Hello, my name is Katie, and I greatly dislike laundry. Sidenote: did anyone else’s mom tell them not to use the word hate? Over the years I have realized that the only way I can successfully have a long-term laundry routine is if I do it a little bit everyday. Laundry has to become so second-nature that I don’t think about it much anymore. If I let it pile up and if I’m being totally honest, my heart can bend towards resentment and victimhood real quick. Now, I will say, my sweet husband does 100% of his own laundry and he will help out when he’s available, but largely, this job falls to me. Here’s what I do:

The first secret is, I don’t sort clothes. Every person has a dirty clothes basket in their bedroom and every person has a day that their laundry is done. Since we are a family of five, that leaves two days in the week: one for towels and one for bedding.

My second secret is that I wash all cloths on a delicate setting, with a soak. The result of this is a total brain-automation of laundry. I never have to think about what cycle to run or what clothes need special treatment. In this house, all clothes get special treatment. I will treat stains with a spray stain treatment, and the soak aspect of the wash does the rest when it comes to messy spaghetti shirts, etc.

Every day, when I wake up, I go start a load of laundry. I try to do this even before breakfast. There is a freshly dried load of laundry in the dryer, and I will take that out and fold it and put it away, ideally before lunch. Then I can move the washed load to the dryer and go ahead and dry that, to be folded the next day. To recap, everyday I wash a load, dry a load, and fold a load, it’s just not the same load from start to finish. This has been key to my laundry game. If I get behind, which can happen, I prioritize folding and putting away, so the house doesn’t feel like a mountain of fabric and doom.

My last secret is that I try to beautify the process. I have pretty baskets in my laundry room and I created a schedule on canva that I’ve printed and taped next to my washing machine. In fact, you can print it out too, just click the download link below and fill it out however you want.

The final word I want to leave you with is that you shouldn’t feel bad if laundry overwhelms you. Having a big task ahead can sometimes foster immobility, especially if your brain runs a little neuro-spicy. My best piece of laundry advice is to focus on one load at a time and remember that the goal is to have something to wear, not everything to wear all at once. Clean sheets and towels and clothes are an act of love for yourselves and those you wash for, and you are so very worthy of those things.