With all the excitement of having a baby, I never thought about ALL the laundry I would be doing. Oh, the laundry. Who could imagine someone so little causing so many loads of laundry. My girlfriends told me I’d be doing laundry every day after Declan was born, but I shrugged it off. Not me. I’m organized. I’m efficient. And I’m NOT doing laundry every day.
Well, let me tell you: this organized gal was quite humbled. It took me quite a to figure out how to keep baby clothes clean without doing laundry daily. Before you ask, yes, I likely have lots of baby clothes (thanks to my mom!). Baby clothes are a lot like underwear – the more you have the less often you need to do laundry. But I promise, the quantity of Declan’s clothes has nothing to do with our improved laundry process.
From blankets dragging on the floor, baby food all over their sleeves and the diaper changing pad …. well you know 😊, I’ve learned some tips to being efficient with our family laundry AND keep all the baby clothes clean.
My favorite tips to keep baby clothes clean
Pre-wash all your baby fabrics
Even before the baby gets home, it’s a good idea to wash all of your baby clothes. You never know what kind or dirt or germs might be lurking on clothes just brought home from the store.
Everyone’s laundry together
Tackling the family’s tough laundry loads can be challenging. It’s tempting to wash piece of laundry separately based upon the need: whites, colors, jeans, extra dirty clothes, baby clothes, etc. That’s how we used to do our laundry. Then little Declan arrived and there was no way I had time for that anymore. I was lucky if I was doing ANY laundry.
Instead of sorting and washing our laundry based on the clothing type, I put the majority of our clothing together in the same load with cold water. Hot water can shrink and fade my favorite clothing.
Spot clean the little accidents
Baby messes happen. A lot. Whether it’s from food or diaper, it’s a good idea to keep a set of baby wipes within arm’s reach. We have a pack in every room of the house, in our car, AND the diaper bag. Spot clean accidents right away. If you can whisk off the soiled clothing into the washer right away, that’s even better (see below for next tip). If not, the wet wipe helps dilute any offending stain or smell until you can get to the wash.
Wait for a blow out
You know when you come up with a solution and you just think: “wow, I’m actually a genius”?? That’s how I feel about this tip. LIFE CHANGING. Since having Declan, I’ve changed my laundry schedule significantly. Well technically we don’t have a schedule. We wait. We wait for a diaper blowout. Gross, I know. But it’s going to happen once or twice a week.
Whether a diaper blow out or a little too much food on his shirt, that’s when I do laundry. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I’ll let you decide), this scenario happens often enough for the laundry to never pile up that high. I just hated doing laundry for a couple pieces of clothing.
Skip the fabric softener
Fabric softeners only mask odors and aren’t even recommended for use on most athleticwear and towels. Plus, fabric softeners don’t help get those dirty baby clothes clean, while detergent alone doesn’t kill all the bacteria.
Clip outfits together
I’ll admit, it takes me a little while to remember which onesie goes with which pants and which jacket. Joe’s love of University of Alabama football prevents us from dressing Declan in the rival team colors of orange and blue baby outfits (which apparently are super popular color combos for boys). So instead we’ve got a lot of greens & blues.
It always takes me a couple minutes to remember which outfits go together. So now, when I put an outfit in the hamper, I connect the outfit together with a fastener (you could use any clip you have in the house) so that I don’t have to remember once the clothes are dry. It makes it easy to hang outfits together once they’re clean & dry.
What are the tips that you use to keep baby clothes clean?!?
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Baby Clothes says
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Kristine Andersen says
Great tips. We are about to have our 3rd baby (but first one in about 5 years), and there are so many things I have forgotten. This was a great reminder. I especially loved the set the timer comment for remembering to switch your load to the dryer. I use that trick on so many different tasks all week long, from cooking, to calling people back, to allowing the kids screen time and so forth. Also, we just got a “google home” and it is crazy how nice it is to be able to set an alarm only using your voice, haha. 21 century victory,
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