Laundry, Laundry, Laundry
I am often asked what the worst part of living in 600 square feet with my husband and toddler is and without hesitation my answer is always laundry. We are lucky to have a stacked washer and dryer in a closet in our front hallway but the lack of a laundry area/room means that anytime we do laundry it tends to take over the entire apartment. I have been experimenting with ways to minimize the impact of laundry in our small space. Here is what i've found so far:
Minimize Wardrobes:
Capsule wardrobes are very popular right now. While I hesitate to jump on this trend I have found limiting all of our closets to quality essentials makes the sheer mass of laundry smaller. I've found if you have less clothes but really love the ones you have laundry is much more manageable. You are motivated to get the laundry done (because you have nothing to wear) and you aren't doing extra laundry for clothes you don't even like wearing.
Combine Laundry:
I used to keep all our laundry in separate bins and wash them separately once they were full. Lately I have been combining all of our laundry together. It requires a little more sorting out of the washer (what can be dried, what must be hung etc.) but it seems to be saving time and making sure the loads are full.
Laundry Day:
This one is a bit tougher but has had the most impact so far. I have been trying to be diligent about doing laundry once a week. Trevor working in his field wears a lot of dry-fit and my day job is business attire so there's no getting away from hanging some of our clothes. We try to pick a weekday evening and do a couple of big loads at once and then fold the clothes before we go to bed. The hanging clothes have to be put away the next day. Sometimes the hanging rack we put in the tub or lately it's in Theo's room. This system isn't perfect, (especially with potty training accidents!) but it has been an improvement over laundry lingering for days making our space feel small and cluttered.
Do you have any great laundry management tips?