Our family started a new laundry ritual at the beginning of the year—and good news! It’s been going SO well. So I thought I’d share an in-depth look at how we’re tackling laundry these days.

This method is super easy: We do all of our laundry on Mondays and everyone comes together to fold laundry in the evenings. Then we celebrate with a treat!

While this new system does make for a busier Monday, it’s so nice to not have to worry about laundry for the rest of the week. Previously, each child had an assigned day to do their laundry—and it felt like the washer and dryer were going constantly! It’s also great to have everyone folding at the same time. We no longer have laundry everywhere all the time, and the job gets done pretty quickly.

My kids have been doing their own laundry for several years. After all of the practice, they’ve reached a point where they can fold efficiently and put everything away on their own. So, my best advice is to start them young!

Our 6-Step Laundry Ritual

Here’s how our family tackles laundry in six simple steps:

1. Everyone brings down laundry hampers in the morning.

2. One child starts a load before school.

3. I cycle through loads during the day while the kids are at school.

4. We gather as a family to fold laundry in the afternoon/evening, while listening to a podcast or audiobook. (This usually takes about 30 minutes.)

5. Each family member puts their clothes away.

6. When clothes are folded and put away, everyone gets a fun treat!

Laundry Ritual Tips

Obviously, you can alter this routine in any way to better suit your family’s needs. Here are a few tips that have streamlined the process for us!

• When to get kids involved: When you start kids doing their own laundry young, they’re more likely to think it’s fun! They get excited about assignments like pouring in the detergent, whereas older kids might see it as more of a chore.
• Avoiding wrinkled clothing: If you’re worried about clothes getting wrinkled, place certain items flat on top of the rest of the clothes as you take them out of the dryer.
• Taking turns: It’s fun to take turns choosing the treat and choosing the podcast or audiobook. Then everyone gets to feel like they have more ownership in the activity!
• Finding audiobooks/podcasts: Check out Tip #7 on my travel tips blog post for an extensive list of our favorite kid-friendly audiobooks and podcasts!

Go Forth and Fold!

I know we can all sometimes feel like we’re in a laundry rut. If you’re in that place right now, I hope these tips inspire you to try something new! It’s certainly worked well for our family so far and has given us new motivation to tackle the weekly laundry beast!

Happy folding!

My Laundry Staples

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