If there’s one chore which seems never ending it’s doing the laundry. With three kids and a full-time job, it’s very difficult to keep on top of all the washing, ironing and putting away. Washing is a Sisyphean task, just when you finally get to the bottom of the laundry basket it instantly fills itself. There are a few ways you can manage to keep on top of the laundry without it taking over your life.
Get someone else to do it
You might have a partner or kindly relative who loves doing the washing and can offer to take over the burden. I’ve heard stories of magic pixies who do all the housework overnight. If you’re not so lucky you can always outsource your washing. You could use a laundry company like Laundryheap. They’re a leading on-demand service that collects and delivers customer orders within 24 hours to their homes. All you have to do is order through their app or online.
Train the kids
The biggest maker of laundry in my house is definitely the kids. They seem to go through a ridiculous amount of clothes and we haven’t even hit the teenage years where they wear clothes once and put them in the wash. The only thing to do is train them young so they can help out. Young children can learn to put their clothes in the basket and help to fold the washing and put it away. Older children need to learn how to use a washing machine, read washing labels, hang out and bring in washing and can even learn to iron when they are sensible enough to not get burnt. These are essential life skills.
Have a system
The truth is the laundry is unavoidable. The only way to tackle it is to have a good system in place. Make sure there is a laundry basket in each child’s room and it is easy to sort the whites. Find what works for you and your family. I don’t like to have washing on during the week as I find I forget it and leave it in the wash to get smelly. Instead, I do all the washing on a Friday evening and Saturday morning and then spend the rest of the day drying it. Then on Sunday make sure it’s ironed and put away. I have to admit that if there is a lot of ironing I will leave it and do it all in one go. I prefer to do a big pile while watching a nice film rather than do little bits every day. I know some people who only iron clothes when they need it and increasingly lots of people don’t seem to iron at all just hang the clothes straight from the drier.
Make a decoration
If the worst comes to the worst you can always stick a star on top of the washing pile and say it’s a Christmas decoration.
How do you stay on top of the washing?
