Everyone has one chore they absolutely hate. For you, that chore might just be laundry. Unfortunately, laundry isn’t just a task that can be skipped whenever you don’t feel like doing it. Though it might be a literal chore for you to get through, you can motivate yourself to get it done through rewards and by lessening your load. Here are some quick tips to make laundry feel a bit more bearable.
Do Laundry in Batches
If all your laundry on one day feels like too much for you, try dividing it up between multiple days. You can separate your laundry into batches based on what must be done on a certain day. This trick won’t work if you ever want a day where you don’t have to think about laundry, but it’ll help you avoid major labor on one certain day.
If you aren’t already, you should be separating your laundry. If you don’t divide it by color or fabric type, your clothes may fade or tear, depending on what you pair them with. Make sure to run your delicates on a different cycle from the rest of your clothes. Similarly, you may want to separate your whites from the rest of your loads — and further divide by color if you need to.
However, that method might get tiring for some people. There are other ways to divide your laundry without separating it into colors. Try sorting through laundry this way:
● Adults’ clothes
● Kids’ clothes
● Sheet sets and comforters
● Blankets and towels
● Miscellaneous
However you decide to batch your clothes, you may find it more manageable doing only one load of laundry per day. This way, you’ll divide up a difficult chore between all of your days, and you may not have to give it as much time and energy as you would if you did your laundry on a day off.
Make It Easier for Yourself
Laundry can be a difficult chore when you’re wandering all over your house, gathering up loose clothes. If your clothes often end up on the floor rather than in the laundry room, invest in hampers. They may be a bit of an eyesore in a house that prioritizes aesthetics, but they can keep you sane when you’re struggling to round up clothing to wash. That way, you can also drag the hampers to the laundry room rather than carrying armfuls of clothes.
Another way to simplify your laundry room is to add a folding table. That way, unfolded clothes never need to leave the laundry room. You won’t have to fold them on your bed or dresser — you’ll have a table fully dedicated to folding things so you can easily transport them back to their respective rooms. While it might not sound like much, it can be a total game-changer for getting your laundry done.
Create an Accommodating Laundry Room
The best way to trick yourself into spending more time in your laundry room with your least favorite chore is to make your room more accommodating to you. Consider what’s already in your laundry room. If you have a top-loading washing machine, you might benefit from adding shelves to your laundry room that can function as storage and style to make the room a bit more bearable. Design your laundry room like any other room in your home. You may find that the task is so much easier when you actually enjoy your laundry room.
Wear Clothing More Than Once
To lessen the laundry load you have on yourself, consider washing fewer clothes. When you do laundry once a week, the number of clothes and other fabrics you wash could feel overwhelming — but what if you cut down on how much you wash? Think of how you can save water and reduce how much you haul to the laundry room.
If you only wear something out for a couple of hours, consider putting it in another pile that signifies that it’s not really dirty. Similarly, you can pick out “house clothes” to change into after you return home for the day. The house clothes won’t get dirty as easily as “outside clothes” — meaning that you can wear a nice loungewear set for days and wash it at the end of the week. This way, you can cut down on the number of clothes you wash weekly, and maybe laundry will even feel like a breeze with a lesser load.
Do It First Thing
When you wake up, the last thing you might want to do is do laundry, but if it can pull you out of bed, it might be worth it. Once you start your laundry for the day, you can move on to tasks that are a bit easier for you to keep up with. Since laundry is your least favorite chore, you’re “eating your frog” by tackling the worst task before everything else — so you won’t feel like you’re suffering through the rest of your tasks.
Plus, many people are productive in the morning. If you use this time for your chores, you’ll have your loads of laundry done by the afternoon and can enjoy the evening and night at home with your loved ones or out with friends. You have to get out of bed eventually. While doing your least favorite chore might not seem like a good motivation, you’ll know that everything from then on will be smooth sailing.
Tackle Your Laundry in a Creative Way
Laundry might be one of the most mundane chores out there. Unfortunately, it must be done to ensure your home is clean and everyone has fresh clothes to wear. Even the most painful chores can be manageable when you break them down into smaller tasks. Remember that laundry is only a part of your day, not your whole day. By making it easier for you to get your most unpleasant task done, you open up a world of possibilities for the rest of your day.
It might take you some time to figure out what motivates you to get unpleasant tasks done. Whether you reward yourself after the chore or power through to complete all your other tasks, you’ll find that laundry is more manageable once you make a few changes. Mix and match ideas to see what works. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy laundry after streamlining it.
