Laundry…the impossible chore to check off your to-do list. There really is never a moment when you don’t have a piece of laundry to do considering while you are sweating it out doing the laundry you are creating more laundry from all of the clothes you are wearing at that moment.
How do you even begin to fix or simplify this problem? Well, in all honesty, you are always going to have to do laundry, but I like to use these tips and products to make the ongoing issue not so overwhelming each day.
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Old School Methods Meet New School Products
During my childhood, I spent a lot of time in my Grandma Joan’s laundry room. The woman did and still does an unbelievable job maintaining the task and keeping her clothes looking new wash after wash after wash.
I was always in awe of how she took such care to not only prolong the life of my granddaddy’s slacks but even her dishtowels and washcloths.
By combining new ways to organize these laundry piles and old school ways of managing stains, maintaining the fresh look of your clothes, and increasing productivity in your appliances, these products and tips may keep you from dreading the never-ending process of LOADS OF LAUNDRY.
Tip 1: Organize the Chaos
Finding a system that works is not always easy. At my house, I have found that keeping three laundry baskets in the laundry room area and one basket in the upstairs bathroom keeps the laundry items well sorted.
Fortunately, there are so many great products out there to allow you to achieve these basket options.
For the three baskets in my laundry room, one is for dirty casual clothes, the middle basket is for towels, washcloths, bedding items, and the third basket is for dress clothes.
Upstairs, the basket is for all items, and then when it travels downstairs. Well, when I carry it down two flights of stairs…not that I am complaining…I sort the items into those three baskets.
For those of you who have the convenience of laundry on the bedroom floor or the main floor, well simply put, I ENVY YOU! Not to say, I would trade my one-hundred-year-old home, but let’s be honest, no one was thinking of the laundry way back when.
Additionally, it is important to make sure that you are disinfecting all of these baskets. I prefer plastic laundry holder options to the cloth because you can easily just wipe the baskets with a disinfectant spray and you don’t need to wash yet another thing.
Windex now has a disinfectant spray that will give you that clean scent and kill all of those gross germs at the same time.
Keep one of these bottles near your detergent items and you will be prepared to do this for each load.
Not that I want to do more work nor do I want to add more to your plate, but let’s be honest some laundry can be just so disgusting.
Tip 2: Remove the Stains
So back to Grandma Joan’s laundry room, the year is 1990, the solution dawn dish soap and that loved product by so many, bleach.
My grandmother has a knack for using bleach, for me, I am afraid to put it anywhere near my clothes, so I am going to offer you another bleach alternative option.
First is the unbelievable ability and power of DAWN! I keep a bottle of dawn near my upstairs basket and in my laundry room.
For all different types of stains, put a little Dawn directly onto the problem area, and then take a wet washcloth and scrub the stain right off. It really does work and I have always used it on my clothing.
Second, my alternative to bleach for stains is Oxiclean Maxforce Spray. The product has really worked wonders on my daughters’ major food stains and well those other not so pleasant smelling stains too.
The remover is very powerful and you don’t have to worry about bleaching your items or leaving stains on other pieces of your wash. Yes, my Grandma Joan had those amazing skills to use bleach, but I just don’t have the knack, so Oxiclean it is.
Another item in the laundry line up is All Free Clear for Sensitive Skin.
For years, I loved scented laundry detergents because let’s face it, it gives you a moment to smell that scent of a clean load of laundry; however, my family has allergies, and this go-to scent-free detergent has a lot of power, but not a lot of reaction. It is fairly inexpensive, and I use it on all of my items.
Tip 3: Keep Clothes Looking Great
So sometimes it is a wonderful excuse to perhaps need to go out and replace an item in your wardrobe because it looks worn. Let’s face it, shopping is therapeutic, but with these two items, you can preserve your favorite pieces if you’d like.
Use these laundry bags and this drying rack to ensure that your clothing lasts as long as you want it to.
The bags are wonderful for all items, from hair bows to gloves to stuffed animals to oven mitts, you can keep your items contained while they are in the washer.
The other item that helps ensure that your clothes are not being over-processed is a drying rack. My Grandma Joan is still hanging her laundry so that her clothes don’t look damaged or worn.
I have been using these items for years, and I still wear clothes to work that I wore more than ten years ago to internships in college.
Tip 4: Decrease Drying Time
When I was younger, I remember that constant noise of tennis balls ricocheting off of the dryer walls in Grandma Joan’s laundry room.
I couldn’t believe that she would put perfectly good tennis balls in the dryer, but now, years later, here I am sticking three tennis balls in every load.
If you put these into your dryer, (science experiments aside) you will dry clothes faster, eliminate static, and feel that comforting feeling of fuzzy fluff in your favorite bath towel.
Laundry Done
With these four tips, I hope that you can find a balance in the many loads of laundry you do each day or weekend.
For me, I do a load of laundry once one of my three baskets is filled, that way I can have some sort of control before it gets truly out of control.
Of course, laundry is the small stuff in life, so don’t stress over the never-ending chore, just tackle it one load at a time.
& Remember
Start with the Bed,
Juliet
