6 Life-Changing Steps to a Consistent Laundry System

Are you tired of wrestling with laundry piles that never seem to end? Do you find yourself struggling to keep your clothes organized and easily accessible throughout the year? 

If so, you’re not alone. Maintaining an efficient laundry system is a common challenge for a lot of moms. The good news is that with a few simple steps, you can transform your laundry routine and achieve a clutter-free and consistently organized wardrobe.

In this blog post, I’ll guide you through six life-changing steps to establish a reliable and streamlined laundry system. From decluttering your clothes to creating a supportive environment, I’m covering the essential elements that will keep your laundry routine on track and hassle-free. By the end, you’ll have the tools and strategies to conquer the laundry mountain and maintain an orderly and functional clothing collection.

Whether you’re a minimalist seeking simplicity or someone looking to optimize their laundry process, these transformative steps will set you on the path to a more consistent and enjoyable laundry routine. Get ready to reclaim control of your dirty and clean clothes pils and experience the satisfaction of a well-managed laundry system.

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Step 1: Declutter your clothes

The first step to creating a system in your home is to declutter. Declutter your clothes so that everything you own is actually being worn regularly. By removing what you’re no longer wearing, you will be able to get dressed faster, keep you closet more organized, and create a wardrobe of articles you love and want to wear.

Declutter clothes you no long wear

Declutter any clothes that you haven’t worn in over a year after going through all four seasons. If you haven’t worn these clothes after a full year the chances are you never will again. They are just taking up space because you have grown attached to having them in your closet.

I personally like to declutter and the end of every season because I notice right away what I didn’t wear this time around. This is a great habit to get into as you transition from season to season as it will keep your clothes better organized and easily accessible throughout the year.

Declutter clothes that don’t fit

Declutter any clothes that don’t fit anymore if you haven’t worn them in over a year. Trust that you will find the best size and style for the right price if you happen to lose or gain weight. More than likely you will not like these clothes you’ve outgrown when you are able to fit into them again.

Also, you can reward yourself with new clothes when you meet your weight goals. It’s always great to have an incentive for reaching your goals and buying some new outfits because you’ve met your ideal weight can be something you look forward to.

Maybe put aside a little bit of money in a savings envelope everytime you go to the gym or eat healthy meals. Then when you meet your first weight goal treat yourself with the money you already designated.

Declutter clothes that aren’t your style

Declutter clothes that were passed down to you that aren’t your style. More than likely you are simply hanging on to these clothes because they were free and you are trying to be resourceful. Let the fact that they were free give you the permission to let them go and keep clothes that you actually like. 

I made this mistake when my kids were babies. I accepted any hand-me-downs and I ended up dressing my kids in outfits that I really didn’t like. I missed out on the experience of being able to shop for my kids’ clothes and dress them the way I wanted to. There are ways to dress your kids in affordable clothes so don’t feel like you have to sacrifice the experience. Shopping for your kids can be fun!

Step 2: Downsize the number of clothes you own

Downsize the number of clothes you own to what’s within your capacity during this current stage of life.

Capsule wardrobes

Consider downsizing your clothes to a capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a thoughtfully curated group of clothing in which garments can serve multiple purposes and are interchangeable with other garments. Sometimes capsule wardrobes are based on a number of items in order to keep the warbrobe minimal. Capsule wardrobe’s are popular among minimalist because it’s less to manage and makes choosing your clothes much easier. Even children can benefit from a capsule wardrobe.

Personally, I’m not a fan of strict capsule wardrobes but I have seen them help people in many ways. Sometimes people experience overwhelm and anxiety because of the number of clothes they “should” keep in their closet. Especially people who have never lived a minimalist lifestyle before.

A capsule wardrobe can be a wonderful goal to work towards but I don’t think it’s best for those just starting out seeking minimalism. It takes years to retrain your behavior and needs and I believe it’s always best to go slow.

Start small

When I first started downsizing the amount of clothes I owned, I started with my nine drawer dresser. Mind you that I had just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala where I witnessed people living happily with VERY little. I had a lot of motivation to downsize.

So I looked at my dresser and thought, “Nine drawers of clothes for just one person!” And full of clothes I never wore!

So I started weeding out my clothes little by little one drawer at a time. I tried to get all my clothes in the dresser to six drawers. Then I paired it down to fit inside three drawers. Then I wanted my clothes to fit into those three drawers with some “breathing room.” (I’ll explain more in a bit.)

Eventually I was living out of three small drawers in my dresser while the rest of the drawers remained empty. I did not fill them up with random things. I still keep my clothes limited to three drawers. My husband and I actually share a dresser now. Start small and purge a little bit at a time until you have reached your ideal clothing capacity.

Learn to live with less

Nowadays, it’s so easy to acquire cheap clothing. Styles that come and go so quickly is called “fast fashion.” It’s not good for the environment and it’s especially not good for our mental wellbeing. When we aren’t made to wait or save up for a quality article of clothing, we can become ungrateful, spoiled and truly dissatisfied with life. As crazy as it sounds, humans thrive in times of struggle.

How many times have you grown as a person in the valley of life instead of on the mountaintop? Probably rarely. It’s when we create a little discomfort in our life by removing the excess that we will experience personal growth.

Want to change yourself and the pit you’re wallowing in? Purge your stuff and create some need in your life. By learning to live with less, we will actually provide yourself with a lifestyle that is within your capacity to manage.

Step 3: Organize your clothes to support your lifestyle

Organize your clothes in a way that makes picking out clothes and returning clean clothes back to their desired spot easier for your daily schedule and routine. When your clothes are organized, you will know exactly where to find them and return them once they are washed which will make your laundry habit much more attractive.

Organize by personal preference

Preference is very important when it comes to deciding where your clothes “should” be stored and how they “should” be organized. That’s why one-on-one decluttering and organizing sessions are always successful in helping you organize your home rather than listening to someone’s advice and trying to DIY your home organization. Sometimes other people’s expertise ways of organizing doesn’t match your personality or preference.

Organizing is not a one time event

The best way to know what works for you is to always be trying new ways to organize your clothes, see what works and what doesn’t work, and declutter and reorganize often. It is simply impossible to declutter and organize one time and expect it to be that way forever. Your preferences will change from time to time and it’s important that your clothes organization evolves with it.

Organize your clothes in a way that let’s them breathe

When I started living more minimal, decluttering was definitely a part of my weekly habits. But what got me organized and helped me stay organized was the idea of allowing the things in my house room to breath.

Since we’re taking about clothes in this post, what that looks like is not overstuffing my closets and dresser drawers and storing my clothes in a way that is roomy and spacious. By doing so this has allowered me to easily pull clothes out and return clean clothes when I’m putting them away. And it will be easier for you to put your clothes away consistently if your closets and drawers are packed full.

Step 4: Keep in mind the “life cycle” of clothes

Just like I covered in the dishwashing system when I shared with you the life cycle of a dish, clothes also have a life cycle.

In a way, your clothes wake up, have a purpose for the day, and go to sleep at the end of the day. What this means is that you pick out an article of clothes, you put it on and walk around in it for the day, and take it off at night putting it in a specific location. 

Unfortunately, a lot of clothes we wear don’t end up in a desirable location at the end of the night and that’s probably why you’re here reading this post. You want to figure out the best way to keep up with your laundry and essentially, the life cycle of your clothes.

Determine the life cycle of clothes for each person

First of all, understand the life cycle for clothes for each person in your house is different. Personally, I work out in the morning and stay in my workout clothes all day most days. My clothes life cycle is very simple. However, my husband goes to the gym in the morning, then goes to work, and then most days goes to his second or third job. Then when he comes home he may put on another set of clothes to relax before taking a shower. In all, he could potentially wear 4 to 6 outfits in one day.

It’s extremely helpful to map out the life cycle of clothes for each person in your family and fine-tune their routines to what you desire if you’re the one mainly responsible for keeping up with laundry in your home.

Some good questions to ask yourself when figuring out the life-cycle of each person’s clothes:

• What does their typical day look like?
  
  
• How will their clothes “wake up” or be picked out for the day?
  
  
• Where is the best place for their clothes to collect?
  
  
• How often should their clothes be washed?
  
  
• When will they put their clothes away?
  
  

Set up the environment to support habits

Set up the environment in a way that makes carrying out these laundry routines super easy. If you expect them to put their clothes in their own hamper in their bedroom after showering, then purchase a clothes hamper for each person. If you expect them to put their own clothes away after you fold them, then organize their clothes in a way that makes this easy. Minimize their clothes in their drawers and closet so their clothes aren’t overstuffed.

Share this laundry life cycle routine with your family

Now that you know what you expect from each person’s daily laundry routine, share this with your family members and help them establish these routines. For your children, maybe use a rewards system to get them to put their clothes where they belond. For your husband, honestly, sweetness goes a long way. Have a conversation with him about what you would like to happen and how you’ve set up the environment so it’s super easy for him. As my husband has told me in the past, “It’s not what you say. It’s how you say it.” Basically proving that you will catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar.

Step 5: Habit Stack Your Laundry Washing Routine

Habit stacking is an affective approach of completing chores. It can supercharge your laundry washing routine and ensure that it becomes an ingrained part of your daily life. The concept is simple yet highly effective: by attaching the task of doing laundry to an existing habit, you create a seamless and automatic process. 

This is how I use habit stacking for my laundry routine:

• Before I go to bed at night, I start a load of laundry in the washer.
  
  
• The next morning before I walk out the door to go to the gym I switch the laundry to the dryer.
  
  
• When I come back from the gym, I fold the laundry and separate it into piles for each person in my household.
  
   
• Then before I tuck my kids to bed at night, I have them grab their pile of clean laundry and put it away.
  
  

Then the laundry cycle starts all over. It’s that easy to use habit stacking to keep up with laundry. By linking laundry tasks to activities you already do routinely, you eliminate the need for constant reminders and will find yourself effortlessly staying on top of your laundry responsibilities.

Here are some good questions to ask yourself as you are stacking your habits and creating a plan:

• How often will a load of laundry be washed?
  
  
• When will a load of laundry be started? By whom?
  
  
• How will the laundry be gathered for washing? By whom?
  
  
• When will the laundry be switched from the washer to the dryer? By whom?
  
  
• When will the laundry be folded? By whom?
  
  
• When will the laundry be put away? By whom?
  
  

Step 6: Put Reset Checkpoints in Place

Okay, let’s face it. LIFE HAPPENS! And sometimes our best intentions to have a systemized home can fall by the wayside. Sometimes we simply forget that we’ve created this new way of doing laundry, especially in the beginning when it hasn’t become a habit or second nature.

It’s important that while we’re formulating this laundry system to put in place a fallback routine. We need to expect that at some point we may fall off the bandwagon or get behind on laundry. So we need to have a reset checkpoint in place.

For me, my laundry reset checkpoint is on Sunday. It’s my goal to do a load of laundry evert day but if our life is busy or I forget and I get behind in laundry, it’s a part of my weekend reset to wash all the laundry and start the new week off with an empty laundry basket.

Pick a day of the week that is your baseline for having a complete empty laundry basket. You may have to push yourself a little harder on that day to get through it but I promise your laundry habits will get better and better the longer you practice them.

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I’d love to hear from you!

What is your biggest struggle when it comes to laundry? Let me know in the comments below.