I have always been a Laundry Day kind of gal. Every Saturday or Sunday I gather up all the laundry, sort into piles and begin the day long task. I don’t hate doing laundry. What I hate is folding laundry and putting it away. My husband has at least a t-shirt for every day of the year and trying to shove all of them into drawers makes my blood boil. The tedious task of folding my underwear is really no better. And there is no way to fold a white t-shirt without forming seventeen wrinkles.
So in November I decided to try something new. Instead of a Laundry Day, I have been doing one load of laundry a day (or every two days if the laundry is scarce). This experiment at first made me anxious. Remember, I hate folding laundry, and the idea of folding it every day was making me regret my self imposed experiment from day one. But I was determined to try this out. There are only three of us now and the laundry piles up so quickly. What the heck am I going to do when there are four of us in just a few short days? Doing it more often has to help out, right?
The Weekly Plan
This summer I realized I was seriously slacking in terms of cleaning the house. In July I realized I hadn’t swiffered the floors since before our OBX vacation, and I was a bit disgusted with myself. So over the last few months I have been putting together a better cleaning schedule, modeled after this lovely lady’s template, and the laundry switch in November is where I have noticed the biggest difference.
Here is what a typical week looks like, after switching to one load a day:
MONDAY: B+K Darks
TUESDAY: Isaac Laundry
WEDNESDAY:Bathroom + Kitchen Towels (every other week do a second load of throw blankets) B+K Lights
I always try to match the day I wash towels with the day I clean the bathrooms so that everything is fresh at the same time!
THURSDAY: B+K Lights
FRIDAY: All Sheets
SATURDAY: B Work clothes
SUNDAY: No Laundry! (Once a month, comforters or dog beds)
Here’s the thing, at first this was difficult to get nailed down. I have been a Laundry Day girl since I started doing my laundry at 12 years old, so I had to constantly remind myself to get one load in each morning or afternoon. By week 3, however, the routine had stuck. I get one load in and go on with my day.
The Results
As I said, I have been doing this since November and it has changed the game. Turns out, I don’t hate folding the FIRST load of laundry. So doing only one load a day makes it that much easier on my soul. I’m not dreading each load and I don’t feel like I am a slave to my dryer for 14 hours straight.
Ben has also been really happy with the switch up because we are both more on top of actually getting things out of the dryer right away. For him this means his work shirts don’t have that ‘sitting in the dryer’ wrinkle everyone is far to used to.
It has also enabled me to be stricter on what I use on Isaac’s laundry. He has eczema on his chest and stomach, and since he is only a year and a half old, his skin is still really sensitive. On his laundry I use Tide Free & Gentle, Downy Free & Gentle, and Dreft Scent Beads to keep that infant smell alive. I started using Tide on his clothes around 8 months, he stopped breastfeeding at this time and started eating real food. Dreft simply wasn’t cutting it on the food stains but I wanted to keep away from dyes so I didn’t irritate his skin, Tide Free & Gentle has covered our needs there.
At the end of October I actually put Gain Fabric Softener in with Isaac’s clothes and his eczema flared up. It was the same week temperatures dropped for the first time here in Cincinnati and we turned the heat on, so that could have also been the culprit. But since then, and since switching the laundry routine, I have been more vigilant in what I’m putting in each load.
If you dread Laundry Day every week, I highly recommend trying to spread it out. It is so much easier to do one small load every day than a bunch of BIG loads at the end of each week. And hey, this might not work for everyone, but it has been a big help for me. I’m no longer running out of leggings at the end of each week, and we don’t have a smelly pile of laundry building in our hamper.
And heck, since we are all stuck at home, what better time to switch up some cleaning routines?
For now, I am going to keep up with this new laundry routine and spread out the folding. Let me know below what you’re laundry habits look like and if you think you could change it up!
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