We have a laundry room in the basement, and because of that, I do laundry once a week. It takes about 12 hours with an efficient washer and dryer with no interruptions (like, me having to go out, getting distracted, etc..). So to make this process more efficient, I developed a system to bring the clothes downstairs and upstairs.
Here is my laundry folding task system.
First, we have cloth laundry bags upstairs that get filled and brought downstairs. I like the cloth bags because I can roll them down the stairs and it saves my wrists and time from 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.
Then, I sort the clothing into groups, like dark & red clothing, light clothing, and bleach & towels items and sheets & blankets items.
They I start washing, first whites, then lights, then darks. I like to start with whites first because they tend to be a lot and I can get them and get them out of the space quickly. This task gives me more room to fold the other clothes.
I have five plastic bins, one for each member of the family and one for the towels and sheets. I used a permanent marker and wrote the name of each person on the basket, on the front edge, on the side edge, and on the top edge. See photos below.
As you can see, I put the names on the side because you can see who’s basket is missing at a quick glance when they are stacked. I also label the top of each basket on the long side as well, to help me quickly find the basket. I sometimes lay clothing over the sides so having the top label of the basket in two places, help with reminding me what each basket is.
Folding clothes task
When folding the clothes, I place each basket in a row next to each other.
The labeling at the top allows me to know who’s basket I am placing clothing into. It also helps the owner of the basket of clothes 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 up quickly and bring them up while the other clothes are washing.
The clothes are then washed and folded and placed in the correct basket, and when all the clothes are finished, everyone comes down and takes their bin.
As the kids get older, they are now sorting and helping with the folding, so the job is getting easier. Hope your laundry chores are a breeze.
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