CLEAN – Laundry
The next room for our challenge is to clean the laundry. With 5 members in our house, I am washing 6 out of 7 days. To make it easer on myself I need to keep the laundry tidy and clutter free.
Cleaning task
Today’s cleaning task is to do the following in your laundry:
[wlchecklist name=’CleanDay3′]
Remember just do the tasks above, we will be coming back to the laundry during the challenge to organise and clean other areas.
Here are a few posts I have shared on my blog about organising the laundry:
- Finding time to fold clean laundry
- Laundry room organising tips
- Wash the clothes line
- Declutter under the laundry sink
- Airing my dirty laundry – guest post
- Ironing routine
- How to keep up with the washing when raining
- How I organise all our pet supplies in the laundry
- A day in the life of The Organised Housewife’s day off
- How many school uniforms should I buy?
- My new sorting clean laundry routine
DECLUTTER – Laundry Pile
That is right, declutter your laundry pile by organising the dirty laundry. This is one of my most used organising solutions in our home and I really hope you have the space to be able to implement it in your laundry as it saves me so much time. In fact when I needed a new dryer and I had to purchase one that I could mount on the wall as I didn’t want to lose my dirty laundry system.
I pre-sort my washing into piles:
- Darks
- Colours
- Whites
- Other – Tea towels, wash clothes, tablecloths, mop heads etc
This is my system, it fits in perfectly between the linen cupboard and the washing machine.
How it works
My kids don’t have a dirty clothes basket in their bathroom, there is just no room to store one. After their shower they put their clothes directly into the laundry baskets, sorting into darks, whites and colours as they go. They have done this from a very young age and it is such a great help to me. I have a clothes basket in my bathroom which I empty and sort into these baskets every one to two days.
I find this system eliminates time out of the mundane washing process. Laundry isn’t too much of a chore with this fuss free system. When ready to do the washing all the clothes are there (so no running around to bathrooms or bedrooms picking up clothes), I load the washing machine and continue on with whatever I was doing.
[wlchecklist name=’DeclutterDay3′]
ORGANISE – Laundry Routine
The washing is very much like ground-hog day, however it needs to be done otherwise we won’t have clean clothes to wear. I have a really bad memory, I used to use ‘baby brain’ as an excuse, but my youngest is now 9, so that doesn’t hold up. Creating a laundry routine ensures that I remember to wash everything needed and that the kids go to school at the end of the week with clean uniforms and we eat on a clean tablecloth.
My washing schedule:
Monday – colours
Tuesday – bedsheets
Wednesday – darks & gym gear
Thursday – kitchen linens
Friday – bath towels & gym gear
Saturday – whites & darks
Sunday – day off
I have created some prints for my laundry which includes my schedule above, it helps remind me which load needs to be run each day. This schedule also allows me to have a day off washing each Sunday! These digital prints are available in my shop and can be personalised for your own routine. I have placed the prints in frames and used 3M strips to attach to the wall, brightens up a rather ordinary room.
Laundry schedules are available in my shop. Use coupon code 20dayslaundry to get 20% off at checkout (excludes personalised chart). Click here to download
[wlchecklist name=’OrganiseDay3′]
NEW HABIT – Put on a load of washing.
I put on a load of washing before I start our evening routine, then hang it out to dry that evening as I live on the glorious Gold Coast the sun is up before I am and has it dried by mid morning. Add ‘put on a load of washing’ to your evening or morning routine to help you stay on top of it. Here are some suggestions:
- Put washing on in the evening and hang on the line before breakfast
- Put washing on before breakfast hang before leaving for work/school run
[wlchecklist name=’NewHabitDay3′]
5 MINUTES ONLY – Polish or dust 2 pieces of furniture
[wlchecklist name=’5minutesonlyDay3′]
DOWNLOAD
Print the daily sheet and checklists to keep for reference while you are completing the above tasks.
- DAY 3 DAILY TASK SHEET – file behind ‘Daily Task’ divider – click to download.
- LAUNDRY CLEANING CHECKLIST – file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.
- BLANK LAUNDRY CLEANING CHECKLIST – use this to create your own checklist, file behind ‘Checklist’ divider – click to download.
199 comments
hi Kat you haven’t given me details for the facebook group yet what is the best way to contact you off group
Wendy can you please email me challenge@theorganisedhousewife.com.au and i will see what is happening for you.
Done! Was tempted to attack the laundry cupboard but have to pack as will be away till Saturday. Will have to catch up Thursday and Friday on the weekend or next week.
have a lovely time away Kate.
Where did you get the 4 drawers system from
Yay – 2 days done in one so far —- slowly catching up 🙂
Well done, nice job.:)
Finally got the laundry complete, top to bottom it’s now clean… we are painting the house, so now I can get in and fix those little dents in the walls and tape the skirting and ceiling ready for painting… I always feel better doing washing in a clean laundry, it somehow makes it easier to do.
I haven’t yet finished day 2’s tasks though, we moved into the spare bedroom to use the master to paint doors, so have been doing the spare room like it’s the master, but the spare room has my sewing table which is currently being used to make new bed cover, pillow cases, cushions and curtains, so that’s a mess too. But I thought I could clean and organise my sewing table instead of organising my top draw and I could do that another day.
Kat your comment about not trying to make things perfect for Day 2 has helped alot, as sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed with the number of tasks not complete as each day goes past, but then I remember that I’ve started and that’s the main thing!!!!
Absolutely Megan, your right, as long as you have started you should be proud. Sometimes making things absolutely perfect hinders us, sets up back and just takes up too much time.
done – I am getting there
You have done so well Rebecca to get through 3 days… go you!!
Bahaha! Just went to print out tomorrow’s lists and saw the clean laundry on the couch comment from you Kat! I feel good! 🙂
🙂
Ok, so my laundry was probably the most organised rooms in my disorganised house! Washing a load a day was one of the things I was keeping on top of (not so much the folding and putting away of clean clothes though – very common for the girls to be rummaging through piles of clean clothes looking for specific items!) So, I have added to my list (for another day) to fold and put away all the clean clothes in various baskets around my house!
As a result of this, I have been able to check off everything on the list for today – yay – which would otherwise have been difficult, as I had an appt this morning which took me out for all of the school day. I was even able to keep my Wednesday yoga class date with a girlfriend tonight.
Hoping to get a good easy sleep tonight – sweet dreams everyone!
How old are your kids Janine, are they able to help you sort or fold the washing?
I haven’t finished today or yesterday’s task list, so annoying – love ticking off all the boxes as I go!
Take your time Carlie, just fit it in amongst your other commitments, try doing a day every second day, or just one a week, whatever suits your scheudle, but I will be here to help you… well wish I could help you scrub, but here for support 🙂
I’ve managed to get a few jobs done in the Laundry. It is so nice to have a list and routine to follow.
You got quite a bit done today Simone, the routine will help you to manage all the tasks and keep ontop of them not forgetting any 🙂