Day 17 of #Write28Days Challenge
Today, we are talking about setting up a laundry system for clothes.
How simple or complicated your laundry system for clothes is depends on how particular one is about cleanliness and hygiene with regards to clothes.
I have to put out this qualifier because those of us who are more particular will not be able to stomach what I have to suggest which is to wear clothes more than once whenever possible.
Laundry System for Clothes for Babies and Toddlers
I had no special laundry system for clothes for the baby-toddler stages. I did not separate baby clothes from adult clothes. We washed everything together. I just chose a less harsh and more skin sensitive detergent to use.
Of course, during potty training, soiled clothes and bedsheets would be washed in its own load.
Laundry System for Clothes for the Rest of Us
This is how it works in our home. We each have two types of clothing: home clothes meant for home wear and outside clothes meant for going out.
What are Home Clothes?
Home clothes are specifically meant for home wear. They may be worn to nearby places like the playground or to the supermarket as well.
They are not just more casual in style (ie no collars or intricate detailing) but they also require less “care”. They do not need to be ironed. Once they are washed and air-dried, they are folded and put into the wardrobe (closet for my American friends).
Home clothes are worn and washed daily since we wear them the whole day.
What are Going Out Clothes
Going out clothes are meant for only going out and not for lounging at home. These usually need to be ironed and hung up, except for jeans and the like.
Going out clothes need to be worn more than once if each outing is less than 3 hours long and in an airconditioned place. Yes, that can sound gross to some of you but having this in place has reduced our laundry load for many years.
This is not possible now because the children take public transport now and have to walk to and from the MRT station or bus stop 10 minutes away from our home which almost always results in sweating.
But it still works for the younger children. For example, my daughter wears her going out dress to her ballet class and to church the next day. This is because she is barely in her dress for an hour for ballet class and then about 3 hours at church. In both situations, she is in an airconditioned environment. If however, she is going to be in church the whole day then that dress will go into the wash when she comes home.
I know, this is not acceptable for some of you. So it is your call.
Sorting of clothes
I do sort our laundry into light-coloured clothes and dark-coloured ones. Some people say they have never noticed the darker colours running into the lights but I beg to differ. Some of our ballet tights have turned a purplish hue when certain children forget to wash them with the lights.
If you want to skip sorting, you may want to consider the Dylon Colour Catcher. My friend swears by them. I am not willing to take a risk.
The best and most efficient way of sorting is to have 2 laundry baskets: one for darks and one for lights. Get everyone to sort their own laundry IMMEDIATELY as they throw their clothes into the baskets.
Do not let them throw all clothes into one basket and then you (or your laundry helper) sort them out on wash day. This is unnecessary work.
Drying Clothes
If you have a dryer, throw your wet clothes into the dryer immediately after washing. Do not let the wet clothes sit in your washer. Clothes will smell stale. And take out the dried clothes immediately to reduce/eliminate the need to iron.
If you don’t have a dryer, then hang them up, shaking out the creases to reduce your ironing effort.
For our family size, we have to do two loads per day. Once in the morning where we catch the mid-morning sun. Laundry is usually should dry after lunch.
Our second load is done in the evening. The night air dries the clothes and in the morning, it gets a few hours of the morning sun.
Putting Clothes Away
Wash and dried clothes are sorted into each child’s individual basket – we got the $2 ones from Daiso. Each child is then responsible for folding and putting their own clothes away. Yes, even the young ones.
Ironing
I have yet to relinquish the ironing duty. But it will be soon. Ironing is done twice a week for about an hour to an hour and a half each session.
And that is how I have set up our laundry system for clothes. Tomorrow I will write about our system for towels and bed linens. See you!
Related Links
Cutting Down Your Laundry Load
6 Comments on Setting Up a Laundry System for Clothes
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Your suggestion to have kids SORT their laundry when placing in the hamper is wonderful! This may be unusual but I LOVE to iron! There is something calming about this activity for me. What a helpful article!
You’re my friend! I love ironing too! 🙂
Your system is completely different from mine! Of course, we have a dryer, and that makes a big difference. We only do laundry once a week. Today just happens to be our laundry day. 😉 My husband split up the chores, and my youngest son chose to help me with laundry.
He does most of the sorting — into whites, warms, colds, and towels (which we keep in a separate hamper in the laundry room). Then he starts the first load. When it is done, I have to transfer the wet clothes (ASAP, as you mentioned) to the dryer. His arms aren’t long enough yet to read the clothes at the bottom of our top-loading washer nor the knobs for our dryer. Then I fold all the clothes and put them away. I like your idea for each child to put their own away. With only two, it hasn’t been a necessity, but it might be something else they can gain responsibility for.
When the kids were younger, I did more loads. But one thing that helps is that we only bathe every other day if we’re not going out of the house, unless we get sweaty during exercise. We homeschool and only have one working vehicle, so when my husband is working, we only go out on Wednesdays and Sundays for church and sometimes one other day for special events. So we wear the same home clothes for two days in a row until we bathe.
I used to do our laundry once a week but as the family grew in size and number it was impossible to even miss one day. Due to hot and humid weather here (I could sweat just reading a book!) we have to shower at least once, usually, twice a day so that also affects the laundry load. I would love to live in a cooler climate – I think. 🙂
I’m glad I’m not the only one that rewears clothes. 🙂 If I wear something only for a short while on an outing, it seems wasteful to wash it unnecessarily if it’s not dirty, so I just hang it back up. Thanks for sharing these tips.
Yes! Why wash it when it isn’t stained or dirty, right? But I have a friend who insists that all clothes must be washed once they are worn out of the house. Different strokes for different folks!