A few weeks ago I asked about laundry on Facebook and got more comments than I’ve ever gotten about anything. So while there are both horrific and glorious events happening in the world, humanity ultimately finds solidarity though the universal act of laundry.

Please know I’m writing this piece more as a journalist than as an expert and that I’m still very much in the experimental stage. But I ‘ve tried out some of my friends’ techniques over the past six weeks, and I think you will find some new ideas to streamline, or at least get control of, the laundry chaos in your life.

Also, for the record, my kids are age 1, 3 and 5. We have a (purposely very large) washer and a dryer, and as a carry-over from my five years living in China without a dryer, I still hang-dry all my own clothing (except for socks and undies), but no one else’s :-).

So how do large-ish and large families do laundry? Here are some tips I’ve gathered from friends, podcasts and strangers on the internet:

To Sort or Not to Sort?

Pretty much everyone with more than three children advised stopping the ridiculousness of sorting kids’ clothing into colors and just dump the whole lot in the washer on warm. Back in the olden days when everyone used powder detergent, clothes used to bleed more than they do now, but if not sorting makes you twitchy, one friend swore by Shout Color Catchers to prevent colors bleeding (5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, too!). 

For adult clothes, we sort by light, medium and darks in our bedroom,  but I stopped sorting the kids’ clothing by color for the past six weeks and it’s been a great change (I stopped buying white clothes for kids a LONG time ago, anyway!)

Sort by Room

Sort according to where you store the clothing so it’s easy to put the clothes away. My two oldest share a room, so I wash their clothes together. I keep the baby’s clothes in our room, so I wash his clothes with ours (which gets tricky because he has sensitive skin and I’d rather use Charlie’s Soap and no fabric softener on his clothes … still figuring that one out.)

Sheets and Towels

I changed the sheets every other week for about a month, and then got lazy. I know it’s gross, but I knew farmers in China who didn’t shower for six months, so that helps put things in perspective for me. But in my ideal world, I’d use the Lazy Genius’ tip and wash all the sheets and towels pretty early on in the day (because putting sheets on the bed is the most annoying task ever–especially right before bed when you forgot), so I could put them right back on the beds and not even bother folding them first. And the towels can just go right back on the rack. I’m okay not sorting and washing all the sheets and towels and washing on warm, but my mom swears they must be done on hot or we will all be overtaken by bacteria. Just go with your gut.

I also heard a recent podcast where the woman got rid of all her towels and bought white towels for the whole house so she could just wash them all together and bleach them when needed (though I haven’t had much success with white, personally).

All in One Day or Spread Throughout the Week?

There are advantages and disadvantages to each. For me, it comes down to my answer to this question:

Will I actually put the clothes away after I wash them?

If the answer is no, then doing them all in one day is a better solution to the laundry problem. If I will be disciplined enough to put them away, then doing a load a day may prevent the despair of having to dedicate one whole day of my life each week to laundry.

That said, I’ve been trying out the “laundry day” phenomenon and I actually kind of like it. One day a week we have to stay home. I throw the kids’ clothes in first and set a timer. I make tea, give the kids a bath, and then we do other at-home-with-little-kids-things like paint, bake or glue pasta onto construction paper. I hate to say it, for the most part it’s kind of relaxing.

Lately, I’ve been washing the adult clothes last. I save them to fold after the kids go to bed and my husband helps fold while we watch T.V.

“Involve the Kids”

I laughed hysterically when people mentioned this, but thought I’d give it a try. One friend said she has her kids doing their own laundry by age 7/second grade and that I should have them learn ASAP–several other friends said theirs were doing it by middle school. I’m still a couple/few years away from that, so here’s what I did:

1. Have the kids sort: The first day of our newly instituted “laundry day,” I dumped the kids’ clothes in the middle of the carpet and had them sort them out themselves. That mostly worked.

2. Have the kids fold: Then I demonstrated how to fold them and nearly fell over when my 5 year old folded ALL off his–and they looked better than they do when I fold them! My 3 year old daughter lost steam after folding two shirts, but I couldn’t believe my son was capable of doing this and I had no idea! I did sit on the floor and turn them all right-side-in just to make it go faster, but I was amazed! (can you tell by the number of exclamation points I’m using?)

3. Have the kids put away: I finished folding my daughter’s clothes, then had them put them all away in their drawers. My daughter dumped them on the floor in front of the dresser first, but my son did it without unfolding them.

(Also, my one year old helps me transfer the clothes from my washer to the dryer. I put them in front and he scoots them in!)

4. For older kids (this is from my friends): give them their own laundry baskets or hampers to pre-sort their clothes into light and dark. Give them each a day a week to wash, dry, fold and put away (yeah right, but maybe?). OR I kind of like this idea:  do all laundry on the weekend, then do a family folding party together in the evening while watching T.V.

Stupid Socks

The most brilliant advice I read was to buy all the same color and type of socks so you don’t even have to go through the weekly madness of trying to match socks. The families with the highest number of kids don’t even bother matching them, but just have a “sock bin.” I’ve also found that even though my kids are 1, 3, and 5, they can all wear basically the same socks.

I also heard a tip about having kids put dirty socks in a washable laundry bag immediately after wearing them. Some people line a small box with it and put it by the door, then you just scoop up all the socks, cinch the bag shut and throw it in the washing machine. That way socks can’t wander away from their match into Sock Never-Never Land.

Hide Your Laundry Baskets

I used to wash, dry, and fold the clothes, then they would sit in laundry baskets until I needed to wash more clothes again. Because of this, I banned myself from even using laundry baskets other than to transport unfolded laundry to the couch for folding. That’s worked for me. Once the clothes are folded and on the coffee table, they go straight into the drawers. This is why washing according to room also works well for me.

I also find that not having too many laundry baskets is a good solution. It’s like the “empty closet” problem–you will always eventually fill up excess storage space in your home. Laundry baskets work the same way. So, in theory, I don’t really need more than one large basket if the clothes aren’t going to hang out there.

You Don’t Have to Fold Everything

One of my friends doesn’t fold her kids’ clothes at all. And it’s true that they mostly just get bunched up in the drawer anyway. I tried not folding, but I couldn’t do it. Plus, they wouldn’t fit in the drawer. Another friend said she doesn’t fold play clothes. Personally, I don’t fold underwear, but everything else gets folded. And you can avoid folding sheets and towels by using the tip above and just putting back on beds and in bathrooms immediately after washing them.

In Summary (and some other random tips):

1. Only buy wash-and-wear clothes.
2. Get your kids involved.
3. Don’t buy white clothes for kids–ever.
4. Don’t sort kids’ clothes before washing–and wash on warm.
5. Sort by room.
6. Get rid of excess laundry baskets.
7. Always put clothes away immediately after you fold them.
8. Buy all the same sock colors and types.
9. Do something fun while you fold like watch T.V. or listen to a podcast.
10. Wash everything on the fastest speed possible.

What works for you? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments!

Here are some other good resources on this very hot topic:

The Lazy Genius Does Laundry

Jen Hatmaker had a hilarious rant about laundry which led to them buying 28 new laundry baskets.

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