We Fixed Laundry. Finally.

Laundry Alley

Picture this: It's Sunday afternoon.

You walk down our hallway and there's a line of 5-7 random laundry bins trailing out from the laundry room. We call it "Laundry Alley." It's been there since Thursday.

There's a pile of clean laundry on the couch that we keep moving to the bed at night, then back to the couch in the morning. Nobody's folding it. Everyone's just digging through it looking for that one shirt they need.

Meanwhile, there are three more loads in the washer that have been sitting wet for two days because we forgot about them. Again. Now they smell like mildew. So we'll wash them again. For the third time this week.

The kids are fighting over whose socks are whose. Someone's wearing their sister's underwear by accident. The whites aren't really white anymore—they're sort of... grey? Pink in places?

And don't even get me started on the missing socks. We have a drawer full of lonely socks. Like, 40 unmatched socks just sitting there, hoping to be reunited with their partners someday.

My wife and I would take turns doing laundry, but neither of us could keep up. With 6 kids, we're doing 8-10 loads per week. MINIMUM. More if someone has a stomach bug or decides to play in mud.

I timed it once. Sorting, washing, folding, and putting away ONE load the "right way" took me 30 minutes. My personal best. Usually it was closer to 45.

The breaking point? When our 10-year-old wore the same shirt three days in a row because he couldn't find anything else in the laundry pile. We're not neglectful parents—we're just drowning in laundry.

Everyone Has Clean Clothes

Fast forward to today.

Right now, at this very moment, every kid in our house has clean clothes in their room. Not on the couch. Not in Laundry Alley. In their actual drawers and closets.

There's no laundry pile. The washer isn't sitting there with a forgotten load growing mildew. And nobody's fighting over socks.

The kids grab their own clean clothes when they need them. My wife and I aren't spending Sunday afternoons folding. The whole process takes maybe 5 minutes of actual human time per load now.

Most shocking of all? The system runs itself. Kids as young as 8 can manage their own laundry with zero supervision.

We went from laundry being this constant, soul-crushing chore to something that just... happens. In the background. Without drama.

How We Fixed It

Three simple rules changed everything. No fancy apps. No expensive equipment. Just a different approach to the same problem.

Rule 1: Color-Coded Laundry Bins

This is the foundation of everything.

Each kid gets their own laundry bin in their own color. We use these mesh pop-up bins from Amazon ($10 each). They're cheap, collapsible, and the kids can carry them.

How it works:

• Each kid gets their own color: Red for one, blue for another, green, purple, orange, yellow
• All their dirty clothes go in THEIR bin
• When the bin is full (or close), they bring it to the laundry room
• We wash that ONE bin
• Clean clothes go back in that SAME bin
• Kid takes bin back to their room

That's it.

No sorting. No figuring out whose shirt is whose. No socks bouncing around between loads.

The visual color-coding makes it dummy-proof. Even the 6-year-old knows: purple bin is his, blue bin is his sister's, don't mix them.

Rule 2: No mixing whatsoever

This is non-negotiable.

We NEVER mix kids' laundry together. One bin = one load. Period.

And here's the magic: this completely eliminates the sort-fold-putaway nightmare.

The old way: 30 minutes per load

• Sort everyone's clothes by person (5+ minutes)
• Fold each person's pile separately (15+ minutes)
• Distribute to 6 different rooms and put away (10+ minutes)

The new way: 5 minutes per load

• Clothes come out of dryer
• Go directly into kid's color-coded bin
• Kid takes bin to room, done

We cut our time by 83%. And the kids can't argue about whose clothes are whose because it's all in their bin.

No whites. No darks. No separating colors. Everything goes in together because it's already separated by person.

Rule 3: No folding (except those who want to)

Here's where we really broke the rules.

When a load finishes, we pull it from the dryer, toss it back in the kid's color-coded bin, and they take it to their room.

Unfolded.

Just dump it in the drawer or hang what needs hanging. That's it.

The kids who care about folding? They fold their own clothes. And exactly ONE of our 6 kids cares. She folds everything perfectly and color-codes her drawers.

The other five? Wrinkled t-shirts and jeans stuffed in drawers. And you know what? They're fine. They're kids. Nobody cares that their shirt has wrinkles.

The only exceptions:

• Dress clothes (we hang those)
• Towels (we fold those because they stack nicer)

Everything else? Unfolded and we don't apologize for it.

The Weekly Reality

Here's what laundry actually looks like now:

Every couple days:

• A kid brings their full bin to the laundry room
• We (or they, if old enough) toss it in the washer
• Add detergent, start it
• Move to dryer when done
• Clean clothes back in bin
• Kid takes bin to room, puts clothes away (however they want)

Total time per load: 5 minutes of actual human involvement.

Time saved: 25 minutes per load × 8-10 loads per week = 3-4 hours back every week.

The kids who are old enough (10+) do their own laundry start to finish. The younger ones just bring us their bin when it's full.

We do towels and bedding separately in white bins. Same deal—no sorting, minimal folding.

What Actually Changed

The biggest win isn't that we have less laundry. We have the same amount of laundry—we have 6 kids, that's not changing.

The win is that laundry is no longer this looming, soul-crushing task that never ends.

It's not this thing we dread. It's not this giant pile that sits on our couch mocking us. It's not this source of constant friction with the kids.

It's just... handled. In the background. Without drama or stress.

Are there still unmatched socks? Yeah. But they're in ONE kid's drawer, not scattered across the whole house.

Do the kids' clothes look wrinkled? Sometimes. Do I care? Not even a little.

Is our laundry room still messy? Obviously. We have 6 kids.

But the system works. And "works" means nobody's losing their mind over laundry anymore.

If you're drowning in family laundry, skip all the fancy organizing tips. Get some cheap colored bins, stop mixing loads, and stop folding.

Your Sunday afternoons will thank you.