Lessons in productivity from a mountain of laundry

When faced with a mountain of laundry, it's likely you'll find a million other things to do than the pile of shirts and pants. 

The productivity mavens at Real Simple magazine have efficiency down to a science. The tips they suggest for tackling a pile of laundry can be applied to any area of you life. 

1. You don’t have enough hours to do all the laundry from start to finish.

The fix:
Break the process up into small tasks that can be undertaken at
different times. “I collect clothes in the evening and put them in the
washer around 10 p.m.,” says reader Nicole Klemens of Rye, New York.
(Experts say it’s generally OK to let clothes sit in the machine
overnight.) “I throw them in the dryer when I wake up at 6 a.m. and
fold while watching Sports Center at 7 a.m. I never really feel like I’m doing laundry―it’s just part of my daily routine.”

2. Asking your child to help with the laundry is like talking to a wall.

The fix: Unfortunately, Yo Gabba Gabba!
has yet to dedicate an episode to doing the wash, so it’s up to you to
teach your kids the basics. Preschoolers can help you sort by color and
can gather clothing items off the floor. But once children are old
enough for grade school, they can take on more responsibility, with
some assistance from you. For 6- to 11-year-olds, consider posting a
list of laundry reminders above their hampers.

** Label Value Tip** 

Busy Moms can use Letratag Iron-on Tapes to quickly identify clothing. It reduces loss of clothing items at school, daycare, camp and more.

3. The dryer seems to take forever.
The fix: Wash a load,
immediately toss stuff in the dryer, and repeat. “Once the machine is
warmed up, subsequent loads will dry faster,” says Zeitler. Start with
lightweight clothing and end with heavier items, like towels, which
won’t be damaged by the heat that builds up in a hot dryer drum. And
don’t over- or underload the dryer. Shoot to fill it up about halfway
for maximum efficiency.

4. You spend precious time folding T-shirts, only to have them get messed up when they’re stuffed into drawers.
The fix: When folding clothes, consider the space you’ll put them into. If your drawers are deep, fold clothes into rectangles to
take advantage of that. If they’re shallow, fold clothes in squares so they don’t get scrunched up.