One word: LAUNDRY

Whether it is an all day weekly event, a little bit each night, a constant work in progress, or even if you are lucky enough to have help; laundry is by far one of the most annoying chores facing families and usually moms specifically.

With the change of the seasons, it seemed like a great time to check in with our awesome contributor Hope Turenne, Owner of Affordable Organization. In this post, Hope offers her expert tips on how to streamline and hopefully take the pain out of your laundry routine.

“Laundry is the bane of my existence” many of my clients tell me as I’m touring their homes for the first time as part of the organizing consultation. 

According to Hope, clients say they finally get caught up, feel great about it for 12-hours, then WHAM 2 full basket loads appear out of nowhere. Here are some tips that Hope gives her clients regularly that may help you when feeling overwhelmed by an enormous pile of laundry.

If your laundry space is small, Hope suggests taking advantage of the available vertical space. Items such as these tall baskets, this drying rack, and a slim supply cart are all smart choices.

However, if floor space is extremely scarce, add a drying rack that either hangs from the ceiling, goes on the back of the door, or pulls out from the wall like an accordion. In this case, Hope has her clients use a wall hanging system for laundry supplies. Something as simple as shelves on the wall above your washer and dryer works well.

For laundry rooms on the bigger size add a folding station, this can be a permanent piece or simply a folding table that can be brought out for large jobs.

Regardless of the size of your space, Hope recommends hanging your iron and ironing board behind the door. This is also a great place to add hooks for sports bags filled daily with the contents of the laundry room.

Know What Works For You…

Take the time to really visualize your family’s routine. Find and develop a laundry schedule and plan that fits well into the day to day grind of your household.

How often you need to tackle your laundry depends on many variables like:

• How often your children’s sports uniforms need to be washed.
• Your schedule.
• How many people live in the home.
• How often do you wash towels.
• How much extra clothing you have.

Basically how often you do laundry needs to be analyzed based upon the above list. Many families do a load every day, some do it non-stop on the weekends to catch up, while others do it every other day.

Make It A Family Affair

Laundry is NOT just for moms! The more involved the rest of the family is, the more they will take pride and better care of their clothing.

Begin to delegate responsibilities to others in the household like gathering the laundry, sorting, operating the washer/dryer, folding and putting away. At the young age of 4-5 put those little feet to work with the most basic task of gathering the laundry and sorting white, colors and darks. As they grow, add in more responsibilities because doing laundry is a basic life skill that we all must know how to do.

Hope says the best words of advice she can give about laundry is to keep up with it, when it starts to get out of control it can feel very overwhelming. Reward yourself with a piece of chocolate, walk down the street or a simple cup of tea once you feel caught up. 

For me, the struggle is with putting clothes away. Now I’m off to tackle a few baskets of folded laundry!

xo Julie