If laundry is getting you down, I've got some laundry tips that are sure to lighten your load. These laundry hacks have been a lifesaver for me and I've partnered with Dreft Home to share them!
Parenthood is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but I've got to admit that I'm overwhelmed with some aspects. Laundry just happens to be one of them. How can such small people create SO MUCH LAUNDRY?! After my second child was born, I knew I needed to overhaul our system. I figured out what would work for us and made a plan. Get ready for some laundry tips that will help you tackle one of the biggest chores of parenthood.
Laundry tips for busy parents
Create a laundry schedule
Creating a schedule can give you a little guidance or nudge to get things done. I do at least one load of laundry a day for our family of four, but some days it's 3 loads. Generally, on Monday I wash towels and a load of colors, on Tuesday it's sheets (3 bedrooms worth of sheets), Wednesday is whites, Thursday is colors, and Friday is usually another load of towels.
By creating a schedule that I can stick to, I find that I'm less likely to get overwhelmed with dirty laundry. Plus, it gives me the weekend off to spend time with my family. Just find a schedule that works for your family and try to stick with it.
Create a laundry sorting system
I used to have a hamper in every bedroom. One day while I was digging through my son's dirty clothes in his room to find all of his little white socks, it hit me: "Why don't I just have one central sorting station?" From there, our 3 basket system was born.
On top of our washing machine, I set up 3 laundry baskets. Each basket is labeled: White, Colors, and Towels. Since my daughter is too young to read, I also have photos on some of the labels, like a white t-shirt next to "Whites," and a picture of folded towels next to "Towels," and "Colors" is written in a rainbow of colors. She figured things out pretty quickly.
Not only does this system save me time, it teaches the kids that it's their responsibility to make sure their clothes get into the baskets so that they'll have clean clothes. My son learned this the hard way when he had to wear dirty baseball pants to his t-ball game last season.
What's also fun about this system is that the kids have to toss their clothes into the baskets since they can't reach. It's like an impromptu basketball game. My daughter especially loves this and she's got a pretty impressive record of getting the clothes into the right basket.
Treat the stains as soon as possible
Another thing I've taught my kids, besides the ability to make a free throw with a balled up towel, is that they've got to let me know when they've got stains on their clothes. I'm sure you've pulled something out of the dryer to find a set-in stain that you wish you would have known about. If my kids can let me know when they're adding stained clothes to the baskets, which is nearly everything with my 3-year-old, then I have a chance of removing some of those tough stains.
Another tip for this topic is to buy the best product for the job. If you've got little ones, you've likely used Dreft Laundry Detergent. It's actually one of my favorite gifts to give new moms, especially now that you can make it a personalized baby gift. Dreft is known for being gentle on baby's skin but tough on stains, and their Laundry Stain Remover is no different.
Dreft Laundry Stain Remover is specially formulated for those tough stains on infant and children's clothing, bedding, and even their favorite blankets. It's made from plant-based ingredients and is free of dyes, chlorine, phosphates. It's also hypoallergenic, but best of all, it actually works!
My daughter came home from preschool with some pretty gross mystery stains on her brand new pink leggings, and I simply spritzed them with Dreft Laundry Stain Remover and let them sit. I didn't have a chance to wash them right away, but pretreating definitely works. The leggings are like new again!
You can purchase Dreft Laundry Stain Remover at all major retailers including Walmart, Target, Kroger, Amazon.com, and BuyBuyBaby. In case you haven't heard, Dreft even has an entire line of Dreft Home products to tackle all of your cleaning needs. We are absolutely loving the Dreft All Purpose Cleaner for general cleaning and the Dreft Odor Eliminator & Fabric Refresher has been a miracle worker with our car seats.
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