By Christina Morton DesAuguste
Christina is the founder of The Organizing Company and has been organizing professionally since 2013. She is currently grateful for trivia nights with friends, Sunday walks, and Liquid IV + Energy.
No A.I. copy & paste here! All our blogs are still written by professional organizers or other humans.
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Obviously I'm all about creating organized spaces. I'm a Professional Organizer and it's what I am physically doing most workdays. But the final step of my organizing method is all about how to maintain the organized spaces. Setting them up well is the first component and makes a huge difference, for sure, but maintaining it doesn't just happen. You have to be strategic and intentional.
So I want to share some concepts I coach my clients in that help them keep their laundry rooms (and closets and hallways and bathrooms) free of overflowing hampers.
But if you're not sure how to get your laundry room organized to begin with, start with my free organizing guide to learn my method to organize any space.
My biggest reminder that will help with laundry is to organize your closet, dresser, and laundry room so it's easy to wash, dry, and put clothes away!
If your closet is too packed, it's too frustrating to put clothes away and most people just won't do it well. And then you have clean clothes mixing with dirty clothes and you end up washing it all because you can't tell what's what (and you're not willing to do a sniff test).
A space that is too hard to use means that you (or someone in your household) might end up creating a cycle of avoiding washing clothes, so they pile up and you just buy more clothes so you can continue to avoid doing laundry. But eventually you have to and it takes all Saturday to wash all the loads and then you have a mound of clean clothes that need to get folded or hung, which you avoid and they get squished and wrinkled and you have to dig through a laundry basket each morning to get dressed. Which makes more work for you to have to iron/steam out the wrinkles, and makes you more frustrated with your laundry. Which makes you avoid it and let it pile up. Does this cycle sound familiar?
Start with creating a functional space and then follow these suggestions to maintain it.
System #1: Create a laundry rhythm
A big pitfall I see clients fall into is just expecting that they'll find time during the week to do laundry. They don't have a plan for it and so of course it doesn't happen and spirals out of control. Especially when you're doing laundry for more than just yourself. So you'll want to actually make a plan for how and when it's going to get done.
I like to call it a rhythm because sometimes "routine" feels too restrictive to me personally. But I think of it as something you build into your life that just becomes a normal thing. Like your rhythm of waking up, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth, etc. You might wake up at slightly different times on some days, but your rhythm of the order in which you do each task/activity, is the same.
It can be the same with chores like laundry. Your weekly rhythm includes certain activities that are only once or twice a week, or every two weeks, but it becomes something you're used to and plan around. One of the benefits of framing it this way and creating it as "something we/I do" is that it takes away objections. You (or your family) can't object that you don't have time because you planned in the time. And when you get used to it, it doesn't feel so burdensome. It's just something you do! Which is kind of magic.
Right now it might feel impossible or like everything is a time consuming task. But once you have your space organized and your systems all up and running, it gets easier and easier.
So think about how often you have been doing laundry, how many loads a week you're doing, and if you're still feeling like it gets backed up. Remember to consider towels and sheets/bedding. I actually polled a bunch of people and the average answer I saw is 3 loads of laundry per person per week. Add another couple loads a month for linens. Add another load at least once a month if you have a dog. So some weeks can be 5-6 loads for just one person. That is hard to “just squeeze it in” when you have a minute. Especially if you have more people in your home!
Here are some other tips to create that rhythm:
Choose a day of the week for laundry, or perhaps a day for each type or person's laundry (whether they do it or you do). So Sally Mondays and Tommy Tuesdays, Linens Saturdays, or whatever. Maybe you mix everyone’s laundry together but separate by color. Choose a time each week to wash by color. Do you want to do all your laundry on one day? Or spread it throughout the week? Focus on creating a rhythm that works for your life even if it looks different than what someone else does.
I like having a rhythm of doing laundry on my first day off every week. For a lot of you, I know the day(s) may not be consistent, but a rhythm of it being on your first day off means you don't need to think about it. It’s just what you do on your “weekend”.
You can even plan some other chores or tasks to do while cycles run (but I don't recommend building it into a regular work from home day. Stay focused on those days and do household and personal tasks on your day(s) off).
Now don't forget to build in time to get it all folded/hung/put away. It's best to do it the same day so that it doesn't get wrinkly and make more work for you. If you are hang drying clothes, that adds a complication, so factor that in as you make your schedule (aka rhythm).
Lastly, you can make it more fun! Put on music or tv or a podcast so it passes quicker! Or have fold with your partner or kids and use that time to chat and connect without screens.
*Safety tip: I don't recommend letting the washer or especially the dryer run while you're not home in case of leaks or fires.
System #2: Outsource and/or delegate
In addition to creating a rhythm, you may need to outsource or delegate if you can't do it all yourself.
If you're looking at your calendar and struggling with how to actually build 7-15 loads into your weekly rhythm, that makes sense. I have several other recommendations below that will apply to you to help make it more manageable, but it may also be worth crunching the numbers to see if you can afford sending it out or hiring someone to do it for you. If you're in Boulder, I know someone great who can do it at your home for you, by the way. Shoot me an email.
I know that isn't in the budget for everyone, but at least consider your options and things like taking on more billable hours if you don't have to spend so much time on laundry. There's no one right answer, but, if nothing else, crunching the numbers and determining it's best for you to continue doing laundry at least will help you be more determined to create a rhythm that will work to save your sanity. It will feel better to make proactive changes now to manage an essential chore than it will feel to continue the way things have been going.
If you aren't outsourcing help, consider if you can delegate. Doing your own laundry is a great life skill that kids benefit from! In fact, just Google "studies that show chores are good for your kids" and see all the research on this concept. It's a win-win. They build self-esteem, learn how to be responsible before they leave home, and you get more time back.
Or perhaps it's your partner. Maybe you're both working full time and it may be worth a conversation to see if you can find a better split of household chores and/or bills.
System #3: Adopt a “less is more" view of clothing in general
My guess is you're reading this far in a blog post about laundry systems because it's a big pain point for you. You're tired of the piles, the wrinkles, the seemingly endless loads you try to squeeze in at the last minute. All of my suggestions in this post will help, but don't underrate or ignore this one. The goal isn't forced minimalism. The goal is manageability of a mundane task so that you have more time and energy for the people and passions that give you meaning.
More clothes is not always better. What I see is that it mostly allows you to pile up dirties. It's a way to avoid the inevitable, but it always comes back to bite you. You feel dread and overwhelm, your laundry piles up until you spend all day washing and drying. And then you're overwhelmed by the folding and hanging (maybe avoiding that to live out of a hamper for awhile).
Let's be clear: More clothes doesn't mean less laundry.
It means more laundry less often. Plus, it means you need more dirty hampers and more space to store your dirty clothes (hello, additional organizing conundrum). Plus you need more space in your closet/dresser for when your clothes are all clean.
More often than not, more clothes means more overwhelm, more visual chaos, and more work.
It may not sound like a traditional system at first, but being intentional about how much clothing you have (as well as how many hampers and how large/small they are) has a ripple effect to either keep your laundry system functioning, or to clog it up.
Of course, there are exceptions to this concept depending on the season of life and age. A 3 month old is going to go through more clothes in one day than a 30 year old. Fortunately, the baby clothes are smaller and you can probably still do a weekly or twice weekly load. So factor that in if you have kids, but for adults consider how you're just making more work for yourself and how you can simplify.
One last bonus to having less clothing: you can save money on clothes and hampers and hangers and organizing services to contain and maintain it all (not that I want to talk myself out of work!).
Why laundry systems matter:
It is challenging to keep a whole home organized and tidy when even just one area gets out of hand. It spirals. Family members see piles of dirty laundry and take the cue that piling stuff on the floor is acceptable. Or it spills out of hampers onto other stuff or blocking pathways (also a safety concern), which makes it harder to put other things where they belong.
And it's hard to stay organized when there aren't systems and rhythms in general. Laundry isn't the only issue. It's dishes and toys and returns and cords. If there isn't a system and a rhythm in place to keep things tidy, it can easily degrade back to chaos.
Don't assume that your family will keep things tidy if there's nothing changed about their day-to-day rhythm.
And rather than wait for it to become an issue and have a fight over it, be proactive and implement changes now.
Being an organized person means implementing systems and mindset shifts like these so that your home stays organized.
If you need help creating a schedule or a chore chart, I offer virtual coaching and would love to help. Reach out here.
Happy Organizing!
Christina
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May 14th, 2026
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