How to Set Up a Simple Laundry Routine

Spoiler alert: I don’t do laundry every day. I don’t even have a laundry schedule. What I do have is a super-efficient laundry routine that keeps me from ever falling behind.

For some people, doing a load every day works really well. Not for me. I don’t have time to do it every day, and what happens if I forget?

I like to batch all my cleaning routines into one day. It’s easier to get it all done in one shot than needing to remember what I’m supposed to do every day of the week.

My laundry routine is very simple, efficient, and you can get away with doing laundry once a week! I’ll tell you how to set it up and get caught up.

Here’s how my laundry routine works:

I have two laundry baskets. When both baskets are full, I know that I need to do laundry. Usually, I only do 2-3 loads on Laundry Day –colors, whites, and every couple weeks, delicates. One load goes in one after another. I try to fold as each load comes out of the dryer, but since it’s only a couple loads, sometimes I’ll throw it all on the bed and do it all at once.

This routine works for me for a couple of reasons:

1. There are only 3 people in my house. If you have more kids, you’re probably going to need to do more loads and have a couple more baskets.
2. We’ve pared down our clothes a lot so that we don’t have weeks and weeks’ worth of clothes to go through before we need to do another load. In other words, the fewer clothes we own, the less laundry there is to do.

This routine may not work for everybody …if you have a large family, you’ll really have to experiment. But it’s definitely worth a shot if you’re drowning in laundry.

Here’s how you can get set up and ready to use this routine.

Step 1

Declutter all the clothes. Paring down the amount = less laundry. If you have kids clothes you want to save, use this post right here as a guide for choosing what stays and how to store the clothes. For your own closet, use this post on the top questions to ask when decluttering your closet.

Donate your clothes and remember you can write off your donation at tax time.

Step 2

Next, gather all the clothes left that need washing. Spend the next day or two catching up on all the laundry. Wash, dry, fold, and put away is your number one task for the next couple days.

Step 3

Choose only one or two places for all the dirty laundry to go so that you can always see how much there is. Encourage your family to get into the habit of using the dirty laundry hubs instead of throwing clothes on the floor.

Step 4

This may take a little while to figure out, but next, you’ll need to decide on your laundry day or days. I do laundry once both baskets are full, as I said earlier, so my laundry days aren’t consistent. However, you might want to just do it all one day a week. Choose a day and see if the baskets are overflowing and how many loads you end up doing.

There could be two more things to do:

1. get bigger laundry baskets, or
2. pick two days separate days to do laundry so you’re not dealing with as many loads.

Step 5

Get all the laundry tasks done in one day! If you have the luxury of a big laundry room, you should add some pretty stuff to make you feel better about being there. For example, in one of Joanna Gaines’ articles in the Magnolia Journal (which I love for its simplicity), she talks about how she made her laundry room more inspiring to spend time in.  Believe me, it makes a difference.

If not, and you’re like me where you have to fold the laundry in the bedroom, listen to a podcast or a book as you fold (you can find my favorites in the resources section right here). Or you can be like me and wait for the kids to nap so you can revel in the quiet 🙂

Experiment with this simple laundry routine to see if it works for you. Get started by paring down the family’s wardrobes, then catch up on all the laundry.