How {And Why} To Make A Weekly Schedule for Your Household's Laundry

When you make a weekly schedule for your laundry you are doing one of the most effective things to conquer your piles of laundry once and for all.

A laundry schedule gets the laundry not only done, but done on a consistent basis which suits the needs of your family and lifestyle.

The frequency with which your household needs to do laundry is dependent on several factors, including your family's size, the age of your children, and what activities your family members engage in, such as sports or other potentially dirty pursuits.

Do You Hate Doing Laundry? Consider A Weekly Laundry Schedule

Have you ever said, "I hate doing laundry!"?

One probable reason for loathing laundry is that if you don't have a schedule for it, it seems to never end, or sometimes never to get started.

When you make a weekly schedule for your laundry you can break the task into smaller parts, and check it off your list.

Psychologically, it is great to be able to say, "I am done with this for the day." It makes the task less unpleasant to know there is an ending.

Another great benefit that occurs when you make a weekly schedule for the laundry is that everything gets cleaned, and not on a crisis basis.

There is no big calamity when you realize that your child's picture day is tomorrow, or that guests are coming and will need fresh linens and towels, or your child spills the milk.

Towels and dishrags, clothes and bed linens have all been washed at their appointed time, and are ready for use.

If there are only one or two of you in the home you may be able to do all your laundry in one day -- laundry day.

Laundry day needs to occur in even the smallest household on at least a weekly basis, so you don't run out of clean clothes, and so those clothes, towels and linens that have gotten dirty don't sit too long and get sour and permanently stained.

If you can get all your laundry done in one day a week your weekly schedule is quite simple - choose a day after work or on a weekend to do 1-2 loads of washing for the week.

You still must follow all the steps of how to do laundry, from beginning to end, including putting away the clean clothes.

If you have kids, or a larger household, it is even more important to make a weekly schedule for your laundry, because laundry day is everyday.

There is really no laundry alternative, except to buy new clothes for everyone all the time, and that, of course, isn't practical.

Personally, I found that when I had one child I could squeak by doing laundry on an ad hoc basis.

We sometimes ran out of clean clothes, or things got ruined because they sat too long with a stain on them, but we muddled through.

Once I had two children, I noticed I really needed to make a weekly schedule for the laundry or the piles of laundry just multiplied, like dust bunnies.

Now that I have three children, a weekly schedule is the only way my household can survive.

When my family gets off our laundry schedule, because of sickness, holiday or other emergency we all notice, but we have a reserve of clean clothes, bedding, and towels that we can use during these times that gives us a cushion before we need to get back on the schedule.

When you make a weekly schedule for your laundry, make sure you take into consideration the following things:

• Size of your family
• The number of loads of each type you need to do weekly
• The types of material that need to be washed, such as towels, blankets, sheets, dish rags, and clothes
• Your typical weekly schedule, such as when you (or another responsible adult or child) will be home to work on the laundry
• Any special clothing needs that occur routinely, such as sports uniforms or uniforms for work, that must be used on certain days
• The amount of accidents, such as bedwetting or spills on clothes that typically occur in a week which necessitate unscheduled laundry
• Whether laundry is done for each person separately, or everyone's laundry is put together

Everyone's household is different, so there is no perfect laundry schedule that would fit every family's needs.

Just as an example, however, I will share my family's weekly laundry schedule below.

You should know that because of the age of my children I do all of the laundry myself currently, using their help for folding and putting away.

Therefore, I do everyone's washing together instead of each person's individually.

In addition, I work full-time outside the home, and I could not get all the washing done on the weekend, even if I wanted to.

I have to do laundry every night to keep up.

• Monday - clothing, typically darks
• Tuesday - delicates and other items that need to be washed separately
• Wednesday - clothing, typically pinks, reds and purples (I have two girls)
• Thursday - towels and dishrags/bibs, in separate loads
• Friday - clothing, typically whites that can be bleached
• Saturday - blankets and bedding (generally 2-3 loads)
• Sunday - dress pants and button down shirts

In addition, I generally do 3-4 extra loads a week of emergency washing, such as soiled clothes from a leaky diaper that need to be washed separately, a load of dishrags from cleaning up a big spill, or stuffed animals that have gotten into some type of disaster, for example.

These extra loads, before I had a weekly schedule, would have thrown a wrench in the whole system (or lack thereof). Now, since I plan for these things to the extent possible, none of the laundry gets too backed up.

Want To See More Examples?

Since the schedule or routine you choose depends on so many factors, my routine may not be the right one for you.

That's why I've collected a whole lot more examples of routines, sent in by readers, that you can look at to find what might work well for you.

Here are those articles:

Daily Routines Can Reduce Your Laundry Pile

Weekly Marathon Session To Tame Laundry Piles

Routines & Schedules For Moms With Young Kids

Schedules & Routines For Large Families

Keeping Up With Wash At The Laundromat

Are you ready to make a weekly schedule for your laundry?

Once you do, you will find, as I have, that it really makes a positive difference in the running of your household.

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Laundry Tips For Your Family

Make A Weekly House Cleaning Schedule

Daily House Cleaning Schedule

Schedules, Routines and Habits For Your Home

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