We all have to do it. LAUNDRY!!
And most people, or perhaps just me plod along and get it done until they have kids. Then you're doing a load (or 3) per day and lets just say I know of many a mama with a MT. Washmore that can be seen from the moon and smelt from the hallway.
Not me! this hack actually came from just being completely lazy but has served me well. I turned Laundry into the same method as I do with Garbage, and I am not talking about sorting out the recylables from trash I am talking about skipping the dust bins in each room. Or in the case of the Laundry I'm skipping the hampers and the dry pails.
To do this successfully it helps to have a clothes airer to hang used towels on but that is about all you need.
Step one: each time someone has a dirty clothing item it goes straight in the washing machine.
Step two: immediately when you notice the washing machine is full add detergent and hit wash.
Step Three: walk away and do whatever while you wait for the cycle to finish.
Step four: hang the load out or place in dryer.
Step five: go and get dry clothes, folding each one as you touch them and place them in piles respective to whom the items belong to.
Step six: place clothes in respective owners rooms or call everyone to come get them.
SPECIAL CASES:
If an item is hand wash only- wash it by hand in the sink as soon as it is removed from the body it was clothing. This will incidentally also make it easier to clean.
Towels: place towels used to dry clean bodies after a shower or bath to dry on your towel rack, when they are dry they can be re-used for the day to dry hands. At the end of the day place them in the washer and wash so that they can then be hung out again and dried overnight- clean new towels for your morning shower!
Nappies/Diapers- rinse with sprayer or in the laundry sink to dilute urine and remove feces then place the now pretty clean but still needing a wash nappies/diapers into the washing machine to be washed with other clothing items. Hit "pre-rinse" before the full cycle. WARM WASH with a COLD RINSE. Your clothes will still get clean on a nappy/diaper wash cycle and a lower detergent dose. It might actually increase their lifespan with less chemicals stressing the fabric.
Sheets- sheets are tricky but since no one washes their sheets daily or even more than once a week it's perfectly acceptable to leave them sitting next to the washing machine while the morning load goes through- then pull out your usual load and throw those sheets straight in and you're golden.
Sure Hampers are convenient but you know what? it means you're just throwing the clothes into a basket to pile up and then.. when they're ALL full you put them in the washer. And you'll spend all of one day each week doing just laundry.
I started doing this because I practice EC and used a cloth nappy/diaper back up with my babies. this meant I had around 1-5 wet or possibly dirty cloth nappies/diapers to wash everyday or so. Not a full load but I needed to wash them or they'd risk getting moldy. So what did I do? I started just rinsing them all as soon as they were off the baby and placing them in the washer which eliminated the dry pail. I also had everyone put in their pajamas if they needed a wash and voila! a load!
Basically we just put our soiled items except for towels and sheets directly into the washing machine with anything yucky rinsed before we put it in or before anything else is added. As soon as the washer is full I turn it on and add detergent. This does mean I wash a lot but it's no more than anyone else does it's just a bit everyday instead of a lot on one day and nothing the rest of the week.And it does require not fretting about colors and whites and mixing different items but you know what- we've survived, no one has become chronically ill from the change and people can't tell I mixed nappies/diapers with T-shirts and Jeans or even that I NEVER iron my shirts (they dry on a hanger perfectly crisp and straight).
It all came out in the wash.
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