Laundry Day Takes Too Long—But These 7 Pro Tips Make It Way Quicker

Many folks dread having to spend a lot of time on laundry, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be an all-day ordeal. Washing, drying, and folding can be accomplished much more quickly if you take a more efficient approach to the chore to save time.

How can you save time on laundry day? We spoke to laundry experts about how to make sure that thoroughly cleaning that pile of dirty clothes doesn’t take more hours than it needs.

Use Multiple Hampers to Sort As You Go

Instead of spending laundry day sorting your clothes, experts recommend utilizing multiple hampers for lights, darks, colors, and towels.

“Sorting your laundry is important and can take time if you leave it until the last minute,” Tom Ceconi, the president of Heritage Park Laundry Essentials, says. “Another benefit of this is you can monitor which basket is getting filled up and needs to be washed first.”

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Create a “Stain Station”

Ceconi suggests making a “stain station” in your home or laundry room consisting of stain remover and a sink or a utility tub, so you can go there to treat stains before they set in your fabrics. He advises pre-treating stains as soon as they occur.

“Not only will this save time on laundry day, it will also give you the best shot of removing the stain,” he says. “This is especially handy when dealing with baby stains, where you’ll be pre-treating in a hurry and frequently.”

Make a Family Schedule

For larger families, everyone can get involved on laundry day to pitch in and help throughout the week. Adults in the family can rotate laundry duty during the week, and the kids can start to help out, too.

“If you have a big family, I strongly recommend doing laundry at least two to three times during the week instead of letting clothes pile up,” Steve Evans, the owner of Memphis Maids, says. “If you have kids, after they’re 10 years old, they should be more than capable of running their own laundry and having a laundry day in their schedule.”

Utilize the Quick Cycle

Different washing machines use different terms for this specific cycle—some call it the quick cycle, others call it the express cycle or permanent press.

No matter how your appliance refers to it, the mode takes around 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the type of washer, and that can make your laundry day more efficient.

“It’s long enough to get your clothes clean and it’s short enough to not do damage,” says Patric Richardson, known as The Laundry Evangelist. “But if you’re doing loads back to back, it makes it so much faster.”

Use Less Laundry Detergent

This may seem counterintuitive, but experts advise that using less laundry detergent actually saves you time in the long run.

“Most manufacturers recommend more than you need,” Richardson says. “Extra detergent holds more water in your clothes, so they take longer to dry.”

Put Wool Balls in the Dryer

Evans and Richardson recommend using wool balls in the dryer to cut down on the drying time by several minutes, saving you some crucial time.

If you don’t have wool balls, Evans suggests tennis balls can also do the trick, “especially if you’re drying thick items like duvets or thick towels,” he says. “These balls bounce around the dryer and prevent clumping.”

Use a Flat Surface for Folding

Evans and Richardson suggest folding your laundry items on a flat surface to speed up the process. Richardson uses an ironing board, while Evans recommends a folding board.

“Once you get the hang of it, you will fold your clothes two to three times faster,” Evans says, noting that people should “fold as you go.”