I know I ranted yesterday about hating to take out the trash, so I thought I’d post tips on my other most-hated household chore – laundry. It’s an oldie (posted in 2009), but a goody (which is why I’ve re-posted it).

I had a stay-at-home dad cohort who loved doing laundry because it gave him an excuse to watch ESPN and still productively cross chores off his to-do list. I can’t get that excited about doing laundry. I’m not sure why I hate laundry as much as I do but recently I discovered a few ways to win the battle against the mounds of laundry my family produces. A big key was involving my kids more in the laundry process.

Here’s my three-step system.

1. Keep a tidy laundry room. I love that our new house houses the laundry room upstairs near all of the bedrooms. I bought a three-bin laundry sorter that matches my laundry room and all items go into either darks, brights, or whites.

2. Place laundry baskets in each bedroom. Each bedroom has its own laundry basket so no one has an excuse to put her dirty socks, pants, towels, etc. on the floor. These larger laundry baskets are sorted out once or twice a week into the laundry room sorter. (Even my three-year-old likes to sort laundry. Sorting laundry is also a handy chore for kids who don’t pick up their dirty clothes even though the basket is in their room.)

3. Buy each child her own laundry basket. I bought three small, stackable, cheap laundry baskets from Target (only $1.99 each) and wrote each of my children’s names on them with a Sharpie. Once the laundry is folded, I put their clean clothes in the baskets and then they put them away in their drawers. When they’re empty I stack them inside each other and set them on top of the dryer.

Question: What do you do to make laundry less of a burden?