An Easy Way to Organize the Laundry Folding Task

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.

Jump to:

• Store Your Laundry Bags in a Common Area
• Sort the clothes into groups during the Laundry Process
• Wash your clothes from light to dark colors
• Dry Clothing Tips during the Laundry Process
• Now it's time to fold.
• Label the folding baskets in three spots
• Create a return laundry basket deadline.

Store Your Laundry Bags in a Common Area

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. 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 do want to store your baskets in there. And make sure that the height of your first shelf from the bottom is not too low.

Below are some I found on Amazon (affiliate).

Sort the clothes into groups during the Laundry Process

We sort the clothes in the basement since our basement laundry room is down there. Learn about it here. Then, I sort the clothing into groups, like dark & red clothing, light clothing, bleach & towels items, and sheets & blankets items on the floor.

Note: if there were items that needed to be treated, we did it at this phase and then placed them into the appropriate pile.

Dark colors pile

Dark and red clothes are set in one pile. This helps us know where they all are. I also make sure we separate out the items that need to be hung dry and not placed in the dryer (so that is another pile next to this pile).

Light color pile

Light clothing is things 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 color pile.

Sheets pile

Sheets and blankets are usually set in hot water and usually with bleach since we use white sheets and blankets, so I keep them separated. This pile doesn't happen every week, usually every other week.

Towels pile

Towels, washcloths, and hand towels are set for high heat to wash, and we make sure that they get washed a little longer with a little stronger detergent. These items also include undergarments usually. The setting of our washer is warm, not hot.

Wash your clothes from light to dark colors

Then I start washing the clothes. I first start with the towels (bleach items), then lights, then darks, then sheets.

I like to start with whites first because they tend to be a lot, and I can get them out of the space quickly. This task gives me more room to fold the other clothes.

Add the to-be-hung items

To keep track of my to-be-hung items, I make sure they are placed on top when I wash the clothes. This reminds me that we need to pull them out and hang them.

Dry Clothing Tips during the Laundry Process

First, before placing clothing into the dryer, I would check the label and hang the items that needed hanging.

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.

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. Check out the photos below.

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 the top of each basket on the long side as well, to help me quickly find the basket when folding. I sometimes lay clothing over the sides, so having the top label of the basket in two places helps with reminding 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 wouldn't fold them, I would just lay them on top of the clothing basket, so I knew that I had to do this when I brought the clothes into our bedroom, which is where are iron and ironing board are 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 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.

Label the front of the baskets

I wrote the same label 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 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 and folded and placed in the correct basket, and when all the clothes are finished, everyone comes down and takes their bin.

Tips on Folding Clothes in the Laundry Process

When you are folding other people's clothing, and they are old enough to understand, do these tasks.

1. 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.
2. Collect the socks, but don't match the socks. The family members can do this when they get it back to their room if they want. Learn more ways to organize socks in our post: HOW TO ORGANIZE SOCKS ONCE AND FOR ALL {SOCK ORGANIZATION OPTIONS}
3. 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 right away and come back 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 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 are now sorting and helping with the folding, so the job is getting easier. Hope your laundry chores are a breeze.

UPDATE: The kids are now young adults and do their own laundry, so the Laundry Process now only takes us 4 hours to do. And we are so grateful for that.

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!