If Tide To-Go is not a person’s thing, then that person can keep at hand oxygen-bleach wipes, an enzyme-based stain solution (in spray or stick form), a small opaque spray bottle or dropper bottle filled with hydrogen peroxide (the active ingredient in “color-safe bleach,” and very very cheap at your local drugstore), or plastic baggies of borax ready to be mixed into a paste.

I think I might contrive to keep a laundry basket in my bathroom if I suspended it from the ceiling over the toilet. I have never been athletically coordinated, though, and hate to think where the wadded-up undies would go if I tried to play laundry basketball with them.

On a perhaps slightly more helpful note: the folding table is a nice luxury, but one way to unclutter the laundry routine would be to learn how to fold clothes swiftly and neatly with no extra support. Hints: 1. Give each article (except delicates) a sharp snap to smooth it out. 2. Your chin can be handy. 3. Pay attention to the order in which you’re pulling clothes from the line, rack, basket, or dryer; this will be the order in which you will stack them on the nearest reasonably-clean surface. Best to start with the biggish things and work down to socks; but leave one good-sized shirt or towel to come after the socks. (Spread on top, it keeps the socks from rolling away while you carry your stack of clean laundry to its next destination.)

There’s a definite cause-and-effect relationship between the stink, and the French wearing something “3-5 times before cleaning it.”

That’s a crock. What, the sun will magically remove stains? Maybe if you leave the clothes out there for ten years!

Great article by the way!

But one thing I might mention is that Americans tend to over-wash their clothes, and as a result, there clothes wear out quicker.
I had read a book on French clothing styles, and it said that the French think Americans tend to wash/clean a garment after wearing it only one time, where as a French person might wear it 3 or 5 times before cleaning it. (The more often you wash/dry it, the quicker the fabric breaks down and gets that ‘worn out faded look’ to it. Where do you think all that dryer lint comes from? it is from breaking down the fabric bit by bit.)

So, my suggestion, if the garment is not soiled or not coated in a heavy sweat - then after taking it off, just put it on a hanger on your shower rack overnight so it can ‘air out’, and then the next morning put it in your closet again. Wear it 3 or 5 times, before putting it into the wash.
This will save resources and time for you.

At my 2-person house we have a large wardrobe with a pull-out laundry basket containing 2 separate bags. This is a good way to separate our laundry as we toss it in without taking up a lot of space.

When I moved to an apartment in LA, it was the first time that I’d
ever lived somewhere without a washer/dryer. So I started going to the
laundromat and it was fine–I’d bring some reading and it forced me to
be organized about the whole thing.

I was resistant to the idea of fluff’n'fold (having the laundromat
wash/dry/fold my laundry for me) because it seemed like a needless luxury.
But when I ran out of time one week I had to give in and I’ve never done
laundry myself ever again. At the time it cost about 40% more than
the cost of the quarters to wash/dry the same laundry myself, but the
detergent is included and there’s the value of my time. Plus, my local
laundromat does an infinitely better job than I do and the clothes come
back neatly folded and ready to go in the drawer.

Viva fluff’n'fold!

Dan

Most of the streamlining tips make perfect sense, but others are completely counter-intuitive for those who have to pay and keep watch while their laundry is being done.

Yeah. I could probably get rid of some clothes…

And I’m sticking with the “uber-rad.” Mos def.