Is laundry that chore you hate the most? Here are 5 practical laundry tips for every busy mom.
Thank you to all free clear for sponsoring today’s practical laundry tips for the busy mom.
Laundry is that chore hated by most because it has the most steps: sorting, stain-fighting, washing, softening, drying, folding, and putting away. In my quest to make this chore easier for me, I’ve come up with 5 practical laundry trips for every busy to make it a little less painful.
Instead of sorting by color, sort by the person.
Traditional wisdom says you should sort laundry by color to prevent white lint on black clothes or color bleeds. So, be radical and wash everything together (regardless of color). I do this with my kids’ clothes.
Here we highly recommend ihomagic laundry hamper for you.
Wash by the owner, based on what’s in their individual hamper. I sort into baby girl, soccer boy, hubby, and mine. Then, I wash the towels, sheets, and other linens in batches.
Treat all stains at the same time.
First, you have to determine the type of stain, then you spray, then you have to let the solution sit. If you’re not completely certain you have completely removed the stain, you can’t put it in dryer.
Instead, use a product you can add to the whole load. Stains like ketchup, jelly, chocolate, and grass stains could come out the first time. Soaking may be required, depending on the type of stain and its age.
Handle it once.
We fold clothes to organize them and prevent wrinkles. If you normally hang it in your closet, place it on a hanger as soon as it’s dry. No need to fold it, put it in a basket, remove it, then hang it.
Instead, hang them directly onto hangers and put them away. Or, have the owner fold them as soon as they come out of the dryer. Then, have the owner put them away. An added benefit is this will prevent the need for going to the laundry room every morning to get clothes to wear.
Create and follow a laundry schedule.
I don’t really like to do laundry every day, but I’ve learned that if I save it all for Saturday, it takes me too long to catch up! Instead, I process one complete load each day.
I wash a load before work. When I get home, I move the load from the washer to the dryer.
Of course, if you really didn’t want to spend your valuable time doing laundry, you could always hire someone to do it for you. For example, if I lived in northern California, I would definitely consider someone like this laundry service in Sacramento.
With this service, you just schedule a laundry pickup and delivery time. Then, they pick up your laundry from you and deliver it back to you in 24 hours. Easy peasy!
If I’m doing laundry on the weekend, I set a timer for 18 minutes to be sure that no matter where I am, I know the load is done and I can move it to the next step. No more soured or mildewed loads.
My mom taught me a time-saving trick that reduces my complete wash cycle to 18 minutes: skip the second rinse. Since I use about half the recommended amount of detergent and don’t use liquid fabric softener, it works just fine.
While a load is washing, I can wash dishes, get dinner started, or help with homework.
Remove items from the dryer promptly.
Your first line of defense against ironing is to avoid purchasing clothes that require ironing. Since ironing smooths out wrinkles, prevent them from happening. Take clothes out of the dryer promptly.
Since I hate to iron, I try really hard not to let anything get wrinkled. If I remove it then fold or hang it right away, no ironing is required!
BONUS TIP: Use high quality, affordable products to help get the job done
That’s where all free clear comes in. It helps simplify my life. I streamline my laundry products by using all free clear laundry detergent and all free clear OXI booster.
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all wants to know what YOU think, so they’ve created a survey so you can share your feedback.
Want to try it yourself? all is offering a $1.00 coupon.
This post was shared at the Savvy Southern Style linky party.
Kristia says
I started using All free & clear 9 years ago when my daughter was an infant and had extremely sensitive skin.
Keri says
Great tips! I also sort by person. It makes it so much easier to just drop a whole load in each kid’s bedroom for them to put away.
Cat @ Pocketful of Posies says
Hi Raki!
This is a great list of laundry tips! I do a little bit of washing by person but I could do a much better job! Thank you for sharing! I actually need to tackle our laundry pile today, maybe this will make it go faster! I have recently started hosting a new link party with Refresh Living and Vintage Refined and we would love to have you come link some of your awesome posts with us. The party starts every Tuesday at 7pm CST.
I hope to see you there!
Cat
Vickie says
Great suggestions for making a hard task so much easier. thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty
Cindy says
Great post.
Sara says
Excellent guidelines.
Janet Vinyard says
Great tips! I especially liked the idea of sorting by person! Thanks for the info! Blessings, Janet
Joan @ Late Bloomer Moms says
It’s not just me! My hubby thought I was crazy mixing his white t-shirts with other colors, but as long as they don’t bleed, I’m good! I tend to group by temp – warm then cold.
Crystal@WhatTreasuresAwait says
I have started washing by person…this makes it so much easier to make the kids responsible for their own clothes. Thanks for sharing at Welcome Home Wednesdays!