Laundry – it’s one of those chores that some people like, some people don’t mind and some people avoid like the plague! What’s the point of sorting, soaking, washing, hanging out, taking in, folding, ironing and putting away laundry – just to get it all dirty again!

However, regardless of how much you like or hate laundry, it is a fact of life - unless you and your family are considering moving to a nudist colony on a long term basis.

  I’ve compiled a list of things which might help you to get organised, and therefore make laundry more manageable and less stressful for busy families. These ten tips should help you get your laundry under control. You may need to dedicate a few days to getting through the backlog (depending on how many piles you have to catch up on), but make the effort, and then stay on top of it. Trust me, it’s worth it.    

1.       Organise your equipment. Avoid clutter in the laundry (or wherever your washing machine is) if you can so that there is enough room for the basket etc. Get rid of any clutter that you can, put up some shelves if that helps. Having a small bin in the laundry is useful for empty detergent packets, stray tissues etc.  

Make sure that you don’t run out of laundry detergent, so that you don’t have to quickly run out to the shop at 6:30 on Sunday night to wash school uniforms for Monday! One way to do this is whenever you open a new box/ bottle, buy a new one so that you always have a spare. Alternatively, buy it in bulk. One carton from Big W lasts our family for about nine months.  

Make sure you have enough extra things you need like pegs, and a bucket/ basket big enough to hold them. Make sure you have enough hangers to hang items on and buckets to soak things in. These things aren’t very expensive, but most people run short just because they couldn’t be bothered to go and buy more. So, if you need to, go out and buy some cheap pegs, wire hangers and a $2 peg basket. It won’t put you back more that ten bucks and you will have enough of what you need.  

2.       Know what has to be washed when. If you know when the kids need their soccer jersey, guides uniform, swimming togs and a clean towel and when they need their ballet leotard, then you can make sure you have it ready. What day do they need sports uniform for school and which day do they need dress uniform?  

Involve the kids in this too. It’s their responsibility to put their soccer jersey in the wash – if they don’t, it should only take one game of playing with a dirty, stinky jersey to make sure it makes it in the basket next week! (Obviously, this won’t work for all kids – some would be happy to do this every week, so use your judgement!) Put a list of what clothes are needed when in the laundry, so you know what has priority. Use this to work out your system (next step).  

3.       Have a system for when you do what. It doesn’t really matter what your system is, as long as you have one. A few examples  

a.       On Saturday getting all the washing, folding and ironing done and put away, and then not worry about it until the next week.

b.      Do one load a day – whatever needs doing. While those clothes are on the line, fold or iron and put away yesterday’s clothes. (Consider putting the machine on at night and then hanging the clothes out first thing in the morning.)

c.       Wash one load a day, but only do folding and ironing in one big go – perhaps everybody folds in front of the TV on Sunday night.

d.      Have a day to do each type. For example, whites on Tuesday, colours on Wednesday, towels or sheets on alternating Thursdays and school uniforms on Saturdays.  (or whatever days suit for you)

Pick something which works for you and your family. Make sure you know what day you need soccer uniforms etc in mind when you are planning your system!   

4.       If you have room in either the bathroom or laundry, consider having more than one hamper. If you can have a dirty clothes hamper for whites, another one for colours and another one for towels (or whatever work for your family) then you can save yourself sorting time at the other end. It may take a few weeks to train everyone in the family to put the right thing in the right hamper, but this extra effort will pay off!  

5.       How do you dry your clothes? If you hang them out, then take a bit of time when you do to make it easier later on. Put the basket on a trolley or a chair so that you aren’t bending up and down all the time. Hang socks up together, so you can pair them straight away when you take them off. Smooth out all the wrinkles. If there are any shirts or dresses which you can get away without ironing, hand them straight on hangers so then you can just take the hangers from the line to the wardrobe. When you take them off, put the clothes in the basket neatly so they don’t get crinkled (anything to minimise ironing!). Don’t leave the clothes on the line for days and days or they will fade and get ruined (plus you’ll probably have to wash them again).  

6.       If you dry your clothes in the dryer, take them out straight away and fold them or hang them up. Most clothes out of the dryer don’t need ironing. Make sure that you open the door or window to the laundry so that the room doesn’t steam up. Don’t forget to empty the lint so that you don’t burn down your house. Make sure that when you put on a load, you will be there to fold it when it is finished, so it doesn't sit there and get crinkled.  

7.       Make sure that everyone in the house has a place to keep all of his or her clothes neatly. If there isn’t enough room to keep everyone’s clothes neatly, then make room. Donate or sell any clothes which don’t fit or aren’t worn any more. If you are saving clothes for handmedowns so you don’t want to get rid of them but they don’t fit right now then put them in a box and move them somewhere else (under a bed, garage, back of linen closet, top shelf of wardrobe) to make more room for the clothes which are used every day. You can also do the same with winter clothes in summer and swimming togs in winter.  

If you have heaps of hanging space you can buy hanging pockets very cheaply to give you more shelf space. If you don’t have much hanging space, then be creative. Can you fold up as much as you can, and place your daughter’s nice dresses in your wardrobe? If space and finances allow, sometimes it’s best to get some new shelving or chest of drawers if it makes everything easier, neater and nicer.   Having somewhere to put clean clothes and dirty clothes is important, and putting them there is important too. Washing clean clothes is ridiculous!  

8.       Now that you have a place to keep everyone’s clothes, make sure that you put clothes away promptly. There is no point in going to all the effort of getting clean, folded ironing if it sits in the basket in the hallway. Everyone rifles through it on Monday morning looking for clean socks and things get jumbled a bit, on Tuesday everyone muddles it up a bit more and by Wednesday the basked of neatly sorted, ironed and folded clothes is just a pile of crinkled mess. And don’t leave piles on beds either – that’s how you end up washing clean clothes again. Watch your kids put them in their drawers if you need to. Get them away straight away!  

9.       Have some rules to cut down on the volume of laundry. For example – one towel per person a week, don’t change clothes during the day unless they get something spilled on them. (What is it with eight year old girls and changing four different outfits in the same day!?!?!?!)   It’s also a good idea to have different clothes for different reasons. Good clothes, play clothes, old clothes etc. It saves getting paint on party dresses. Put the good clothes perhaps out of reach for littlies, and then they know that anything in the second drawer they can wear (or whatever.)  

10.   Ironing, as far as I am concerned, is one of the biggest evils in the world. One way to help is to buy suitable clothes. Buy clothes which don’t need ironing where possible, or save clothes which need ironing for special occasions. Some clothes won’t need ironing if they are hung out neatly, and then folded straight away. Again, saving pretty dresses for special occasions only and having t shirts for home will mean that you can spend time at the park with your kids in their t shirts, not at home ironing the frills on their dresses!

I hope that this helps some people. Any other ideas?