Laundry isn’t a fun chore to most, but with this simple and easy tip, it can be, and you will feel SO awesome. Have you ever heard of Flylady? I heard of her several years ago from my sister. I read up on what she does and recommends back then, but sadly I never put anything to practice. But one of her tips is to do a load of laundry a day so you can stay on top of it. Because seriously, laundry piles up SO fast it’s ridiculous. And since adding a 4th set of clothes to the hamper since the baby was born, it was getting way too much for my once a week laundry day.
So this past week I decided to try Flylady’s one load of laundry a day method and I have to say, it’s been awesome. I feel in charge and in control of the laundry now, not the other way around where it owned us! We have clean clothes that are actually PUT AWAY daily and it’s been so nice! I am not kidding when I say the laundry used to sit in the basket in our room for week(s) and we’d be digging in there whenever we needed something clean. It really was chaotic to me and I hated walking into our room because of the clothes everywhere. Now it’s much more peaceful. :)
So if your laundry is what ours used to be like, try this method. It will change your life!
“One load of laundry a day keeps the chaos away” –Author, Decorchick. *giggle*
No, Flylady has no clue who I am, although that would be awesome.
And in different news, I have another Silhouette “Back to Basics” promo that runs until the 16th. Use the code DECORCHICK at checkout and you can get 1 Silhouette Cameo, 1 Silhouette hook, 1 Scraper tool, 1 Silhouette Spatula and 1 $25 download card to the Silhouette store for just $269.99. All of these tools are awesome, especially for intricate pieces of vinyl like my Scrabble Art was. You can order HERE if you wish. :)
Now back to laundry–how do YOU do laundry? Do you follow Flylady? Is your laundry out of control or is it manageable? I love talking clothes. Usually it’s not dirty clothes, but it’s appropriate today. And it feels good to be sane again, even if it’s only been a week. :)
xxoo,
Decorchick!
Nope, never heard of Flylady. I had recently started do laundry as soon as our new baskets filled, about every other day. It was easier than the once a week. However, a couple of sick days and summer later I feel out of that routine. Hopefully I will be back to every other day soon.
Found Flylady 10 years ago and in her words and like Nike says “just do it”. I set a load to be ready when I get up so its hung outside or inside in winter and folded and away after dinner..I just dont notice 10 minutes here and there and never feel overwhelmed any more..It soo good! and laundry looks tidy most of the time. My family all know that the two necessarities each day are run the dishwasher and washing machine…definately helps keep the chaos away…do try it.. Adelaide Australia
Doing at least one load a day is the only way I can stay on top of things. I have a very small house, so when the laundry piles up it literally gets in the way. LOL
Yes, I found Flylady years ago too when my now teen was a wee little one :) Can’t say I followed it for that long but she’s fabulous. In case you didn’t know, she’s partnered up with the Cozi app so all her daily tasks, missions and schedules are all pre-loaded into the Cozi calendar! http://www.flylady.net/d/cozi/
Now I need to follow this laundry routine, I can use the sanity. Thanks for the reminder LOL!
I do love Flylady. She’s awesome! I love laundry tips, but this one doesn’t work for us. With 11 people in our house we have to do ALL of the laundry every day or it takes over. But I agree that it’s simple. Just make a plan and stick to it. We have the machine running pretty much all day, every day and put it away as soon as it’s dry. That way it doesn’t really take much time and we all pitch in to do it.
I’m so glad you found a system that works for you. Don’t you love how easy it is when you get a system down? :) Lisa~
I signed up for FlyLady a while ago and thought the whole program was a little to militant and structured for my whifty brain so I abandoned my sink shining and it shows! I do believe in the daily load of laundry to help keep things under control. I also dump the clean stuff onto my made bed so that nobody can go to sleep without folding first! That keeps us from having loads of clean but wrinkled clothes laying around!
Used to look at Flylady all the time but I am gone /work 10 hours a day and it just did not work for me but the laundry thing does. I do a load a day and it does not own me….cannot imagine doing it all in one day and there are ONLY 2 of us! I will check Flylady out again! LOTS of great suggestions! Thanks!
With a baby on the way, I need to get into a good laundry habit now. I’ll try this starting today! Thanks. :)
I do one load a day too! Although, I have never heard of flylady, I agree with her. I tell my friends to give it a shot. It is a serious life saver and puts laundry in its place!
Yep! It works- that’s so funny you posted this- I had just started to incorporate that this week and then of course putting away the laundry involved cleaning out our little closet and also purging more for donation and behold my closet is organized too! For once I don’t have to worry about using the last towel, (kitchen and/or bath)… or if my DH has clean work clothes. (khakis and polos) lol
Sounds like a great strategy, but since my husband does ALL of our family of fours’ laundry switching to one load a day would add it to my to do list!
There are four of us in our house and we don’t generate a load of laundry a day. Most of the time we re-wear our clothes at least once and reuse our towels a few times each. A lot of people think when they wear something once it is dirty. That is not true if you aren’t doing something that makes you sweaty and stinky or dirty. I wear my jeans 3 or 4 times before they get washed, and So does the rest of my family.
I have 4 young active boys, ages 5-8. I don’t follow FlyLady, but I do have to do a load a day, just so we don’t get really backed up. To actually keep up with it, I really have to try to do 2 loads a day! :) The bigger the kids get, the bigger the kids’ clothes get, (and the dirtier they get!), and the less pieces it seems you can fit in the washer at once. The baby days were great….you could fit so many items in one load! It doesn’t take much time (unless I have a load that has a lot of items that require stain scrubbing) to throw a load (or two) in each day. It makes laundry not seem like an overwhelming chore, and I never liked the idea of spending my whole Saturday just doing laundry anway! I use laundry folding as my opportunity to sit down, so I actually enjoy it. :)
My two biggest tips for everyone: Color Catchers and OxiClean. My 6-year old son stains eveything, so when I do his laundry I put all his stuff (darks and whites) in the washer with a scoop of OxiClean, a Color Catcher sheet, and let it soak overnight. The next day I add a Tide Pod and run the load. The Color Catchers are life changing, allowing you to wash all colors together. That way you can wash a room (person) at a time, putting away a room (person) at a time, rather than combining rooms and separating by color. Fabulous!
Yes! I love Fly Lady! This is the best habit of the month because I’ve been doing the load a day thing for a while now. So I just basically get to congratulate myself everyday for having this thing already conquered! Such a great feeling.
I’ve been doing laundry daily for years and it’s been a blessing for me and my family, gives alot of free time.
Oh my gosh! I highly, HIGHLY dislike laundry. I always wait till there is nothing to wear and then do it all one day and we live out of baskets of clean laundry until there is nothing left to wear and so on and so on. I have to try this and see if it helps. I know if you’re sharing it on the blog it’s gotta be a good tip!!
I am definitely going to have to try this. I do laundry once a week and usually stay up until around four o’clock in the morning trying to get it finished because I start it so late. Ugh. Hate it. Thanks for the great tip! :-)
Hey girl! I have always done the one load a day thing and I think that is why laundry has never really been an issue of here. For me, it’s just so much easier to keep on top of it. Plus my six year old folds the one load each day! Bonus! :)
We do not do laundry every day during the summer but as soon as school and sports seasons start it is back on the list of daily duties. With 3 teenage boys we HAVE to do laundry daily as the “funk” factor increases exponentially if allowed to sit for much over 24 hours!! :) Its great because there is rarely ever a back log of laundry and it actually reduces the amount of clothes we own. A definite win-win situation in my book!
I’ve heard of Flylady, but its been a while since I checked her out. i usually do laundry on two days – Monday and Thursday. Three out of the four kids now do their own and HALLELUYAH for that. Still, we have sheets, towels, and three other people’s stuff…I use the clothes line in the summer to save on the electric bill and because it’s just so darn nice to do in the summer! With 100 degree days it doesn’t take long to dry and my patio is covered. When i feel overwhelmed by it all I ask for “volunteers”. Does it count if I threaten or bribe them? (:
This tip really works for me! I’ve been looking at flylady for a couple of years and what helps me the most is she teaches the power of “habit”, how you don’t even have to think about or “decide” if you want to do it. You just find yourself doing it. I bought a clothesline to help the electric bill and after 6 weeks of daily laundry I find I’m noticing where the dirty clothes are (bathroom towels, hamper) the night before as I go to bed. And mornings when I don’t have enough for a load I feel strangely disappointed (too weird!!).
I used to do a load a day when my kids were little. It worked for me and made me feel so much more in control of all my chores. Between working full-time and mom full-time it was hard to fit in laundry.
As the kids got older (and taller) I would do their laundry and they would put it away. Then at 11yrs old they would learn to do their own laundry. First year with supervision then by 12yrs old they were on their own. Now my youngest is 13 and I only do laundry for me and my husband. So I only wash 1 day a week.
“one load of laundry a day keeps the chaos away.” Author, decorchick.
Sounds just like….
“A load a day keeps CHAOS away”, Flylady.
Wow, I guess me and Flylady are on the same wavelength then because I had no clue she had that quote, and thought it was pretty funny and witty on my end. But thank you for so “kindly” pointing that out to me.
I work full time as a mom, so it’s very hard to stay on top of things daily, BUT what I’m going to say may shock some of you. I’ve STOPPED sorting colors. It takes too much time and many days I give up (before starting ;) and decide to do laundry “tomorrow”. Then it never gets done. So I’ve started using my washing machine as a laundry basket!! When we take our clothes off, instead of putting them into the hamper, they go straight into the washer. When it gets full enough to wash, I just pour the soap in and wash! And make sure you change that load to the dryer ASAP so that mildew smell stays AWAY! (As you should do with every load you do) But it keeps the clothes cycling through and helps me stay on top of it!