I know lots of organized people who have various strategies for keeping up with laundry, but the one thing they all have in common is that they don’t let it sit around. Once the dryer cycle is done, they fold it and put it away all in a single session.
 
You know how work swells to fit the time you give it but if you give yourself a deadline you manage to get it done faster? It’s the same with laundry. Give yourself a deadline (try using a timer or stopwatch) and plan your time so that you’ll be able to put it all away in the same day that it comes out of the dryer. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with piles of laundry sitting around your folding area for days!
 
Here are some strategies:

• Start one load of laundry every morning before going to work or getting the kids to school. When you get home, put it in the dryer. After dinner, fold it and put it away in the drawers before going to bed. Think of it as the laundry version of the dishwasher, which you probably run daily.
• Designate one or two days a week as your laundry days and do back-to-back loads, folding and sorting into piles for each family member as it comes out of the dryer. Hand out the piles and have everyone put away their own clothes. Even preschoolers can start to learn how to put their clothes away, though they'll need a little supervision.
• If sorting your clothes is what's tripping you up, try using a dye-trapping sheet (such as Shout Color Catcher, Carbona Color Grabber, or a DIY color catcher) so you don't have to bother sorting lights and darks.
• If you're no longer sorting your laundry, skip the hampers and have everyone put their dirty clothes, linens, and towels directly into the washer. When it's full, run the load. (Thank you to Rachel Jones of Nourishing Minimalism for this tip!)
• Train your kids to do their own laundry and give each family member a designated laundry day. This will lighten your load (pun intended!) while teaching your children valuable life skills. Can they do it as well or as quickly as you can? No, but they can do it and they'll get better at it over time. If you are a perfectionist, resist the temptation to re-fold their clothes. It's good enough!
• Designate specific days for different types of laundry: towels, linens, kitchen towels, clothes (do kids one day, parents another), sports clothes, etc.
• Stop ironing! I almost never iron clothes (I send my husband's dress shirts to the dry cleaner.). Instead, I hang dry my children's uniform skirts and blouses and I take everything else out of the dryer and fold it right away so nothing gets wrinkled.

Apply one of these strategies and stick with it for at least a month to give it time to become a new habit.

​Banish those piles of clothes!

P.S. If putting clothes away is a bigger problem for you than getting them washed, then you won't want to miss my next post!

Last week, the Tip of the Week and I were on vacation, so this week's post is inspired by my trip.

Here are my top 3 tips on packing your clothes for a trip:

1. Roll your clothes. This prevents creases and wrinkles, makes your clothes compact so you can fit more in your suitcase, and makes it easy to get to each item because clothes aren’t stacked on top of each other. First, fold the clothes lengthwise then roll them up snugly. For kids, it’s helpful to roll complete outfits together, underwear and socks included.
2. To help shoes, bras, and caps keep their shape, stuff them with socks and underwear.
3. Decide what you want to bring, then remove 2-3 items. It’s tempting to try to pack for every eventuality, but the tradeoff is that you’re hauling around a lot of things you probably won't use and that will get in your way. It’s highly unlikely that the tropical island will have a blizzard or that the ski resort will become unbearably warm. Unless you’re going to a remote area with no stores, you’ll be able to pick up an inexpensive sweatshirt, umbrella, jacket, or whatever, if absolutely necessary. Plus this way you’ll have a little room for a souvenir!