Did you know that 'doing laundry' isn't just a single task?
Each load is a multi-step project that will take anywhere from two hours to two days to complete, if left unchecked. If getting it done is a challenge for you, this new awareness and the following 8 steps may help.
TL;DR
Get easy care clothes. Wash a load or two every week. Use the basic washer setting and cold water. Use tools to help you remember what you’re doing. Put clean clothes away right away.
Definitions
laundry hamper: receptacle for dirty clothes
laundry basket: receptacle for clean clothes
HE: High Efficiency. A washing machine feature that uses less water and requires a specific, but very common, type of low-sudsing soap.
pretreat: treatment beforehand. In this case, to prevent stains.
Step 1.
Learn how much laundry you can fit into the washing machine per load. For most household machines, it’s an armful. The convenience of this was most certainly a consideration of the machine’s design. The fact that you can carry an entire load in your arms means you don’t even need a laundry basket. Love that for you.
Step 2.
Grab an armful of dirty clothes from the hamper and put them directly into the washing machine. If you read and followed the previous article, Guideline to a Nearly Perfect Wardrobe for One Man With ADHD, you already know that all your clothes are safe to wash together. The one caveat is if you have anything new that hasn’t been washed previously, particularly if it’s a very dark or vibrant color. Remove those from the load and wash them separately.
Step 3.
Add laundry detergent to the machine. Ignore any soap dispensing apparatus that may be attached to the machine and put the detergent directly into the tub with the clothes. That goes for laundry sheets, tablets, pods and liquid detergent. If you use liquid, fill the cup/lid to about ¼ inch, then toss the whole cup into the machine. Note: Be sure to use HE detergent if you have an HE machine. So as not to risk falling down that rabbit hole with all the details, suffice to say, using non-HE detergent in the HE machine is bad.
Step 4.
Start the washing machine. You might opt to start the machine without another thought and use whatever setting had been used previously. Alternatively, you can choose the Normal or Casual setting and cold temperature for your easy-care wardrobe. At this point, you’ll be tempted to leave the house or start a big project you can’t walk away from. Resist the urge.
Step 5.
Set a timer for the length of the wash time, plus two minutes. Washing machines have a chime or buzzer or some other sound to alert you when it’s done. You’ll hear it, but you’ll likely be doing something else, delay your response, and quickly forget. The timer serves as a second reminder. Hit snooze if needed to keep the reminders coming until you can deal with it. If someone else is with you, someone who cares about your success, you can ask them to help you remember to switch the laundry.
Step 6.
Transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer. This is where you retrieve the detergent cup if you use liquid in STEP 3. Turn on the dryer. You might opt to start the machine without another thought and use whatever setting had been used previously. Alternatively, you can choose the Normal or Casual setting and normal temperature. Dryer sheets/fabric softener are not part of this system.
Step 7.
Set a timer for 45 minutes. Predicting when your clothes will be dry is a crapshoot. If you have a lot of denim or sweats in there, it’s going to take longer. There’s no way to know for sure. Check your clothes when your timer goes off. Even if the dryer is still running, you can open the door while it’s operating. Little known fact: Human bodies don’t technically sense wetness. We rely on visual and other tactile senses to detect whether something is wet. So, even though the clothes are hot, they may not be totally dry. If they seem dry, grab the clothes in your arms. Take a moment to enjoy the comforting warmth and fresh scent of your clean laundry. As they begin to cool, you’ll be able to tell whether something is still damp and needs to go back in the dryer for 10 minutes.
Step 8.
Put the clean clothes away immediately. This is a SUPER important step. Leaving clean laundry anywhere but where it belongs just creates another mess to clean up later. Skipping STEP 8 means the clothes will stay wherever you leave them until one of the following happens:
- You run out of clean clothes
- You clean the house
It’s always best to keep STEP 8 within the laundry system rather than adding it to the house-cleaning system.
Key to Completing Step 8.
Make your clothes as easy to put away as they are to take out. For this One Man, that means hanging as much as possible. hanging is way easier than folding. hang your T-shirts, pajamas, sweatpants, even exercise clothes. Everything you can. hang so much that you question whether you still need your dresser. Make sure that anything left over can easily fit into its assigned drawer, shelf, or basket.
Regarding Frequency
Make sure you get to the bottom of the laundry hamper at least once a week. Don’t leave dirty clothes to fester.
This One Man has a two-pronged method for doing laundry in a timely manner that you can adopt as well. The first is using a smaller hamper that can only hold a load (read: armful) or two of clothes. When it’s full, it’s time to do laundry. The second indicator that it’s time to do laundry is when he runs out of clean underwear. Owning fewer than 10 seems to be the sweet spot for this method. The risk, of course, is the uncomfortable consequence of going a day without clean underwear.
Advanced Tips & Notes
Pretreat stains as soon as possible. If you’re home, that means changing clothes, rinsing if needed, and spraying stain remover on the soiled area of the garment. Let it dry before putting it in the hamper.
Speaking of putting wet clothes in the hamper… don’t do it.
Don’t share a laundry hamper. This will keep you from having to separate out your clothes and save you from possibly, accidentally, ruining someone else’s more delicate clothing.
One load of laundry takes approximately two hours. Plan to be home for the duration. If you have multiple loads, you can run the washing machine continuously saving yourself about 30 minutes for each additional load.
There you have it! A completely adequate system for getting your clothes clean and low-key feeling like a champ