One way to make laundry more fun that requires 2 people is to foster a litter of kittens! One person acts as a diversion to keep the kittens from stealing socks, underwear, and towels. The other person folds the laundry while laughing. The best part - once you adopt out all the kittens, it feels like you've gained hours in your day (but it will be quieter!).
I always share how my husband and I do laundry bc I totally agree - living in tiny apartments, now both work from home, with a toddler and I suffered through about 18 months of debilitating post partum anxiety that made most household tasks that I had done without thinking totally unmanageable after having a baby.
We settled on:
- we send out only mine and my husband’s clothes. It keeps costs way down while also helping with the reality that we must fold our clothes for them to fit in our 9’ x 9’ room that holds our bed, dresser, and one of our work stations. We don’t have to fold them ourselves and can just stick them in the drawer!
- we do whites (towels, sheets) and baby clothes in our building laundry room on Fridays. We only have two towels/person and one set of sheets so the sheets go right back on the beds. We’re not particularly minimal when it comes to clothes but being minimal with linens has been a lifesaver.
- we don’t fold the baby clothes at all
Once we realized sending laundry out isn’t an all or nothing, and we can choose not to fold baby clothes while still folding ours out of necessity, the world opened up! For a lot of people the different approaches wouldn’t work, but a lot of other people might be feeling like they have to choose a lane for their whole approach to laundry and it’s not true!!
I love this insight about things not being "all or nothing." This is one that can carry over to a lot of domains of life, not just laundry. Thank you for sharing your strategies!
I know laundry can be such a challenge! I love all the details in this post too....gets me right into problem solving mode :)
I personally don't generate very much laundry -- my husband and I always laugh at my small pile of underwear next to his huge piles when we do laundry. The kids land in the middle. My sister has ADHD and I'm always shocked at how she's constantly doing mountains of laundry. Two IKEA bags every other week feels like a lot of laundry for a single person (though if you were washing all your sheets and towels I could see this being a normal amount). Is it possible the issue isn't laundry per se but too many clothes? Or are you washing things that don't really need to be washed?
I find I'm really motivated to do laundry when there aren't any clean clothes to wear. I also don't put things in the hamper if they don't smell or have visible stains...I just put them back in the closet for another wear. Since I don't have many things, it never feels unmanageable.
I wonder if you did an experiment where you packed away 50% of your family's clothing in suitcases in a closet or whatever and noticed if it changes the laundry dynamic.
Brilliant ideas!!! Adding decluttering our wardrobes and don’t wash things that aren’t dirty to my list of strategies. We are about to move so I have been on a massive minimizing our belongings streak as it is, this will fit right in!
Oh, Taylor I could talk about laundry for way too long. This has been a battle for me. I did best too when I lived in apartment buildings and had constraints due to shared laundry spaces keeping me on track. I also did better when I was working out in the world, because only having the weekends gave me very specific criteria as to when the laundry could get done. When shifted to be at home full-time, it really went awry! I look forward to hearing how your new plan works!
Honestly?! Laundry did not become a problem until we moved to Europe and no longer had our huge American washer and dryer to do our laundry in one blissful day. IT IS ENDLESS HERE. Luckily we have a vented dryer because if it was a condensation dryer... I'd give up and just walk around naked.
One way to make laundry more fun that requires 2 people is to foster a litter of kittens! One person acts as a diversion to keep the kittens from stealing socks, underwear, and towels. The other person folds the laundry while laughing. The best part - once you adopt out all the kittens, it feels like you've gained hours in your day (but it will be quieter!).
I love this!! Fostering kittens is a dream of mine.
I always share how my husband and I do laundry bc I totally agree - living in tiny apartments, now both work from home, with a toddler and I suffered through about 18 months of debilitating post partum anxiety that made most household tasks that I had done without thinking totally unmanageable after having a baby.
We settled on:
- we send out only mine and my husband’s clothes. It keeps costs way down while also helping with the reality that we must fold our clothes for them to fit in our 9’ x 9’ room that holds our bed, dresser, and one of our work stations. We don’t have to fold them ourselves and can just stick them in the drawer!
- we do whites (towels, sheets) and baby clothes in our building laundry room on Fridays. We only have two towels/person and one set of sheets so the sheets go right back on the beds. We’re not particularly minimal when it comes to clothes but being minimal with linens has been a lifesaver.
- we don’t fold the baby clothes at all
Once we realized sending laundry out isn’t an all or nothing, and we can choose not to fold baby clothes while still folding ours out of necessity, the world opened up! For a lot of people the different approaches wouldn’t work, but a lot of other people might be feeling like they have to choose a lane for their whole approach to laundry and it’s not true!!
I love this insight about things not being "all or nothing." This is one that can carry over to a lot of domains of life, not just laundry. Thank you for sharing your strategies!
Ha! I’m so much like your husband when it comes to laundry.
You two are brilliant!!
I wash throughout the week and then fold with a podcast at the weekend.
I know laundry can be such a challenge! I love all the details in this post too....gets me right into problem solving mode :)
I personally don't generate very much laundry -- my husband and I always laugh at my small pile of underwear next to his huge piles when we do laundry. The kids land in the middle. My sister has ADHD and I'm always shocked at how she's constantly doing mountains of laundry. Two IKEA bags every other week feels like a lot of laundry for a single person (though if you were washing all your sheets and towels I could see this being a normal amount). Is it possible the issue isn't laundry per se but too many clothes? Or are you washing things that don't really need to be washed?
I find I'm really motivated to do laundry when there aren't any clean clothes to wear. I also don't put things in the hamper if they don't smell or have visible stains...I just put them back in the closet for another wear. Since I don't have many things, it never feels unmanageable.
I wonder if you did an experiment where you packed away 50% of your family's clothing in suitcases in a closet or whatever and noticed if it changes the laundry dynamic.
Brilliant ideas!!! Adding decluttering our wardrobes and don’t wash things that aren’t dirty to my list of strategies. We are about to move so I have been on a massive minimizing our belongings streak as it is, this will fit right in!
Oh, Taylor I could talk about laundry for way too long. This has been a battle for me. I did best too when I lived in apartment buildings and had constraints due to shared laundry spaces keeping me on track. I also did better when I was working out in the world, because only having the weekends gave me very specific criteria as to when the laundry could get done. When shifted to be at home full-time, it really went awry! I look forward to hearing how your new plan works!
Yes! Same! I was deceived by the illusion of laundry being easier when working from home....it is a lie! 😂
Honestly?! Laundry did not become a problem until we moved to Europe and no longer had our huge American washer and dryer to do our laundry in one blissful day. IT IS ENDLESS HERE. Luckily we have a vented dryer because if it was a condensation dryer... I'd give up and just walk around naked.
How has it never occurred to me that most of our clothes do not need to be folded?! Laundry is my nemesis as well 😅 Such relief in this post.