A few years ago, we got rid of our old couches that had compiled seven years of stains from our kids.  If you have kids, you probably can imagine what kind of stains I’m talking about.  There were all the usuals, like the number one and number two stains and then there was the dreaded number three stain.

My kids were getting older, so it was time to get something a little nicer…something we could all sit on as a family together and watch TV.  So I went out and got a sectional.  Oh yeah!  It was the best thing ever!  I didn’t want to spend too much money, cause you know I have three kids and there was always a possibility that my sweet sofa could be destroyed.  But it was an upgrade none the less.

After a few days, the newness wore off, and my wife found a new go-to place for all of the laundry that came out of the dryer.  She picked one side of the sectional and would dump the clothes on it.  Then she would dump another load, and another and another.  Eventually, there would be so much clothes, that it seemed way too overwhelming to put it all away.   The pile was so big!  One time, my daughter dove in for socks and came out three days later in the bathtub like the little girl from Poltergeist.

The pile of laundry would build up there for days and even weeks until I couldn’t take it anymore.  I would finally drag everyone into the living room, and we would spend hours putting it all away.  It took an hour just to sort it all.  And as soon as I could see the cushions again, here came another load.  My wife would dump it on the couch with an evil grin on her face.  Our family of five could only sit on one half of the sectional.  Some weeks, we just had a spot for one person to sit.  And every time, my solution was to yell at everyone like a drill sergeant until it was all put away.  Eventually, it got to where one side of our sectional was used and worn and the other half was like new because it was always covered with laundry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGogp-8Xjm8

The funny thing here is that none of it was my laundry.  I always keep mine separated from the people in my house who I call “the others”.   So every Sunday, I had one load to do.  No drama.  No lost clothes.  It literally took me 10 minutes to put my clothes away.  But I helped the others put theirs away as well.  However, I’m not good at hanging women’s clothes.  I would grab something that looked like a jellyfish and eventually just tie it to the hanger.

Laundry will take over your life if you let it.  It can become a daily event.  Sleep.  Eat.  Laundry.  It can be complicated if you let it.  You can spend time sorting dirty clothes, sorting colors from whites, sorting them again once they are clean.  Can doing laundry be easier?  Can it be faster?  My answer is yes.  And I have a list to prove it.

Now if you know what every cycle does on your washer and you a have a special ritual for every article of clothing you own, then this list isn’t for you.  But if you want to live again and kill the laundry monster once and for all, here you go.

Here are 8 ways to spend less time doing laundry:

1. Everybody Gets Their Own Hamper – It all starts here.  Like Oprah, you get a hamper, and you get a hamper….  This way your laundry is sorted from the beginning.   What about colors and whites you say?  Keep reading.
2. Have A Sock Only Mesh Bag For Each Hamper – Never lose socks again.  Tie it to the hamper.  The dirty socks go in the mesh bag.  Wash them in the mesh bag.  All socks stay together.  Before the mesh bag, we were left with a lot of lost socks and an infant mitten that had been washed consistently for 6 years.
3. Make Your Kids Help With Laundry – If my son can build a castle on Minecraft, he can help with laundry.   Depending on their age, they can put their dirty clothes in the hamper, or help load the washer.  They may be big enough to do a load on their own.
4. Wash, Dry and Put Up One Load At A Time – Everyone’s laundry is already sorted because each person has a hamper.  That way everyone knows whose clothes are being put up.  I don’t know how many times, I have hung my 9-year-olds shirt on a hanger and hung it in my wife’s closet.
5. Wash Your Colors And Whites Together – Do what?  I have been doing this for years, and I’ve never had a problem.   Wash them in cold water, and you will be fine.  It saves you the time of sorting again.  And it saves you money on your bill.  This excludes clothes that have special requirements.  You can be that person who sorts colors, brights, whites, towels and on and on.  Or you could follow these tips and have time for a bath.
6. Laundry Day Is Always Better Than Laundry Week – Daily activities should include eating, sleeping and Netflix.  Not laundry.  Do it all in one day and enjoy your life.
7. Make Laundry Time Your TV Time – On laundry day, have some TV shows for your family to watch.  Sit on your sofa, and everyone put away one family member’s laundry.  Now you’re doing two things at once.
8. Never Iron Again!  – I’m serious.  I know people who iron underwear.  There are better things you can do with your time.  The last time I grabbed an iron, I thought it was the phone, and I burned all four of my fingertips.  That was the last straw for me.  Dry your clothes on permenant press and let the dryer do the work for you.  It’s mainly clothes made from a hundred percent cotton that wrinkle the most.  In the future, buy blended or synthetic fabrics if you can.  They don’t wrinkle, and they don’t shrink.  My whole wardrobe has very little all cotton items.  And the ones that are all cotton I hang or fold immediately after they come out of the dryer.  You can also roll your clothes when you put them away to help prevent wrinkles.

Follow these 8 tips and you will spend less time doing laundry and at least it will be tolerable.  One more thing.  When you empty the tray from the dryer, make sure you chase your kids with the lint.

What tips do you have for spending less time doing laundry?