We have a laundry room in the basement, and because of that, I do laundry once a week. It takes about 8-12 hours with an efficient washer and dryer with no interruptions (like me having to go out, getting distracted, etc..). So, to make this laundry process more efficient, I developed a system with my husband to bring the clothes downstairs and upstairs and sort things to streamline this process. Check it out below. Maybe you can add some of these steps to your laundry routine (affiliate).
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- Store Your Laundry Bags in a Common Area
- Sort the clothes into groups during the Laundry Process
- Order of your Washing Process
- Dry Clothing Tips During the Laundry Process
- Now it's time to fold.
- Folding Clothes Task in the Laundry Process
- Label the folding baskets in three spots
- Create a return laundry basket deadline.
Store Your Laundry Bags in a Common Area
First, we have narrow cloth laundry bags filled with cloth and brought downstairs. I like the cloth bags because I can roll them down the stairs, saving my wrists and time when carrying them. My husband isn't a big fan of me throwing them down the stairs, but I have to do what I have to do—I need to save my wrists. You can check out the narrow laundry baskets we use in our linen closet here.
Tip: Always check the depth of your linen closet if you want to store your baskets there. And make sure that the height of your first shelf from the bottom is not too low.
Below are some collapsible narrow laundry baskets on Amazon (affiliate) (affiliate).
Laundry Basket Narrow (12"L x 10"Wx 20"H) Collapsible Hamper with Aluminum Handles
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Laundry Basket Laundry Hamper, Pack of 2
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Laundry Hamper 12.6 Inch Collapsible Laundry Baskets with Handles 3 pk
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Sort the clothes into groups during the Laundry Process
We sort the clothes in the basement since our basement laundry room is down there. In this post, I will explain my sorting method in the basement laundry room. Then, I sort the clothing into groups, like dark & red clothing, light clothing, bleach & towels items, Work Clothes (optional), and sheets & blankets items on the floor.
Note: If items needed to be treated, we did so at this phase and placed them into the appropriate pile.
Dark colors pile
Dark and red clothes are placed in one pile, which helps us know where they all are. I also make sure we separate the items that need to be hung dry and not placed in the dryer. In addition, there is another small pile next to this pile.
Light color pile
Light clothing includes items that are not allowed to be bleached or items that are lighter in color, like light pinks, yellows, etc. These items are set in a different pile. In this area, we also separate out items that need to be hung. They are placed right next to the light-colored pile.
Sheets pile
Sheets and blankets are usually cleaned in hot water and bleach, and since we use white sheets and blankets, I keep them separated from the other piles. To save water, this pile doesn't happen every week; it usually happens every other week.
Towels pile
Towels, washcloths, and hand towels are washed on high heat, and we ensure they get washed a little longer with a little stronger detergent. These items also usually include undergarments. The setting of our washer is warm, not hot, for these towels.
Optional: work clothes pile
If you work in particular industries where you want to wash your work clothes separately to disinfect them, you can add an additional pile for work clothes. These people may work in industries like healthcare and construction.
Order of your Washing Process
Wash your clothes from light to dark pile, then towel/sheets items. The order of washing your clothing will help eliminate the transfer of bleach if you use it.
Then I start washing the clothes. I start with the light colors, then move on to the darker-colored piles, and then the towels and sheets (any bleach items).
If you do not use bleach, you can start with sheets and towels first because they tend to be a lot, and you can quickly get them out of the space. This task gives you more room to fold the other clothes.
Add the cleaned to-be-hung items.
To keep track of my to-be-hung items, I ensure they are placed on top when I wash the clothes. I also mentally note what clothes need to be pulled out for hanging. This reminds me that we need to pull them out and hang them.
Dry Clothing Tips During the Laundry Process
Checking the label (affiliate) is super important. So, before placing the wet clothing into the dryer, I check the label (affiliate) and hang the items that need hanging.
The rest of the items then go in the dryer. I found that the less heat I use, the longer the clothing will last. It saves on electricity/gas and is better for my clothes. Clothes last a lot longer when you set your dryer to low heat. So, my dryer is always on the lowest heat settings (low heat). Read this article about why hot is too hot for your clothing in the dryer.
Now it's time to fold.
For us, the folding process involves five plastic bins. One bin for each family member and one for the towels and sheets/blankets. I used a permanent marker (affiliate) to write each person's name on the basket, on the front edge, on the side edge, and on the top edge. Check out the photos below.
Laundry Basket, Large, Plastic with Comfort Handles 6 pack
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As you can see, I put the names on the side because you can see whose basket is missing at a quick glance when they are stacked. I also label (affiliate) the top of each basket on the long side to help me quickly find the basket when folding. I sometimes lay clothing over the sides, so having the top label (affiliate) of the basket in two places helps remind me what each basket is.
Folding Clothes Task in the Laundry Process
When folding the clothes, I place each basket in a row next to each other.
If items need to be hung or ironed, I won't fold them; I will just lay them on the clothing basket. So I knew that I had to do this when I brought the clothes into our bedroom, where our iron and ironing board were stored.
Label the folding baskets in three spots
The top of the basket
The labeling at the top allows me to know whose basket I am placing clothing into. It also helps the owner of the clothes basket pick up the right basket.
After I take the towels out of the dryer, I fold them and place them into my "Towels and sheets bin." I can finish them quickly and bring them up while washing other clothes.
Label the front of the baskets.
I wrote the same label (affiliate) on the front of the basket so that when they are stacked, we can see who hasn't given us the basket back.
Label the long side of the baskets.
The third label is optional. We used to have narrow shelves (affiliate) above our washer and dryer. To store these baskets, I placed them on the narrow side so they would not fall off. However, since I purchased new units, I didn't need to use this labeled side any longer.
The clothes are then washed, folded, and placed in the correct basket. When all the clothes are finished, everyone comes down and takes their bin.
Tips on Folding Clothes during the Laundry Process
Do these tasks when you are folding other people's clothing and they are old enough to understand.
- Ask them to turn the items right side out to speed up your folding time. If they do not do this, fold them as is and have them turn them right side out later.
- Collect the socks (affiliate), but don't match the socks. The family members can do this when they get them back to their room if they want. Learn more ways to organize socks (affiliate) in our post: HOW TO ORGANIZE SOCKS ONCE AND FOR ALL {SOCK ORGANIZATION OPTIONS}
- If you have items that need to air dry, tell the person who the clothes belong to to get these items later or the next day. They can take up their basket immediately and return for the other stuff later.
Create a return laundry basket deadline.
OK, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Getting the laundry folding basket back to the basement can be tricky. I assigned a deadline and told all the family members when I wanted the baskets back in their homes. So, I allowed 3 days. I usually clean clothes on Fridays, so by Monday morning, I expected the laundry basket (affiliate) to be back in their home above the dryer. And, if it didn't happen, they would have to do their own laundry. So, of course, they didn't want to do that.
As the kids get older, they sort and help with folding, making the job easier. Hope your laundry chores are a breeze.
UPDATE 2024: The kids are now young adults and do their laundry, so the Laundry Process for us only takes four hours. We are so grateful for that.
Each child washes their clothes. Some of them use dark and light piles. Others throw all of them together since they have dark-colored items.
I hope this post helps you establish a system for your laundry process. Please share your process below so others can get inspired. Thank you!
Feel free to check out our other laundry room posts!
Janet Barclay says
I learned a few things from this post, but most doesn't apply to me. Because we're in an apartment building, we have access to multiple washers and dryers, so all our laundry can be done within two hours a week. We usually do one or two loads at a time, but are allowed up to three.