“Ditch the overwhelm”, that’s my motto. And often times laundry can be the place we become most overwhelmed with in our homes. There’s so much to do, I have piles of laundry, it gets out of hand so quickly, how do I keep up? How do I make laundry easier? You may find yourself asking some of these questions over and over. That’s why I’m sharing these three tips for quick and easy solutions when you’re overwhelmed by laundry.

But why just 3 tips? Why not 10 or 20 tips? Because we’re trying to simplify here. I’m not trying to make you more overwhelmed by the number of things you need to do in order to stop being overwhelmed by laundry! Your laundry can be simplified. And you can get to the place where you are able to stay on top of it. So now let’s dive into these tips for when you’re overwhelmed by laundry.

3 Best Tips for When You’re Overwhelmed by Laundry

How do you deal with overwhelming laundry?

Have you ever found yourself asking this question, “how do I deal with overwhelming laundry? Where do I even start? And the answer is…

Tip 1: Declutter

Declutter, declutter, declutter. I can’t say it enough times. Decluttering your clothes is the first and number one tip to simplify when you’re overwhelmed by laundry.

“But if I have less clothes won’t I just have to do laundry more often?”

Yes and no.

You will be washing the same clothes more often than you were before, however, you most likely won’t be doing laundry in general more often. If you were doing laundry every day, you’ll probably still do laundry every day. If you did laundry every weekend, you’ll still do it every weekend. However, decluttering your clothes makes doing laundry so much more manageable. Let me explain.

The more clothes you have, the more they just pile up and pile up until it’s so overwhelming you have that feeling that you will never be able to manage your laundry. Then you try to play catch up, so you’re doing laundry every day, but it’s hardly making a dent because you have so many clothes. And the folding and putting away is even more overwhelming. And on and on the cycle goes.

However, if you have less clothes, you don’t even have the option to let them get piled up to an unmanageable level. They have to be washed. You don’t even have the option to have an overflowing laundry basket. And, with less clothes, it really does make the folding and putting away less overwhelming (more on that later).

How do I declutter my clothes, you ask?

It does take some set aside time, but probably less than you might expect. My suggestion is to go drawer by drawer. Don’t pull out your child’s entire wardrobe and try to do it all in one sitting. If you are able to finish it all at once, great. But don’t set out planning that way, dump everything out on the floor, and then have the possibility of having to stop mid-way and end up with a huge mess in front of you. (Which is then just more overwhelming). If you only have 10-15 minutes available, try to get one drawer done. And the next time you have 10 minutes move on to the next drawer.

I’m talking decluttering your child’s clothes here as an example, but the same goes for your own clothes.

1. The first and easiest thing is to get rid of anything that is too small.
2. Next get rid of anything your child doesn’t care for (even if you like it). Even if you think it’s cute, if it sits in their drawer unworn and taking up space, out it goes.
3. Lastly evaluate what you have left and if you still need to purge more.

Questions to ask yourself after steps 1 and 2:

• Do they have more than 1 week’s worth of pants? (If you plan on doing laundry at least once a week, you probably don’t need 10 pairs of pants for them to fill up their laundry basket with. And I’m only talking pants here, not shorts, etc.).
• Do they have more than 1 week’s worth of t-shirts? Etc., etc. on down the line
• How many dresses do they have (if applicable), and realistically how often do they wear dresses? If your child has 10 dresses but only wears a dress once a week, 10 may be too many.
• If I only keep 5 of each item, how many days will that last my child?
• Can I do laundry every “x” amount of days? (Hint, if your child would go through 5 in 2 days, you may want to keep more than that.)

These are just a few examples of questions that you can ask yourself about your children’s clothes and your own clothes as you are decluttering. They are meant to help you get your mind thinking through different questions you can ask yourself to help cut down on the amount of clothes you have.

These are not meant to be hard and fast rules by any means, just a suggestion of a place to start. And you have to take into consideration the season that your child may be in. For example, your baby or toddler may go through 2-3 different outfits per day due to leaking diapers, spills, and all sorts of other scenarios. So maybe your toddler needs more clothes than your junior high age child who can make it through an entire day with just one outfit.

If you want to read more about decluttering in general, check out my posts here and here.

How do I catch up when I’m overwhelmed with laundry?

So maybe you know you need to do something about your laundry issue, but when you’re overwhelmed by laundry, you don’t even know how you can catch up! Does this sound familiar?

There’s no easy way to catch up with laundry. It takes sold grit and determination when you have overflowing piles of clothes. While catching up with laundry isn’t easy, I do have a tip for when you’re overwhelmed with laundry that will make it easier.

Tip 2: Ask for Help

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your amount of laundry and the possible task of decluttering, it’s going to be a big job to do all on your own. The best way to catch up with laundry when you have an overwhelming amount is to ask for help.

Maybe you ask your spouse to focus on the kids while you take an entire day to focus on laundry.

Maybe you hire a babysitter for just a couple hours to fold laundry for you, or to watch the kids while you work on decluttering.

Get creative and have a folding party with another mom that feels the same as you. You can help keep each other stay motivated and take turns attending to the kids as needed.

If you have the means available, consider hiring a professional to help you get started.

This is just a step in getting unstuck when you’re overwhelmed with laundry. It doesn’t mean you’ll always need to ask for help, but it’s a great way to help you get caught up. Once you get some major decluttering done in the clothing department and find the best laundry method for you, you’ll be well on your way to managing the laundry monster.

How do I stay on top of laundry?

Now that you’ve caught up with your piles of laundry and done some decluttering, how do you stay on top of laundry? How do you keep yourself from getting in that vicious cycle of laundry overwhelm?

Tip 3: Find Your Method

There are different methods for doing the laundry, and I am a firm believer in “one size DOES NOT fit all”. What works for me may not work for you. However, I will share with you what my own personal method is, and I’ll share some other options as well. You may need to do some trial and error first to see what method works best for you, your lifestyle, and your personality.

1. Daily Method

This is my chosen method as I’ve discovered it’s what works best for me. I do one load of laundry every day. I have a family of 5, and with the amount of clothes we have, one load per day is sufficient during the week days, and I usually do 2 loads per day on the weekends catching up on towels and linens.

Kids’ clothes are usually done twice per week. Most often I do one full load of my son’s clothes, one full load of my youngest daughter’s clothes, and then one combined load mid-week. My oldest daughter does all of her own laundry, and while she’s a bit of a hot mess in the laundry department sometimes, she usually does an average of 2 loads per week also.

I do one load for my husband and I combined every 2-3 days, so when I space those all out, it equals about one load per day. And then as mentioned I do towels and any catching up on the weekends.

One thing that is a saving grace for me is a washer with a time delay. I can put a load in the washer at bedtime and delay it to be done right when I get up in the morning. Then I just switch it over to the dryer, and I’m already half done with my laundry! I also (and more often) do the same thing putting laundry in the washer before I go to work in the morning so it’s ready for me to put in the dryer right when I get home from work. Then the laundry is done and ready to fold much earlier in the evening when I still have energy as opposed to the end of the night when I have no energy left.

2. Weekly Method

The weekly method is basically focusing one day per week to do all the laundry. This method does not work for me, but it may work perfectly for you. With a weekly method it may be necessary to have more clothes for each person, which in turn creates larger piles of laundry, so that’s just something to keep in mind. For example with my preferred daily method I wash the same pair of pants multiple times per week, but with the weekly method, you would have to have different pants for each day of the week.

The weekly laundry method may work well for stay-at-home moms that can choose any day of the week to focus solely on laundry without worrying about the other chores around the house.

This method may also work well for people that work best when they focus on one task only, or for people that get distracted easily when they have too many things going on at once.

For me as a working mom, my only options with this method would be a day on the weekend, and I don’t want an entire day to have to be spent on laundry. Plus, if I’m gone on a weekend, then I’m pretty much screwed.

3. Outsourcing Method

This method may not be an option for some, but it is a legitimate option. There’s no shame in getting a little help around the house. Outsourcing could mean a variety of things.

Outsource to the kids

In a sense, I have outsourced some of my laundry. My oldest daughter does all her own laundry. For the other two, I wash and dry their laundry, but they fold and put it away. When your kids get to an age they can do this, it really does help a ton. And they may be able to do it younger than you think. At the very least they can put their own laundry away at an early age. And here’s another shameless plug for the decluttering. When the kids don’t have as many clothes, it’s easier for them to fold and put away their own clothes. When there’s a huge pile sitting in front of them, they get just as overwhelmed as you do. So, outsource some of the laundry to your own children.

Hire some help

Another option is hire a teenager or college student to do the folding for you. You wash and dry the clothes, have your hired help do the folding on specified days, and have the kids put the clothes away. It’s less expensive than a laundry service. But, it can be one of the best tips for when you’re overwhelmed by laundry. It may possibly be some of the best money you’ve spent.

Use a laundry service

If you live in a place where this service is available, it may be exactly what you need. If you are constantly finding yourself overwhelmed with laundry as well as the rest of the house and mothering responsibilities, why not take one of those out of the equation? Hire a service to do your laundry for you so you can focus on everything else. Believe me, there’s plenty more to take your time and attention. Maybe it’s something you choose to do forever. Maybe it’s just a season while you work on getting other things in order. Either way, give it a try if you want. You may find it is just what you need, and the money is well worth it.

Additional tips to use when you’re overwhelmed by laundry

If you begin to implement these 3 best tips for when you’re overwhelmed by laundry, you will begin to see a big difference in your laundry game. And that overwhelm will begin to fade away. Here are just a few extra tips to help you succeed.

• Whatever option is going to make you most productive and most successful in your home is the best option for you.
• No matter which method is right for you, I highly suggest you SET AN ALARM. We get so busy doing other things and easily distracted. We all know that laundry sits in the washer for HOURS. Set yourself an alarm to put the laundry in, switch it over and take it out. If you decide to hire a service, set an alarm for when you need to gather the laundry and have it ready.
• If you’re shopping for a new washer, I highly suggest getting one with a delay timer.
• Shoot me a message if you need more support and encouragement. I’d love to be that support for you!

Choose a Pin to Save for Later!