Laundry. It’s relentless, never caught up, and can only be postponed for so long. Every mom has her pet peeves, but laundry has never really been mine. I don’t mind doing laundry – so long as I do laundry. It’s when I fall behind, and it piles up, that this mama gets stressed out.
Some women have a “laundry day.” If that works for you, then go. Wash, dry, and fold. Be blessed. Get all your clothes finished on Tuesday. But if Tuesday was my do-it-all-in-one-bunch day for laundry, I don’t think I would even want to get out of bed that morning!
When I finally found my sea legs to run this mother ship well, I concluded that doing just one load of laundry per day was manageable. It helped keep the pile from becoming insurmountable and accomplished the most important task of all: ensuring my children weren’t wearing their pajamas all day. (If and when that happened, it was by choice, not necessity).
Thus, the reason our ‘Do It’ List includes “Do one load of laundry” as a daily task … rather than, “Level the Laundry Mountain!” on the once-per-week list.
If you are new to our blog, our ‘Do It’ List is a monthly free download designed to help busy moms manage home and hearth well so that they are freed up to focus on what is most important: loving God and loving their families. Or, using some familiar friends to make the point: The ‘Do It’ List helps us do our Martha tasks well, which enables us to be a Mary sitting at the feet of our Lord. 
We publish a new list every month and our regular readers know we devote the accompanying blog to unpacking one item on the ‘Do It’ List. This month, it’s laundry!
While most of us probably have a pretty good handle on laundry, we are never beyond getting a refresher and it’s also possible there are those of us who don’t know what the rest consider Laundry 101. Here are a few Laundry basics:
1. Schedule It
Your schedule will be determined by how many children and what size they are. The laundry for three children who are 3, 5, and 7 will certainly take up less space than the laundry when those three are 13, 15, and 17!
When my children were all home, we did laundry (almost always) six days a week. You might need only three days a week. I tended to cycle through whites, lights, darks, and towels on Monday through Friday. Keeping to that schedule might mean darks are done on Wednesday one week, but on Tuesday the next week. The most important thing for me to keep it in check was just to do it and to do it daily.
Saturday was typically the day for sheets. My fabulous hubby took responsibility for this and made it happen. He pulled the kids in to help and everyone stripped their own beds, hauled their sheets to the laundry room and then Daddy helped them put them back on after they were washed and dried. Bed to washer to dryer and back to bed before bedtime!
2. Sort It
We all probably know (and most likely practice) the basics of laundry sorting:
- Whites
- Lights
- Darks
But I think it’s also helpful to add some additional sub-categories under these three broad ones. Additional sub-sorting to consider under each include:
- Delicates
- Heavy duty
- Lint creators
If you have a light-weight blouse, it might not do so well with heavy blue jeans even if it is navy. Not only will it get pummeled in the wash, it may be dry long before the jeans and spend more time than necessary exposed to heat.
Delicates do much better on a lighter setting and sometimes best to hang these to dry. Some of your “unmentionables” (my mother-in-law’s euphemism for lingerie!) should be placed in a netted laundry bag for further protection.
Lint creators such as towels need to play by themselves!
3. Prepare It
This may be the most overlooked step of all when doing laundry. Often in our quest to get it done we just toss it in with no thought of preparing our laundry to be laundered!
- Turn each piece inside out. While this takes time, it pays off in the long run. The wrong side takes the beating and gets faded, while the inside stays looking nice longer.
- Unbutton all buttons. The twisting and turning in the wash can pull the button from the buttonhole, weaken the thread holding it in place, and could even create a tear in the fabric.
- Close the Zippers! Zippers don’t play well with others. Their sharp teeth can damage fabric and even the inside of the washer and dryer. Protect your items by zipping all zippers before laundering.
- Empty the pockets. We all know to do this, but do we do it? The reward is that he who does the laundry gets to keep what is left in the laundry, right? What treasures have you claimed?
4. Pretreat It
This makes all the difference in your favorite blouse going back on the hanger or tossed in the rag pile! When we catch those stains before the washer — and especially before the heat of the dryer — there’s hope! Take some time to look, treat, soak … whatever is necessary to get that stain tackled before it’s too late. And if you need help figuring out how to treat what, our friend Martha (the other Martha) has you covered here. You might consider printing this and taping it inside the door of your laundry room cabinet.
5. Keep It Moving
Do not ever allow wet laundry to sit in your washer. Mold and mildew might be interesting specimens under the microscope in science class, but our laundry need not be the source. We may give our bodies to science when we die, but no one should sacrifice their laundry for science while alive! Seriously, for health reasons, don’t mess with mold and mildew. Keep the laundry moving from washer to dryer. It will be easy to get distracted, so just develop the habit of responding to the ding (or if your washer is like mine, the little melody it plays) and move it to the dryer immediately.
While not a health risk, you run the wrinkle risk if you do not respond to the dryer ding. This girl has no time for ironing, so I go running at break-neck speed to snatch those clothes out when the dryer yells, “They’re dry!”
6. Fold It
This next point requires a visual aid. Please grab your laundry basket and go stand in front of a mirror. Now repeat after me, “This is a laundry basket. It is not a drawer or a piece of furniture. Its purpose is to transport laundry – not to store it.”
Now go practice that sermon you just preached to yourself.
My routine has always been to dump the basket of laundry on my bed, fold it quickly, and sort into piles for each member of the family. If this was a chore for one of the kids, it was still folded on our bed because it was the largest bed in the house and afforded the most folding space.
After folding, each family member collected their own laundry and put it away in their room. Since it was on my bed, I could not go to bed until all the laundry was put away.
7. Redeem It
Consider elevating laundry time to prayer time. These prayers, similar to ones I often would (and still do!) pray for my own family, can serve as prompts to get you started:
- As you fold your husband’s socks — Lord, I pray that Kevin would always walk in the light of your truth.
- While folding your son’s exercise pants — Holy Spirit, I pray Kyle would always live an active faith.
- While folding your daughter’s hoodie — God, I pray that love for You would lead out in all Ginger says and does.
- As you fold a knitted hat — Jesus, Luke may cover his ears with this cap, but I pray He always hears your voice.
- While folding your daughter’s shirt — Jesus, I pray Lydia’s identity would be found in who she is in You.
And that’s it for my “Super 7” laundry tips! Thanks for reading. Please leave a note below and let us know which one helped you out or spurred you on — or share your own laundry tip with the rest of us!
In addition to this month’s ‘Do It’ List — which is available in a standard version with prefilled tasks, or a blank version that can be personalized to fit your own chores and priorities — this month we are also including a bonus download. We hope you’ll this fun (and frameable) graphic will add a bit of whimsy to your day, as well as your laundry room:
Download the "My Laundry Prayer" Printable .
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February 2020 BLANK 'Do It' List
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