DAY 3

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′]

• Tips on cleaning the floor
• How to clean walls
• How to clean windows

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

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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′]

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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′]

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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′]

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5 MINUTES ONLY – Polish or dust 2 pieces of furniture

[wlchecklist name=’5minutesonlyDay3′]

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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.

Please share your progress in the comments below