Yes, it’s crazy. But why not be gutsy and give it a try with me?
With this method, you can get all your laundry out of the way for the entire week. You won’t have to think about it again. It will be folded all at once saving you plenty of time and energy. And your little ones can join in the fun and learn some life skills at the same time.
Start first thing on the desired day of chose. I personally prefer Monday morning as it helps give a nice jump into my week. After I am dressed and ready for the day, I get to the laundry room. Begin by hauling all your laundry to your laundry room and sort by colors. Whites (simplify by including white sheets and towels) coloreds, darks (to this jean load I add dark towels) towels (separating bath towels, kitchen towels, and cleaning clothes). I also have a load of cloth diapers. Begin your first load.
This is key: Set your timer for 1 hour. (the Reminders app on the iPhone/touch device works very nice because you can easily change the time with the same reminder throughout the day, but any timer will do).
Continue with your regularly scheduled program.
When your timer goes off, immediately transfer your load into the dryer and add the next load into the wash. Hang any delicate clothes to dry as needed (we hang all my husband and my shirts and dresses and our cloth diapers). Dry clean only clothes can easily be washed in a delicate cycle and then hung to dry.
Include your kiddos in the process. They love transferring clothes from washer to dryer, and sorting clothes teaches them colors and patterns. Plus they are learning basic life skills!
Repeat your timer for 1 hr.
Continue this cycle until all your clothes have made their way through the system. In this manner you can wash upwards of 10 loads a day. I currently wash 6-8 loads every Monday for our family of five.
Lastly, at the end of your day you will have a huge mound of wonderfully clean laundry! Don’t get overwhelmed. Embrace it. It means you are warm and well clothed and God is supplying all your needs.
Have fun with your folding load by snuggling up as a family and watching a fun family movie together (we are currently enjoying Little House on the Prairie). Include everyone in the folding process. Even the little ones can fold towels and help sort into the individual colored baskets. Having a colored basket for each person or room can make the restocking drawers/closets process much easier.
Once clothes are folded and sorted, deliver them to their destinations. You may wish to unload the next morning as we often do. Don’t worry about ironing. That can wait till the next day. If you have a husband like mine, he would appreciate it ironed and hung in a timely fashion. It is just one way to show him I love him without a word.
That is our basic process of washing all our laundry in one day! It leaves us with a clean laundry room for 5-6 days out of the week and our clothes are clean and we don’t have to worry about staying on top of laundry all week long. Just one little way to simplify my life.
It’s really not so crazy after all…do you think? I’ve been following this method since we were married and it continues to work with 3 busy kiddos! A precious moment saved to be used to invest in something more important.
And don’t worry…if it doesn’t work for you, then don’t stress. There is grace for your laundry pile! It will surely get done when it is needed.
Note: We do prefer to hang out all our laundry when possible to conserve electricity, but that is really only doable in the summer months here as it rains throughout the rest of the year. 
We also usually wash a second load of cloth diapers sometime later in the week for our baby.
Are American washing machines really small? I thought I was an obsessive clothes washer, because I give the kids clean clothes most days, but our family of four only generates one or two washes a week at most. We adults do re-wear until clothes get sweaty or dirty, usually two or three days. I do a second wash if I need to wash coats or delicates. Otherwise, I wash it all together very hot to get it really clean, hang it to dry on a ceiling rack, and take down an outfit from the rack for next morning every evening. No sorting, no dryer, no folding, no ironing, not much need for a wardrobe. Takes about ten minutes. What am I not doing?
I like the drying rack idea with picking a new outfit in the evening for next day use. Are you in a warm area where you don’t need to have a dryer? I think we have good sized washers and dryers here, we just fail to be efficient and Eco-friendly!
This is a great idea… but a word of wisdom for those who have septic tanks and live in the country… This is a no-can-do! This will kill a septic tank. We were just told by the septic man that “there’s no such thing as a wash day with a septic tank.” Yes, front loaders are best as they use less water, but he still says, one load in the AM and one load in the PM. Just wanted to let you know.
I set a timer for a lot of chores. Especially on those days when pulling myself away from the internet is tough.
Shelley
We have septic and a large family. I do multiple loads(3+) on some days in a top loader with never any problems.
Hi Shelley, I hate to call out your septic tank man; but that is just not true. I’ve lived in different homes with septic tanks all my life and we have ALWAYS done one wash day a week with no problems, EVER. Granted, it may or may not have been the same day every week, but always just once a week and anywhere from 6 to 8 loads on wash day. Unless your septic system is extremely small, once a week washing is not a problem for septic systems.
Any quick tips for dealing with poopy clothes?? Poop explosions always seem to happen at the worst times! It’s difficult to stay on top of, and they end up in the utility sink for days… the stains are SO DIFFICULT to get out!!! This is my #1 source of housekeeping frustration.
I honestly rarely experience this problem, I think primarily because cloth diapers are so wonderful in keeping it all in. Sorry I don’t have any ideas to share.
You could treat the stains with Bac-out by biokleen. Spray it on let it sit in the sink and wash when you need to
I know I am WAY late to this party, but this method can work, with minor adjustments, even without a dryer. We have a dryer but try not to use it when possible. Winter before last, the 7 of us lived in 450 sq ft without a dryer at all. Thankfully we had a woodstove and two drying racks, they just had to be shifted around from time to time
Anyway, when I have all my ducks in a row, we take each load out of the washer as soon as it has finished spinning and someone takes it out to the line while I start the next load in the wash. Then my helper and I hang the clean load while the next one washes. Hanging usually takes 10 minutes or less while washing takes 30. So we have time for a lesson or a load of dishes while the washer finishes its business. If I start with the heaviest items so they have the longest time to dry, we can usually get everything dry before the sun goes down (in the summer) or if it’s forecast to be dry all night I will leave them until the next day. Generally the folding gets saved for a massive session the next day.
In order to have more room on the clothes lines and racks I will hang lightweight clothes on hangers and put them on the shower curtain rod and the chin-up bar
That way they’re already on their hangers. I just carry them to their closets when they’ve dried.
Reading your post and writing this up makes me realize that I really need to get back into this pattern. It can’t always be the same day of the week when you’re using clotheslines exclusively, but usually it doesn’t take too awfully long to get a dry day here, even in the winter time. And thankfully we do have a dryer, so if we must do a load of undies and socks, they can be thrown in and tumbled dry in an hour.
Hi there,
You mentioned washing dry cleanings. Have you washed wool before? I am curious about how a wool suit would make it through… Anyone?
What do you mean you have 7 outfits per person? Do you mean that is all you make sure are clean for the week? Not that is all you own right?
Question: What do you do with laundry that is wet or has food on it to keep it from getting moldy during the week?
I’m trying a new system for my laundry based on your ideas, but since I use drying racks and a laundry line it will have to be a little different. I’m going to do loads of laundry based on how I put them away- 1st load for daddy’s clothes, next load for mommy, next load for the oldest child, etc…
I usually spray it down with some stain remover and then throw it in the basket. I have only had problems with mold if they are sitting for over a week. A week seems to be just fine.
I have a family of 6, we homeschool we find time for laundry two -3 loads once a week what i am failing to see is how you can use a dryer , NOT eco and NOT frugal
I’m going to bookmark your site for the future. Keep writing great posts like this!
I liked the timer idea and the fact about 7 outfits per person. I never thought of that. I really struggle with laundry, that is the worst chore ever! LOL. I will scrub a toilet any day over laundry. I know…I’m weird…it’s just me, LOL.
Thank you! Something as simple as a timer can make my laundry go from days to one day!! Ohh….i cant tell you how happy I am! And I have our oldest daughter put her clothes away as part of her “chores” but I like the idea of having her help, even the two year old can fold towels. Im actually looking forward to our next laundry day!
I read this back when you posted it and have been doing it ever since with great results! I have three kids and my oldest two, 8 and 5, fold and put away their own clothes. It has been so freeing to have my laundry done on Monday for the entire week! Just wanted to thank you for this post. Your blog is a great resource and I really appreciate the time you put into it!
Thanks for the inspiration! I am definitely going to tackle our laundry in one day this week! I’ve been a little overwhelmed with how to get it all done since having our first baby last year. They generate so much laundry!
Excelent idea! Organize and have fun…
If only I could do this with my dishes (I don’t have a dishwasher). LOL I used to do this with our laundry but for me it just didn’t work. I found it depressing to be faced with load after load of laundry that day. On top of that, I almost always have to do a load of sheets since I have two bed wetters. Anyways, I found that what works for me is using a sorting system (mesh bags with a stand) throughout the week. As soon as there is enough in a bag for a load of laundry I stick that in first thing in the morning and finish it around noon. My 8 year old is now doing laundry on her own too so that helps. We pay commission allowances, so she gets so much money for each completed (washed, dried, folded, put away) load she does. It’s helped out greatly in staying on top of all our laundry.
With laundry at home this is usually what i have done, but in the past… We didn’t have laundry at home so we would go to a large laundry mat. With our laundry pre sorted we would put it all in the washers (5-6 loads) then it would all be ready for the dryer around the same time, take a wet bag for the ones you want to hang, as the loads would finish drying there was usually enough time to fold each one before the next was ready. Voila!!! 6 loads in under 3 hours, We trypically could make it 2 weeks between trips (small family) and it usually cost about $15 total. Do you have a laundry mat next to the grocery store? Team up and tackle both!!!
What a great post! You really understand the little struggles that pile up and create stress in the life of a mother. Now I only have to worry one day a week about doing my laundry instead of dreading it for three days to forget about it for two. Thanks for the great tips!
I used to do this, but now with line-drying I have to spread it out a little each day.
I have been doing this for 2 weeks now and LOVING it! It’s so nice not to have to worry about laundry all week long! Thanks for the encouragement.
I am taking the challenge! I was doing laundry one load per day, and I seemed to always get behind. I’d either forget it in the wash, dryer, or not fold it all. I just started cloth diapering our LO, so I may have to wash those during the week, but aside from that, I think it might work for us! I chose Monday as the day, and started today. I am finishing things up as I type, but I like the idea of not having to do it all week long! No more laundry getting moved from place to place or digging for matching items when I would get behind. Also, I just simplified my DD’s clothes. I got rid of more than half of them, and gifted them via freecycle. This greatly helped. I may post an update and let you know how it all turns out. Thanks for the idea and the ‘permission’ to skip laundry all week long!
Okay, this is my second week doing this, and I just wanted to come back and say that it was SO nice to focus on other things all week long aside from laundry. Who knew?! Anyway, I guess I always thought laundry was a daily thing, and I almost felt like I ‘broke the rules’. However, as the week and weekend rolled on, and all was clean and ironed, I felt almost giddy at how much else I could do! I think I was even less stressed because of it. You see, my dh is an assistant minister and our weekends are BUSY! He needs his dress shirts and slacks ready to go for every church activity. I would always fall behind for some reason or other, and there I would be rushing to get that evening’s clothes ready. It may be a simple idea, but I truly had not considered it. I imagined us all running out of clean clothes after ‘slaving’ a whole day to get it done, and STILL running behind. I am so pleased with the results and to finally have a system that works for us. I just invested in a bunch more inserts for my ds’s cds, and I am hoping to get more time in between those washes as well.
Thank you, Lindsay for this tidbit! It has ‘revolutionized’ my week!
I have always washed our clothes once a week. I usually do it on Mondays, but I have changed to Fridays or Saturdays. I have two off at college and when they come home I do it on Saturdays. Fridays if they don’t. I love getting it over and done with. I have to admit though, sometimes I do forget about the last load in the drier. lol
I just found your blog and am enjoying reading it. I have always had my own washer and dryer until we just recently moved and had to use the laundro-mat in town… this actually turned out to be so much fun and so easy that we decided not to even buy a washer and dryer, as we are in a rental and they would have to go in the cold basement anyways… the laundro-mat is in our down town area only a one minute drive from our house, easy walking distance but with all the laundry, we drive. I only have to do laundry once a week because they have HUGE washers and dryers that do several loads and of course you can use as many washers as you want! I usually go and wash, which takes 25 mins, sit and read while they wash or talk on the phone with a friend, which I never get to do! Then I put them drying for about 50 minutes and drive home, hang out with the family, or sometimes they come with me and we all walk around town, which is very fun.. my son loves the laundro-mat because of his book “Knufflebunny” by Mo Willems! When they are done drying I pick them up and bring them home for us to all fold together. Nice clean laundry for a whole week, I love it! I do hand wash some things during the week as well, delicates, etc. but I just love that I don’t have to do laundry every day and that it takes so little time at the laundro-mat, and it’s really not much money either!
I work FT and with 2 little ones have been fortunate enough to stretch doing laundry to once every 10 to 14 days. We have a ton of hand me downs and it forces me to wear everything in my closet!. It was an adjustment at first, but now I’ll never go back to daily laundry!
I agree with Carrie. I have 2 under 2 and work full time. Saturday is laundry day at our house and if not then it gets done on sunday when the hydro is cheeper. I will only line dry my clothes in the summer and in the winter I am going to set up two drying racks infront of our wood stove so that we don’t have to use the dry if at all possible. I am lucky enough that my kids have tones of hand me downs so that we have a good supply of clothes during the week.
I am glad it works for you! All I can think is that we would be spending twice as much money on clothes if we went with this method. I do not have that many outfits for my family! So I won’t be trying it. I honestly do not mind the laundry all that much…I do a load when a hamper gets full, we have three hampers: whites, colors and dress/husband work clothes. So I never have to sort… My boys know how to do that now, and they are a huge help switching it from the washing machine to the dryer and emptying the dryer for me, sorting socks, folding some items. I think if someone is turned off by the idea you need that many clothes they can be encouraged by the fact it can still be a family event. And not all the burden falls on Mommy.
I took your laundry challenge… and failed.
But you are still an inspiration to me!
I have done this and LOVE it…. It does feel better just to get it done and out of the way. Enlisting the kids….and hubbies help…well, it just didn’t seem like much of a chore!! Thanks for the motivation to do something different. Laundry is my least favorite chore-I think the never ending nature of it!!! Thanks so much…and just being so utterly thankful we have so much to fold-well, that is convicting enough!! Powerful!
I would love to be able to do laundry only 1 day a week! But with a family of seven, 2 in cloth diapers, 2 others in sports needing their practice jerseys washed bi-weekly, and only a limited number of pants per person (we only have 3-4 pairs each), it’s not just not realistic. I am happy if I am able to skip doing laundry for one day! But I do remember the days of having only a child or two, disposable diapers, ample clothing per person, and being able to get all the laundry done in one day! Ah, the luxury!
i also would never want to do laundry all in one day.. i find it way too overwhelming that way! i generally do one load a day (some days its 2 with diapers) i put it in before bed, switch when i wake up and put away a load in like 3 minutes… i think the biggest time saver is having a limited number of outfits and a family closet. all our clothes are in one room… so fast to put it all away when you step between dressers in 2 seconds flat! once you hit a yr in our house you have 4 plus a dressy outfit (or maybe 2) thus meaning that all of our clothes (5 ppl are in 3 dressers. one drawer each plus a shared “lounge” drawer for husband and i and a shared pj drawer for kidlets. but i find putting away 2/3/4 loads takes over an hr. much more time efficient for us!
We do this, too! We do end up washing towels 2-3 times a week because we use so many washcloths between the two kids (post-meals).
I really like the idea of knocking out all the laundry in one day!! Thanks for sharing your ideas, Lindsay, and for being such an encouragement to women!!
We just started this! It is seeming to go really well! We do ours on Saturday though. But its super nice to go into Sunday with clean clothes for all. =)
Hey! I was wondering… we cloth diaper my 4 month old son… we end up doing one load of laundry about every other or every day… Which isn’t all bad since it keeps the laundry up to date with just a little time invested in it each day… but how can you stand the diaper pail waiting 3 or 4 days to wash? What do you use for a detergent/smell reducer for your clothe diapers? any help would be MUCH appreciated!
I just use a good reliable laundry pail that keeps all the bad smells in. I use Cotton Babies diaper pail with Planet Wise liners and it works great.
Thanks for this, Lindsay! I used to wash all the laundry on Mondays but slacked off around the holidays and hadn’t been motivated to do it since. I got back in the habit again today and am so relieved that I’m almost done with laundry for the week! Thank you for the motivation and helpful hints!
thanks for the tips on what to do with the large pile of laundry, I have great folders, but these are great tips (family movie and folding party comment) to generate enthusiasm.
-I wash delicates/items-to-hang in the first load, often they dry at days end
I try to do it all on Mondays…Thursday is my overflow day. It helps just having a system. I remember reading about your once a week strategy last year sometime & implemented it…I love just having a plan for laundry. It helps so much! Thanks!
thanks for this post. it’s hard to keep up with a normal routine of one load per day sometimes. and then the laundry piles up quick! this is a great tactic for getting it under control quick:) i agree how it’s huge for me to have the right atmosphere when doing some serious household work, a candle burning and pandora playing is what does it at our house. thanks!
Sounds like a wonderful system!
It just wouldn’t work for us because I try not to use the dryer. So I have to wait all afternoon for them to dry on the rack by the woodstove before I can dry more. And I have cloth diapers to be washed every 3 days.
I am kind of envious of your system, though! And I sure do need to figure out some sort of folding system for our family. It’s always stacking up….
I have three kiddos as well and this system works great for me. I have been doing it this way for over a year now. I am sure it does save me time because all my loads are full which is also good for the environment too
Can’t wait till they get home on a Friday to get their school uniforms washed! Then all the laundry is washed and dried and in the drawers before the weekend starts – yay
Although I also do one wash on a Monday for bed linen but that isn’t to dfficult and doesn’t get in the way of my day.
That’s a great idea! I’m not sure it would work here in Australia, where we don’t have a dryer and have limited hanging space…well, it would on very hot days, but otherwise it can take some time for one load to dry. However, I am looking for a more efficient way to do laundry as I seem to have so much even with just one child that I’m doing it nearly every day – he’s in a messy stage and we’re doing cloth diapers so that’s probably where it’s coming from.
Maybe I could try 2x week…..
Wish I could do this but my hubs and I only have 2 pairs of pants and cannot buy more right now. So I just rewear my pants for the week but I have to wash hubs every other day due to the nature of his work. Hope things turn around soon but trying to be grateful we at least have clothes.
Same here! I only have one pair and my hubby has two!
I know this is silly, but it is really affirming to know that other people have only a select amount of clothes they can wear. Another reason to be thankful…
I love this idea, I’m going to give it a shot. I’ve gone back and forth on laundry routines but out of all my homemaking routines, laundry is the hardest one to be consistent with.
I think the important thing for all of us, is to find what works for us and our family. It does not take very much time at all to do a load or two a day, and it takes way too much time and energy for me to do it all at once, its very overwhelming to me. Also I dont have the storage to keep more than a load or two, once I am at two loads we are into a mess, so this keeps thing tidy too!
Depending on your stage in life there are so many options to laundry. One day a week would be great, but………………
For us with 4 kids playings sports laundry is done more often since they need their required practice clothes 2x/week.
Now that they are older (youngest is 11) they all wash/dry/fold/put-away all their own clothes. The girls have M/Fri and the boys have Tues/Thurs.
This is what works for us currently. But the once/week might have worked in the elementary ages.
I’m glad you have a system that works well for you! I finally started doing laundry every day instead of waiting until one day and it feels much more manageable to me now. I just throw in a load first thing in the morning and then do another 1-2 before nap time. I got so overwhelmed doing loads and loads and loads of laundry that it often never got folded and put away. I wish we only had 6-8 loads/week. I do at least 2/day which means we have 14 loads of laundry/week – how is that possible? We have the same # of people in our house as you do. I’m counting clothes, towels and sheets (we also only use cloth rags in our kitchen – no paper towels).
Haha. this is exactly what i’m doing today. Good to know I’m not the only one that this method works for. Love your honesty in your blog BTW.
Wow! Laundry is a big topic. Great idea -doing it all in one day. I go for 1 load a day during the week and take the weekends off. thanks for sharing!
Shawn
Yep, we love doing ours all at once. A few ideas: start a batch the night before or soak really dirty ones overnight in the washer to get a jump on your day. We buy most of our clothes used, so any color that’s going to bleed, has likely already done so, so sorting by color is really unnecessary. If I have new garments in the batch, I throw in a cup or so of vinegar (can use salt too) to set the color and they won’t fade after that. We have a family of 6 (kids 4mo-6) and each hamper makes a batch (boys, baby/toddler, hubby/me, kitchen/towels). I also have the kids put their socks in a mesh garment bag, which keeps them contained and reduces lost ones. We wash on Thursday and I hang them to dry in the house (we live in rainy Washington) on 3 racks so we fold and put away on Friday to have everything done by the weekend. The 2, 4, & 6 year old hang their own and fold and put away their own and do a great job, most of the time! (it’s pretty humorous to see how they do it, boy style) The 2 yr old also folds wash clothes, 4 yr old does cloth napkins, and the 6 year old does diapers. It’s actually my funnest job, so I look forward to it each week, unlike dishes ;(
When my children were young, we would have a “laundry party”. We’d fold all of the laundry and follow it up with a tea party to celebrate our accomplishment and make it a positive experience.
This is what we do too. All the laundry in one day for our family of 4. I do try and fold as soon as they come of the dryer so they won’t be as wrinkled. Usually the laundry gets put away on the same day, but sometimes I don’t get it until the next. I usually do it on a day when my husband is home and he helps with the folding and staying on top of moving things around.
This is basically how I do laundry as well (right down to the Little House on the Prairie as our current folding show, a wonderful Christmas gift we can enjoy all year!). Friday is my day, since I am home from work and my hubby isn’t. Since we don’t use any paper towels I wind up with a Monday or Tuesday load of diapers, rags, and kitchen towels, but so far this is what works best for us. Even our one year old helps, he happily puts clothes into baskets!
Wow, I just shared this with my husband and he said no way! We both work but hopefully in June I will be able to resign from my teaching job and stay at home with my girls. In any case we do a load almost everyday. I do cloth diapers every other to every 2 days. If I let three days go, they just seem to be too much. But I have a very heavy wetter, even questioned the dr about it, so I think that makes it worse! If you use Bumgenius, to give you an idea, she soaks through two cotton baby one size inserts with a hemp doubler at night sometimes. The super do is my friend. She has a severe allergy to disposables so that is not an option for night.
When I stay home this really might make sense. We do not have a huge amount of clothes and we have our favorites, especially pjs so I wonder if we could even make it a week!
I will have to put it on my ” to try list”. We do not sort our laundry, we just combine everything. I can not line dry for two reasons, we have allergies and we are not allowed in our town house. But I do dry my cloth diapers part way on a drying rack.
Laundry is my most hated household chore. I don’t mind the sorting, washing, drying, or even folding but I loath the putting away. I procrastinate so much that I would have the laundry baskets just sitting in the rooms until finally I would put it away – a week later. I don’t know why I dislike the job so much but I’m some what of a neat freak and must reorganize the drawers each time I put clothes away. I recently started just washing a load each day and that has helped because it isn’t as overwhelming to me. I can fold the clothes and put them away immediately without using the baskets. It works because I don’t feel the need to reorganize the drawers since they haven’t been disheveled while searching for something to wear.
What an ambitious woman you are
! No, it really sounds like a great plan. I feel like I’m doing laundry all week and it gets old. I know my oldest son who will be 3 in March would love to help. We’ll have to give this a try. Thanks for the post!
my problem.. folding and hanging. Usually by the end of the day I’m dead. I have 2 kids under 3y.o. I can’t get it all done in a day.. the next day I might manage to get it all but it’s not all put away.. finally between Wed or Thurs! all the clothes are put away and guess what? a brand new pile. If you can help me with this situation, I’d love you forever lol!
I too have done my laundry this way for years. I have found though that I must hang and fold every “adult” piece of clothing as I remove it from the dryer. It really only takes a few more minutes with each load, but saves so much time in the end. Nothing wrinkles either. My kids’ clothing I don’t worry about as much. It gets shuffled through drawers anyway, so I fold it later.
This is how we do ours too although not entirely by choice. We don’t have a washer or dryer in our apartment so, every Wednesday my kids and I take all our laundry to my parents house to wash. I would much prefer to do it at home but, I like getting it all done at once and the kids like to visit Grandma.
I do most of my washing on Mondays too! Unfortunately though my DH won’t get rid of any more of his shirts for me. I used to have around 60 collared and at least a couple dozen regular shirts but I have him down to 40 work shirts and 1dz regular shirts now and he won’t budge :/ He takes up the whole closet too. I want to have only 7-8 outfits (plus a couple Sunday dresses for the 3 girls and nicer clothes for the boy) but my mom gets a couple of them on most weekends and fusses if I don’t bring 3 days worth of clothes each and then she doesn’t use them and buys more but send them back a mess. It would be nice if I didn’t have to do 2 days worth of what you are describing, Monday and Thursday for me.
Monday is our laundry day too! I love having it all done at once, rather than worrying about it all week long
. When do you do ironing? Any suggestions for a good system for that?
Speaking of good systems, I’m two months away from the birth of our second precious baby, and I’ve been battling a case of absolute fear. I know that both of our babies are absolute blessings, I’ve just been hindered by a big case of inadequacy and doubt in being a mom. Do you have any links to post where you share some wisdom about going from one to two kids?
I try to do our laundry on Tuesday or Wednesdays of each week and just do it all at once. Not a perfect system on that one yet. As for your upcoming transition, I would encourage you to read Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson and be encouraged that God gives you the strength and grace for each new season of your life. I know I have written a post or two on adjusting to multiples, but for some reason I can’t find them right now. I’ll keep looking. But above all, know that God will give you wisdom for what needs to be done. Don’t be afraid to ask. If you have specific questions, feel free to send me an email.
I love the international perspectives! We live in Ireland, and our washer is also the dryer. (It is one machine.) The wash cycle takes 2 HOURS, and the drying “cycle” is not worth a darn. We typically use only the wash cycle. So in the winter I hang our clothes on a folding laundry rack in front of the radiator, and in the summer (or sunny, windy winter days) I hang clothes outside. With this system, we do laundry every day except weekends. Monday – kids clothes, Tuesday – sheets, Wednesday – whites and jeans, Thursday – lights and darks, Friday – towels. I also cloth diaper, but I just run a load of diapers as needed (usually 2X per week). It’s not perfect, but at least assigning a day keeps me on track!
Oh WOW! I had no idea there were washer and dryers in one machine! Although, it actually doesn’t sound out like the dryer works that well, it is a neat idea.
I love finding a system that works for my family! Unfortunately, this laundry system isn’t one that would work for us because we don’t have a dryer. We are currently stationed in Spain, and we hang all of our clothes on the clothesline. Depending on weather, I try to do 2 loads a day. On a breezy day, I might go for 4-5 loads. But hauling the laundry to the roof, and hanging it up, and then taking it all down and hauling it back downstairs definitely adds time. On the plus side, we save a ton of electricity, and our clothes smell nice and fresh!
Oh how I wish I could do this. But we’re on well water and if I do more than 2 loads in a day there’s no water left for showers or anything else. It forces laundry to be more of a planned-out event through the week for me, but that works too
Hi from Australia! Love your blog….
I am not sure what your electricity costs are like, but most people I know here wouldn’t use a dryer on a regular basis because it is just too costly and not so environmentally friendly. Not everyone owns one, but those who do tend to use it only during rainy times when clothing won’t dry or when you need something quite quickly.
Obviously our winters aren’t as harsh as in many parts of the world, so drying washing is a little easier – but hanging it out on the line and bringing it back in certainly adds to the time the takes takes. I like the idea of getting it all done in one day, but all that hanging out with pegs and having to have enough clothes-line space, and then wait for it to dry, would probably make it impossible for us.
God bless,
Linda x
I am really good at washing the clothes. I too do all my laundry on Mondays. But, for some reason I can never get to the putting away part. Yes, towels, cloth napkins, kitchen rags etc. get put away, as do the cloth diapers, but the clothes seem to stay in laundry baskets until they get used. I blame it on my husband’s home office being in our bedroom (where all the clothes are stored), and on my two little babies
I figure at least we are wearing clean clothes 
Just curious, I read your testimony and thought it was amazing, but the relationship you describe between yourself and your brother confused me. I was hoping you could clarify the relationship, and the dates? But you do not at all have to if you do not want to…again, it just confused me.
WE are just really good friends. He would have fun together by going out to dinner and a basketball game on occasion. It was a simple way to build our friendship as brother and sister. It may seem strange to others, but I was really thankful to have good sibling relationships where we love to spend time together.
Found your post just after I put my first load on – 6.30am on a Saturday is the start of my laundry day! In summer I get everything on the line too but at the moment the ‘smalls’ and towels go in the dryer. And in between each load going on I do the other chores as I work all week. Last chore ironing hubbie’s shirts before he gets home from work.
No way my teenage boys’ jeans are going in the freezer ew!
Just out of curiousity, can you answer two questions for me, as I started doing this about a month ago, but this week, switched back to the 1 load/day. I like doing it all in one day, and tend to be more inclined to put away, but what does the rest of your week look like in terms of managing your home and/or any other standing obligations? I just started finding that having one day fully devoted to laundry left me with only 4 days to get to other stuff (and right now, I only have 1 18month girl, so I really only have 2 hous/day to accomplish anything, during her nap/rest time), so it is hard to get to everything on my list. secondly, do you line dry in the warmer months, and is this method feasible then? Thanks!!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! It seems every blogger posts how to simplify by doing only a load a day…no, thank you! We stay home on Mondays and get it all done and don’t think about it the rest of the week…I can’t imagine doing it EVERYday!
Thank you for posting this. The laundry is always a pain for me. But I need to be reminded it’s a way to say I love you without a word.
I agree with you! This is they system my mom modeled to me. I try my best to do it as well. I hadn’t thought of setting a timer to make sure it gets switched that is my biggest problem. I have found memories of helping fold the laundry while watching 7th Heaven every monday evening after dinner, sometimes even the dishes waited because the show was on and there was laundry to fold.
I wash a load or two everyday and hang it outside to dry. I only use our clothes-dryer in prolonged wet weather – I couldn’t justify the cost of using it for all my washing! (Maybe that’s cultural? I live in Australia). And I like my clothes/cloth nappies/etc getting aired and sunned.
So while I’ll stick to washing every day, the idea of doing one big fold and put away appeals – could stow the growing pile of clean washing in our spare room out of sight until that time…
I agree Kirstie. I also am from Australia and stick to the 2/3 loads per day. I have two outside clothes lines and most days they are both full. I have a dryer but only use it in winter for our towels, everything else gets dried on inside lines by the fire in the lounge room.
I too like the idea of one night of sorting and putting away. I don’t fold most of our clothes, just the towels. All clothing gets sorted into coloured tubs (tub trugs), one for each of the six in our family. Each kid then is to put their own clothes into their cupboards.
Works most of the time!!
P.S. Love your blog Lindsay!!
Mmmm yeah I’m from New Zealand and I only line-dry during summer and have lines in the garage for hanging out the towels and sheets during our rainy seasons and everything else goes on racks by the fire unless its an emergency then into the dryer. In saying that we have large living areas. I think our home layouts are quite different to the States which might contribute to it being easier to hang versus using the dryer?
I love this one day washing day idea and had actually already started implementing it in the last month. The whole folding and putting away concept is abit more of a mission LOL but I think I just need to take some of these suggestions and tweak my routine. I like the idea of everyone having their own coloured tubs atleast for dry washing. It’d mean I could fold directly off the line and separate everyones gears into their own containers then its just putting it away. Hmmm I think a quick stop at the big red barn after church tomorrow will set me right for a successful washing day on Monday
We’re also using disposables at night ATM as its more efficient for this season and I’ve built up our stash of cloth nappies that one wash a week is more than sufficient to keep us ahead with only one in day nappies (even thats only part-time as we work on TT). I just chuck a cup of baking soda into my nappy bucket every couple of days to help with any smell and find it works great. It’ll be interesting to see if the system works as well when we have a newborn in cloth.
We have varying electricity rates here, with the evenings being half the price of midday. So every Monday night I run our loads through, hanging what needs to be airdry overnight. My husband doesn’t mind me running down to change loads every hours or so. And since we tend to wear clothes a few times before washing, our family of four needs about three clothing loads and one for kitchen laundry/towels. (I do diapers the next evening).The next day, I have a clean heap and do my folding in the quieter hours of the afternoon. I love this system… gets it done fast!
In the summers I do wash the night before and then hang everything on the line in the morning, ready to come in by the afternoon. It smells lovely!
I cloth diaper and mainly do one load a week, though with younger babies it sometimes worked out to more like three loads in two weeks. I use prefolds, which were inexpensive to purchase, so I have plenty of them and love not being tied to the washer so frequently. I also find that fewer loads save money in the long run!
Loved this post! Makes me wish I had my washer and dryer again (I live in an apt. now).
I wrote a post on how I do my laundry in about 2 hours at the laundromat…check it out here>>>
http://thevintagemama.com/2011/11/do-laundry-faster-at-the-laundromat/
Thanks for your laundromat perspective! We live in an apartment and I sometimes bemoan the fact that we don’t have a washer/dryer in our apartment. But the other day I was remembering how grateful I am that our building has a great laundry room, and if most of the machines are empty, I can knock out a week’s worth of laundry in a couple hours. I’m grateful for that!
It is supposed to be easier on a septic system to divide up the laundry, so I do a load or two every week day. I would sure have to change the home school schedule if I did laundry once a week. I enjoy the blog!
This is definitely the way I prefer to do laundry, also! I did ours this way for years. Now that we have 7 people in the family and a septic system (that doesn’t work as well as it should due to a layer of shelf rock just under the soil that prevents it from draining properly!), I have to divide my laundry days up as Jennett mentioned. But the way you’re doing it is my favorite way, Lindsay!
This is just about the only chore that I “schedule” into my week, but unfortunately, with a family of seven, I end up having laundry day twice a week!
I think that if I try using the timer, like you suggested, I may have a chance of squeezing it all into one day:) I usually run a little behind because I don’t always hear the buzzer and the timer would really keep me on top of the timing of switching loads. Thanks SO much for the idea…I’ll try it next Monday:)
I sort of do this. We typically rewear jeans or outer shirts a couple/few times if nothing been’s spilled on them, so we can go longer between washing. I have two laundry baskets going at any given time so we can presort lights and darks and I keep them in my room. Then, when one is full, I go ahead and wash it. We do have a week’s worth of clothes (at least) so, I typically do 3 loads a week. I have my 9 1/2 yr old switch it from the washer to dryer (we typically don’t buy delicate clothes) and then bring it upstairs when it’s done. I just don’t like it sitting around for too long. Plus, some of us, who really don’t want to buy more jeans than she needs to because she wants to slim down, only have 1 or 2 pants that we wear, so they can’t be in the laundry longer than 12 hrs or something. So, yup, I love the idea, and I definitely try to keep track of the timer if I have more than one load at once. THANKS!
Do you wash your cloth diapers only once a week? How many do you have?? I used to do laundry once a week, but since we cloth diaper I have to do diapers every 3 days, plus they leak a lot so I end up having to wash the crib sheets more often. Wish I could stop that!
I have the same question. I have plenty to last for weeks but I’m afraid that if they sit in the pail dirty for a whole week they will get too gross. Do you soak your diapers? I just throw them as is in the pail with no soaking.
I do not soak my diapers as it is not recommended by the manufacturer. I usually wash my diapers every 4-5 days, as that is about the length of time they last between washings. So I do usually do a second load sometime later in the week.
The majority of the time I can do it once a week during this stage, as my baby is getting bigger and does not use as many diapers. I have around 25 diapers, I believe. We use disposables at night to prevent rashing. I don’t have problems with leaking with my diapers, so you might want to check out a different diaper system.
That’s how I used to do laundry until we moved into our new house. The “laundry room” is now a closet inside my kitchen. So I’ve learned to do at least one load of laundry every day in order to avoid Mt. Laundry taking over my kitchen.
I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out, but I also combine almost everything that is line dried into one load and do that one in between my lights and darks. That way, a bigger load will have time to get dry in the dryer without any down time for the washer. Three loads, three hours, one night per week.
Good ideas for your laundry, I just want to ask if you are able to post more photos about your homestead.
Great idea! We don’t have a laundry room so all dirty laundry goes into one hamper in our bedroom and that gets full after a couple days. But if/when we ever move to a bigger house, I definitely want to try this.
Speaking of laundry, are you doing cloth diapers with Eden? For me, having two in cloth diapers mean having to wash diapers every other day so the thought of doing laundry once a week sounds amazing!
Yes, I use cloth diapers for Eden. Having only one in diapers does make this a bit more manageable.
That’s how we do it! Today was the day and it is just about folded, I start folding when the last load is going in the washer. My Mom thinks I am crazy to do it this way and says that when we make the jump from 4 to 6 kids this summer that I’ll have to change my ways, we’ll see. I don’t really love doing the laundry, but I do love being done with it for a week to 10 days.
This is a timely post as a family member told me today “uhh it’s time to do laundry” just today. Been a crazy abnormal week with family in for a heart surgery so we’ve been thrown off our normal routine. Laundry is washing as I type.. Lol
Such an encouraging post, I’m always looking for a routine to fit into my day. I pray I’m able to find one for our laubdry monster.
Thanks for this planted seed. May God cultivate it in my heart.
I’ve tried this before, but with two in diapers and a husband who wears work uniforms I’ve found that washing 1-2 loads every day is what works for our family right now. Once the toddler is out of cloth diapers I want to try this again. Maybe with one additional load on Thursday. Thanks for the reminder/encouragement.
Hi Lindsay,
Just wanted to tell you that God is doing an amazing work through you and your blog! He has used it to bring me closer to Him, teach me more about His wisdom and understanding, and to become a happier, light-filled mommy:-) I know you mentioned in a previous post that your husband encourages you to keep up this blog even when it is difficult for you..and I want to do the same. I praise God that you have been so faithful and diligent to carry out His calling for you. I hope that you continue your blog as long as you are able to do so. It would be such a joy for me to come along with you through your life’s journey and it’s changing seasons, Lord willing. I keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers!:-)
I second that!
I used to do my laundry this way, and it is the way my husband would prefer, but it was just too overwhelming for me, and so I would often end up being a very cranky mom. I now do one load of laundry every day. As long as I keep in the habit of starting a load in the morning, I am able to keep on top of things. For me, it is much less of a job to do one load every day (I often take a break on Sunday).
Kudos to you who can get it all done in one day! I think what matters most is finding the method that works best for you and keeps your family happily clothed!
Oh, and I think my husband would have a heart attack if I “washed” his jeans by putting them in the freezer.
This is very similar to what I do. The only difference is that I wash all boy clothes together, then girls clothes and then my husbands/mine….the children fold/put away their own clothes. I separate our some colors from others but for the most part they are all thrown in together. We have little issues with colors bleeding, running or fading. Definitely doable to get it done in a day!
Great idea! I used to do all of my laundry in one day, but now I have a chronic projectile vomiter, so it gets done even more often
. Eventually I hope to get back into this routine! Setting the timer is a great way to remind yourself to keep it going. Forgetting a load is what can make laundry take longer.
This is so funny, I can’t imagine NOT doing this. I have done this for years, and we always do it on Fridays (along with grocery shopping and bits of cleaning). Fridays are sacred in our house–we rarely change plans of laundry, grocery, and spot cleaning because it prepares us well for the weekend and my husband and i don’t have to waste any of our ‘free family time’ (i.e. time that he is home) doing chores!
It’s also the only day my children are allowed to watch TV, so it is REALLY easy for me to get things done while they’re watching a couple of cartoon episodes!! It works great for us.
Sarah M
Monday is my laundry day too. I think it is for a lot of people because when we lived in the apartment a lot of the old ladies were always doing theirs too.
I only do laundry once a week–Mondays. In the summer I use a wringer (it’s electric) which saves on water. *If* I start at it early enough in the morning, I can have it dried on the outdoor clothesline by mid-afternoon, then it’s a movie-folding laundry night! (I’m not the only one!) I enjoy it, knowing that it’s a job done for the week. In the winter I hang the laundry in the basement near the woodstove. The lines aren’t nearly enough, so it takes me a couple of days for everything to dry.
I appreciate that (a) your method is a great way to get everything done at once and (b) I’m coming to the subject from my own (British) culture, but I can’t help thinking about the environmental cost of so much dryer use. I do have a dryer function on my washing machine, but here we hang-dry everything unless it’s a complete crisis. In warm weather it goes outside, at the moment it’s on an airer over the bath. One load a day (on the half-hour eco setting, naturally), then I hang it up and it’s dry within 24 hours… for free! The relative cost of electricity here may also be a factor in our different laundry habits. Having the dryer on all day would cost us a fortune! I know all this probably sounds crazy to American ears but I’m not at all unusual in Europe.
Before my first child was born, I read all the “Little House on the Prairie” books, for the first time! (I am a product of ultra-progressive government education!) Well, I learned that there was a “proper” day for every chore, and Monday-wash-day sounded grand to me.
That was over 20 years ago. Yes, it certainly gives you a good jump-start on the week.
Eight children later, we still do all our laundry on Monday. And the nice thing about it is that as that first little daughter grew up, she learned how to do the laundry with me. Then her brothers and sisters learned also, as they came along.
My 4 year-old can fold all his own laundry, put it away, and help an older brother fold dish towels, an older sister with bath towels, and basically do whatever else needs doing.
I have not needed to deal with laundry for years… sometimes I do a load here and there just for the fun and satisfaction of it.
The point is, that it most certainly can be done, and is a great discipline for the children.
And we’ve never had the monster-laundry problems I’ve heard about from others. And if I (who had to learn how to do laundry from my husband after we married!) could do that, anyone can!
Raise up your children to be workers, and if they work when they’re little, work is not a big deal to them when they’re older.
Great post!
Gosh! i feel like just throwing all my clothes away!!! good luck!
Do you wash cloth diapers? Just wondering cause it looked like there were some in your pile. Curious as to how many you have and how often you wash if so. That is what I spend most of my laundry time on. I need to fold and put away a WHOLE lot of clothes right now but my two little “helpers” make it more work than its worth. Lol!
Haha! You said you do a load of diapers. Still curious how many and if you only wash it once a week though. I can only go every other day.
I always do my laundry this way…I just let the pile of clean clothes build up all day and fold it all that night. It gives me an excuse to watch a movie (and still be productive) after the kids go to bed!
I do all my washing on Mondays, too. But I like to fold as the loads come out. And instead of a timer, I just have a nice loud alarm set on my washer and dryer!
PS I also do about 2-3 loads of cloth diapers a week on whatever days they are needed.
This is precisely how I do it! I love having all my laundry out of the way in the beginning of the week. Diapers throughout the week aren’t so bad……it’s all a mindset.
I usually have two smaller laundry days a week, though I have been thinking about trying 1 day a week. Do you do diapers again midweek? Thats been the only thing preventing me from switching, knowing that I would have to do diapers another day anyway.
Rather than saving all of the folding for the end of the day, I try to take care of the loads as they come out of the dryer. Sheets go directly onto the beds (I do those loads first, to gets the beds remade before naptime), towels right back on the towel bars, and clothes folded and back in closes ASAP.
When my babies are younger I usually have to do another load of diapers midweek…but we have enough right now with less diaper changes to usually get us through the week (we have around 25 dipes, I believe). We use disposables at night. I don’t feel like doing another load of diapers midweek is all that bad, especially as all other laundry is already out of the way.
We did this for a year while we lived without a W/D. My sister generously let us use hers, so once a week we’d pack up and head there – 8 hours later, we headed home. Because it was a dedicated laundry day at someone else’s home, other than meals & dishes, we were able to get it all washed, dried, folded and sorted before leaving. Made my life SUPER simple for the rest of the week. (I did do one diaper load midweek, usually at my parents when we went to dinner there, too.)
Okay, I used to do this when my family was smaller and the children were smaller. Now their age ranges are 16, 13, 12, 7, 21 mos. and their clothes are so much bigger! More loads, and taking way longer to dry, darn those boy jeans! I do try to do it in 2 days a week, usually Monday and Thursday or it is too much. But, how I do love it when for a brief moment all the laundry baskets are empty! Until bath time at least. The small things that make us moms smile.
My husband just recently informed me that you shouldn’t actually wash jeans. It ruins the demin and they won’t last as long. You are supposed to put them in the freezer to kill the bacteria. I’m not sure where I stand on it…but it may just cut back on your laundry load?
WHAT? In the freezer? I am going to need some references for that!
Are you just supposed to use stain fighter for stains?
I am trying to move to one day a week, but the problem I am having is that I need to have at least 7 different outfits for everybody. (as you mentioned) My hubby’s work/church shirts are the main problem. I need to get one or two more and then I won’t have to have a midweek wash.
Do you find that Monday is the best day for you? That is what is recommended in Large Family Logistics as well, but I kind of hate going into the weekend with full laundry baskets…?
I do laundry on both Monday and Friday for our family of four (I love LFL!). I try to do clothes on Monday and then towels and sheets and maybe one load of clothes to get us into the weekend on Friday.
I don’t like to go into the weekend with full laundry baskets, either! I always try to empty them on Friday, since I don’t generally do laundry on Sat or Sun.
Definitely do what works for you! I used to do laundry weekly when I had to use apartment coin washers. Now I have a tiny washer, and do a couple loads every week day. A mountain of laundry to fold would overwhelm me! I prefer to do some each day, but that’s just what works for me right now!
guh-ross!! LOL sounds like something my husband would say (and possibly do!)…:)
The freezer?!! Maybe that would kill bacteria, but I don’t think dirt and stains would magically disappear! lol
I have heard, though, that the dryer is very wearing on jeans, so line drying is a better option. I usually hang jeans outdoors to dry(unless it’s freezing cold or raining). I don’t have a clothesline, but drape jeans and linens on my porch railings and patio chairs. Works for me!
Yah! My husband is not romping in the mud like some little boys might be doing.
I love doing this because I don’t have to worry about laundry on the other days. I fold my clean laundry as it comes out of the dryer and put them right into a laundry basket to be put away. It helps the clothes stay wrinkle free, and it’s also not a big job when done that way.
I do the same thing– fold as soon as they come out of the dryer. It gets done so much faster and isn’t as daunting of a task!