Laundry Mindfulness: How to do Laundry Faster

Of all the chores, laundry is my least favorite. I cannot tell you exactly why, but I look at that/those pile/s of laundry in our house and I dread getting it done. Putting the clothes in the washer and dryer is easy, it’s the sorting, folding, and putting clothes away that I do not like.   My goal was to learn how to do laundry faster and figure out a way to make laundry less of pain (literally).  Eventually, I found some ways to speed up laundry and make folding laundry more enjoyable.

Faster, Easier Laundry without Tears using Laundry Mindfulness

Making Laundry Less of a Pain with Laundry Mindfulness 

Let’s start with laundry mindfulness.  Mindfulness is the act of being present with your current activity or state. It involves paying attention to your thoughts, emotions, and senses in the present moment.  The next time you do laundry, focus on the emotions of each piece of clothing.  How does that shirt make you feel?  

When you see your child wearing those pants are they having a good time?  Feel the material.  Feel the thicker fabric on the sports socks and the light silky touch of your sheets.  Smell the clothes.  Listen to how the clothes may crinkle as you fold them.  Do not judge your feelings as good or bad.  Simply observe your thoughts and feelings.

How to do Laundry Faster

How to Fold Laundry Quickly

Mindfulness is great and all, but it will not speed up the process of doing laundry.  It will not make the chore of laundry any faster.  If you want to do laundry quickly, then here are tips on how to do laundry faster.

Wash clothes less often.

Not every article of clothing needs to be washed right away.  Shirts and pants can be worn several times before needing to be washed if worn with undergarments.  Be sure to hang up your clothes and teach your kids to put their clothes away if the clothes are going be worn another time.  Clothes on the floor will not stay clean.

Sock stress.

Buy all of the same type/size/style socks.

If you had all of the same color and type of sock then you wouldn’t need to fold them.  You could just throw them into a drawer once clean. You’ll always find a match.

If you have multiple people in  your house, then wash each person’s socks in a mesh bag to keep them together.

You could use sock clips that keep the socks together while going through the wash.  You just have to remember to put the sock clips on before putting them in the hamper.

Important tip on How to Do Laundry Faster: Sort Ahead of Time

Keep at least 2 hampers, one for whites and one for darks.  As soon as you take a dirty item off, put it in the right basket.  If you have 2 hampers for each family member, you may choose to do two different loads for each person.  This will keep all of the person’s clothing together so you don’t have to organize it later.  You can have different hampers for items that require special care such as sheets, towels, and rugs.

In some cases, you can wash whites and darks together.  If you do not have any bright clothes or new clothes, this may work for you.  You can also check out Purex No Sort for Colors Liquid Laundry Detergent. It prevents dyes from bleeding.

Fold Quickly

The sooner you fold clothes the better.  The longer they are sitting in the dryer or hamper the more wrinkles they will get, which will make folding more difficult.

Find a technique and place that works best for you.  First, dump a huge mound of clean clothes in the middle of the bed and make piles of folded clothes around it.  Then, quickly fold shirts and pants, but put all like (or one person’s) socks in a pile.  Finally, I find sock pairs and fold socks at the end.

For another way to fold clothes quickly, try a Clothes Folder.  Amazon sells various products that help you fold you clothes faster.  Here are a few of the highly-rated, and not too expensive clothes folders.

Highly Rated and Inexpensive Clothes Folders

Be Less of a Laundry Perfectionist

In the past, I would try to fold each piece of clothing nicely and neatly stack the piles.  Do you know how frustrated I would get when the kids’ drawers would get messed up after all the time I spent folding laundry?  I decided I need to care less… be less of a folding perfectionist.  You have to decide what is worth your time.  Would you rather have neatly folded clothes or play more with the kids?

I’m not saying to just throw the clothes into a pile.  I do a quick folding that will (hopefully) prevent some wrinkles.  For shirts, I hold up the shirt, fold the two sides toward the center, and then fold the shirt over in half.  Pants get one half-way fold.  Socks are folded one over the other at the top, not always facing the same direction.

Your Turn…

Do you have any laundry tips?