Conquering Laundry ~ How One Busy Mom Gets the Job Done

The following is a guest post about conquering laundry ~ how one busy mom gets the job done from regular contributor, Kristin at The Gold Project







The one area in my home that I have struggled with the most is laundry organization. After my husband and I started a family 10 years ago, I constantly felt like a failure because I could not keep up with the laundry daily. In my mind, I had this unrealistic expectation for myself. I felt like I should be able to get it all done in one day, plus work outside of the home.

We had our second child in 2013 and as you all know, the laundry can be never ending with one person in the house. So, having four people in the home, it was nearly impossible for me to get it all done in one day.

Then, I finally stopped and asked myself why I was internally beating myself up daily for not getting laundry organized. At that moment, I realized that I was using social media as my guide to laundry organization. What we see on social media is not always the truth. Behind those bright lights, cameras, and organized spaces can also be a pile of laundry.

So, I stepped back and decided to make my own definition of laundry organization. What could I get done daily and weekly?

It took me several years to develop a system that works, but I can finally say in 2020 that laundry organization is not an issue for me anymore. It is a family effort that works for everyone.

Laundry Baskets

Our laundry room is not very big. It is big enough to fit one laundry basket and my cat’s litter box without being in the walking space to the pantry. So, our dirty laundry baskets do not sit in the laundry room. Any laundry that is in that room is clean. I guess you could call it the laundry sorting holding station.

We have five dirty laundry hampers. Three of them line our hallway. This is something that I would have been totally against ten years ago, but it works for us. Sometimes function and appearance are not the same, and we have to determine when one is more important than the other.

Two of the baskets are for the kids’ everyday clothes and the third is for whites. Whites include any towels (all of our towels are white) and clothing items that can be bleached.







The other two dirty laundry baskets sit in our master bedroom closet. One holds my dirty clothes and the other holds my husband’s dirty clothes. We wash our clothing separately.







Specific Laundry Day

Throughout the week, I will make sure that I run the washer and dryer when I have enough dirty laundry to make a load. If I can get the clothes washed and dried throughout the work week, I am doing good.

Once the clothes are clean, they sit in the laundry room in tubs waiting for laundry day.

Laundry day is usually on Saturday or Sunday depending on which day works the best with our schedule.

Once I realized it was ok to leave clean laundry sitting in the laundry room, the game changed for me. Who told me that it was bad to do so in the first place? I was attempting to set unrealistic expectations for myself, once again.







It’s a Family Affair

On laundry day, as a family, we will all sort laundry in the living room. Each person has a bucket for their clean laundry. After all of the laundry is sorted, each person is responsible for putting away their laundry.

My kids are 11 and 7 years old, so they are responsible for their own laundry. It wasn’t always like that, though. When they were younger, my husband and I would help them put their laundry away and teach them the process. Now, they know that it is their responsibility to help. We do not give out allowances for this task. It is part of the family responsibilities.

With everyone helping, it doesn’t take nearly as long and it helps my stress level tremendously.







Laundry organization is something that is different for every household. You have to find what works for you and your family. The information I shared in today’s post may not help you and that is perfectly fine. It took us awhile to develop a system that works for us.

I would love for everyone to share some laundry tips with us.







My name is Kristin and I am a middle school career education teacher by day and a mommy/wife/blogger by night. I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have two loving children. We recently made a life-changing move to Arkansas, so our new house is always under construction. I get excitement out of finding new creative, functional, and cute ways to organize things! I also enjoy writing and documenting life as it happens. So, I put these loves together and created The Gold Project. With the help of my husband, I am attempting to turn our house into a home. So, check out this special place of mine and take this journey with me!

Also be sure to check out Laura’s laundry system that changed her life!







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