Best Laundry Tips for Busy Moms: How to Save Time and Stay Organized
Being a mom is a full-time job, and when you add laundry into the mix, it can feel like an endless task. With kids running around, work demands, and household responsibilities piling up, laundry can quickly turn into a mountain that never seems to shrink. But don’t worry! I’ve got you covered with some simple laundry tips that will help save time, keep your clothes fresh, and keep your sanity intact. Whether you're a busy mom trying to manage a hectic schedule or just looking for more efficient ways to stay on top of the laundry, these laundry hacks are for you.
Start a Load at Night
One of my all time favorite laundry hacks and the easiest way to avoid laundry piles from taking over your day is to start a load at night. After the kids are in bed, simply load up your washer, start it, and let it finish overnight. If you have a front-load washer, you can even set a timer to start the load in the middle of the night. The goal here is to wake up to a freshly-washed load finished & ready to be transferred to the dryer first thing the next morning. Laundry can take up a lot of time during the day, but if you start a load at night, you'll free up your daytime hours and ensure you are staying on top of the laundry without having to carve out extra time during your busy day. Instead, you’ll wake up to clean clothes and will feel ahead of the game.
Tip: Habit-stack this with your morning coffee! As your coffee pot is warming up, head to your laundry room and move your clothes to the dryer. This will ensure you don’t forget and prevent you from having to rewash stinky, soiled clothes later. Once it becomes a part of your routine, I promise you will wish you would have started doing this sooner!
2. Do One Load Every Day
One of the biggest mistakes busy moms make is letting laundry pile up, then having to spend hours upon hours over the weekend catching up. This is a recipe for stress! Instead, establish a routine and do one load of laundry a day. While committing to one load of laundry a day may seem like a small task, it can have a big impact on your daily routine. By staying on top of laundry, you avoid overwhelming piles that can take hours to sort, wash, dry, and fold. With just one load a day, the process becomes quick and manageable, reducing the stress of a laundry mountain. Plus, you're less likely to forget about items left in the dryer or washer, which can lead to musty smells or wrinkles. Not only does it save time and energy in the long run, but it also helps you maintain a more organized and clutter-free home. A simple, consistent routine means that laundry becomes a regular, less hectic part of your day, rather than an emergency task that feels impossible to manage.
3. Sort Laundry by Person
Instead of combining everyone’s laundry into one big pile on the laundry room floor, sort laundry by person and categories and designate a specific day in your routine for each one. When you separate towels, sheets, and each person’s clothes, it makes the entire process more efficient. Sorting by person means you’re only dealing with the laundry for one person at a time, which makes folding and putting away clothes much quicker. For families, this method also reduces the risk of losing or misplacing individual items—kid 1’s socks won’t end up in kid 2’s pile! Ultimately, it leads to a more organized system that keeps everyone’s clothes clean, fresh, and easy to manage. Here’s an example of how you can break it down:
Monday: Towels
Tuesday: Mom and Dad’s darks
Wednesday: Kid 1 laundry
Thursday: Kid 2 laundry
Friday: Mom and Dad’s lights
Saturday: Bedding (rotate the beds each week to make sure everyone has clean sheets!)
Sunday: Catch-up day or a day off from laundry!
This schedule helps keep laundry manageable and guarantees everything gets done throughout the week, without overwhelming any single day with too many loads!
4. Invest in a Good Laundry System & Sort as You Go
A good laundry system can be a game-changer and make tip #3 a lot easier. You don’t need a fancy setup, but having designated bins or baskets for each family member can make it easy to separate clothes as soon as they come off. The more organized you are at the start, the quicker the process will be later.
My husband and I use this laundry hamper in our room. The three separate sections allows us to sort our clothes into darks and lights right as we take them off. The added bonus? The compartments are removable and have handles, making it super convenient to carry clothes straight to the laundry room without any messy transfers or spills. One section = one load of laundry!
For kids’ rooms (I have one son and one on the way), they each have their own laundry basket in their rooms. As soon as clothes come off for the day, they immediately go in the laundry basket and are ready for their designated laundry day! Since my kid(s) are young, I don’t separate their clothes by color to wash. When that time does come, I will replace their laundry baskets with one that has divided compartments.
For towels and sheets, I gather these from around the house on their designated wash day. However, if we have excess of anything or miscellaneous items that need to be washed, these are stored in laundry baskets in our laundry room.
Tip: Keep a small bottle of stain remover in a drawer in each kid’s room! As we take their clothes off, we can spray any small stains on the clothes to pre-treat them before throwing them in the laundry basket. I will add more stain-remover as needed on the day they are being washed, but this helps the stains from sitting too long without being treated! Since we are washing clothes so often, I am not worried about them sitting in the laundry basket too long and becoming moldy. Our favorite low-tox stain remover is this one!
5. Fluff, Fold, and Put Right Away
I used to be guilty of “fluffing” laundry over and over again because I didn’t want to deal with it. I know I cannot be the only one! Not only is this hard on your clothes, but it can also slow down your laundry process and ultimately delays the inevitable. Folding and putting laundry away as soon as it comes out of the dryer is one of the easiest ways to avoid mountains of wrinkled clothes piling up.
Here is what works for me: I start a load at night before I go to bed and transfer it to the dryer first thing in the morning (hello tip #1). Then, if I have a free moment over my lunch or as part of my “closing shift” night routine, I quickly fluff the clothes in the dryer to get out any wrinkles. I use the time it is fluffing to accomplish another small household task (ie. wiping down the kitchen counters, doing a quick vacuum, decluttering high traffic areas, etc). As soon as the fluff cycle is complete, I fold the clothes immediately and put them away in their designated closets!
Tip: To make this process more enjoyable, I will usually turn on a podcast or a YouTube video. Instead of being something I dread, I look forward to this little moment of “me-time!”
A few additional tips:
Try the Power of a Quick Wash Cycle
Not all laundry needs to be washed on the longest cycle. If you have light loads or clothes that are just lightly soiled, use a quick wash cycle. This can save you time and energy, especially if you’re trying to get through a lot of laundry on a busy day. Plus, many modern washing machines come with eco-friendly quick wash settings that help save water and electricity, too!
Use Dryer Balls to Speed Up Drying Time
If you're tired of waiting for your laundry to dry, consider using dryer balls. These little wonders help fluff your clothes while they're drying, which reduces drying time and helps minimize wrinkles. Plus, they're reusable, eco-friendly, and non-toxic so you’re cutting down on waste while speeding up the laundry process. Here are our favorite:
Maintain Your Washer and Dryer
To avoid breakdowns and frustrating delays, regularly clean your washer and dryer. Clogged lint filters, soap buildup, and dirty washing machines can affect performance. A clean, well-maintained appliance works more efficiently, saving you time and ensuring that your clothes are properly cared for. Here are what we’ve used:
Final Thoughts
Laundry doesn’t have to take over your life, and with the right tips and tricks, you can stay on top of it without losing your mind. By creating a simple, efficient system, enlisting help when needed, and staying consistent, you’ll be able to keep your laundry under control and focus more on the things that matter most to you.
Busy moms deserve a break, and laundry shouldn't be a constant source of stress. By implementing just a few of these laundry tips, you’ll find that even on your busiest days, laundry can become a manageable (and dare we say, even easy) part of your routine. Use these tips to streamline your laundry routine and create more space for enjoying time with your family. Happy washing!
What laundry tips work best for you? Feel free to share your tricks in the comments!
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