Articlesofmotherhood

I’m telling you, if you haven’t tried this laundry system yet, you are about to have your life changed.

It’s simple, it’s practical, and it will save you SO much time (and maybe your sanity).

No more endless sorting piles, no more hunting through the abyss of clothes for that one shirt someone HAS to wear today and no more doing ten loads at once just because one person ran out of clean underwear.

This is the perfect system and it works so well…as long as you stay on top of it. By the end of this post, you’ll know exactly how to implement this system in your home.

The secret? Everyone gets their own laundry basket… and it stays with them from start to finish. Let me elaborate.

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Why I implemented this system

When it was just me laundry was no problem. I would wash dry and put away my laundry, no problem. When my husband and I got together it got more complicated. Towels, his clothes and mine. Still not terrible, but I found myself spending so much time sorting clothes after they were washed, or when I needed an article of clothing I would spend so much time searching our dirty clothes to wash it.

That’s when I started changing the game.

The time it was taking to sort was agonizing, and it only got worse when we added our first baby and ALL the laundry that comes with it. I would say it takes me 3x (thats being generous) less time on average to sort and put away the laundry in our home than most other people I see. And it’s all thanks to this simple system.

This system helps reduce the overwhelm. Not only was I spending hours sorting our clothes but I would avoid the task altogether because I KNEW it was going to take forever. I would find myself leaving clothes (intentionally) in the dryer, just so I didn’t have to add to the pile.

How the system works:

To start off what you will need:

• Separate laundry hamper for EACH member of your family, and if you want to get extra useful, one for towels/bathrooms. For example ours looks like:
  • Husband/Dad
  • Wife/Mom
  • Toddler (3 year old)
  • Baby (1 year old)
  • Hamper for all towels
  • Small basket for kitchen towels
  • One extra for moving the clean clothes out of the dryer to put away. Or to bring down a straggling load of laundry.

Our favorite baskets and hampers plus some low-tox laundry items we love.

After that, the steps are relatively simple.

• Each persons basket should live somewhere easy for them to access…their room, closet, bathroom, etc.
• Introduce the system
  • This is difficult at first but starts to become 2nd nature.
  • Label them if you need but placing them in specific places should be self explanatory on whose they are.
• Set ground rules and make a schedule
  • A schedule doesn’t have to be concrete. Just 1 day per person or a checklist of who is next is enough to get you on track.
  • If they won’t follow the system…make them sort the laundry.
    • This seems a little excessive but I’ve used it on my husband a few times and after being forced to sort laundry, it definitely helps them see the value in it.
• Monitor the system for the first few weeks and adjust where you need to.
  • Maybe you use a lot of towels and need 2 towel days
  • Maybe your kids are in sports on different days and you need to switch it up.
    • You could add a sports only basket if your kids are they age so their things can always be accessible and ready to wash at a moments notice.
• Now, here is the most important part:
  • When the clothes are taken off, or dirty, MAKE SURE they go in the correct basket. If its not in the room with you (or them), walk it there.
  • I know in the moment its so annoying to go down the hall and toss a shirt into the basket in your toddlers room rather than the basket closest to you but I promise you, it will save more time in the long run.

Pitfalls & Troubleshooting

So you are the type of person who likes to sort whites, lights and colors? Try laundry baskets with dividers.

What if your baskets are overflowing? If you are doing the laundry weekly, this shouldn’t be an issue. If you want to do laundry less or you fell behind, here is a simple fix:

Take your empty “extra” basket and do 1 load from each persons basket. Keep them separate and just wash SOME of their laundry. That way everyone gets what they need but you don’t have to work in a week of laundry and sorting into 1 day.

If you start throwing all the clean loads in a pile on the bed or couch, this wont work, and you will be back to spending hours sorting and feeling overwhelmed. Trust me, I know.

What’s next?

This is the part that will help you out most.

When a basket is full, wash only that person’s laundry from start to finish. (especially helpful if you have tiny humans in the house)

• No mixing.
• No overwhelming piles on the couch
• No sorting 5 people’s clothes and then sorting into piles to put away later.
• Just wash, dry, fold, and put it right back in their room.

The beauty of this system is that it naturally staggers the laundry days. Maybe Monday is the baby’s basket, Tuesday is your husband’s, Wednesday is towels…you get the idea. If you do want to tackle everything in one marathon day or Sunday reset, it still works, you’re just working through one person at a time.

If you need a better breakdown, I’ll provide a look at what my laundry week looks like later in this post.

You don’t need to over complicate the system, keep it simple.

Bonus tips and tools:

Grabbing a small whiteboard or whiteboard schedule and mapping it out, at least at first, can be a big help. Especially if you have older kids, then they can see when their laundry day is.

Here is a list to some cleaning and organization items that might help keep things on track:

On Amazon: Cleaning and organization tools

Walmart and Target: Whiteboards, baskets, and low-tox

Examples and sample schedule:

I honestly don’t have a specific day for each person since my kids are so little. I just give each person a day and start with the baskets that are the most full.

So here is what it might look like:

• Monday: 3 year old’s laundry.
  • Usually 2-3 small loads. Wash, dry, put away. 1 LOAD at a time
  • You can wait and do the whole basket at once but its far easier to put away one small load and wait for the next.
• Tuesday: 1 year old’s Laundry
  • Same usually 2-3 small loads
  • One basket can take all day, I put away each basket when I have a little pocket of time so that is why I like to only do 1 basket a day.
• Wednesday: Towels
  • Towels in the middle of the week
  • Usually 2-3 loads but are easy and quick to fold and put away.
• Thursday: Mom’s day
  • Typically all the baskets have 2-3 small-medium loads
  • Doing smaller loads makes putting them away easier too
• Friday: Dad’s basket
  • 2-3 small loads
  • Easier to put away (he wears less clothes and also doesn’t require as much sorting)
• Saturday: Rest it
• Sunday: Reset and miscellaneous
  • Sometimes if its a lazy weekend I will go through and do a load from everyone to start off fresh for the week.
  • Also, I might throw in a load of towels, the kitchen and bathroom hand towels or if bedding needs washed.
  • With babies I also keep an extra tub around for clothes that need to be soaked and then throw them in with towels.

Here is a sample schedule, nothing crazy and you can switch up days or if you like instead of waiting until the baskets are full you can do them when there is just enough for a load if you want to keep even more on top of it.

Extra benefits and tips:

• If you have older kids this system makes everything 10x easier, because you can just put the clean basket back in their room, no sorting at all.
• If just one person needs an item of clothing washed, you don’t have to search the whole laundry pile for it, you can just throw their whole basket in.
• IF you are the kind of person who sorts out lights, darks, and delicates. You can still use the system. There is less to sort through per load, or use a divided basket.
  • I have never sorted out lights and darks and nothing bad has happened yet.
• Pro tip: Keep one extra empty basket handy for moving clean clothes from the dryer to the right room.

Want to add some low-tox home cleaner swaps to your household? Try these!

Final Thoughts on Simplifying Laundry

Laundry doesn’t have to be overwhelming or eat up your entire week. By giving every family member their own basket and sticking to this simple system, you’ll cut down the chaos, save time, and make laundry something that just flows with your routine instead of taking it over.

If you’re ready to give it a try, start small. Set up the baskets and see how quickly it makes a difference in your home and routine. Your future self (and your sanity) will thank you.

If this system could help you, pin this post for later and let me know in the comments if you’ve tried it!