There are a few tricks you can use when doing laundry to reduce the time you spend washing your clothes and those of your family. This expert summarises them in six simple points.
Cristina Muñoz shares her tricks for saving time when doing laundry.
Doing the laundry may seem like one of those routine and thankless household chores, but for Cristina Muñoz, an expert in tidying, it’s quite the opposite: ‘Doing the laundry is one of my favourite household chores.’ And it’s not just because of the pleasure of seeing clean and tidy clothes, but because she has learned to do the laundry efficiently, without it taking up unnecessary time and energy.
In this article, we share some of her tips, from how to store dirty clothes to how you should hang them properly to avoid ironing. By following her recommendations, you’ll be able to simplify the laundry process, optimise your time and keep your home tidier. Find out all the details!
Save time when doing the laundry
The expert is clear: ‘We must do everything possible to ensure that household chores do not take up more time than necessary,’ especially when we consider that some domestic tasks can be optimised efficiently, such as laundry.
As an expert in tidying, Muñoz has reviewed each stage of the laundry process to find the easiest way to save time. Here is a summary of her tips:
1. Divide your clothes into two laundry baskets
Having a sorting system speeds up the entire laundry process. The expert has ‘a couple of flexible baskets (which were previously used to store children’s toys)’, which she uses to divide the clothes by colour: ‘I use one for coloured clothes and the other for white clothes’. This way, you don’t need to rummage through the basket; simply by using two baskets, you can separate coloured clothes from white clothes.
As for where to put them, ‘the bathroom is usually the place of choice. You may also have a specific room for washing and set aside an area for storage,’ explains Cristina. The important thing is to put them in a place that is convenient for all members of the family and, of course, for those who do the laundry.
2. Reduce the frequency of washing
Over the years, Cristina learned to reduce the number of loads she did each week. ‘Over time, I realised that I was doing too many loads. As a rule, I threw everything we took off in a single wear into the laundry basket,’ she recalls.
The number of loads you do per week will depend on the number of people in your family and whether you have young children. In this regard, the expert comments that ‘when children are young, you can’t do it any other way, because if they stain their clothes, they have to be washed.’ Things change when they start to grow up: ‘When they get a little older, their clothes stay clean a little longer.’
Another factor to consider is the time of year, since, as you know, we tend to sweat more in certain months. ‘In summer, everything goes in the drum, because those months are very hot here. Even if the clothes aren’t stained, if they’re a little sweaty, my opinion is that they’re not fit to be reused,’ explains Muñoz. On the contrary, in the cold months, the possibility of reusing T-shirts, jumpers or trousers is a reality in the expert’s home.
3. Turn your clothes inside out before washing them
Separating your clothes properly before putting them in the washing machine is key. In addition to dividing them by colour, Muñoz takes into account the temperature at which each garment needs to be washed and, to care for the fabrics, she uses a very effective trick: ‘Lately, I turn almost everything inside out to prevent the fabrics from getting more damaged than they should.’
This is a simple action that takes no time at all and extends the life of your clothes, preventing premature wear and tear. It is also one of the cleaning tricks most recommended by experts. If you want to know more, download these 50 easy, quick and effective cleaning tricks for free.
4. Hang your clothes up with wrinkle reduction in mind
For the expert, hanging clothes up is not simply a matter of hanging them up: ‘Hanging clothes up properly means saving ironing time.’ Therefore, her recommendation is to stretch each garment well, analysing the best way to position it to avoid wrinkles: ‘I do this automatically and without thinking,’ she says.
Once the clothes are dry, the next step is just as important: ‘Once you’ve collected the clothes, it’s essential not to leave them in the basket to fold later, but to do it right away. If you leave them in a jumble in the basket, they’ll get wrinkles that you avoided when hanging them out to dry.’ Keep that in mind!
5. Pick up while sorting the clothes
Picking up the laundry can also be an organised process. For this task, Muñoz creates small piles according to the people to whom each garment belongs: ‘I fold the clothes, sorting them into four piles, one for each person in my house. It’s my way of simplifying the process. That way, I only have to take the clothes to the corresponding room.’
In addition, she makes additional piles for other types of clothing such as towels, sheets, or cloths, and a final pile for garments that need ironing. This sorting avoids having to do it later and makes it easier to put everything away quickly.
6. Avoid ironing (whenever possible)
At this point, it is important to remember that if the clothes are hung correctly, it is possible to avoid ironing. Since the expert realised this, ‘I now iron less than before’.
For garments that do need ironing, such as ‘shirts and some blouses, my husband’s trousers, some dresses, skirts, not always sheets and some T-shirts’, she uses a water spray to smooth them out with less effort.
If you analyse your current laundry routine, you will surely find some steps that you can optimise, just as Cristina Muñoz did. Take her advice into account and make this task more bearable with organisation and practice. Who knows, it may even become one of the most enjoyable chores for you.
