So You're Ready to Build Your Laundry Routine?
Written by Brianna Hosack - Published February 2, 2025
Originally posted March 12 2021 on the Minimalist Toddler Mama Blog.
So You're Ready to Build Your Laundry Routine
Some of you may be laughing already… ‘A laundry routine? With toddlers? Babies don’t follow a schedule!’
…but a laundry routine with young kids is unbelievably important if you are aiming for minimalism, or even just to simplify!
Photo by Victor Kravchenko on Unsplash
Collapsable drying racks… genius! I use mine enough that I almost never collapse it, but when I want to be able to, I can.
Having a laundry routine has so many benefits!
Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of things on your to-do list?
No matter what your laundry routine ends up looking like once you’ve figured it out, what it gives you is one less decision to make every day!
Not to mention always having clean clothes.
If you’re not sure how to set up a laundry routine, here are some great starting points.
Try one out for a week or a month if it sounds like something that might suit your lifestyle, and then make tweaks specific to you and your family.
Some of the best routines I've come across:
LAUNDRY DAY
Do an entire week's worth of laundry in one day, no matter how much you start with.
Don't add to the total once you've started. IE gather it all, then don't collect more until next week.
My favourite part: You don’t have to think about it for the rest of the week, and when your designated laundry day rolls around, you won’t have to make a single decision. It’s already made for you!
My struggle: It’s a lot harder to get done all the way to ‘put away’ in that one day, especially if you have young kids and lots going on.
And anything I don’t finish that day, tends to sit.
This method is probably ideal for families where both parents work full time outside the home, and the whole family is home on the weekends to work together on folding & putting away, or even rotating loads.
A LOAD A DAY
This is closest to my preferred method.
It is exactly what it sounds like. Do one load, every day. From start to finish. No matter what. Leave the rest.
My favourite part: Using the steps of a load of laundry (wash, dry, fold, put away) as 5 minute breaks each from sitting at a computer, where you move your body, is actually awesome.
(Or even as the reason to step away from the kids if you are getting overwhelmed with them…
…Or maybe as a way to teach them life skills while giving both you AND them a break from school and work if they are doing school at home due to a pandemic, like my oldest.)
My struggle: Anytime I miss a day, I feel like I am ‘behind’.
This method is probably ideal for families like mine, where one parent stays home, whether they work from home or not.
WASH EACH FAMILY MEMBERS' ITEMS SEPARATELY
Each person has their own hamper, and you wash whoever’s dirty clothing hamper is full that day.
Or, do it like a laundry day but with everyone’s washed as separate loads.
My favourite part: This can be great to use at certain seasons, like while potty training, if you don't like to wash ‘accident items’ with the regular laundry.
My struggle: I never could get on board with this one.
I always wanted to feel that sense of 'THERE. It is ALL caught up at once".
This method is probably more ideal for families with older kids who do their own loads.
I may start adopting some new things here soon, now that my oldest is 10, and has decided she WANTS to do her own.
Maybe this is ideal if you really don't like sorting, and want your kids to fold their own laundry, so that once you've washed and dried, you can hand off the whole load.
EVERY PERSON FOR THEMSELVES
I really don't think this will apply to many of us with young families?
Especially if you are a stay at home parent (NOT the same as work at home, I've done both, so I can say that… Even though being a stay at home parent is TOTALLY work), it REALLY feels unfair for everyone else to do their own, and you sit at home all day, am I right?
My favourite part: Less laundry for me (yay!).
My struggle: I’m here, so I feel like I should just work it into my day.
Again, this method is probably ideal for families with older kids who do their own laundry (or maybe are learning how?).
HIRE SOMEONE
Ahhhhh the dream.
I'd love to do this... (I always think)... until I think about 'skid marks', 'leaks' and other such unmentionable things that I just wouldn't FEEL RIGHT having someone other than family go near.
Maybe that wouldn't bother you. If not, and you have the money, FOR GOODNESS’ SAKE DO IT!
That person needs a job too, right?
FOLD MARIE KONDO STYLE
Ok, it’s not an entire system but this should be addressed in any good laundry routine (I believe).
My favourite part: I actually love this, ESPECIALLY for young kids. No, they don't worry about keeping it that way for you, and drawer dividers might be your new best friend, but you can see everything all at once in a drawer. And so can they! This helps majorly so that they are not pulling out every item in search of their ONE thing they MUST have.
My struggle: You are the only one who will ever care enough to do it. Oh, and it’s a learning curve.
If you have a young girl with aspirations for motherhood or housekeeping, she might be willing to learn (mine was - but it didn’t last). But I promise, no one else will care.
This is definitely ideal if you are the only one who ever folds clothes, or if you don’t mind when others do it differently (me! I don’t mind; I just appreciate the help and I adjust it later if I come across something in a drawer that really bothers me).
Photo by Sarah Dorweiler on Unsplash
MY METHOD
Get rid of lots. Like… LOTS.
Pay someone when you need to (dry cleaners also have washing services if you didn't know that - I use them for blankets/comforters and things that don't fit easily in my machine).
Don't sort. I’m not even kidding. I got rid of what I had to, to make this work.
Let, and encourage the kids to help, but… in a fun way. It's MY responsibility. Then if no one else helps, I’m not frustrated.
Do my husbands' separately and at the drop of a hat when he needs me to because he has to rush out the door and be gone for a week.
Do my daughter's separately when she 'forgot' to bring me her laundry for awhile…
Let her learn to remember to bring it, no urgent loads because she forgot until every single item is dirty! But then do it all as one load just so she has to fold it all as due consequence for forgetting. 😜
Fold differently for every family member so that you have less headache. Such as the following:
My toddler needs his socks folded over/attached to easily find matches.
My husband likely thinks it's insane NOT to fold over socks to attach a pair. I didn’t even bother with the conversation - he doesn’t like change.
My oldest daughter loved the Marie Kondo method for socks for a couple of years, but she decided the other day that she doesn't like it anymore - mostly because she is in a phase of only wearing super thick fuzzy ankle socks that don't stay together well the Marie Kondo way.
The baby's socks are too small to do her way.
I LOVE it for mine, I love not having stretched out ankles on my socks. My ankles are bony and small so it made a WORLD of difference for me. I could never go back to falling down socks all the time!
Do a load a day. Even if you have to wash things that aren't THAT dirty to fill a load.
Like towels that don’t stink.
Or ACTUALLY washing bedding once a week.
Do a Laundry Day to catch up when you get behind.
Since clothing is always coming IN as your kids grow - make it a habit to get rid of items that are outgrown or destroyed, regularly (I do it every load) and consistently.
Get rid of all the hampers except your husbands (again, hates change) and the one you LIKE to carry up and down stairs.
Make laundry non-negotiable.
***SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT ‘TWEAKING IT’ TO YOUR FAMILY’S NEEDS?!***
THERE IS NO ONE RIGHT WAY, I PROMISE.
Since everyone has different numbers of people in their homes, some have multiple families in one home, different ages, different cultures, and so on…
There is no solution to laundry that will be the same across the board, other than going around in your birthday suit 24/7.
What DOES matter:
Start.
Try things, and don’t give up until you find what works for you.
Start again, every time you get off track.
Add it into your electronic calendar and set reminders on your final, successful schedule, until you start doing it before your reminders can even go off - that’s how you know you’ve nailed it!
Then leave the reminders and ignore them until the days where everything else goes wrong, because you will need them again on those days.
It will change your life to never need to worry about laundry again.
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