why is putting away clean laundry so much hassle!?

[shouldIbecrossaboutthis]

I really hate putting away clean laundry; it always seems such a massive task (tho I admit it doesn't take that long). Does anyone have a system which might help?

"Just do it", doesn't really work for me, now I have 4 weeks worth to put away

Following on from ChitChat, what about getting some Ikea coordinated drawers, Pax/Antonius wire drawers type thing. Keep a set where you dry washing, when full take upstairs and swap with the empty ones there.

I used to have a sorting & putting away problem. Then I got stacking crates in the utility room - one for each person. Dry washing gets folded and put in (or on hangers, I dry most things on hangers). When a drawer is full, I take it upstairs and empty (or get kids to do it). It's a few minutes at a time then rather than 4 huge washing baskets lurking at me for days.

I just want to sympathize with the OP. God damn I hate putting away the washing

I hate this job too and just got around to doing it at the weekend. Two weeks worth here.
Today in a great whoosh of resolve I folded and sorted the clean dry stuff as I took it off the two racks and three radiators. Then I put it away. Great.
However I know me and this fabulousness will never last. I am very interested in the idea of a clean clothes basket for each member of the household (5) I already put all of Dd3's school clothes into a box therefore enabling her to get dressed every morning without that stress (for me) of wandering about, not being able to find tights, shirt, skirt or cardigan. The children's drawers are already a jumble so would it make a difference if they lived permanently in a basket/squishy trug or somesuch.
So the system could work like this:
scrap chests of drawers completely.
Each person has a container each to hold all of their clothes? Or just children?
When there is dry washing I put it my ikea bag and do the rounds of the individual baskets flinging it in willy nilly. No wait I might fold some items.
Hmmmm

What you might like to try is my method - whenever I have 10 ins (or even 5) I seize the clean laundry and start. Even if I don't get done I have taken it upstairs and sorted it by person (and therefore room!), and maybe hung away my own bits.

I know you don't ever have 5 mins, nor do I! but still sometimes there's a space when you can sort it. bibbity 90 mins that's maddd! I put away last night's ironing in 5 mins this am (I think I got up really early!).

I pair up socks while watching Pointless with the kids.

I agree btw that 4 weeks' worth of ironing suggests you have too many clothes!

I wash one day and iron the next. I don't do anymore washing until the ironing basket is empty.

I put all the clothes into individual piles and take them upstairs. I put them on the beds and sort into knickers, socks, tops etc and then just pick up a pile and put in the drawer.

Takes me 15 mins tops to put everyone's away.

Usually takes me about an hour to do the two weeks pile of clean washing.

I'm getting excited now thinking about a box rotation system.
It could work!

DH told me he was going to ask one of our accountant-type friends to do an efficiency study for me as I nearly broke down last week over the fact my second mat leave seems to be drowning in dirty washing/clean clothes. I will fwd him this thread

DH does it on a sunday night, most is folded after comes out of dryer to save ironing and then i iron and listen to the radio on a sunday while dh baths kids/ drys hair and puts clothes away - if i finish ironing i go up and help but strangely i am really really slow at ironing .

Dump on upstairs sofa, seperate into piles, give said piles to owner who --mostly puts it away. I usually do mine and youngests.

Haaaaaaate putting laundry away, along with getting fuel it's my arch enemy.

I really want to say my cleaner does it, but I think you would need a full time housekeeper for that kind of thing. We sling ours in the baby's cot that we still have up in our room even though there is no baby in our house right now (we're quite lazy housekeepers) and when it reaches the top I go "argh" and put it away. Usually on a Sunday night. Weirdly, I quite like doing the children's though, I need to hang on to that nesting instinct for another few years as otherwise I really hate it too!

I think the worst part for me is that DO seperate into his and her piles in separate laundry baskets. Then I shove it in the airing cupboard and just keep heaping it up, pulling out what I need day to day, until the pile threatens to kill me/DP!

It's getting it from the airing cupboard and into my very neat and spacious ikea pax wardrobe that I struggle with.

I think my solution will be to have smaller specific fold up laundry 'baskets' as ChitChatFlyingby suggests. 1 for tops, 1 for trousers etc. Then it wont seem like so much random stuff. It's the mixture of clothes in the basket that phases me I think.

We're such an exciting bunch eh? Lets break out some and pretend not to be laundry haters!

Hopeforthebest - I am impressed with the idea / principle, but really can't see that happening. Let me see - it is 1am, and the only thing standing between me and bed is getting one load of washing out of the drier and the next lot in so that someone has [insert vital piece of clothing] for the morning. Now - shall I spend the extra 10 30 mins sorting and folding and ferrying up lots of stairs to put it all away, or shall I sling it in a pile and go to sleep

[doomed to be a slob surrounded by mountains of clothes]

Child labour is the way forward with this.

notmostpeople - I have tried that route, but it (both available varieties) grumps a lot and then stashes the pile somewhere in it's room, and then denies all knowledge when challenged to produce a coherent set of clothes

Ah yes, have they tried kicking it under their beds and then when it's all crumpled putting it back in the washing basket think you won't notice it's unworn?

I threw a strop and told mine they'd have to wash each other undies if they didn't put their own away, worked a treat.

one of them tried stuffing it all into a toybox and then denying all knowledge when I was there saying "so - DD - I know that dress was in the pile I gave you, so which drawer did you put it in?"

At what age was the washing-each-others-undies threat effective?

I am trying a new 'system' where i put dry laundry away every Friday. I wash Mon/Tues/Wed and have separate laundry baskets and do separate washes for DD/ Beddding&towels/ Underwear&jimjams&sportswear/ Clothes - so its hung up to dry already pretty sorted iyswim. Then at the end of the week,i hang up each section (no ironing done here) with the intention of having no clothes drying out over the weekend. Having already in some sort of order on the dryer does help i find. DD is less than 1yr but am already trying to teach her to pair socks .

I threatened ds2 with doing the washing & he acted as though it was my destiny to do it all fgs. He's 5.
It's not always possible but if you find you're doing a load just for one item (school jumpers are the bane of my life) then buying a cheap spare or two is useful.
Can't remember who fainted at my 3 loads a day but I hasten to add that is the maximum not the norm. I was up to 20 loads a week when the dts were babies (4 under 5) but it's about 12 now. I'm not quite sure how some of you just sort it once a week, my elder 2 need school uniform every day & I can't afford 10 jumpers. How many knickers must you own??

Mine three range from 9 - 13 so if yours are little you may be in for a wait. I also tell them that if one hurts the other physically they have to kiss them better in the place they hurt - that works rather well too.

Glad I could help, should

Yes, you have too many clothes if you have four weeks worth of clothing!

DD has four to six of everything (tights, pants, vests, tops, skirts, sweaters) and that is plenty!

I can easily have a clean laundry pile in which the "oldest" thing has been clean for several weeks, though - it doesn't mean that I haven't taken anything out of the pile in 4 weeks (that really would be too many clothes) in fact, lots of things will have been through the pile several times in that time, but there are things which only get worn once every few weeks (some of my/DH's stuff, and some of the DC's "home" clothes, especially DS, as he will only wear home clothes 1 day a week during term time).