I recently had a what one might call a laundry epiphany. I was reading on the Internet about this very subject. I had new thoughts about two elements of the way I handle my laundry. I tried out these new ideas and they have streamlined my routine. Although I do the same amount of laundry, I do it more efficiently so I spend less time on it.
The first thing I changed is not separating lights and darks. I have always done this. It's the way Mom taught me how to do laundry. I do still have a hamper for things that are white, but light and dark colors are not separated in my house anymore. I have not seen any negative repercussions from this. This simple act is saving several minutes per load because I can throw everything from the hamper into my laundry basket without sorting it. Multiply these saved minutes by the number of loads you do a year and that adds up!
The other thing I changed is putting a hamper in my sons' room. I've had one for them since they were born. I quit using it when they were toddlers because they just wanted to empty it out on the floor causing me more work. Now that they are older they don't have the urge to empty the hamper. Although their urges to make messes around the house have not ceased! Having this responsibility is also helping them learn to pick up after themselves. I am teaching them to turn things right side out before putting them in the hamper so they are ready to fold when the come out of the dryer. Nobody ever taught my husband this. It drives me crazy that half his laundry is inside out or worse, partially inside out! Learning this habit from an early age will help them when they have to do their own laundry. And one day, if their wives are doing their laundry, I hope they will appreciate me teaching my sons proper laundry protocol!
Having separate loads for different family members is saving me more time than I would have imagined. In the past, if I let four or five clean loads pile up before putting them away, it took me a good 15 minutes to sort out each person's' clothes. That doesn't even count folding them or putting them away. It was just making piles of each person's clothes. Each load I do now has either adult clothes or kid's clothes. Since my boys are twins and they share clothing I wash all their clothes together. If I had children of different ages who didn't share clothes I would do a separate load for each child. You could also do separate loads for husband and wife. I decided to continue to wash our things together because it's just as easy. My husband folds his clothes and puts his clothes away. I put his clean clothes in a pile for him and as soon as I pick up one of my items I fold it right then instead of putting it in a pile like I used to do. My hamper that I keep just for whites contains everyone's white items. I only do whites once a week though so it's not a big deal to sort them out.
The reason these two simple changes have streamlined my routine is that I am touching my laundry less. I don't sort dirty clothes at all. I spend less time sorting clean clothes. And since I all my boys' clothes are in one load I fold them in their room eliminating the three trips I usually made from my room to theirs carrying their piles of clean clothing.
One thing I didn't change was the way I handle towels and sheets. Those items get washed weekly in loads separate from the clothing. I also throw kitchen linens in with any load at any given time so they don't pile up on me. They are easy to extract from the clothes as I am removing them from the dryer.
As you examine your own laundry quandary think about how you can decrease the number of times you touch the clothing. Every time you do this you will gain a few minutes, which will add up into hours and into days as our quest for clean clothes never ends. And I will keep reminding myself that I am very blessed to have a laundry quandary because that means my family has more than enough clothing to wear.
