Laundry Schedules
Keeping a cleaning schedule can be hard, keeping a laundry schedule can seem just down right impossible sometimes. We have hesitated to share our own laundry schedules, because anytime somebody shares a schedule that they use it can lead to a lot of overwhelm and disappointment, thinking that you're not conquering life quite as well as that person is. We also feel very strongly that there is not one right schedule. Depending on your season of life, work schedule, kids' extra curricular activities, and personality someone else's schedule may or may not work for you and your family. And that is OK! My schedule being a stay at home mom with three small children is going to look very different from a working mom with five children or even a stay at home mom with five children. Therefore our cleaning and laundry schedules may not align. Moral of the story, we are going to share our schedule in hopes that it can help someone or spark an idea in you that will work for YOUR family, but we want you to know that we absolutely don't think that our schedule is the only way to do it or even the right way. It's just what works for us! We do feel very strongly that you need to make some kind of schedule and stick to it though. Sit down look at your calendar and be really honest with yourself about what could work for you and your family. Write it on the calendar and then stick to it as much as possible. Again, no one is perfect, but generally we work the majority of our week around our laundry schedules to help prevent chaos, overwhelm, guilt, and clutter. OK now that we have made that crystal clear let's move forward to our schedule and what it looks like. We would also like to note, that we have tried multiple laundry schedule options and always come back to this one. It works, is simple, and makes our personal lives easier!
White Container | Tall White Basket | Tosca Basket With Handle
Our Weekly Laundry Schedule:
Monday: This is the day that we do ALL of our laundry. Every last bit. Darks, colors, whites, sheets, and towels. It takes from sun up to sun down some days, but it's worth it and then we don't have to worry about the rest of the week!
How: The very first thing I do when I wake up on Monday morning is throw my first load of laundry in. I start with towels because they generally require zero spot treating so it's extremely fast and easy to get this load going.
After I have put in my load of towels I go through and make sure I have all of my laundry separated into the correct categories: Darks, lights, whites, sheets, bath towels, and cleaning rags (I always keep my bathroom rags separate from the other cleaning rags for sanitary reasons). As I am sorting the clothes into categories I am pulling out all of the clothing items that need to be spot treated. So 90% of my kids' clothes. Insert eye roll emoji.
Once everything is sorted, I take my pile of clothes that need to be spot treated and go through and spray them with our favorite DIY stain remover. (2 parts hydrogen peroxide to 1 part Blue Dawn dish soap). The stain remover is most effective if you let it sit on the clothes for at least one hour. By spraying them all at the beginning I am allowing the product to sit, (which means it will be doing all of the work) and then the clothes are ready to go into the wash with their like colors once it is time. This saves me so much time, because I am not having to spot treat all throughout the day and it helps so I don't miss any stains in the plethora of laundry I am washing throughout the day.
As my laundry comes out of the dryer I lay out all nice shirts and pants on my bed (to prevent wrinkles) and start a pile next to them where the rest of the laundry goes. At the end of the day my husband and me fold all of the laundry together as we watch one of our favorite shows together (which is Suits right now, and oh my gosh if you haven't watched it yet then you haven't lived).
I put away all of our clothes and towels after they are folded on Monday night. I put all of our kids' folded clothes in a laundry basket (because they are sleeping while we fold) and put them away Tuesday.
Why: I use this schedule, because I am very much a person who gets great joy from completing a task. And in my brain if I am doing laundry every stinking day of my life then I am never fully "completing" the task and it just seems daunting to me. I love that if I get it all done on Monday then I don't have to worry about it the rest of the week! I also have the worst memory on the face of the Earth, so when I tried doing a little bit every day I would generally forget about the loads that were in the washer and end up with stinky laundry. When I do it all in one day my mind is in laundry mode and I'm much less likely to forget! I also love having my laundry day on Mondays because it seems like such a fresh start to our week.
Remember what I said earlier, this is just what works for us! I will also fully admit that every week isn't seamless. There are weeks where for one reason or another not everything gets done on Monday or kids' clothes don't actually get put away until Friday. I mean let's be real nobody is perfect, and if they claim to be they are totally lying! Find what works for you and do your best to keep it consistent.
If our schedule sounds completely ridiculous or unattainable to you then read through all of the cleaning schedules below that our awesome friends on Instagram shared with us! These were all suggested from a very wide variety of family sizes and different work schedules. Hope that this helps guys! Laundry is for sure the gift that keeps on giving, so just look at the bright side... at least you know that it will never ever leave you alone. It will ALWAYS be there waiting for you.
Cleaning Schedule Options from our Friends on Instagram:
Pick one day out of the week that is least busy for your family (or a day when you have the most help) and do all of your laundry on that day. Wash, dry, fold, and put away.
Do clothes on one day and bedding on another.
Do one load of laundry each day. Fold it and put it away on that same day.
Do laundry daily then leave it all in a big pile to fold when you have time.
Mondays do adult laundry, Tuesday kids, and Wednesday do towels and blankets. Which equals one to two loads three days a week.
Laundry for the family on Mondays and clean sheets and towels on Sundays.
Clothes laundry on Mondays/Fridays then alternate towels/bedding on Wednesdays.
Do laundry once a week. Get it all done in one day then have it folded and put away by the next day.
Put the laundry in the night before on delay wash, so when you wake up it's just getting done. Fold and put away in the morning, so each day it is done bright and early!
Do it all every five days. Keep them in baskets. Then turn on a show while the kids are sleeping and fold everything. Sort into categories first then fold. Example: fold all the shirts, then fold all of the pants, etc...
Sheets and towels on Mondays, then a load of darks and whites twice a week.
Do it on Monday and Thursdays. Fold it all when kids are asleep, then set it outside their rooms to put away in the morning.
Assign a day of the week for each person in the family and they are responsible for doing all of their laundry on that day. This is such a smart idea if you have older kids who are capable of doing their own laundry!
We had A LOT of people who shared what their family does, but we felt like these schedules pretty much covered all of the repeats and general ideas people had. All of the different schedules just affirmed to us that you have to do what works for YOU! Figure that out and you will be golden...
Here's a couple of tips for helping to cut back on the laundry...
1. Make family members wear their pajamas more then once. Especially if you have small kids.
2. Never wash your jeans! OK, never is extreme, but really don't wash your jeans until you absolutely have to. This will save you laundry and will save your jeans.
3. Use your bath towels more then once before putting them in the dirty laundry.
4. Give your clothes the "sniff test" (you probably think I'm joking, but I'm not) after you wear them. If the clothing passes and there are no visible stains then you bet you can wear it again before washing!
5. Simplify and be conservative. The less you have and the less you do, the less you have to wash! It's simple math really.
This is how we sort our laundry:
Whites
Darks
Lights ( Clothes that aren't dark, but aren't white...que light pink)
Bath Towels
Cleaning Rags
Bathroom Cleaning Rags
Sheets