10 Tips To Overcome Being Overwhelmed By Laundry

Are you drowning in a sea of dirty clothes, struggling to stay afloat in the chaotic world of laundry?

Do you feel like no matter what, you always have loads of laundry to do.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by laundry,! Laundry can be a real pain in the neck to get done, especially with so many other cleaning tasks in your busy day!. Somehow the laundry piles seem to grow faster than you can keep up with them.

Don’t worry!

I’m here to share my tried-and-true best laundry tips for conquering the feeling of being overwhelmed by laundry.

I am going to show you how to make your laundry routine more efficient, thus keeping your sanity intact.

Let’s dive in and master the art of laundry management together!

Key Takeaways to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed By Laundry:

Identify causes of laundry overwhelm & make use of lifestyle changes, family support and organization to overcome it.
Streamline your wardrobe with low maintenance clothing for an easier laundry day.
Implement a personalized schedule and optimize your laundry room to conquer the pile!

Stop The Feeling of Being Overwhelmed By Laundry

There are many things you can do to stop yourself from getting completely overwhelmed by laundry, and you’ll be glad to know these things are extremely easy to do.

Stick with me and I will you show you how to manage laundry so it doesn’t send you into a tailspin!

1. Reduce Your Wardrobe

A streamlined wardrobe is a game-changer when you are overwhelmed by laundry. Decluttering and removing high maintenance clothing, and focusing on low-maintenance fabrics can reduce the amount of laundry you actually need to do.

The first step in helping you stop being so overwhelmed by laundry is to cut your wardrobe down by a lot!! Begin by decluttering your wardrobe. Donate, sell, or repurpose clothes you no longer wear or need. You’ll find that fewer clothes result in a more manageable workload and you will spend less time washing, drying, and folding.

Stop buying new clothes, unless you absolutely need them,

Do the same with your kids clothes, they don’t need to have 20 t-shirts, and 10 pairs of pants. I find that my kids like to wear the same outfits, so when they have a bigger wardrobe, they have a lot of unworn clothes = wasted $$ for me.

So, for school this year, I bought each kid 7-8 t-shirts and the same in shorts and 4 capri pants for my daughter!

Doing this can make a big difference! Get rid of any high maintenance clothing from your wardrobe such as silk, and stick to low maintenance fabrics such as cotton, linen, and polyester – these fabrics require minimal care.

By reducing the number of clothes that need special attention, you’ll save time and energy, making laundry day a breeze.

Most clothes can be worn more than once, I normally get 2 days out of my regular clothes, obviously that is not the case with my workout clothes!

By washing clothes only when necessary, you’ll save time, energy, and save money on laundry detergent!

By committing to a laundry schedule that works best for you, you’ll find that the once overwhelming laundry pile becomes an easily manageable task with the help of an efficient laundry system.

2. Break Your Laundry Into Smaller Piles

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by laundry, because you have an enormous pile of dirty clothes staring at you.

Break it down.

Try dividing it into small loads. This can be a huge help! Only focus on just one load at a time, and get the one load done from start to finish. If you do this, little by little, your laundry piles will diminish, and your sense of control will return.

Focus on these piles first, like underwear and socks, because they don’t need to be folded.

Or towels, because they are easily folded or ……not! . When my towels come out of the washer, I walk them straight into my bathroom and hang them on their hook – no folding involved.

Starting to conquer your laundry pile by doing this will help you to feel much less overwhelmed by laundry.

3. Implement a Laundry Schedule

A simple laundry routine tailored to your life will stop you from getting overwhelmed by laundry!

When you stay on top of your laundry pile and prevent it from becoming overwhelming, laundry becomes much more manageable.

Think of your dirty laundry pile as the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink: dealing with it daily keeps it manageable.

But, if you didn’t take care of those dirty dishes, they would be spilling over onto your kitchen countertops and beyond.

To begin with, you may need to do one load of laundry per day, to catch up on all the dirty clothes you have around the house.

But, once you have caught up, figure out a routine that works best for you and your family.

Having a consistent laundry routine can make the process more organized and less daunting. Understand your personal habits and allow yourself the flexibility to do laundry when you have some free time in your day.

This may mean you putting clothes in the washer first thing in the morning, but not actually turning the washer on until 4pm, knowing your husband is home at 5pm, and you will actually have time to take care of the laundry then. This is an easy way to actually get laundry done on a schedule that suots you!

It may suit you better to get all the laundry done on a Sunday when your husband is there to help. Or, every other day may work better. You need to figure out what day of the week works for you.

As I mentioned earlier, I do a wash on a Wednesday, then the kids do their own laundry at the weekend and my husband does his own laundry during the week too.

As a working mom, it may suit you better to get laundry done at the end of the day. Just make sure you have enough time to get a load done. If not, maybe wait until the next day!

We have a main floor laundry, which I love. Our master is on the main floor too, so after a workout, I will throw my workout clothes straight into the wash, so the next time I am doing a wash, they will get washed.

Doing this, helps me to buy less workout clothes, but still have the necessary workout clothes when I need them.

To stay on top of laundry management, consistently complete the entire laundry cycle from start to finish. Set a timer for the length of the washing machine cycle (usually around 40 minutes) to remind you to empty the dryer promptly.

As soon as the dryer goes off, fold laundry, or hang them, this is the best way to complete laundry. Never leave clothes waiting in the dryer.

4. Optimize Your Laundry Room

An organized and efficient laundry area is crucial for conquering laundry overwhelm. Start by keeping your laundry room tidy and clutter-free, making it a more pleasant space to work in.

Once the clothes are dry, take them out of the laundry room right away to prevent a backlog of clean laundry.

Designate specific spots for dirty clothes, making laundry days more efficient by eliminating the need to search for stray items throughout the house.

Create a designated space for clean, folded clothes to avoid mixing them with dirty ones

Look for ways that you can store everything that needs to be in your laundry room, even if you have a small space, there are storage systems you can put in place to keep things better organized and give you the space you need.

These work wonders for your laundry pods, or clothes pins or anything small you need to store.
This might work well if you have a really tight space and have nowhere to store your detergent.
This works well to catch any spills from your laundry detergent – perfect for when kids are doing their own laundry.

Divided hampers are a great addition to your laundry room, making sorting laundry a breeze. You can find these handy laundry baskets at stores like IKEA or Amazon.

Another time-saving technique is placing a laundry basket in each bedroom. This makes collecting dirty clothes simple and prevents clothing from piling up on bedroom floors.

It may work better for you to put a laundry basket in the bathroom – again, you have to figure out what works for your household.

By optimizing your laundry room and implementing these organization tips, you’ll be well on your way to never being overwhelmed by laundry again!

5. Teach Family Members to Contribute

One of the best ways to stop feeling so overwhelmed by laundry is to involve your family members in this chore.

There is obsolutely no reason why you should be taking care of this household chore by yourself!

Getting family members involved in the laundry process can significantly lighten the workload and create a sense of shared responsibility.

Encourage family members to pitch in by matching socks, putting away their clothes, and taking responsibility for their own laundry.

Help your family members develop good laundry habits, such as placing dirty clothing in their own laundry basket and pulling the legs out of pants and arms out of shirts before tossing them in the laundry basket.

Make sure each family member has a laundry basket in their own room, or have a central laundry basket in the bathroom.!

Older kids can and should be able to help with specific laundry tasks, such as sorting or folding their own laundry. This encourages ownership and involvement in the laundry process.

Small children are well able to help out with laundry too. They can easily help with putting clothes in the washer, or in their laundry basket. They can help match all their socks, or fold dish towels and kitchen towels.

When my son was 4 years old, he LOVED helping me to do laundry. He would push the laundry cart from the dryer to the master room and help me put socks together and put other clothes away in a drawer.

By teaching family members to contribute, you’ll create a more manageable laundry situation and it also shows others just how much work is involved in laundry.

6. Efficient Sorting Techniques

Efficient sorting techniques can save time and reduce stress during the laundry process.

If you want to sort your clothes before laundry, I highly suggest getting yourself one of these laundry baskets where they basically sort the laundry for you.

Having one of these is a huge time saver and allows you to get straight to start washing your clothes without having to sort them first.

Other genius laundry tips are to figure out where you want to fold your clean laundry, this may not be your laundry room, this might be your master bedroom, or the sofa.

If this is your preferred method, make sure everything gets put away and nothing is left laying around.

Another time-saving technique is using a mesh bag for socks, ensuring they stay together and don’t get lost in the washing machine.

Missing socks can be a huge time waster!

Skipping the sorting process entirely can also save time, although this may not be suitable for everyone.

A lot of moms tend to think they need they need to sort their clothes in case the colors run together – this is not the case.

Most dark colored clothes only run in the first few washes, after that they don’t run at all. I use color catchers and they work really well.

I am not a sorter! I used to be when I was working a full time job outside the home and I had work clothes. I did find a sorting hamper, like this one ridiculously useful.

Look, take some time to experiment with these different sorting techniques to find the one that works best for you and your household.

With a more efficient sorting process, you’ll find that you will become less overwhelmed by laundry and it will become a much more manageable task.

7. To Fold Or Not To Fold

Embracing minimalist folding techniques can save time and keep your storage spaces neater.

In our house, we hang most of our clothes, instead of folding them. This helps to avoid creases and makes it easier to find what clothes I am looking for either in my closet or in my kids.

I hate ironing, so I don’!

I find that if I hang our clothes, for the most part, they stay wrinkle free.

I still fold clothes such as shorts, pajamas, leggings and my yoga pants, but every other piece of clothing gets put on a hanger and this takes much less time, and doesn’t cause me to be overwhelmed by laundry!

For non-wrinkle items like socks and bras, save time by leaving them unfolded. Recently, I have started to purchase the same colored socks for my son and husband and I do the same for my daughter and I.

We never lose socks because they are all the same color – this is one of my favorite laundry tips because it saves so much time and frustration!

The key is to fold these items quickly and effortlessly, not worrying about perfect creases or symmetry.

Getting clothes folded and put away in a timely fashion can be a game-changer in your quest to conquer the laundry pile.

8. Extend the Life of Clothes Between Washes

Extending the life of clothes between washes can save time, energy, and reduce the amount of laundry you need to do.

This means only washing clothes when they are truly dirty, rather than after every single wear.

If I do a workout, then those clothes need to be washed, but if I am working at home in comfy clothes, I can easily wear those clothes for another day.

Save time and have less laundry to do by wearing your clothes more than once before washing them. Not only will this reduce the wear and tear on your garments, but it will also make laundry days more manageable because you will have less clothes to wash.

The same can go for your kids! If it’s during the winter and your family is inside more than outside, there’s no reason why they are changing clothes every day. Let them wear their clean clothes for 2 days before they throw them in the dirty laundry basket.

9. Use Laundry Products that Save Time

Using laundry products and tools that will save you precious time, and dare I say it, make your laundry time more enjoyable.

I am always looking for ways to help me become more productive throughout my day, while still getting everything necessary done.

I do the same when it comes to laundry.

Just recently (about 6 months ago), I made the switch to using laundry balls, as they can reduce drying time and eliminate the need for a fabric softener – you’ll save money this way, here are the ones I use.

You can use a drying rack for your delicates or clothes that don’t need drying.

I keep my laundry balls, my stain remover and my washing machine cleaning tables all in one basket.

This allows me to access everything I need in one go!

It also reminds me to clean my washing machine once a month, something that is necessary to keep my washing machine clean and fresh.

I use a mesh laundry bag for delicates so they don’t get tangled and potentially damaged in the washing machine

By incorporating these time-saving products and tools into your laundry routine, you’ll find that the once daunting task of tackling the laundry pile becomes a much more simple process.

10. Quick Stain Treatment Tips

When you have kids, you have stains, or if you like red wine like me, you are always treating some kind of stain lol.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to treat stains as soon as possible. Treating stains right away is important, as it stops them from becoming more difficult to remove later on. Minor stains are easy enough to take care of with a bit of spot cleaning. When I first notice a red wine spill, I get some paper towel on it and dab as much of the stain off as I can!

For water based stains such as coffee, tea, juice, and wine, use a pre-treatment product, and then wash them in cold water. I love this for removing these type of stains. I have ways have one of these in my purse, and the kids have these in their backpacks, they don’t always remember to use them, but sometimes they do.

To tackle oil based stains, like grease and makeup, use a pre-treatment product and then wash in hot water.

By utilizing these quick stain treatment tips, you’ll be able to keep your clothes looking their best, save time during the washing process, and stop feeling overwhelmed by laundry – now wouldn’t that be nice!

Stop Being Overwhelmed By Laundry

Never run a small load of clothes, it not only wastes water and electricity, it’s a total waste. If you need clothes washed, but you don’t have enough dirty laundry, look for any dirty items you can find such as hand towels, or kitchen towels. Always make sure you are running a full load.
I always run a load of laundry during the week at nighttime with dirty items such as kitchen towels, bath towels, blankets etc. I do this, because I don’t need to immediately fold this type of laundry, it can stay in the dryer until the next morning.
Don’t plan a laundry day when you already have an overcrowded day full of kids activities etc. Plan it when you know you have a few hours available.
Stop procrastinating and get a load of laundry going – it will make you feel better!

Why Are You Overwhelmed By Laundry?

Before we tackle the mountain of laundry, let’s take a moment to identify the root causes of your laundry overwhelm. Having too many clothes, lack of support from other family members, and disorganization can all contribute to feeling overwhelmed by your laundry routine.

1. Too Many Clothes

With a large wardrobe, it is extremely likely that you are going to wear something new every day, because you can! Keeping your laundry pile down is much easier to do when you don’t have as many clothes!

2. Not Enough Support

If you are the only person doing laundry in your home, it’s really not surprising that you’re becoming overwhelmed by laundry! There is no reason why other family members can’t help you with this massive chore.

I think it’s very important to start your kids off early doing little chores around the house. They can easily help to put away clean clothes, to fold underwear, or to pick up dirty clothes around the house and in their room.

Your husband can help to fold clothes, or start a wash when he gets home from work, or do his own clothes at the weekend.

3. Lack Of Time

I think a lot of the time, the reason for the piles of laundry around your house is that we have such busy schedules and a lot of daily tasks to get through. It’s understandable that laundry can slip through the cracks, especially when you’re jugging family, maybe work, and other responsibilities.

4. No routine in place

When you don’t have a routine in place, or a laundry day where you wash clothes, and take care of your own laundry, it simply doesn’t get done.

If it’s not a priority and you haven’t set time aside to take care of your dirty washing, then it’s easy to see how the laundry pile gets bigger and bigger.

We are a family of 4 and I do a laundry basket every Wednesday and at the weekend. Every Saturday, the kids take care of their own laundry basket. This works out perfectly for all of us.

I also do a load of bath towels each week to keep them fresh looking.

5. A Disorganized Laundry Room

A cluttered laundry room floor can make doing laundry away a Herculean task. It’s important to organize your laundry room so you have everything you need and a proper place to put things such as your laundry detergent, laundry balls, a basket for missing socks, space to fold clothes, and a place for hanging clothes.

You will hate laundry less if your laundry is more organized and inviting, and you have everything you need!

By streamlining your wardrobe, implementing a laundry schedule, and optimizing your laundry room, you can reclaim control and conquer the enormous pile of laundry once and for all.

Teaching your family members how to help with laundry and extending the life of clothes between washes and utilizing time-saving laundry products and tools, will shrink even the most daunting laundry pile!

Conclusion of Overwhelmed By Laundry

So as you can see, conquering those piles of clothesthe laundry pile is possible with a combination of organization, efficient techniques, and teamwork.

By identifying the causes of laundry overwhelm, streamlining your wardrobe, implementing a laundry schedule, and optimizing your laundry room, you can take control of your laundry situation.

Be sure to get your family members involved, it’s their laundry too. Train your kids from an early age!

Finally, extending the life of clothes between washes and mastering quick stain treatment tips will help keep your clothes looking great in the long rum and make laundry management a breeze. It’s time to take back control and conquer the laundry pile once and for all! Soon enough, you’ll realie that laundry is no big deal!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does laundry overwhelm me?

Look the fact is, us moms have a never ending list of tasks we are constantly working through and if you don’t have a daily laundry routine, you will feel overwhelmed when you see piles of household laundry waiting for you to wash them.

With too much clothing and lpiles of dirty clothes piling up, it’s no wonder laundry can seem overwhelming!

Take the time to declutter what you don’t need and that can help make the process of doing the laundry more manageable.

Make sure unworn clothes get put back into the closet and NOT your laundry basket

Once you get on top of your laundry pile, and put a routine in place, you will be able to easily manage all the laundry moving forward.

What to do if you hate doing laundry?

Create a space for yourself that you enjoy. This doesn’t mean spending a ton of money on décor and storage organization

I do think it’s important to make laundry enjoyable with personal touches like a cute sign that makes you giggle, or a plant you enjoy.

Try listening to your favorite podcast, or putting on a tv show you you enjoy watching (that’s what I do).

If there isn’t enough space in your laundry and its frustrating trying to fold clothes, then move it to a room that is better equipped to do this. I sometimes like to do laundry in my living room with the tv on!

Laundry doesn’t have to be a chore. With a few simple touches, you can make it an enjoyable experience.

How to keep up with laundry?

Stay on top of your laundry by scheduling laundry days, avoid washing your clothes after every wear, getting a load done from start to finish and putting clothes away when they are done.

Motivate yourself to stay organized and make laundry easier with these simple tips!

What are some efficient sorting techniques to make laundry easier?

Efficient sorting techniques like sorting clothes using a laundry basket and using mesh bags for socks can help make laundry easier and more organized.

How can I extend the life of my clothes between washes?

Extending the life of your clothes between washes is easy; simply wear each item more than once and treat any stains right away.