10 Simple Laundry Hacks to Make Life Easier

I’ve been there.  Clothes on top of clothes, with more clothes piled on.  Is this laundry clean?  Dirty?  Did I already fold these?  Where is the matching sock?  HELP!

My family consist of two adults and 3 kids, three and under.  That’s a lot of clothes to wash, dry, fold, hang, iron (ha ha) and place in the correct bedroom and correct drawer.  I have tried a lot of things and spent gobs of money to make laundry easier, and these are the things that have stuck around. Nothing fancy!

Do it smarter not harder. I have not been the best laundry captain since I was in my teens. I despise washing and folding, then washing and folding, and continue to wash and fold. But it has to be done, so why not make it easier and frankly, less complicated.

I have scrolled through Pinterest and googled 1.2 billion options and things to buy to “help” with this problem.   I have complied all the things that have worked for me and our family.  Surprisingly, it is not an expensive contraption or hiring a maid.  Unless that is an option…  send the maid my way!!

A load a day  •   Command hooks   •   Mesh Bags

No sort   •   Rolling away   •   Label   •    Water bottle

Random tips   •   Cute

I know you are busy with kids and obviously laundry. Let me get to the point.

1. A load a day, keeps the chaos away!  This you can start now.  Being a stay at home mom makes this easier.  Trust me, when I was working I would wait till the weekend and laundry would be the last thing I wanted to do Saturday morning. If you can start the load that morning before you head out, then dry when you get home.  Remembering is the hard part.  Make a sticky note and place it on the fridge door to remind you when you get home.
2. Command hooks will save the day for the next two tips.  I buy mine at Sam’s in bulk. Command hook post coming soon!
3. Mesh bags for kid socks.  This has been a game changer.  Kids place their socks in the bags when they put their clothes in the hamper.  Kids can do more than we think.  Plus they like to help.  I just zip up the bag and pop it in the washer.  Then, the best part is when it comes to taking it out of the dryer, I’m not reaching 32 times to get each baby sock and mitten out.  The boys love to unzip the bags and match them.  SCORE  Then we place them back in the bag to travel to the bedroom to put away. 
4. I buy everything in bulk, so when I saw this Shout at Sam’s I had to get it.  I place it on the top of the shelf and the hose dangles down to quickly spray those gross spots on my boys’ clothes.  Shout is used a lot and adding the command hook to hold the handle really helps.  I spray over the open washer lid and it doesn’t get everywhere.
5. I’m broke up with sorting… sort of. (see what I did there lol)  I don’t sort by colors, sorry mom, but mostly into 3 categories. Baby because I love the smell of the detergent.  Big kids and adults have their own load.  Oh and towels, that makes 4.  Sometimes a load includes everything, because clean clothes is better than none.  That’s what season I’m in now.  Maybe when I grow up I’ll sort by color.
6. Rolling basket was worth the money.  No surprise I bought mine at Sam’s.  The boys find it fun to roll it to the hallway at bath time, then back to the laundry room after they bathe.  I just hang my mesh bag over the handle.
7. Label drawers for you and the kids.  When I decided to have the boys share a room it was vital for me to keep organized. I wrote these labels on mavalus tape (teacher’s BFF) to see if I like it.  My end game is to get “cute” labels.  Let’s be honest, that tape will stay there until they are teens.  They are colored coded as well.  More items are labeled in the closet too. 
8. Water bottle to spray in the dryer when you forget for the 5th time to take out and fold.  This saves you on ironing time.  Spritz a little bit in the dryer, then crank ‘er up for 5 more minutes. Boom, wrinkle free!
9. Random:  Over the door hooks for drying or holding random stuff.  We keep Maddox’s nap mat there over the weekend. Trash can for lint with extra bags at reach. Mine are stored in an 1982 striped bag holder above my washer.  I’m so fancy.  I also save some used dryer sheets because my boys use them to clean… ha ha ha They are so cute when they think they are cleaning.
10. Dress it up.  You spend a lot of time in your laundry room, why not make it eye appealing?  I added a saying on the wall, rug, shelf, pictures, and random things the boys have in their pockets.

What was your favorite tip and if you could add one more what would it be?

Enjoy your chaos!

Bless your heart,

Chelse