Easy Laundry Routine: THE BEST ROUTINE FOR YOU

Sick and tired of endless laundry or of never having anything clean to wear?

You need a laundry routine that works! The trouble is there isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to laundry routines.

So, what you need to do is find a laundry routine that meets your needs.

A routine that you will have time to do on a regular basis and a routine that you can easily stick to.

DIFFERENT LAUNDRY ROUTINES WORK FOR DIFFERENT HOUSEHOLDS

A laundry routine that works for one household can often be a complete disaster for another.

To find your perfect routine you need to do some thinking about your family, work patterns and clothes.

You also need a laundry routine that fits in with your household cleaning schedule.

Otherwise, you will find yourself and anyone else who shares the responsibility (because it shouldn’t necessarily just be you!) overwhelmed with chores.

Luckily … being the kind-hearted soul that I am 😉 … I have done the thinking for you.

Just use these guidelines to pick the laundry routine that is right for you.

AND then write it down somewhere so you stick to it!

I have mine set up as a schedule in Cozi which is a totally fab … and FREE!

Cozi is a family calendar designed specifically for hapless mums like me who struggle to keep on top of everything!

To give it a go DO check it out here … it’s got meal planning, lists the lot!

4 EASY LAUNDRY ROUTINES

All the laundry routines in the world basically boil down to these four:

1. Wash everything in one day
2. Wash whatever is in the laundry basket every day
3. Wash one type of laundry every day
4. Wash one person’s clothes daily

I have outlined below the pros and cons of each routine and how to follow it.

1. WASH EVERYTHING IN ONE DAY

This routine is great if you’ve got a big drier and have a day at home on your own

Pros	Cons
Only have to think about it once a week	Must have a tumble drier or dry climate
Don’t have washing hanging around all week	Need a whole day with nothing else to do
Easy to sort by temperature / fabric needs	Need a whole day in the house
	Ideally need a child free house
	Back breaking
	Can be mind numbingly boring

THE ROUTINE

• Pick a day when you and whoever else is helping get the laundry done can be in and around your home the whole day
• Grab all the laundry and sort it by colour, fabric and temperature … as follows:
  • Coloured cottons 104f/40c 
  • White and light cottons 104f/40c 
  • Woollens and delicates 86f/30c
  • Bed linen and towels 140f/60c 
  • Tea towels, cleaning cloths 140f/60c or 203f/95c
  • Anything needing hand washing
• Throw in first a pile that doesn’t need stain treatment
• Treat stains particularly on whites and lights
• As soon as first load done get it in dryer and next in washer
• As soon as dryer done fold or hang sorting by the room they need to go to
• Put aside anything you really must iron … much, much less than you think
• Repeat, repeat etc
• Take each pile to the appropriate room and put straight away
• Treat yourself! It’s ALL done for the week. Hurrah!

2. WASH WHATEVER IS IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET EVERY DAY

This is an easy routine if you work or have a small baby and/or you are potty training a toddler and don’t have delicates or mixed light and dark clothes.

Pros	Cons
Very simple to load up	Risks colour run in mixed colours
Easy to do a load before or after work	Risks shrinkage of delicates & woolens
Nothing stays in the basket getting icky	Doesn’t get towels & sheets really clean
Good if have soiled baby stuff daily	Uses same detergent for different fabrics
Good when potty training	Hard to get whites really white

THE ROUTINE

• Just throw everything in when you’ve got a few minutes spare
• But use timer on washing machine so laundry finishes when will be free to put straight in drier or on an airer or line as this will mean you don’t have to iron it
• As soon as it’s dry put away … DON’T put in ironing basket to get crumpled
• Just iron essentials on an as needs basis

3. WASH ONE TYPE OF LAUNDRY EVERY DAY

This routine is best if you’ve got a mix of darks and lights plus delicates and woollens.

Pros	Cons
Prevents colour runs between dark & lights	Hard to get family to sort by washing label
Prevents shrinkage of delicates & woolens	Can result in non-full & extra loads
Gets things that need a hot wash really clean	Easy to miss something
Gets whites really white
Can use specialist detergent on each wash

THE ROUTINE

• Allocate a day to 1 or 2 types of washing
• This is the routine I use and I do the following …
  • Mon :
    • Woolens & delicates 86f/30c
    • White & light cottons 104f/40c … attack stains whilst woolens in
  • Tue : Coloured cottons 104f/40c 
  • Wed: Bed linen 140f/60c
  • Thu: Towels 140f/60c
  • Fri:: Tea towels, cleaning cloths 140f/60c or 203f/95c
• I put the washing on timer to finish over lunch time so washing can be hung straight up to dry, as this will mean I don’t have to iron anything
• Make sure you leave yourself 15 minutes to fold and put away when dry else you’ll end up with piles of washing everywhere getting crumpled 

4. WASH ONE PERSON’S CLOTHES PER DAY

This routine is great if you’ve got a large family where the biggest challenge is post-wash sorting and putting away.

Pros	Cons
Reduces post wash sorting for a big family	Risks colour run in mixed clothes
Easy for family to load up on “their” day	Risks shrinkage of delicates & woolens
Easy for family to put away on “their” day	Uses same detergent for different fabrics
	Hard to get whites really white

THE ROUTINE

• Just throw everything in when you’ve got a few minutes spare
• But use timer on washing machine so laundry finishes when you will be free to put straight in drier or on airer or line as this will mean you don’t have to iron it
• As soon as it’s dry put away … DON’T put in ironing basket to get crumpled and mixed up with everyone else’s which is the key thing you’re trying avoid
• Just iron essentials on an as needs basis

MORE LAUNDRY TIPS

I hope that you’ve found some useful information in this content, I’ve also got a couple of posts on stain removing – because life just wouldn’t be complete with out the low-down on removing stains!!

The first is on removing paint from kids clothes and the second is on how to remove yellow sunscreen stains from white clothes.