Thursday, January 20, 2011

self-sorting laundry {quick tip}

Any extra second I can get during my day means more time for creating! Here's another quick tip from Jennifer that will give you a few extra minutes each week.

If you ask anyone in my family they will tell you that I will never win the housekeeper of the year award. I think I am just too creative to be neat.

Every once in a while I happen upon a system that is simple and saves me time. An example is my self sorting laundry. I have three medium size laundry baskets in my bathroom closet. When we undress we throw our clothes in one of the three baskets, whites, lights and darks. On laundry day my laundry is already sorted. I just take one basket out and throw it in the washing machine. Now I wish I could just figure out how to make the laundry self-folding. . .

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26 Comments

26 Responses to “self-sorting laundry {quick tip}”

Unknown said...

I do the same thing! It is a great and easy system.

Jenifer said...

That is an awesome system! I make my girls sort their clothes now.... and turn them right side out!

Louise said...

I do the same thing, it saves so much time. It used to take ages to sort all the clothes out and then there would be piles everywhere whereas now I just pick up the fullest basket and try to do 1 load a day, that way I keep on top of it much better than I used to.

dannyscotland said...

This is a great idea but how do you get your husband to participate? ;-)

Self folding, now that's a trick...I gave up on underwear and socks, so I only fold shirts and hang up pants.

the gathering girls said...

I love this idea....thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Good one! self folding! I wanna know too!

Raejean said...

We have a similar set up in our laundry room, except we also have a bin for towels/sheets. I just have a hard time training my children to know the difference between a light and a dark.

Shandi said...

If you ever do figure out how to "self fold" your laundry let me know! ;) It would make life so much more enjoyable! :)

Courtney said...

I do the same thing and it works great!! So much easier than digging through dirty laundry to sort out colors. Plus you know there would always be those hidden white socks at the bottom of the basket that you didn't see!!

Mommmmmm! said...

I remember reading somewhere about a laundry tip from a mom with a large family. Everyone gets a zippered mesh nylon bag (not made of nylon, the kind you wash your nylons in), with their name on it. Each persons dirty socks go into their mesh bag. It's washed and dried and then, no sorting needed -each person already has all their socks in one place!

JC said...

I've been wanting to buy a laundry cart with divided hampers in it. I'm sure I've got enough baskets around the house to make this idea work until then. Thanks!

Live Simply Love Strongly said...

I do the same thing, except we no longer have a "white" load. We stopped using bleach, and there is never enough stuff to justify a load.

shana said...

I don't have too much trouble doing it, or even folding it, but I just can't get it put away. And we are an 8-person family, so there's LOTS of it to be put away! Makes. me. crazy!
Blessings,
Shana

kaly said...

Good idea. I'll go one farther.
This works especially good for the little ones.
I clip a simple mesh laundry bag to my son's basket in his closet. He tosses his dirty socks in there. I zip the bag and toss it in the machine and they all stay together! I open the bag last as I fold, and match all the socks and I'm done. I haven't lost a sock yet!

Little Birdie Secrets said...

I'm with you, Shana! My laundry sits folded in laundry baskets for days--I can't seem to get it into the drawers! Grrr!

Anonymous said...

I have the self folding system down. I fold my clothes myself (and hubby's), and the kids fold their clothes themselves, and also put them away. Once they get old enough, it's the best! Until then, I tried to be thankful that I had a washer and dryer and clothes to fill them. A few years ago, my husband and I went to see a movie that was about a father and son who were homeless. When we got home, I noticed that both the washer and dryer were full. I broke down crying, being so thankful for this roof over our heads and laundry that had to be folded!

Amy Coates@ SweetExpectations8 or TheClassroomPet.blogspot.com said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amy Coates@ SweetExpectations8 or TheClassroomPet.blogspot.com said...

I try to do the same at our house! I love your cute containers/baskets...the colors make the laundry room a little bit better to place to be! Where did you get them?

Abbie said...

We do this too! Except I only do whites and colors. My favorite part is that it's simple enough for my girls (5 and 4) and my hubby, too!

Audrey said...

Oh goodness me too!! and it would also be great if it would iron itself and put itself away!!

Audrey
aka AudreyGardenLady

Rachel Witthaus said...

I recently set up a system like this in my laundry - one basket is towels/linen, one basket for underwear/delicates, one basket for business/formal wear and one basket for cottons/everyday clothes. This way they all have the same machine settings. I only wash on 40*C so the colours never run so I've never had to sort into whites/colours.

Lisle said...

I do all my laundry on Mondays; it's easier for me. Best trick I ever learned was to tell the kids they could only watch tv if they were folding something. There are a lot of Mondays that we only do laundry after school, but we've sure enjoyed a lot of our favorite shows together!

I am Shelly Kelly said...

I have 2 laundry rules.

1)if it can't survive the washer, it doesn't belong in my house (that includes stuffed animals)
2)if it all can't be washed together then it doesn't belong in my house

I wash everything on cold/cold in homemade detergent, plus I add 1/2 a cup of ammonia to each load (it's biodegradable) to get out stains, disinfect, and to brighten colors, I dry everything on medium and take it out right away (I don't use fabric softener because it leave a film on your clothes and makes your towels less absorbent & I don't use those drier balls because it beats the fibers to make them soft, which also makes them wear out faster)

I do a small/med load daily...it washes while I sleep, dries while I taxi to the kids school, and I fold it when I get home. DONE!!!

Becky said...

Self folding and self putting away...ahh to dream a little dream...

allie. said...

That's exactly what I do!

Made Urban said...

I only have 2 hampers - 1 for regular cycle and 1 for gentle wash/dedicates but love the idea of taking a step further...now to find the extra space for the baskets ;)

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