Week 2: Laundry System

 

• Build your new laundry system according to the guide.
• Follow the new routine going forward.
• Tip: The routine will get even easier when you have simplified the wardrobe.

The plan

Identify your options

• Locate your ‘holy ground’, the place where you take off your clothes. This will usually be a spot on the floor where your dirty clothes end up. Not to be confused with the ‘chair’, where you put the clothes you can wear again.
• Where you naturally take off your clothes are where the laundry basket needs to live. This will naturally ‘catch’ your laundry, so it ends up in the right place, instead of the floor.
• Take note if you need to shift certain furniture around. This can feel annoying, but it will be highly beneficial in the long run.

Build the structure

• Now that you have your spot, invest in two decent sized laundry baskets. They can be with or without a lid, but I recommend that they are lined with a bag that catches the laundry, that you can just pick up and move to the washing machine.
• Next to the baskets, place a container of small laundry bags for delicate items. They can be visible or in a closed box, but you should preferably be able to reach them easily without bending down, or having difficulty getting to them. An example could be to put them in a box on a side table, or a hanging basket on a wall.
• Laundry powder can be kept underneath the lining of the laundry bags, or near the laundry machine if you have your own.
• Lastly, create a new home for the clothes that can be worn again. Same principle apply here, their home needs to be where they tend to end up. (to help you ‘catch’ them without effort). Examples could be a basket or a cube unit with boxes, a hook on the wall, or a ladder leaning against the wall. Anything that creates a clear home for it, that is easy to access and looks intentional.
• Both the baskets sizes and the ‘wear again’ home needs to be large enough that it can contain up to 2 weeks worth of laundry, in case of weeks where normal routines can’t be kept up.

New laundry routine

• White and light goes in one basket
• Color and dark goes in another basket
• Pre sort laundry when adding it in the basket
• If it can handle the dryer, toss in directly
• If it is air dry only, put in a small laundry bag first and close it up
• Anything that can be worn again is put in the new spot
• Everything gets 40 degrees (so 2 loads)
• Tumble dry anything that can handle it
• Put away laundry when it is finished. Don’t have to be neat, just clean.

The Why

The laundry system is the next step, because laundry gets out of hand super quickly. And the longer it builds up, the harder and more distressing the task will feel. But by having a very easy system, and the right ‘equipment’, it will free up a lot of mental energy.

The new plan is designed to make everything ‘touch and go’. By pre sorting when you add it in, and simplifying loads, you never have to sort laundry on laundry day. You simply grab a bag, add it to the machine, and get it started.

Of course, a dryer can wear more on clothes than air drying, but many people lack the space to hang everything, or the energy to do it. Therefore, tumble drying what can handle it can be very beneficial, at least in the beginning. If you gain the space and the energy, you can always air dry more items later. Again, for now we are looking for improvement, not perfection.

By making the home where it naturally end up, you ensure it will be as easy as possible to keep up the system.

When putting the laundry away, try not to go overboard with folding or hanging super neatly. A lot of the time, we avoid doing things because we want to do them perfectly. But that often means they don’t get done at all, or they drain you more than they should, and then other things don’t get done because you exhausted yourself. At this stage at least, as long as it is clean, allow yourself to just put it where it belongs, but don’t go overboard with ‘making it pretty’. It will come later, I promise.