If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you have piles of laundry all around your house that you aren’t sure how to deal with.
I remember there was one day when I realized that the shirt I needed to wear the next day was dirty and I had to get it washed. Should be no big deal, right?
I gathered up a pile of laundry of similar colors to the offending shirt, and carried it to the washer. I opened up the washer only to find that there was already a load of stinky wet clothes in there that I had forgotten to move to the dryer.
That’s okay! I’ll just run them through a rinse cycle again. I came back 20 minutes later to move them to the dryer, and that was when I realized that the dryer was full too.
All of the laundry baskets in the vicinity were full, so I had to go track down another basket in order to be able to unload the clean clothes out of the dryer. I didn’t have time to fold that load, so I just added it to my ever-growing collection of clean baskets of laundry in the living room.
Then I was able to get the wet laundry from the washer moved in to the dryer, and then finally get my shirt loaded into the washing to machine and get it started.
I still had to deal with the load in the dryer before I could get my shirt dried after it was done washing.

It’s Really Hard to Keep Up With Piles of Laundry Everywhere
It’s hard to get laundry done for so many reasons:
- It’s a very “start and stop” sort of activity. If you get a burst of motivation, you can’t just push through and get it all done. You have to wait for the washer and dryer to cycle through and work their magic. Who knows what you’ll be doing in two hours when the load finally done!
- There are so many steps! Gather the laundry. Sort the laundry. Get the laundry to the laundry room. Wash. Dry. Fold. And FINALLY put away (let’s be honest, most of us don’t even get to this step on a regular basis).
- There is just SO MUCH laundry. The amount of laundry that a family can create is truly incomprehensible. A family of 5 can easily create 5-7 loads of laundry a week. That’s a lot to keep up with!
With a little thought and effort, though, you can totally turn your laundry piles into a manageable chore.
This Simple Trick Will Eliminate Your Piles of Laundry
We make things so much harder on ourselves when we procrastinate and let laundry pile up everywhere.
It would’ve been so much easier for me to get my shirt washed that day if I hadn’t let the laundry get backed up in the washer and dryer.
Which is why this hack that I’m about to share is so important.
You know all those baskets full of clean laundry that you have sitting around your house? As soon as you’re done reading this article, I want you to go dump them all on your bed.
Now here’s the kicker: I want you to get rid of all of those laundry baskets. You can keep ONE. But all the rest? You don’t need them.
You see, having too many laundry baskets only serves to enable your folding-and-putting-away procrastination habits.
Why in the world would you bother folding your clothes when it’s much easier to let them sit in a laundry basket until you actually need to wear something from that load?
It’s too easy to let the clean laundry pile up if you can just pull another basket out of your stash to store it in.
The key is to make it harder to leave your clothes sitting in the basket than it is to put them away like you’re supposed to. And having just one laundry basket is the perfect way to do it.
The Benefits of Having Only One Laundry Basket
Having just one basket means you can only have one clean load of laundry hanging around outside of the dryer at a time. If you only have one basket, there’s no where to put a second load of clean laundry
And that means that you can’t start a new load of laundry until the previous load is folded and put away. There’s no way to carry a bunch of dirty clothes to the washer until you’ve gotten your single laundry basket emptied out.
There won’t be any more times where try get something washed and you have to first deal with clothes in the dryer and in the washer before you can get to the task that you originally needed to do.
Also, since you have the clean laundry gathered on your bed right now with no laundry baskets to put it back into, you have no choice but to deal with it tonight before you go to sleep. Which means that tomorrow, you’ll wake up to NO clean laundry needing your attention.
Won’t that be amazing???
You might also like:
This Simple Stay At Home Mom Schedule Will Help You Take Control of Your Time
7 Easy Ways to Keep the House Clean (Even If You Have Kids!)
Your Home Will Feel Amazing If You Do These 9 Things
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Melinda worked with children for years in a professional setting before becoming a full-time stay at home mom. She currently has three young children, and enjoys sharing tips and ideas about parenting and how to manage a home with excellence. She’s been featured on Heathline and Her View From Home.
You must be logged in to post a comment.