Help! I can't stand folding laundry

[NewMummy1987]

How do people get motivated to fold and put away laundry?? I can't stand it. I find it so boring. And now my table has become a dump-zone for clean washing . See piccy! And my 3yo's drawers are backed up with clothes that don't fit and I need to sort them to be used for the younger one. Help!! How do people keep on top of their sorting and folding?? Do you have a schedule???

[AnthonyPandy]

Can't help with the 3 year old's clothes but with bigger stuff put it on plastic coat hangers and let it dry that way, maybe hang it in doorways upstairs that are not being used constantly? Ball up socks and dump them in a drawer or basket, stuff undies in there too, don't need to fold. Fold bath towels and bedding if they are not going to be used immediately. When you have got rid of most of that stuff you can think about the smaller clothes.

[Haggisfish]

I hate it too. Dd enjoys it but not very good at folding-I've lowered my standards!

[Oblomov16]

I hate putting away clothes.
Getting then out of the washing basket? Fine. Putting them in washing machine? No problem. Hanging them out, folding them. Ironing if necessary? All ok. Then they just sit. I hate putting stuff away. I get the boys to help. I get dh to help. I hate it so much. And I don't know why.

Just accept you do too. Try and get help. But then just make a decision: ok, I hate this, but I'm going to do it on .... Thursday after school drop off. And then just do it.
And then it's even more satisfying.

Does that help? Probably not. Sorry.

[sycamore54321]

You have two problems. First, too much stuff. You know what you need to do to sort that - get it done.

Secondly, the folding. You need to train yourself into not seeing this as a separate additional task which you can put off but rather an integral part of doing laundry. You could try making it fun by investing in a folding board like Sheldon on Bog Bang Theory - then you get a sense of pride from neatly folded piles. Or f you have the wardrobe space, hang pretty much everything apart from fine knitwear.

[Purplehonesty]

As soon as you bring things in from the line or airer hang them up.

Go tho dd's stuff when she is out one day and sort her drawers. I like the IKEA drawer sorters, one section for pants, socks, tights, vests etc.

Have a laundry day and sort that table out. Iron and put everything away and start from fresh. It will seem much better when you are starting the next day.

I also hang all my kids clothes apart from trousers and undies then nothing needs folded and nothing gets rooted through and messed up.

I hang dd's stuff in outfits too, so top with leggings hanging over the top and cardi/tights etc so it all matches and dh can dress her without her looking strange?

[AnnaMarlowe]

I find that as soon as I have a big pile I find it increasingly hard to deal with, I suppose the knowledge that it's going to take a long time to deal with makes it particularly stressful.

Having finally worked our way through the enormous pile we had of clean washing I have instituted a new system.

No laundry baskets in rooms
Two baskets only:
one for dirty clothes (brought from rooms each morning)
One for clean folded clothes waiting for ironing.

Clothes are folded immediately they come off the clothes horse or out of the tumble dryer.

Underwear, sports clothes or anything else not being ironed gets put away immediately

As soon as the ironing basket is more than half full one if us puts on a film and works our way through it. (Little and often rather than one massive session)

I'm actually sitting down (with a small gin) celebrating an empty laundry basket at this very moment.

[StrawberrytallCake]

Marking place - I am the same OP, I don't believe I've ever had an empty laundry basket. It's like a mental block occurs after washing and drying.

[iwishiwish]

I'm like this. Best thing I did was get rid of fitted sheets. They won't fold and take up loads of space, and they take more time to wrangle than they save fitting them on the bed. My washing pile is much smaller now.

[lilacclery]

Sorting out your 3 year olds clothes will just take a couple of hours once you set your mind to it. It's the thoughts of it that is worse than the actual doing.
Check out the Marie Kondo method of folding too & if you've drawers for dd clothes use them. It's easy to see at a glance what they have & what they need. Getting rid of the stuff that's too small will help with laundry & getting dressed as everything that's there fits

This mountain happens regularly in our house but it's best to just do one or two washes from dirty right through to putting away.

[BiddyPop]

We've worked out a system that seems to mostly work for us.

All week long, we try to keep on top of the dirty laundry - wash during the day (we set the machine on the timer) so it's ready when we get home from work/school, either hang on line if dry outside or chuck most into tumble dryer and non-TD items go on clothes horse, dry things go into a large laundry hamper in the kitchen that only holds clean clothes/ironing. So if need be, it can be raided mid-week for "I need X" items

Over the weekend, generally Saturday early evening, we take that clean laundry and pour it onto the sitting room floor. Turn on the tv and find a reasonable movie, and all 3 of us (DH, DD10 and I) sit on the floor and fold it, it only takes about 10-20 minutes if we all do it, not that much longer if there are fewer around. 1 pile each for DH and I clothes, 1 pile each for everyone's socks/underwear, DD's clothes we tend to put into different piles per use (tops/tshirts, trousers, jumpers/hoodies, PJs, sportswear) to make it easier to put away straight to her room. DH and my clothes tend to go into the hotpress until we get a chance to put them away (roughly every 2 weeks).

Ironing gets thrown back into that hamper, and DH does that while watching Countryfile on Sunday evenings.

If you can't face sorting out the old things that don't fit - literally do it one step at a time. Do 1 drawer today. Then another drawer tomorrow. Take out things that definitely don't fit for giving away/charity shop/ebay/whatever. Put things that might still fit on 1 side of the drawer and clothes that are downstairs and definitely fit on the other side. When you've gone through everything, grab your DD for a session of trying on - maybe try and put the biggest and smallest of those out first and that may help eliminate a few things easily without needing to try them on.

[BiddyPop]

Oh and a 3 year old may not be the best helper for folding (although do try and teach her some), but could be great for finding all the socks and knickers in the pile, and pairing up the socks even if you have to ball them together.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

You need to fold straight from the line as you're un pegging or straight from the drier not as a separate task. I'd never do it if I did it separately.

[takesnoprisoners]

Monday morning, cup of coffee, telly on, and I fold and fold and fold. Put it away, come out of the room and see a new pile that needs washing. Fuck my life. I hate Laundry, folding and everything associated with it. If i ever get super rich I will hire someone specifically for laundry. Arghhh. Uhm, so no. I don't know what to do. :(

[MrsJayy]

I used to have a pile like this it was basically the wardrobe you need to fold as soon as its dry no excuses sit at the table start with 1 item so you have a kids pile and adult pile wont take long once you start.

[MrsJayy]

I dont iron i iron as i wear (sometimes) it helps

[megletthesecond]

Don't fold it, just hang it up?

I never fold or iron. Line or airier dry, shake out and into the cupboard.

[Deux]

You need a more streamlined system without the pause-and-pile in the middle.

As with pps, fold as soon as dry whether the clothes are coming off the line, clothes horse or dryer.

I then have 2 piles - folded and can go straight into drawers or into the ironing basket. Folding your ironing will reduce creasing and make ironing quicker and easier.

Be ruthless and Kondo your clothes and clothes storage - this helps enormously.

[GruffalosGirl]

You could always embrace it. I do my washing all week and put the clean dry washing in those big bag for life bags from Asda. Then I save it for a Wednesday night when my favourite tv programme is on, kick everyone out of the living room and fold it all a bag at a time into sorted piles it will be put away in all over two couches (I end up with about 20 different piles e.g. Ds' pj's, dd's leggings) and hang the stuff on hangers that needs hanging up. Then when my programme has finished it takes about 10 mins to put the folded piles or hanging clothes away. I usually sort about 9 loads of washing each time.

I have tried putting it away as I do it but that never works for me as so now I know I have a set time to do it I don't stress about it. You do need enough clothes to leave it for the week though and a room to store it all in so you're not stuck looking at it all week.

[QuiteLikely5]

Re sorting out your old clothes, this will take minutes not hours as a pp suggested.

Literally go and look through the drawer and if it doesn't fit put it into a pile. Bag up and advertise for sale or free on gumtree

Sorted.