Comments on: Avoiding the Laundry Pileup http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/ Simplify your home. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:34:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: emily weiss http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-28523 emily weiss Sun, 17 Jul 2011 01:48:08 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-28523 I have a 4 compartment sorter, one is for each boy and hubby and I share one. Tkae bag off, dump in washer and done! I have a 4 compartment sorter, one is for each boy and hubby and I share one. Tkae bag off, dump in washer and done!

]]> By: Tessa http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-22385 Tessa Sun, 30 Jan 2011 01:03:26 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-22385 I don't mind washing or folding anymore - it has become my quiet/down time as no one wants to be around me when I do it for fear of me putting them to work - which suits me just fine - with four young boys it gives me a break from their potty jokes and bodily noises :) The thing I hate doing is putting away. I have gotten in to the routine of running a load in the wash at night just as the boys finish getting ready for bed. So one goes in the washer, one goes in the dryer and one to be folded - which usually only takes about 10 minutes. I used to separate colors and hang to dry alot of items, but the bigger the pile got I just stopped. I haven't ruined anything yet!! I usually have a good idea of items the colors will run, and very few items really do need to be hung. Doing it this way really allowed me to get through the laundry quicker as I never had to wait for a certain pile to fill up. Just looking at all the laundry sitting there waiting used to drive me nuts. I don’t mind washing or folding anymore – it has become my quiet/down time as no one wants to be around me when I do it for fear of me putting them to work – which suits me just fine – with four young boys it gives me a break from their potty jokes and bodily noises :) The thing I hate doing is putting away. I have gotten in to the routine of running a load in the wash at night just as the boys finish getting ready for bed. So one goes in the washer, one goes in the dryer and one to be folded – which usually only takes about 10 minutes. I used to separate colors and hang to dry alot of items, but the bigger the pile got I just stopped. I haven’t ruined anything yet!! I usually have a good idea of items the colors will run, and very few items really do need to be hung. Doing it this way really allowed me to get through the laundry quicker as I never had to wait for a certain pile to fill up. Just looking at all the laundry sitting there waiting used to drive me nuts.

]]> By: Alicen http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-22195 Alicen Thu, 20 Jan 2011 20:37:21 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-22195 I'm not sure I have a great system, and I'm not sure it is working for me... but it's what I'm going with for now. I usually try to focus on getting the clothes washed and dried. I hate folding so sometimes we have 3 loads of unfolded clean clothes sitting in baskets beside the dryer. This stresses me out, so every few days I spend 30 minutes folding and putting away. I don't mind sorting and I'll pick up our hamper from the master bedroom a couple times a week and sort it into the 2-bin sorter in the laundry room. I empty my daughter's hamper every few days as well. I do a load of laundry every night or so, the washing and drying at least. I find that when I try to do it all in one evening (I work full time), I'm ready for bed after 2 loads are done because I spend so much time waiting. The way I do it now, I spend 5 minutes a day on laundry, and then 30 minutes a couple of days a week. I wish I could get myself organized to fold warm laundry, but I hate folding! And I know I wouldn't put away one load at a time, I wait until each person has a pile, then I put it all away at once. Hubby puts his own away, or piles it on top of his dresser! I’m not sure I have a great system, and I’m not sure it is working for me… but it’s what I’m going with for now.
I usually try to focus on getting the clothes washed and dried. I hate folding so sometimes we have 3 loads of unfolded clean clothes sitting in baskets beside the dryer. This stresses me out, so every few days I spend 30 minutes folding and putting away. I don’t mind sorting and I’ll pick up our hamper from the master bedroom a couple times a week and sort it into the 2-bin sorter in the laundry room. I empty my daughter’s hamper every few days as well. I do a load of laundry every night or so, the washing and drying at least.
I find that when I try to do it all in one evening (I work full time), I’m ready for bed after 2 loads are done because I spend so much time waiting. The way I do it now, I spend 5 minutes a day on laundry, and then 30 minutes a couple of days a week.
I wish I could get myself organized to fold warm laundry, but I hate folding! And I know I wouldn’t put away one load at a time, I wait until each person has a pile, then I put it all away at once. Hubby puts his own away, or piles it on top of his dresser!

]]> By: TooSisters http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-22138 TooSisters Mon, 17 Jan 2011 20:49:56 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-22138 Could you come work on my laundry? Could you come work on my laundry?

]]> By: Lynne H. http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-22131 Lynne H. Mon, 17 Jan 2011 13:26:09 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-22131 Early in our marriage I decided to stop mating my husband's SOCKS next to a sunny window where I could distinguish subtle differences in color and texture. He really doesn't care about socks.....so I asked him to identify his favorite socks, which happened to be Gold Toe Fluffies, in black. This happened to be right before the annual Gold Toe sale, so I donated all those other socks and purchased 30 pairs of identical socks and dedicated one of his drawers to "socks". Purchasing in bulk is efficient and tends to keep the socks in the same "dye lot", thus minimizing subtle differences in "black". I can't tell you how many hours this has saved me over the years. All socks just get thrown into the drawer when they come out of the dryer. It saves hubby time, too, because he just sticks his hand in the drawer and pulls out two! In addition, he doesn't have to turn the bedroom light on to see his socks if it happens to be a day that I am "sleeping in". Every few years, when he notices that the heels are starting to wear thin, I start keeping an eye out for the next Gold Toe sale as the thinned socks are discarded after wearing. No throwing out clean socks in this household, only dirty socks! This sock plan also helps me know when I need to be sure to do a sock load. If it has been three weeks, I know he is getting low on socks. For hubby's part, he follows the 24-hour Rule: if he forgets to say, "I'm on my last pair of socks", then he has to figure out what to do the next morning when he is out of socks! I don't do "emergency loads"! LOL. Early in our marriage I decided to stop mating my husband’s SOCKS next to a sunny window where I could distinguish subtle differences in color and texture. He really doesn’t care about socks…..so I asked him to identify his favorite socks, which happened to be Gold Toe Fluffies, in black. This happened to be right before the annual Gold Toe sale, so I donated all those other socks and purchased 30 pairs of identical socks and dedicated one of his drawers to “socks”. Purchasing in bulk is efficient and tends to keep the socks in the same “dye lot”, thus minimizing subtle differences in “black”.

I can’t tell you how many hours this has saved me over the years. All socks just get thrown into the drawer when they come out of the dryer. It saves hubby time, too, because he just sticks his hand in the drawer and pulls out two! In addition, he doesn’t have to turn the bedroom light on to see his socks if it happens to be a day that I am “sleeping in”. Every few years, when he notices that the heels are starting to wear thin, I start keeping an eye out for the next Gold Toe sale as the thinned socks are discarded after wearing. No throwing out clean socks in this household, only dirty socks!

This sock plan also helps me know when I need to be sure to do a sock load. If it has been three weeks, I know he is getting low on socks. For hubby’s part, he follows the 24-hour Rule: if he forgets to say, “I’m on my last pair of socks”, then he has to figure out what to do the next morning when he is out of socks! I don’t do “emergency loads”! LOL.

]]> By: Dana http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-20852 Dana Mon, 06 Dec 2010 06:49:29 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-20852 I do the same thing! I buy both of my daughters the same white socks in the same size and style. I wait until Christmas when it's usually cheaper and purchase six to ten bags of sock packs. This saves time and if you loose a sock then it doesn't matter. I buy myself black socks in the same style and also purchase six packs of them. It makes things super easy. I do the same thing! I buy both of my daughters the same white socks in the same size and style. I wait until Christmas when it’s usually cheaper and purchase six to ten bags of sock packs. This saves time and if you loose a sock then it doesn’t matter.
I buy myself black socks in the same style and also purchase six packs of them. It makes things super easy.

]]> By: Benjamin Bankruptcy http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-18980 Benjamin Bankruptcy Thu, 07 Oct 2010 01:14:39 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-18980 I'm working on somekind of no folding laundry system. It's the laundry folding and putting away i hate. Seems like so much double handling. I’m working on somekind of no folding laundry system. It’s the laundry folding and putting away i hate. Seems like so much double handling.

]]> By: thesa http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-14329 thesa Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:11:33 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-14329 I rarely use the dryer and loves for clothes to dry out in the sun. We have a small balcony with a couple of clothes drying racks so we could only do so much load at a time. What works for us is doing the laundry on: Mondays (whites, light-coloured towels), Wednesdays (coloured, blacks, dark towels), Saturdays (few sports clothes, occasional sheets, delicates) The days in between gives ample time for clothes to hang dry. Folding them while watching tv is too distracting hence a change of strategy to: While current load is happening in the wash, I get the drying racks ready by collecting and folding clothes while in the balcony. That way, everything is neatly folded in my basket while having 10min. doze of sunshine/happy hormones! They also get tucked straight away in our respective closets since I need the same basket for the newly washed clothes. I guess this system has worked for me since each task is needed to be done as scheduled for the next one to get moving. And it doesn't feel as if I am doing the laundry/folding every single day. The 3-compartment hamper you have featured here has also worked wonders for me! Love going through your site, very calming.. I rarely use the dryer and loves for clothes to dry out in the sun. We have a small balcony with a couple of clothes drying racks so we could only do so much load at a time.

What works for us is doing the laundry on:

Mondays (whites, light-coloured towels),
Wednesdays (coloured, blacks, dark towels),
Saturdays (few sports clothes, occasional sheets, delicates)

The days in between gives ample time for clothes to hang dry.

Folding them while watching tv is too distracting hence a change of strategy to:

While current load is happening in the wash, I get the drying racks ready by collecting and folding clothes while in the balcony. That way, everything is neatly folded in my basket while having 10min. doze of sunshine/happy hormones!

They also get tucked straight away in our respective closets since I need the same basket for the newly washed clothes.

I guess this system has worked for me since each task is needed to be done as scheduled for the next one to get moving. And it doesn’t feel as if I am doing the laundry/folding every single day.

The 3-compartment hamper you have featured here has also worked wonders for me! Love going through your site, very calming..

]]> By: Francine http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-14138 Francine Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:56:50 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-14138 Just found your blog via a tweet from Pear Budget and added it to my reader immediately! I recently did a blog post about how I handle our laundry, similar to yours with everything being sorted in designated bins. It saved my sanity! http://francineclouden.typepad.com/callaloo_soup/2010/02/how-i-climbed-mount-washmore.html .-= Francine´s last blog post ..<a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CallalooSoup/~3/Dqu4ckAmU0A/heres.html" rel="nofollow">Here's a new place to waste time online</a> =-. Just found your blog via a tweet from Pear Budget and added it to my reader immediately! I recently did a blog post about how I handle our laundry, similar to yours with everything being sorted in designated bins. It saved my sanity! http://francineclouden.typepad.com/callaloo_soup/2010/02/how-i-climbed-mount-washmore.html
.-= Francine´s last blog post ..Here’s a new place to waste time online =-.

]]> By: Laurie http://smallnotebook.org/2008/09/02/avoiding-the-laundry-pileup/#comment-13626 Laurie Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:57:07 +0000 http://smallnotebook.wordpress.com/?p=1017#comment-13626 We have 8 children -- LOTS of laundry! We make our laundry more managable by having fewer clothes for each person. We also cut down on expense by having four sorters: Dark Hots, White Hots, Dark Colds, and White Colds. Then we aren't using extra hot water to wash T-shirts and dresses and things in hot water. Only "germy" things get washed in hot water (i.e. NOT the bath towel just used to dry a clean body!) We have 8 children — LOTS of laundry! We make our laundry more managable by having fewer clothes for each person. We also cut down on expense by having four sorters: Dark Hots, White Hots, Dark Colds, and White Colds. Then we aren’t using extra hot water to wash T-shirts and dresses and things in hot water. Only “germy” things get washed in hot water (i.e. NOT the bath towel just used to dry a clean body!)

]]>