We’re all facing heavy responsibilities and barriers, including the weight of what’s happening in the world right now. This isn’t my typical style of advocacy journalism, but maybe making this one part of your routine a bit more bearable will help the rest seem a little less overwhelming.
If I could afford to hire someone to do one of my chores, it’d be laundry.
It is constant. Truly who has the flipping time?
Unfortunately, I decidedly cannot afford that; so I had to work something out. After years of letting it pile up, I thought I’d share the best system my project management-loving brain has come up with to get the laundry over with.
Since I’ve started doing laundry this way, I feel way more motivated to complete and put it away all on the same day. It’s been helpful considering I juggle a full-time job, part-time graduate school, writing, relationship, and chronic illness that affects me physically and mentally.
This method breaks laundry into clear, low-effort tasks and subtasks to make completing the overall project of laundry far more manageable. For those motivated by to do lists and organization, finishing a subtask also has the benefit of a great little dopamine hit (something everyone could use more of right now).
Does this sound like you? Your top categories may not be exactly the same, but think about the items you wear most often and whether they can be sorted out first and washed together. This will be your first load.
I have to be business casual a few days a week when I’m in the office; but when I’m hanging around the house I’m pretty exclusively wearing variations of the same outfit: spandex shorts and the most oversized T-shirts I can find.
I’m big on comfy. This results in a lot of my laundry falling into four categories: spandex shorts, big shirts, socks, and underwear.
While sorting the first load, I’m tossing in only what’s in these top 4 categories. Since these items are all able to safely go in both the washer and dryer on delicate, I won’t have to think about sorting again before throwing everything in the dryer.
The washer and dryer in my apartment are stacked, so I’ll usually do this step sitting on the floor in front of the washing machine. That way if anything falls on the floor as I’m sorting I can easily scoop it back up in one go before standing.
This is great for me, as I have a chronic lower back injury that flairs up occasionally. It feels far more comfortable and safe to sit and stand once than to bend over a bunch of times.
Yes I’m aware of how in the weeds this is, but you’re still reading so…
Anything that’s left over after load one I will call my specialty clothes. That’s your business casuals, your dresses, sweatshirts, sports bras; anything that requires a little more thought for me to put away.
Does it wrinkle easily? Have zippers? Need to be washed inside out, hung up wet, or whatever else? All a load two problem.
It’s still kind of annoying to have to think about, but it’s only usually a few more delicate items that really take extra thought. Taking care of them all at once makes it easier not to accidentally shrink your favorite top.
Would you look at that! When load one is finished drying, my four top categories of clothes have magically dried into fresh, fluffy subtasks!:
I’ve found I can put things away so much faster when they’re organized like that, rather than digging through everything individually. Another benefit is that if I end up getting busy and not being able to finish, I at least have the mains I’m likely to want that week clean and unwrinkled.
Didn’t get around to actually putting everything away? Luckily for you, It’s all laid flat and semi-organized so you can tackle it later without it getting hopelessly wrinkly/musty-smelling in the meantime.
And if that pile of clean, non-wrinkled clothes is what you end up pulling from all week so you have less to put away? That’s just creative project management.
Sometimes you may only have a spare minute to put away one category real quick. No problem! Each category of clothes has been helpfully turned into a separate, low-effort subtask that you can check off, rather than trying to do everything all at once, which can feel overwhelming and take up tons of space.
When it gets down to the last one or two subtasks, you’ll likely be like ok fine, I can take a minute or two to do this. And just like that, your basket is empty, and you’re reset for the next laundry day, baby!
So there you have it, the most efficient way I’ve found to do laundry. I hope this helps those like me who typically hate laundry and go days between the step where you wash it and the day where you actually get around to putting it away.
It’d be great not to have to do it at all, but since we must do laundry, it may as well be slightly less of a chore. I’d love to hear if you tried this method, or if you have other tips!