10 Tips to Save Time Doing Laundry

10 Tips to Save Time Doing Laundry

Doing laundry is one of those boring, repetitive tasks that everyone must do and no one enjoys. So in the interests of making it as streamlined as possible, here are 10 ways to streamline the process and cut down the time you spend doing your laundry.

1. Organise your laundry

As with any repetitive process, the key to efficiency is organisation. Businesses spend lots of money identifying inefficiencies in their processes to improve productivity and the same principles can be applied to the humble household laundry.

For instance, you can reduce the time spent sorting clothes for the wash by having several laundry baskets, into which clothes are sorted as they are discarded (i.e. lights and darks, underwear and socks etc).

You can also organise the space in your laundry building a shelf for your detergents and have a drying rack right by your washer so that everything can be done in one place.

2. Wash less clothes

An obvious way to spend less time doing laundry is to have less laundry to do in the first place. This can be achieved by wearing less clothes (i.e. putting together a capsule wardrobe of core garments you can mix and match to create a variety of different outfits).

You can also wash less by wearing your clothes for longer, rather than putting them in the wash after wearing them just once. Jeans for instance, can go a few wears between washes and if you tend not to perspire too much, there’s nothing wrong with wearing an outfit a couple of times before washing. Washing clothes less frequently can potentially increase the lifespan of the fabric and reduce costs.

3. Learn folding techniques

If you’ve seen those YouTube videos showing Japanese folding techniques, you’ll know that a lot of clothes can be folded simply and rapidly once you know the technique.

But even if you don’t want to master this art form yourself, you can still speed up the folding process by having a dedicated folding table and working on minimising the number of steps involved in folding each garment.

4. Hang instead of folding

Of course, the ideal way to speed up the process would be to eliminate folding altogether and this is not as crazy as it sounds. Most garments these days are drip dry and many do not require ironing, so rather than folding everything from the dryer and placing it in drawers, why not hang garments straight from the washer.

You could have a dedicated clothes line that accommodates hangers and once dry, the garments could be hung straight in the wardrobe.

5. Wash less more often

To avoid spending your precious weekends stuck doing the laundry, another way to reduce the amount of time spent doing laundry is to do a little bit every few days, rather than facing a mountain of dirty clothes at the end of the week.

Even if it doesn’t actually save you time overall, doing a little bit of washing, drying and folding every couple of days will make laundry a much less formidable chore and free up your weekends for spending time with your family.

6. Enlist the family’s help

And speaking of family, getting them to help with the laundry can also save time. When they discard clothing items for washing, get them to place them in the correct basket to reduce your sorting time.

You’ll need to clearly label each basket however, as children (of all ages) have a tendency to drop and run and ask questions later.

7. Buy identical socks

Here’s one you may not have thought of. You know how socks have a tendency to become separated from their partners? Well, if they’re all the same kind, they’ll be easy to match.

Just buy multiple pairs of the same colour and you won’t have to spend hours reuniting them with their partners and if one goes missing in action (a common occurrence), just discard one of the others and you’ll still have an equal number of matching pairs.

8. Clean your washer and dryer

You wouldn’t think cleaning your laundry appliances would actually save you time, but you’d be surprised how an inefficient machine can slow things down.

Over time, your washing machine due to the soap residue and dampness of the machine can become a breeding ground for bacteria. If you keep your washing machine free of excess dirt and soap gunk, your clothes will be properly cleaned and won’t have to be rewashed. And keeping your dryer clean and free of lint will allow it to dry clothes more efficiently and in the least amount of time.

9. Do other chores while waiting

One way you can really save time and make your laundry days more productive is to do other chores while you are waiting for laundry to wash or dry.

These processes can take up to an hour at a time and that time could be put to good use washing the dishes or doing any number of other household chores that, once completed, will free up time you can devote to yourself.

10. Use the right laundry detergent

Suitable for all types of fabrics, bio-home Laundry Detergent and bio-home Delicate Laundry Detergent can be used with both front and top load washing machines, with no fabric softener required.

These 100% biodegradable plant-based products not only provide a superior clean but they contain Plantmoist which helps to restore and support your skin’s natural moisture barrier, giving you comfort in any clothing.

With these tips, you will start to enjoy laundry again!