The ADHD Laundry System! 🙌👕 (no more clothes on the floor!)
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- Опубликовано: 15 апр 2024
- Join me as I try out an ADHD friendly laundry system - spoiler alert... IT'S WORKING! ✨
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hayley.busybee...
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I have always struggled with laundry systems and the truth is, doing laundry is not my problem, it is ensuring the clean laundry finds a home other than my floor or my clean laundry basket. The mountain of laundry you see in this video is around 6 months worth of cycling through laundry. LET'S FIX THIS!
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in an effort to reduce having piles of clothing on the floor, my partner and i mounted a garment hanging bar on the wall between our closets to hang “not dirty enough to wash but not clean enough to put away” items, so they’re visible and can easily go back into a closet, or in the hamper underneath. the hamper has 3 sections that we use to keep dirty laundry sorted, and each can be individually removed or kept on the hamper frame which rolls, making moving and sorting types of laundry a lot easier. his laundry goes in one, mine go in another, and the third is used for towels and bulky items. both being neurodivergent, we do still have clothes that end up on our floor but at least we have the means to get better at making our organization habitual!
That sounds like a very workable idea. Good on you!
I have some visible hooks for those “not clean, but not dirty” and they are so handy!
A renter solution for me has been a lovely bamboo ladder from a charity shop that stands against a bedroom wall. I hang the “worn but not dirty” clothes on the rungs. Keeps them off the floor!
@@mpras684my eyes lit up, this is perfect! Thank you 🙏
@@bec4145 wonderful! I’m so pleased. Happy hanging and enjoy that clear floor space 🙃
"When i dont like an outfit i dont hang it back up, i throw it into the pile"
I feel so called out right now 😅 i litteraly have a pile in my hallway of outfit to be rehung 😂
I got a blanket box/ottoman thing for the end of my bed.
It's essentially a lidded stealth floordrobe.
This was hilarious! Loved it.
It's interesting how people will tackle issues, if at all. I saw the same issues with laundry, tried to deal with it over and over, and then I opted to minimize my clothes instead. Not only easier, but freed up SO much physical AND mental space. It's definitely the way to go. If I didn't have to work outside of the home, I'd have even less!
That's been my strategy for the dishes! Just reducing it to one of everything and banning the rest of it (for visitors) to the basement, so that it's easier to clean that one dish than to get a new one.
@pseudo3857 We did that, too! It's just us, and rarely anyone comes to dinner, so why have it all? It's been great and washing up is so simple. Got us back into the habit of use and washing up right after. Less clutter for our space and minds to deal with :)
No idea if it'd work better for you, but I've found sorting my laundry before I wash it and doing smaller loads helps me. Like I'll do a load that's just shirts and stuff to hang up and make myself put them on hangers as I pull them out of the dryer (which isn't too bad since it's a smaller load). Then I'll usually split doing my laundry over a couple days like that rather than doing it all at once and wearing myself out.
Yes, I follow a similar system. I have 4 small baskets. Each basket is the size of the load I prefer to do. A quarter load. Once the basket is full it signals I need to do a load.
I wash before work in the morning. After work I fold and pack away. The volume is not so overwhelming as it was when I had a wash day and I actually deal with the laundry instead of death piling it.
Yea, I agree! Smaller loads just seems easier. As soon as I think of it being a big load, I immediately start procrastinating
I do that as well! The only place I run into a problem is when I have to put the clothes away. 😅
@@Nifflernugget248 Definitely the toughest part of the equation. 🤭
Oooh what an efficient way to do it
I dont really have the space for something like this, but one trick a former roommate of mine who also has ADHD taughht me was rollinh up my clothes instead of trying to fold them nicely (the perfectionism of which got worse after i worked retail). I dont know what it is about my brain thats just like "yes, rolling up is much easier and enjoyable a task than folding," but its been working for over two years, and I dont really notice an issue with wrinkles.
DUDE! Pajamas can live on the bed! What a good idea! Edit: I just had an idea for you! Put up a hook and designate it for overalls so you don't have to put them on a hanger to hang them up!
I'm 68 yo...camp counsellors taught us to fold them & put them under our pillows b/c no dressers or closets in the dorm.cabins (just a footlocker at foot of bed).
So I know this will not work for everyone because it is money, but if you’re looking to update your appliances anytime soon go for a washer dryer combo. it’s not separate appliances one washer one dryer it is one appliance that does both. one load of laundry does take a little bit longer yes But it’s all being done in one appliance in one step. I put in dirty clothes and take out clean dry clothes about 2 1/2 hours later. it takes out the switching your clothes from one to the other step which is the step I usually forgot about, and my laundry would end up, staying in my washer for way too long and having to be re-washed. It had been a game changer for me. I hope it can help someone else.
Just a word of caution: because I'm obsessed with tiny houses I happen to have heard a lot of people say they are DISsatisfied with all-in-one washer/dryers. I don't know if that's because some brands aren't as good or some other variable, but hearing one woman say it takes over FOUR HOURS to do one load of laundry gave me pause.
With my sensory issues I would literally feel tortured if I had to listen to laundry that long! But if it worked reliably and could be in a soundproof area, I agree it sounds GREAT not to have to switch clothes from the washer to dryer!
I have one it's the worst. Takes hours to even dry one item comes out covered in lint. Smells burnt. Not a cheap model either
I used to live in the UK and they are very common there. Everyone I met that had one hated theirs and many of them broke on the regular. So I would research and make sure you get a quality model with good reviews.
I am halfway through the video so I don't know if she mentions this but for socks - just buy one kind of socks (e.g. plain black ones) and then all socks are pairs with all other socks
I do this too! I only have black socks that stay nice & black fortunately, and tiny white ones for summer. They both are just one big group :)
Yes! I've been doing this for years and it's totally the way to go!
i buy all grey socks
Cas from Clutterbug (who has ADHD) has some great tips for figuring out your personal organizing style and which solutions might work best. Whether you feel better with Visible or Hidden storage & Broad or Detailed categories helps figure out the container & system that will be easiest to maintain. I like that she says where stuff often ends up is just a clue about how you naturally prefer to handle things. ❤ The classic example of this is dirty laundry piling up *around* an empty hamper. Solution: try using one without a lid. : - )
I'm a butterfly/ladybug when it comes to clothes according to her system because I like to see things at a glance and be able to put them away quickly, but TOO much visual stimuli stresses me out.
That means a dresser drawer with all my unfolded undies and mismatched socks chucked inside *feels* better to me than a laundry pile or an open weave basket I have to look at all the time. But I prefer shelves in a closet for loosely folded shirts because a drawer makes them too hard to see at once. (I don't have the patience for Marie Kondo's fiddly folding method!)
Preferences about organization can vary by type of item and also the season of life.
I currently fold shirts cuz it feels worth it to not have wrinkles, but I admire Dawn from the Minimal Mom for deciding folding t-shirts is a waste of time for her family of with four school-age kids. Genius!
These principles apply to other items as well.
I don't care that my cooking utensil drawer is a jumble because I don't cook often, but putting silverware in its correct slot (when I bother to transfer it from the drying rack! ; - ) satisfies my need for SOME kind of order and ease for the things I use most often.
It's also true that letting go of things I don't love or use often has made it WAY easier to stay organized with the things I do. 😃
I have a giant suitcase (you know the biggest size ones) open on my floor with a big pile of clothing in it like mountain that I dig through to get clothing. It’s right in front of my closet.
The need for a this isnt dirty yet but isnt clean location is key to organizing clothing I’ve realised. Same for everyday things you need to take with you. I have a basket near my door of commonly used things like my sunglasses, headphones, tripod, gum, granola bars, mittens, etc and thats super helpful for me.
Same for having garbage bins in all the spots I sit and produce trash.
Adhd -> having enough bins/baskets to collect the junk so it’s not on the floor
This is brilliant! a not dirty yet, but not clean either bucket- Those are the clothes that end up on my floor! Thanks, I'm stealing this!
How I handle laundry for myself is that I have three hampers, and two dressers (one for normal clothes, one for exercise clothes), with each drawer labeled for specifically what type of item goes into them.
One hamper is where dirty clothes go that need to be washed. One is where clothes go if they've been worn once, but don't need to be washed, and could be worn again without issue. And one is there for clean clothes (it's a byproduct of the process).
I will go until the hamper for dirty clothes is full, then wash them, dry them, and bring them back to where my dressers are.
Then, if I feel like sorting it, I do (which I often do - the labels add a sense of pressure, since the labels imply that the clothes *belong* somewhere, and so keeping them in the hamper is allowing them to not be in their place).
If I don't feel like sorting it, then it stays in that hamper and I will just dig through it to find clothes I need, and then the other hamper becomes the one dirty clothes go into, so those two rotate as for which one is for dirty and which is for clean. It seems to work well for me.
I'll definitely be trying some of the tips you've shown here, like possibly multiple hampers for clothing types.
A lot of people here have a "worn once or twice but not dirty" category in their system. When I was planning my system I wanted to include that but decided that if it's clean enough to wear again then it's not an issue to store it with the clean clothes. How does having that middle category help you? Is it so you have a designated place to throw clothes that aren't dirty when you're too drained to put them into the dresser?
@@ID00622 Basically, yeah. It's that I am taking something off and not thinking about sorting it or anything, so I can just toss it there. That and, if maybe my assessment isn't spot on, and I wore it and it did get maybe stinky sweaty and I just didn't realize or something, then I'm not putting it into a small, closed space with other definitely clean clothes. If I just put it into a hamper, and it's mildly dirty, it can air out a bit, and not spread whatever might be on it.
If it needs to go on a hanger - I put it on the hanger to dry if it can handle it.
Otherwise I run a much more chaotic basket system lol.
I think you are right - for us it needs to be easy to put it away, not easy to get it out. If we want it we will find it.
I dry things on hangers, too! Using two or three clear plastic hangers for one garment to mimic a shoulder shape works well for most of my sweaters. ❤
Yep do this as well . I have a small clothes rack I air dry things on hangers on my balcony ... I've used the basket system as a way to sort or deal with laundry at a low point too , but I find it easy for piles to outgrow baskets sometimes . I sort of have to edit ( cull / de clutter regularly or the choices get too much ) . I'm sort of realising that for me there's no one system that ticks all the boxes . It's more accepting where my triggers are... so I vary things . I sometimes spend way too much time analysing laundry management I'd imagine for the average person .
GO HAYLEY GO! I am so proud of you for putting in the effort! In case no one has told you, I love you; you're incredible, and I am proud of you for putting in the work because no one else is going to do it for you. ♥
YOU ARE SO NICE 🥺💛 thank you!!
YES! and I'm glad your'e feeling better
Moving six months ago really helped me reset how I think about clothes/laundry (putting them away isn't one task, it's one task PER ITEM)! I focused more on open storage to avoid clutter-overwhelm and decided the most important things for my ADHD brain were CATEGORIES (seasonality, fabric/texture, color, occasion, etc.) and CARE (favorites, quality maintenance, display-able, etc.). "Care" had the biggest impact because it asked me to be honest about my wardrobe: what can I store away to reduce quantity-overwhelm?; what is the lowest barrier-of-entry to reasonably maintain the quality of this item (i.e. folding, hanging, piles in bins)?; how can I display clothes I love in a decorative way? Decorative can mean color-coding in the closet, colorful/patterned bottoms on an open shelf, or tops with a nice hanger on a wall or rack as art. My ADHD brain needs a reason behind everything, so asking these questions helped me make meaning, and even beauty, out of a mundane chore. Good luck to all the unique brains and systems out there. Don't give up! The only right way is the one that feels right for your life.
Currently watching this while laying on a small spot on my bed that isn't a huge pile of laundry because I got motivation to clean my room but after cleaning the floor I went into procrastination mode... I feel this video so much
I'm grateful to a RUclipsr for pointing out that *if it's clean enough to put back on your body it's clean enough to put back in your closet.* 😄 Love that! Using something to divide clean from previously worn reduces my worry about the mystery stank that sometimes arises from re-worn clothes that smelled *fine* when I put them on. 🤪 I'm willing to risk a little surprise pit stank for things like grocery shopping but not doctor visits or work meetings! 😂
I gut buckets for my socks, underwear, bras, sleep shorts, etc and that changed my life. WAY less folding.
Also your ending 🥹🥹
I love this! I've two teens - one with ADHD and one without sharing a bedroom and piles of clothing is a HUGE issue. This is a fantastic system that I think we'll implement so the piles of clothes is gone! And thanks for being real about budget.
It lives here... I thought I was the only one that used that phrase 😂🤣🤣🤣 9:56
Having a washing machine with the delay timer has been a game changer for me..... The spin gives me anxiety so now i have the washing set to cone on when I'm still asleep. I can then put the washing out when i get up instead of waiting around for the load to finish. I also keep empty hangers by the tumble dryer
In classic ADHD fashion, I am already planning to run out to walmart as soon as I get a free moment (aka in 3 hours) and buy a bunch of baskets, and even though my day is already entirely filled up with other commitments and plans, my wildly imaginative and overly ambitious self believes that I will also be able to accomplish the set up day of gutting my doom-piled closet and sorting it all into bin categories. In the mean time, I'm going to perseverate and overthink about what different categories I need and the variety of ways that I can meticulously sub-divide my closet items (which will probably result in over complicating this strategy by making 15 different sorting basket.) 🤦♀
update at the end of the day that, yes, I did in fact buy 11 baskets (only 45 minutes after watching this video, instead of 3 hours later when I ACTUALLY had time), and completely overhauled my closet to set up this new system. i really hope it works now...
Omg! This is me 100%!!! What was discussed in the video is completely me and my daughter and my husband. The person referencing the Neverending wash, rewash, wash again, do it again, stinks again-rewash, again, Gahhh! Will these towels ever make it to the dryer??!!! Had me pinned!
But this, my friend, this is pure insanity, ubsurd, its outrageous and total ridiculousness! ! And go ahead and put a check mark next to the , "sure-to-make-me-feel-guilty/ashamed/insert insult here, when I lay down and attempt to sleep!" Row on my 400,000 page to-do list!
You can also check off "it could be worse, I could have done what that one chick (thats me) did and go buy all that stuff at 11am, 3 hrs before her "free time" , only to arrive home at 1130pm (after Walmart literally followed her around the store reminding her the store would be closing soon,) and as she watched the total racking up on the register she felt anxiety & "red-face" hit her bc she felt guilty for spending so much money, then she couldn't find her cash, or her wallet, or her card, and full panic mode slapped her across the cheeks as the store lights dimmed & the employees stared at her like she's either the biggest dumbass alive, or shes an inconsiderate bitch, or maybe shes going through a mid life crisis bc shes now officially crying and looking around all paranoid-ish, either way its time for her to get out & hopefully not come back.
But she eventually found her card, paid, and loaded her car while scanning everything she got thinking "i shouldnt have gotten that, i dont need this, etc but its okay ill return it tomorrow " [but she wont, bc Returns are yet another pile she has to step over daily] she got home & unloaded the baskets, which were full bc of all the other genious ideas she had swarming in her head, but by then she was so mentally exhausted and guilt ridden, and realized she has nowhere to put the basket system because her apartment is jam packed with half-ass genious ideas for organizing, making money, rearranging, and remnants of the millions of other attempts to try a system for every single aspect of her home, family, and work "life". [Self care, you ask? Don't be ridiculous! That is never on the list! She believes she doesn't deserve it!!]
So she left the baskets, the groceries, cold stuff and all, and freezer bags (bc she really thought she'd actually start meal prepping again), the new planners & pretty pens, and dry erase boards, and the super soft pink blanket she had to have and the cool purse strap that was on clearance even though she doesn't wear a purse, all 9 baskets overflowing and left to die in her foyer.
Not to mention the badass bed frame with built in drawers that she spotted on the side of the road , pulled over & managed to lift the 300 lb thing and then squeezed it in her car bc she convinced herself she will refinish it and redo her bed and then probably her room, and maybe later, she'll redesign her entire house!!!!
Alas, her car can't hold a passenger, her front door is blocked, she's making excuses to her family for being gone so long and apologizing for the mess, the "mess that keeps getting bigger" she excused herself to the restroom and zoned out staring at the wall over 90 minutes ago."...I could go on but I think you understand ! Grrrr!
Reminds me of Clutterbug's "clutter catchers" which is the idea that, if you are piling something, put a basket in that spot to catch it. Unfortunately(?) I can't do piles or baskets of clean laundry because I am cursed with easily wrinkled clothing, no matter what fabric I buy, and I don't like wearing wrinkled clothes even if I'm home all day.
I wanna share my laundry system as a person with ADHD in case it helps someone. First, caveat, I do not have many clothes. I have barely enough to get through the week, plus occasional outfits. Mostly because I hate shopping for clothes... but this means there is never much to put away.
I do not fold or roll. It takes too much effort and would result in procrastination. I don't sort anything before putting it away. I just set my hamper on my bed, in front of the closet, and pull out my undies and sock storage cubes and set those on the bed too. As I pull clothing out of the hamper:
If it's outerwear, I turn around and put it on a hanger.
Underwear is simply chucked in the box. My husband's socks get the same treatment because they are all identical; no need to pair.
My socks are piled until I find a match, then potato rolled and dropped in the box. But if I don't have the energy they can just be thrown in mixed up and I'll dig for a matching pair when I need it.
Other laundry things that help me:
Not buying clothing that needs special care. Everything I own gets chucked in the washing machine together on cold & gentle. No sorting! This includes bras. If they can't handle the washer in a delicates bag, I do not want them. All of mine have been fine, though I can't know if and by how much I've shortened their lifespans.
I don't have a laundry day in which I do *all of the laundry* in the house. I spread out the loads I need to do each week to separate days so there is less to deal with all at once. And if I forget to move things over to the dryer for a few hours, I'm not 'running late.'
Putting over-the-door hooks on the back of my bedroom door. Anything clean enough to be worn again is hung there. Why does it take more effort to put them back on a hanger? I dunno, but hooks solved that.
Keeping out of season clothing somewhere other than my closet. I don't have to look at or manage long sleeves in the summer, for example. (Although I do have to keep everything out in the spring, because the weather where I live swings wildly and rapidly.)
I’ve found that for me, the “don’t put down, put away” method works best (for now). I’ve started removing clothes from the washing line by category and folding each one before putting in the washing basket. So all my t-shirts, then my pants, etc. If I’m standing outside taking clothes down from the line I’m much more likely to fold things than if they’re already dumped in a basket. On the plus side, it means that when I take the basket upstairs, everything is already folded and stacked in order, so the barrier of putting things away is a lot lower. This probably won’t work forever, but gosh am I enjoying it while it does!
I have had those big square bookshelf thingies, with the pull out fabric box type things as my wardrobe for years now. It lives in my closet, and its all labelled, and literally nothing gets folded, and the only things that get hung are the few dresses and coats i have. Everything just gets tossed into the right bin
Another content creator that I watch suggested you should vigilantly protect your systems for laundry and dishes. Because you use dishes and clothes daily, it’s easy to get behind really fast. So for laundry, I keep one extra laundry basket for clean laundry. If the clean laundry never gets put away until the next cycle, at least it is all together and clean and dirty laundry stay separated. Nothing breaks down my laundry system than when my clean and dirty laundry get mixed up.
Oh man. I was using this system until I moved last August. It was a big move and the baskets didn't make the cut but I am realizing now that I still have clothes in moving boxes which is basically the same system. Note to self: Upgrade from moving boxes to baskets!
Also, are you, like me, fine with washing and putting away single-wear items like socks and underwear? Those always go right into the dirty laundry bin and I guess I kind of enjoy matching the socks when they come out of the laundry.🤔
I dump all my clean laundry into a pile inside my closet and I keep my dresser drawers in there too. My dirty clothes go in a basket across the room by my bedroom door. Whenever I get dressed I'll dig through the clean laundry pile and if I feel like it I'll put a few things away in the drawers and closet at the same time. Sometimes I'll even get all the clean clothes put away by the time I do laundry again. But if I don't, it doesn't matter because I can just close the closet door 😊
I’ve found lately that I don’t actually hate doing laundry, I just had resentment towards certain parts of the process.
The first part I hated was actually putting the laundry in the washer. I didn’t know how to wash my clothes and I felt awkward about asking for help. I had my mom show me and as she went through the process, I took notes in my notes app. Now I can just refer to those notes instead of bothering anyone!
The second part was folding laundry. Our laundry room is incredibly small and standing on the hard tile floor for so long was painful and annoying, making me avoid it like the plague. Now, I just take all my clean laundry and bring it to my room and fold it while sitting on my bed. It’s much more comfy, and I find that it’s actually quite relaxing for me since I can listen to music, a podcast, or a video like this one!
To anyone else struggling with laundry, I promise there are ways to make the process better! Maybe you will still hate laundry, and that’s fine! (if it makes you feel any better, I _despise_ dishes to the deepest extent) But either way, you can still make the process better and more accessible for yourself.
Have a wonderful day/night to all of you. Try to stay healthy and hydrated and remember that neurodivergence doesn’t make you lazy or unlovable. 🤍
I have an Ikea kallax as my wardrobe. divided in Longsleeve tops, shortsleeve tops, pants, skirts.
I don't have space for that. But fixed my closet shelves to be able to hold 50+ pounds, so I put my boxes that would go in the Kallax on top of it in similar categories to you.
My mom questions why I don't just use a dresser, but I'd. It works. Plus it's fun to throw my clothes up there when I finish drying my laundry. 😅
Me, too! I always recommend them when people are looking for a dresser! They hold so much and you can swap out the boxes if you want to change the decor.
i’ve actually been subconsciously doing this recently! i’ve had the same floor system as you basically my whole life, and decided one day when i had a massive pile of laundry to separate everything into baskets before i put it all away… i never ended up putting any of it away, but at least it’s organized! this helped me feel okay with my chaotic system ♥️ thank you
YOUR LAUNDRY WAS SO SIMILAR TO HOW MY LAUNDRY LOOKS. instead of being on the floor, ours lives in a few baskets, unorganized. having to dig through them is TERRIBLE. putting them into ORGANIZED baskets is GENIUS. i bought rolling racks to hang my clothes on so i can SEE my clothes out in the open, but if that doesn't work after we set them up, i definitely want to try this because it made me pikachu meme. so many solutions are like, outside the box but obvious at the same time?
also! i bought your healing relationship with food program! i still need to go through it but, i find that i don't really know HOW to eat well, like, when people say "eat healthy", no one really says how, and every recipe requires way too much time and energy every single day. i figured i really needed your course and i'm excited to see what you say when i eventually get to it!
This is literally the only kind of laundry system that I can keep organized, and even then it’s not constant. I still go through those periods of time where clean laundry just gets put in a basket and the basket just stays somewhere for a week and then it has to be sorted. But if I’m sorting into multiple baskets, and then just putting the baskets away where they belong, it’s much more manageable.
Ty for sharing your system and continuing to shed light on this issue lol
We love organized chaos!!
I have a “not dirty” basket. But I have started making loads of only like items. Only pants, only socks and undies, only shirts, etc. this has really helped me to put them away quicker. “Quicker” can still vary greatly 😅but it takes some of the extra thinking out of it for me
This came up just on time as I've been contemplating my massive pile in the living room.
Lovely Hayley, I'm more than grateful for your YT channel and your courses. I took the ADHD recovery program and it helped me a lot.
I appreciate your prices, cause I'm aware how much energy, time and work it is and still you make it affordable for a community which struggles a lot with employment and finance.
In Germany we don't get the help we need as latediagnosed neurodivergents most of the time we aren't taken serious and your content (and some other creators') literally saved my ducking life.
I've not had a working washing machine in my house for months so you can imagine how bad its gotten having to wash things at other peoples houses, and bring it back but this video came out just in time cause my new one gets delivered today ! 🎉 Finally ready to wash and organise things properly!!
I’m excited to give this a try! My room is covered in laundry so hopefully this will help with the putting away part.
I'm at a point in my life where I don't want to hang things up anymore, so I'm looking forward to customizing my closet so it makes more sense for me. Right now it has one rail to hang up things, and it's just... a disaster. My dresser is nice and organized, but it takes a while to get there. Being able to identify "Okay, where do I stop in this multi-step task?" can really help us find a solution. For you, it was: "I stop after I've sorted them and before I go to hang them up." Makes sense that the end goal, then, is to just have them sorted and contained! For me, it seems like all the steps of putting away laundry are a barrier for me: sorting them out, folding them up, putting them in the drawers. I like having neatly folded clothes, so I'm still working on a system that prevents me from leaving a pile of clean clothes on my bed or in my basket. (If I leave them on the floor or my bed for too long, my cat will make a nest in them.)
My husband and I both use different variations of the basket method!!! My husband simply has a clean basket, a dirty basket, and a basket for stuff that isn't worn frequently. (Works really well for him because he doesn't have a ton of clothes).
I hate digging for clothes but never put them away. So I have a bunch of baskets. One for dress shirts, tshirts, socks, underwear, PJs, etc. I have like 10 baskets in total to keep everything organized. I also have a hanging shoe organizer in my closet to stuff bulky items like jackets and stuff like that. So I can still see it. But it is easy to get out and put away!
We also have a box or 2 for seasonal clothing that we switch out depending on the season!!
This system works for us, but I know it would drive some people mad
Yes! I was using one of those shoe organizers for sweaters for a while, it worked great!
I'm literally on my own journey of working out my laundry, this video is perfectly timed. I'll try this out, I never considered putting stuff back if i'd wear it a second time before washing it. Plus, Pj's living on your bed is genius! Thank you so much as always Hayley, you did great and thank you for sharing this with us
I am sorry that you’re not been feeling good. Hope it got better already- if not know that your not alone ❤
I have somewhat started this a few months ago with the socks/underwear and it has worked pretty well. I have two baskets, one for clean clothes and another one that needs washing. This works as you said: I just have to toss the entire basket into the machine, set the washing/drying cycle, and once it's done I can just throw everything to the clean basket.
This method has changed my life, I hope other people give it a try too!
Love bye
I've been doing this for over a year and it works great for me. One extra thing i do: i have 90 identical pairs of socks with their own dirty and clean baskets. No sorting, no digging through shirts and pants to find the 10 socks stuck in between folds or tangled up pant legs. One load of socks every three months. It's wonderful.
Dawn from "The minimal mom" youtube channal dosn't fold most of her and her children's clothes as well.
One more recommendatio is to add a donation bag/ bin for clothes you try on and end up not wanting to wear anymore
Just this evening, *as I'm watching this* I started sorting my clothes into baskets. I started with a different plan, but as I followed along with your video what I have now is a lot more realistic for me to maintain.
Thank you 😎
I have a basket system! I reached a point where my spouse and I could NOT keep up with the demand of the folding and the hanging and the peel my skin away with a big ol’ spoon. In our laundry room, spouse, child, and I each have a big basket, with a smaller one inside (or just two-compartment baskets lol) plus a basket set for towels/ sheets. One section is for socks/ underwear, the other for undershirts/ bras/ gym shorts/ pre-assembled outfits etc. I sort/ fold/ hang in the laundry room, as soon as the items come out of the dryer, rather than taking it to another room. When deciding whether to fold or hang something, we answer 4 questions.
1) Does it feel or function differently than how need it to if it’s NOT folded/ hung?
2) Does it serve us better in a pre-assembled set?
3) Do we primarily use it in another area of the house from the laundry room?
4) Do we have a lot of it that we need to store in a small space?
If the answer to any of these is yes, it gets folded or hung and put away. If the answer to all of them is no, it goes in a basket. When I first started using this system, almost everything went into a basket, which took such a huge weight off. As I’ve gotten used to the system, as I’ve gotten clothes I’m willing to put more effort into, as I’ve acquired different needs, it’s evolved into just the stuff I originally said went into the baskets. Now, I have pre-assembled sets hung in my closet and folded in my little one’s basket. Oh! I almost forgot the laundry line in the the laundry room where hanging clothes live for a while before going into the closet lol
Ive gone super minimal with my laundry for me and my boys. My apartments get spiders and all i can do is take preventative measures. (Peppermint oil around the house is great) piles of clothes on my floors tends to give spiders a place to hide amd jump scare me when i finally find them. So i tackle laundry like a dishwasher. It goes in as soon as its off of a body and when its full, i run it. Then after the dryer, i try my best that once its taken out of the dryer, it gets put away. Also, all our clothes are in my bedroom closet, all in 1 place.
Have you seen the Clutterbug closet organizing system with a ton of labeled bins which you can use to just throw your unfolded laundry into?She uses it and it looks so pleasing and it is still an organized chaos, exactly what you are looking for.
Thank you so much for reminding me that I am not neurological and it's OK to do things differently if it works for me.
And also for showing that sometimes we go through tough spells and come out the other side and our systems need to be able to survive those.
I love your videos so much.
I actually started putting a little bit of laundry where it belonds after months of it being there.
This channel has been so helpful for me as someone who is also nurodivergant!
I sometimes listen to these videos before bed.
I'll be going to bed now its getting late.
Have a good day!
I started doing the basket system/sort it into piles, and its so nice to have things places where I know where they will be!
i have the EXACT same feelings and chaos with my laundry!
I regularly avoid taking my clothes out the washing machine and many times i will just turn it on again so i have to leave it for another time!
This was wonderful!!! I just found your channel today and subscribed immediately!!! I think you are an amazing beautiful person first off... and one of the things that struck me was the fact that you told people that you loved them if they had not been told that today. I thought that was just so special and beautiful. Unfortunately, you just don't know how many people that really need to hear that . I have ADD and I have three children, two of which have ADHD. Even though I am older than you buy a huge amount, as a mother, I just want to say you were such a joy to watch even for me. I related to so many of the things you have said here. Although I struggle with ADD, I also struggle with OCD as a co-occurring disorder. Although my house and room are completely perfection and I always put my things away, It took years to learn to do that. As a teenager, my room was exactly like your video. Over the years, I have changed all that but I struggle in other ways now. Of the things I did relate to in your video, Motivation and procrastination are two that come to mind quickly. I learned so much watching and I can't wait to forward this to my oldest son who is 18 and lives here in my basement!!! Thank you for making those of us who have ADHD feel normal and sharing so openly and authentically the real way that most of us feel.
11:52 awww ty for the love!!
So I moved recently and when I took a look at my dresser out of the moving truck, I said no and gave it to my little brother. I have always had a messy room and a big part of that is clothing, so I wanted to try something different. I decided to use my cube bookshelves as my dresser now and I just yeet my clothes into the baskets that are there, without worrying about folding them and it has been a GAME-CHANGER!!!!
I like this idea a lot and might get one of those for myself. As somebody who moves a lot (I bounce around from apartment to apartment), I don't own a dresser either and don't really want one. My current solution is everything goes in Rubbermaid tubs, which isn't very elegant...and a little stinky. Your solution sounds better!
i do the same but my wardrobe is just drawers, so i just throw everything in the right drawer (some of the drawers have additional baskets like for socks so they dont go everywhere). Some things i do need to fold (read: i have 4 pairs of jeans that are too bulky if i just shove them so i fold those), but most of the rest i just toss in there! The super useful part is that drawers are shallow and wide so you still have a nice overview of everything you have
Thank you for sharing this! I need a system like this for my dishes. Laundry and dishes are two of my hardest obstacles when it comes to clutter.
I didn’t know how much I needed someone to tell me they love me today until you said it and it made me literally cry, thanks and I love you too
We moved house last year and had to leave our main wardrobe at our old house and we haven't properly replaced it so we end up with 'floordrobes' a lot.
I really hate laundry and would love it to be easier. We're a family of 4 so it all takes such a long time.
I’m going to try this!
I think I’ll start with piles first to really see what my basket categories will be, then after a week or 2 go buy baskets
I discovered only a few years ago (in my late 30s) that dressers are too hard, especially if the floordrobe is blocking it (Bees are about abundance and seeing your stuff)...I have clear storage bins for my underwear, socks, bras and misc (like lotion gloves and washclothes). Then i hang up shirts and pants. Hoodies are hung up on over-the-door hooks as are towels now. I have multiple hampers right now, one having wheels to make it easy on my back to get laundry to the laundry room in my community building. I'm also getting more hangers for the "used but not needing washing yet" clothes, they will go in a different area to lessen confusuon. Also I am working on having a set amount of clothes in the home, like 1 week's worth (have lots). Now this whole system works...when i am feeling well and remembering to do the steps. The big issue...is actually...doing the laundry...to get it back in the bins and on hangers. I also started with a bin in the closet for the shirts and pants, but the hangers and bins help me to see how many clean clothes I have left in a week.
Great strategy. Seems to me, after a while all your preferred clothes will be in these baskets and anything left on a hanger is something you haven’t wanted to wear! When my kids live out of laundry baskets for a while we end up donating a lot of things left in their closet or drawers, cause the fact of them being in there means they haven’t been worn and the person has been doing fine without them. Not to up the ante though! This set up of yours is awesome!
I have a cube storage shelf as a dresser and 2 of the cubes don't have baskets because they're the "wear later" spots for clothes that aren't quite dirty yet. It's not perfect, and I still need to keep tweaking the system, because clothes still end up in random places, but now I have some more inspiration. Also, when my partner and I moved into our current apartment, I thought that putting our clothes in the front closet was temporary until we got everything organized the way we wanted it. Now two years later, the clothes live permanently in the front closet because it's a large walk-in closet and much more accessible to where and how we get ready for our days.
Yay, team floordrobe 😂 Clear containers with lids😉 Try to minimise your wardrobe and simplify. Find confortable clothes that suitable for many occasions and stick to those. Or embrace it and wear anyway. Had a t-shirt saying 'I am out of bed and dressed what more do you want' wore to work on mondays. 😂
LAUNDRY FOR ME IS A NIGHTMARE! i had baskets! That worked for me. 😊 I had a basket for underwear, socks, bras and pajamas. Another basket for shirts (t-shirts, long sleeve, tank tops, and any other top). then basket for bottoms (Shorts, Pants, skirts, capries, yoga pants and any other bottons). Then a basket for other (towels, wash clothes, hand towels, other washable thinngs). Then anther basket for dirty clothes (I dont even really sort that basket) i wash it all the toss it in the right basket... i even travel using a basket... pack a basket and head off on a road trip.
This is a great idea! Fortunately I don't have that many clothes, unfortunately this forces me to do laundry every time I'm running out of underwear lol My biggest problem with laudry is the part of putting clean clothes away so usually I would wear it directly from the laundry reck and also I don't like my "wear again" pile to mix with my clean clothes (which are not that clean either but at least they are put away neatly) or the clothes I'm still inconclusive in which pile they would go. I'm definitely goint to try this!
The way my boyfriend lives makes way more sense now. He has those kinds of baskets too and it really works. Now I gotta convince him its ok for me to have my clean clothes box, I hate folding or hanging clothes and would rather dig around.
My system for clothes: I have my drawers seperated out. undies and tights each have a bin, socks occupy the empty space that's left over in the drawer. shirts are folded just in half and laid down in a strip in the next drawer down in order to keep them from rumpling (yes, even after rummaging a bunch, they don't end up messed up enough that they get crumpled). I have one drawer for tshirts, since those make up about half my shirts, and one for other/nicer shirts. I have a drawer for skirts, which just get basically folded into a strip and then rolled up, and one for pants, which I do the same to.
That said, I've definitely noticed that everything but the things that go straight into bins take a while to process. It's even worse with bedding, since I'm short AF and have weak arms. I once had clean bedding sit on my hope chest for like four months before I took advantage of my brother in law being in town to get it folded. All my remaining clean laundry just ends up on a pile on top of my hope chest until, as you said, hyperactive spurt. I'm curious what everyone else's solutions for the "worn but not dirty enough to wash" pile is too - for me, it just ends up in a seperate pile on my hope chest. XP
I stopped hanging clothes completely. All folded in the Marie Kondo way, which lets me see everything once I open my drawer. I never noticed that the mess in my room starts when I try on clothes and dislike how they look! I think a system I'll try is to plan clothes in advance so I have time to set them away instead of dumping them on my bed. Hope you feel better soon, and thank you for sharing!!! (I love you and I'm proud of you!)
Thanks for the reminder to put away the laundry I did a week ago 😅💚
This was actually a different video than I expected. For some reason I thought it would be a system on how to do laundry instead of storing it. I might try a similar thing of organizing before I wash it? not sure. This does help though in the way of making me think more about what I need to do to improve my process. I've had a massive laundry mountain since 2022 that even contains some of my mom's clothes that I have yet to clear. I managed to half it but not get rid of it in it's entirety.
I've definitely accepted recently that I don't feel bad about the mountain of clothes that moves from my bed to my desk chair, depending on whether I'm sleeping or working from home. But since the season is changing and my housemates and I are reorganizing some stuff, I do need to make some adjustments to fit the space constraints. I like the idea of this method, I just won't have the floor or closet space for more baskets till the summer, so I've been focusing on keeping my pile as small as I can for now, lol. I'm basically trying to create a capsule wardrobe for the next month so I can set and forget the rest of it.
I personally don't actually have any problems with putting laundry away. I rather like the folding and organizing. It's washing it that's the problem. I often get home after work and switch outfits, and what I was wearing would end up on the floor, or in the designated to wash basket. And I'm so exhausted that when it needs doing I don't have the energy for it. And just won't get washed till I ran out of clean underwear. Part of if is a quantity problem in that I have too much and have yet to sort out things to remove, but I have also recently restarted the cycle, so I have the perfect opportunity to figure out something new, and adjust the system while downsizing. I've already cut my sock collection in half, which felt amazing
For me to continue to have clean clothes accepting that my routine is going to adapt as my daily energy and activities shift seems to have helped .
I have a thing with visual clutter as in I don't like it . If I ignore laundry too long I don't see it anymore it becomes blurred into a don't look nothing to see here move on ... and the extra effort it takes for me to do something is more than breaking it into 5 minute chunks of time . That's been helping lately . Gamify my task and see how much laundry prep I can do in 5 mins . Stop do something else . Set a timer 5 mins if prep for a load took longer than 5 minutes ( finding items to wash , sorting, stain removal) I find 10 mins is enough to at least get a load in .. turn on machine . When machine beeps
5 mins to hang up everything onto hangers and put on a clothes rack to dry . Other stuff in dryer . 5 mins to put whatever comes out of dryer into open boxes in shelves in closet . Maybe another 5 mins to fold towels etc and put away . I can do almost anything in 5 minutes. To assist I use nice smelling things in my laundry products . I slip a similar scent bar of soap in the boxes ( sandalwood) because smells trigger good things for me . I try to make sure all my belongings are textures I like handling if I find I don't like something that feels ick for me I have a donate box in the laundry that when full goes in the car ( to be ignored for an indefinite period of time / planets all line up with Virgo ) mentioning all this as you never know it may resonate for someone else ...
I have 2 hampers. One to avoid the floordrobe, one for dirty items. I hang dry my clothes and then fold and put them away. Mostly. Sometimes it gets away from me and I'll chuck clean, unfolded things into a drawer, but generally I enjoy spending the little extra time to fold things and sort socks. I do use Marie Kondo's folding system. Laundry feels like the chore that I have the best handle on though, I'd be curious to see a similar system for washing dishes or cleaning the bathroom.
LOL thought this was a crazy idea...kind of put it out of my mind. Fast forward to yesterday and today I am overwhelmed with my piles analyzing what is going wrong (because I'm doing a "load a day" LOL so I should be fine). Decided bins would be best and then remembered this video 🤣 not so crazy after all lol thank you and laundry will hopefully be much easier to put away 🤞
I also struggle with putting away clothes, but I used to struggle much more with actually doing the laundry, because I used to put it all in one place and there was this huge burden of having to sort the laundry before I wash it. Now (and I've done something similar before) I have three spots available in my closet for laundry (hampers work as well I just don't like them standing in my room), where I can immediately sort dirty clothes into 30, 40, and 60 degrees, so I only have to seperate dark from light and check how much fits in the machine, those are barriers that I can handle much better, than having to sort each item individually into degree and colour. Plus this gives me an easier overview of how much dirty laundry I have per degree, so I know when I have enough for a full load...
Not laundry related but basket related, I've been leaving a "go-back basket" next to my desk since trash and random items kept piling up there. I know I'm not going to get up right away to put stuff away, so if something goes in another room, I just toss it in the basket, then empty it at the end of the night (or the next day if I'm not feeling it).
Can confirm. I made my system for clean laundry yeet-able. Only thing that has stuck. Now if only I could was my clothes consistently.
The Yeet-able system is unmatched lol
This is GENIUS ! Let's see how we can adapt this at home (2 ADHD parents and a probably ADHD child)
I was watching this video while I was working on pc at home. I looked around and I saw my clothes literally everywhere 🙈😂 So Thank you, I need to try it. My husband wants few baskets for a while because baskets are just easier. So I will finally buy them and see if the mess in our bedroom is better ❤😂
I have some clothes that it's just better to dry them on the hanger (inside out, on a clothesline) because then I don't need to iron them, so I put those away immediately because they are already on a hanger.
I then will immediately put away underwear.
I have a special hangers for socks to dry, I leave that infront of the tv to pair as I watch TV later.
During designated chore hours on later days I slowly work through ironing, folded ones go in a basket to be put away at the end of the ironing session and hanging ones on a hook I mounted on the wall to collect 5 at a time. Reducing movement and decision making by having this plan really helps me but it does mean there's a little out all the time that need to be hidden when guests arrive.
A long time ago my husband said, “Dressers should just have slots for laundry baskets.” I hate my dresser, the drawers don’t open all the way, I can’t find anything easily in the dark cramped drawers. So… clothes in baskets stacked on the floor. My dream is a similar system to what you have but I have so many clothes I need to purge first, maybe seeing this will motivate me to get started. Thank you!
For me I have clear drawers and bins to put my "folded" clothes (honestly they are not always folded just shoved). Then clothing that will wrinkle or are too bulky folded go up on a hanger. It takes less then 3 sec for me to hang something up, but sometimes I will just place it over the clothing rack, because ADHD chore paralysis.
I cannot thank you enough for posting this.
I still have mine in a basket but instead of being folded they are rolled and I roll them because in my head it’s more simple and satisfying to me I do also have ocd I organize based on the season winter clothes in the bottom right now and summer clothes on top topped with my underwear,bras, and socks tucked in the corner for simple access when I shower or they go in a random bag
Oh and pants go in the middle always because I don’t wear shorts and if I do I put them along with my socks and underwear’s because what are shorts if not longer and loose underwear/boxers
Also every few years, I do a full closet clean in which I go minimalist. Reduce my wardrobe to 40 pieces and restart my wardrobe slowly. That also helps because my style changes a lot.
For clean clothes ready to put away, my (half successful) method is as follows:
1. Chuck on bed and sort by type. Put away underwear is usually a given straight up, maybe socks if i can handle rolling them but not always.
2. Things that require folding/hanging wait for a burst of energy, often in batches, hopefully through only one day. If sleep hits before such bursts of energy, the clothes go back inthe basket.
3. If i'm lucky i'll empty the basket onto the bed again within a couple days and repeat to resolution.
4. If not - I ONLY HAVE ONE WASHING BASKET - so once i've run out of underwear again and have washed a fresh load the languishing clean clothes get another round on the bed.
5. It is not unkown for the secondary clean load to be rolled in with the first repeating steps 1-4, however i'm pretty sure I've never gone 3! I have only a tiny volume compared to yours though!
It is crazy, I have a basket just pile them on the floor. will try this . I do the same Hayley, once the spurt of energy is gone, back to piling up. Nice not seeing a gaming chair, those r crap.
im so thankful I found your channel! thank you so much
Thank you, organised chaos is a term I use frequently to describe my personality xD
What I designed a system for was pre-sorting laundry. I hated having to dig through my laundry basket to find what I needed to do a load of washing for, and whether or not I actually have enough to do that load. Reading all the labels to see which shirts can go in the dryer and which must hang to dry, where is the matching sock, finding all the towels, etc.
I use Sortera baskets from Ikea for this. I have four of them, in stacks of two. Hang to dry; lay flat to dry; clothes for the dryer; towels. I also sometimes use mesh bags for even more advanced pre-sorting, for example keeping pairs of socks together (socks go from my feet into the bag, until there are a few pairs - then I get a new bag), or to keep separate my hang to dry blouses from what needs to go in the dryer.
I also like the lid these bins have, I guess because these live in my hallway and it looks clean and neurotypical (and so my mother won't complain too much about it haha), but it's easy enough to lift the lid and see how much is in there and if there's enough for a load - or if the lid won't close it's definitely time to do laundry. 😅 It's worked really well for me for multiple years now! But I also have the post-washing 'everything lives in the basket now' problem...a post-wash sorting system isn't something I've ever considered but it just might work for me. Thank you for this idea!
My partner and I have a clean laundry basket but it often ends up overflowing and I hate digging through my partner’s clothes to find mine. So inspired by this I think I will try getting up multiple clean laundry baskets! At least one each but maybe one for my partner for his ‘too dirty for wardrobe but too clean to wash’ pile. I don’t care about that, I put all my clothes in wardrobe even if I’ve worn them, I don’t really get that logic!
I use my hangers to dry everything that will go on hangers (shirts, sweaters, dresses, blouses)
And when it's dry I can just put it on a bar.
This makes putting away my clothes much quicker and easier.
I do this with my drawers. Just moving to no-fold has been a game-changer!
Love this! Thanks for the hard work you put into this channel!
My husband used to constantly throw his dirty clothes on the floor because he absolutely could not be bothered to fold laundry, so his laundry basket was full of his clean clothes. We decided to get him a second laundry basket for dirty clothes, as he has no problem with dumping the whole basket of clean ones out on the bed in the morning to find clothes to wear. This super simple change has totally worked for him! Now I just need to figure out a system for myself. My laundry is a disaster. 🤦♀
Okay yeah this is genius I have been like this my entire life thank you so much
Honestly funny I was thinking about this system for myself recently and was looking for baskets, except this is for me to actually wash my clothes instead as that is my issue more so.