Tuesday Time Tidbits: Laundry

This week's time-saving tips: laundry.

Socks are a pain to match up. Baby socks get lost. If you're washing baby/toddler socks, toss them in a lingerie bag. They come clean just fine, and then they don't get lost and are easier to match up.

If you line dry, save the socks for last. Hang up all the big things, then hang the socks in pairs. That way, when you take the laundry down, the socks are already together and you don't have to handle them more times than you need to.

Also, if you line dry, do at least two loads of laundry at a time. This minimizes the amount of time you spend taking laundry down after it's dry, since you only go out once for two loads instead of for each load. (Granted, it's only a savings of a few minutes, but like money, every little bit helps!)

To make sure you always have at least two loads to do, be flexible about sorting. When I sort laundry, I sort out the things that go in warm water (diapers/socks/underwear) and then make a pile of true darks, lights/delicates, and then "in-betweens" like towels and gray clothes than can go in just about any load to fill it up. When I sort laundry, I also choose which load I will most likely be doing next, and toss things from that load in as a sort. Even if I'm not doing laundry that day, it still minimizes the number of times I handle each piece.

Got any other laundry time-saving tips?