they're called, but they sell them at Bed Bath and Beyond). They don't seem, to me at least, to take the place of fabric softeners (we have extremely hard water though, people with soft water might be okay), but they DO seem to help clothes dry faster. And you can leave them sitting in the dryer between uses (except the ones that you can't find in the load of clothes!)
Thanks for the helpful comments, I have thought about the electricity use but I wonder if I had to actually iron the clothes, which would be better when it came down to electricity use. Somehting I should look into.
To ultimately solve the problem I should just take them out as soo as the dryer is done! :)
Tanna Clark - wife, mom of 3 and professional organizer!
www.completeorganizingsolutions.com
I use the new bounce dryer thingy that attaches to the drum and love it! I got it at Blogher. It smells good but isn't overpowering and I don't have to chase down my daughter who loves to put the dyer sheets in her mouth when I bring the dried clothes out to fold.
LOVE your number 5! I invented a product that's due out soon to make reusing your towels that much easier! www.tagatowel.com. Hope to have it out within the next few months! Great tips! Thanks! Sarah
Great suggestions! I'm going to check out your blog. I need organization tips.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Kim
fistfullofdandelions.blogspot.com
Kim
fistfullofdandelions.blogspot.com
Great tips! These will be really helpful.
~Kathy
www.YourCallToFreedom.com
www.YourCallToFreedom.com