Simply TLC

Today I want to talk about laundry. Most of us do not enjoy this chore, and unless you buy disposable clothing it’s never ending. So how do I keep my laundry routine simple and manageable? Keep in mind I am a full time nurse as well as wife and mom. I do not follow the “A load a day keeps the laundry monster away!” method. To be honest, I don’t always feel like doing a load of laundry when I get home from work and committing to completing the process after putting the clothes in the washer is probably not going to happen. I’d rather have more laundry to do later than to have soured clothes in the washer when I’m actually mentally prepared to launder a load. So here are a few suggestions to help you simplify your laundry routine also.

First of all the most important tip is to not have a ton of laundry to do in the first place. Keep your clothing to a minimum and this will definitely help you to keep your laundry routine manageable. I’ve recently discussed the project 333 and how it has helped me simplify my closet and style, but it also helps me keep laundry day simple. News flash! Your children do not need 15 shirts and 15 bottoms. The more clothes that they have the more often they’re going to change their outfits. At least that’s my experience. When we have tons of clothes, we’re not in that big of a hurry to wash the dirty clothes that we have. If everyone has something to wear tomorrow, then why wash a load today. Then before you know it you have 15 loads of laundry piled up. The clothes at the bottom of the stack are possibly mildewed at this point, and whatever stains were on the others is probably set by now. When we own fewer clothes we know that laundry must be done regularly. Therefore, in order for everyone to have an outfit tomorrow we are forced to go ahead and wash that load today. You see, washing one load here and there is so much easier than washing 15 loads in one or two days. That’s enough to make anyone hate laundry day, and possibly move to a nudist colony. Just kidding, but you get the point. Owning less clothes doesn’t necessarily mean washing clothes less often, however it does mean washing less clothes in general.

Next, teach your family and yourself if necessary how to take care of your clothes and how and when to reuse the clothes before throwing them into the dirty clothes hamper. There are definitely items that are a one time use such as underwear and socks. Unless you were blessed with feet that don’t sweat, I wouldn’t recommend wearing the same pair of socks more that one day and I can’t think of any reason to wear your underwear for more than a day. On the other hand, things like jeans, other pants, dresses and tshirts can usually be worn multiple times before needing to be washed. If you’re bathing properly and wearing deodorant and you’re not working outside or playing in the dirt, you should be good to wear your clothes more than once. My children and I have had a talk about throwing every piece of clothing into the dirty duds, especially when they’ve only worn them for a couple of hours. We also hang our towels and reuse them several times before washing. Now I know this is a personal decision, but the way I see it is you’re drying off a hopefully clean body and if the towel is hung to dry properly there is no harm and using it more that once.

As far as frequency goes, I usually save my laundry for weekends and do a couple loads on Saturday and a couple on Sunday. Even doing my laundry once or twice a week, I rarely have more than 3-4 loads total and that’s pushing it. Owning fewer clothes and wearing the same clothes more than once really makes a difference. My husband and older son have to throw their clothes in the dirty laundry daily because of working conditions, but even with that my laundry does not often get out of hand.

Now I want to give some tips on caring for your laundry. For many years I was constantly having to throw away shrunken shirts, or clothes with grease stains until i finally figured out the secret. What’s my simple secret? Do not dry your clothes all the way! Now if your space is limited I realize that this might be difficult. I’m blessed to have a hanging rack in the room my dryer is in and lots of hangers to hang clothes with. So this is my process for dirty laundry. First of all, if I see a stain I treat it immediately with dawn dish soap. You can pretreat with whatever you like but dawn works well for me. After washing the clothes, I put them in the dryer and then immediately go and set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes. If I skip this step the clothes will be in the dryer indefinitely. After my timer goes off, I take the clothes out and hang them up on hangers to finish drying. I do not include jeans or white clothes in this process. Those items get to stay in until they’re completely dry. The benefits to only drying my clothes for 15 minutes is that stains do not get dried in and therefore it is possible to re treat them and try again. Secondly, our shirts stay the same size as when I purchased them. My husband and older son are both very tall and there’s no telling how many good shirts that became too short after dying/shrinking them in the dryer. So why don’t I just take them straight out of washer and hang them straight up you might ask. Reason number one is I like the softness that the dryer gives the clothes. The second reason is I never ever have to iron if I follow this procedure. My clothes last longer, stay the size they were intended to be, and it gives me a second chance to get that aggravating grease stain out of my shirts.

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If you have any laundry tips, please share them in the comments.

The greatest wealth is to live content with little.

Plato