Daily Laundry System (Family of 5) – No More Overwhelm

I have a confession… laundry is my all time favorite chore as a homemaker. If you hate laundry (like many do) I’m going to share with you my daily laundry system that will hopefully give you some fresh ideas on how to manage it in a way that is enjoyable and less overwhelming!

We have a lot of laundry to do in our house with five people in our family, so it’s incredibly important that we have a system. Whether it’s just you or you have a full house of children, having some sort of laundry system or routine will help prevent you from feeling like you’re drowning in laundry.

Here is a peek into our laundry system, and things I’ve done to make it easy and effective!

Our laundry sorting system: sort as you go

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I am all about eliminating obstacles and honestly, thinking about having to get all the dirty clothes out and sort them before washing just seems like an unnecessary obstacle to me. In order to eliminate this step altogether, I decided that we would sort our dirty clothes as we go.

I bought this laundry sorting organizer that we keep in mine and my husband’s closet (I know… it kinda looks like it belongs in a hospital or something HA) but it works! We’ve got it separated by whites, colors, darks, and my husband’s work clothes that I wash on delicate. I just pull out whichever one is the most full, and throw it in the wash. Each of our kids also has his or her own hamper in the bedrooms. When I get ready to wash one kid’s clothes, I take the hamper and wash everything that’s in there together.

I also keep a small plastic bin in my laundry room for dirty kitchen and cleaning towels to go in so it doesn’t clutter up countertop space in the laundry room.

One load a day from start to finish

Honestly, the only way I can stay on top of laundry is if I do a load of laundry everyday from start to finish (sometimes two if I’m washing sheets or cleaning towels that day!) The idea of having to do all the laundry in one or two days sounds overwhelming! There would literally be clothes everywhere.

My routine is, I put in a load of laundry early in the morning, by midday I switch it over to the dryer, and usually by afternoon a load is ready for me to fold. Sometimes I don’t even wait until the next day to put in the next load… if I’m already switching over the laundry, that signals to me that there’s space in the washer for the next load to go in! That way, I don’t even have to think about it, and the laundry cycle just continues by habit.

When afternoon time comes and I’m ready to fold my laundry, I typically fold it all and then immediately put it away (or have my kids put theirs away.) Then, I don’t have to worry about it the rest of the day! When it’s just one load, it seems like such a small task.

An organized laundry space

Another tip is to have an organized laundry space (and have the supplies you need!) I love keeping my powdered laundry detergent in this cute little caddy I grabbed at Walmart! It’s cute and makes it easy to access my detergent. I ditched liquid detergent a long time ago because I always made a mess lol! We use the 365 Unscented Powdered Detergent from WholeFoods/Amazon and it works great, plus it’s not full of unnecessary chemicals.

A solution for missing socks…

Also on top of my dryer, I keep a tall plastic container for my dirty kitchen & cleaning towels and a smaller one for miscellaneous socks. Seriously, where are the matches to these random socks?! If I’m folding and find a sock without a match, I put it in this little basket until I find it’s partner. I think I got these containers at Hobby Lobby! But really you can find them anywhere. I also just love the touch of pink in the laundry room, it makes me happy.

A big, big laundry basket

So as much as I wish I was a minimalist, the truth is we have a good amount of clothes. Even though I do laundry every day, these loads are usually full size loads! When I used to use just the average plastic laundry baskets I’d pick up at the grocery store, the clothes would just overflow and I could never fit it all in there – a literal mountain of laundry! No thank you.

When I ordered this big woven rope basket, it was a game changer for our laundry system. It can hold all the clothes, plus it’s way prettier! It’s not an eyesore to look at when it’s sitting on my bedroom floor.

Make folding laundry relaxing

I consider my afternoon laundry folding time like a little break for myself. Typically in the morning I’ve been busy homeschooling, prepping food, and just being available for my kiddos. So when lunch is finished and the toddler goes down for a nap, it’s time for mommy’s quiet time. My older kids play or do other things while the little one naps, and even if I don’t get the entire nap time to do other things, I can always count on my laundry break.

I typically make some kind of beverage like warm coffee or tea, head into my bedroom with my basket of laundry & close the door. I create some moody lighting and pick a relaxing youtube video to watch. There’s lots of amazing ladies over on Youtube that have inspiring, calming homemaking videos, but my favorite is Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone. The length of her videos is about the amount of time it takes for me to fold one load!

I know this won’t sound like a true “break” for some… but to me, being alone and watching something I’m interested in while doing something with my hands is kinda therapeutic.

The kids do their part

The way my kids contribute is by putting away their own laundry. I do fold it for them (just because I like to lol) but they put the clothes away in their drawers or hung up in their closets. I’ll be honest, I don’t necessarily check to see if it’s nice and organized in the drawers because it really just doesn’t matter to me.

I will say, most kids are capable of folding if they are shown how to do it and get to practice! However kids can help take some of the load off mom and take ownership and responsibility over their own things is a win/win in my book. I once saw on Marie Kondo’s show about tidying, her three/four year old daughter fold laundry Konmari style and I was like “yes girl.”

A system for decluttering – free up laundry space

Like I said before, I’m no minimalist (essentialist maybe???) But it does help if you can pare down on your clothes, only keeping what you truly love wearing! For my kids, I have to go in periodically and get rid of what no longer fits or what’s out of season (because if it’s in the drawer, they will still wear it!) Only keeping the essentials and keeping up on daily laundry will ensure everyone still has enough clothes to wear.

It also helps to have a system for decluttering! One way to do this is to have a rule where if you bring home a new item of clothing, you must part with one you already own. Chances are there’s a good chunk of clothes that are taking up space that you don’t even like! When seasons change, we go through all of our clothes and store away clothes that no longer work with the current season. For the kids, I put those clothes out of reach. For my own seasonal clothes, I just put them on the other end of the closet.

So there you have it! My family of five daily laundry system:

• Sort as you go
• One load a day
• An organized laundry space
• Use a big basket
• Make it relaxing
• Kids do their part
• Declutter clothes

Shop this post

Laundry sorting organizer (Amazon)

Metal Laundry detergent holder/caddy (Walmart)

Nontoxic powder laundry detergent (Amazon/Whole Foods)

Big woven rope laundry basket (Amazon)

Want a simple way to plan ahead? grab my FREE Feminine Homemaker Planning Sheets!

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Happy Homemaking!