Hi, I am Leah from Simple.Home.Blessings. and I am one of the new amazing contributors here at Ask Anna. And no, I am not the aforementioned genius, but I do have a genius tip for you today, one that will hopefully make laundry time a lot easier. I write about all sorts of things related to homemaking over on my blog. I am all about attempting to solve the problems of everyday life around the home with simple tips. Sometimes the homemaking is more difficult with little ones running around underfoot, causing us to have to think on our toes to stay sane. So, Anna has asked me to write about keeping home with kids. Today’s tip is not necessarily kid specific, but will work for kids and their clothes. Let’s get to it!
Laundry. Laundry. Laundry! It is the bane of many a homemaker’s existence and only gets worse with each child you add to the household. And I hear it all the time (and think to myself most days): “I don’t mind doing the laundry, it is the putting away that I don’t want to do!” I hear ya, sisters!
So I have a simple tip to teach you how to hang clothes and make putting away your laundry a breeze. You could even teach your children to do it and encourage them race to see who can get their laundry hung the fastest. It really is that simple!
I learned this trick a long time ago when I worked at a retail store notorious for delivering product to the sales floor thirty minutes before shift change and expecting the staff to have it put away before they left for the day. The girl who trained me taught me this trick and I don’t know where she learned it, but it is GENIUS (thanks Jackie, where ever you are)!
Here is what you do:
Take your shirts (polo, t-shirt, dress, etc.) and put your arm through the neck of the shirt and extend your hand down to the bottom of the shirt (like you are threading a needle, and your arm is the needle). Repeat until you have an armload of shirts. Take your hanger (helps to have all hangers facing the same way) in the free arm/hand and place the top of the hanger (the loop part) into the hand of the arm with all the shirts on it. Pull the first shirt over the hanger all the way to the neck of the shirt.
If you have a sleeveless top, you will want to thread it over your arm through the arm holes (like you are carrying a purse), and then take the side of the hanger and pull it through the arm holes, pulling one shoulder over the loop of the hanger. Just make sure you follow my mom’s advice and “hold your mouth right.”
I know we all have different learning styles, so I made a video for the visual learners!
Don’t you just love this simple tip? Happy laundry days with clothes hung in the closet instead of crumpled in the laundry basket sound good to me!
Leah
So, any tips for button down dress shirts? 🙂
Laura, I don’t really have a tip for dress shirts because once you have ironed them (something I avoid doing for as long as possible), it is easy to hang them up and fasten the first couple of buttons.
Another tip for people who have a lot of clothes: People tend to wear the same things over and over and many items in a closet are overlooked. All hangars should face the same way, as you said. However, after wearing and laundering they should face the other way. You’re more apt to look past the most accessible clothes in your closet. Working left to right, if an article of clothing remains in the closet too long it makes it easy to identify and give that article away. I imagine different colored hangers could be worked into this scenario.
AWESOME!!! I am going to try this new way of hanging up shirts on my next load of laundry.
AWESOME TIP! Now my clothes has a fighting chance of being hung up!! Thank you for sharing.
Awesome! Thanks for the video, I’m such a visual learner. I have a ton of clothes to put away today, just the encouragement I needed!
Wow! That is genius! Thanks for sharing.
Gah! This post came a day too late – I reorganized my entire closet yesterday and didn’t use the “genius” method! LOL Thanks for sharing and great job on the vlog!
I have noticed a young man doing this at the laundry mat the other weekend. How sweet. I will have to try this today. Thanks.
Love the tip! Anything to make laundry go faster! It’s like stopping to pump gas or go to the post office for me….dreaded! Maybe I won’t “fluff” 3-4 times anymore!
Thanks for sharing!!
This made me want to cry. I love it so much! Thank you for the video especially!
I am so glad you like the tutorial. I feel so awkward on video, but I think it is one of those things you need to watch in order to “get it.”
This is very helpful. Hanging clothes is my least favorite chore. Thank you for sharing and I liked that your baby was making noises in the background. It’s real life ya’ll!
Love~~Love~~Love this!! Where were you 40 years ago when I had tons of laundry to hang up? Getting older is, indeed, getting better and you can teach an old dog new tricks. Please excuse the tired, but still true, expressions…they just seemed to fit. I plan on sharing this with my “younger” generation of children and grandchildren.. So glad I stumbled across you, and I plan to be a dedicated reader. I love the fact that you did keep it real by having a child in the back ground instead of trying to cover it up. Great job and please keep the ideas coming!
Awesome tip, thanks! Although, wouldn’t your arm be the thread, and the arm and neck holes of the shirts be the eyes of the needle? 😉 I understand what you meant though!
BRILLIANT! Never would’ve thought of such and I’ve been doing laundry at least 30yrs. Was one of my chores as a child. Just wish I would have known about this back then and the chore wouldn’t have seemed so much like a chore. The little capitalist might have received more allowance too hmmm….. I choose laundry over any other chore that’s for sure. Thought I’d learned every trick there was to getting laundry done efficiently too. Just proves there’s more than 1 way to skin a cat and you can teach an old dog new tricks! 😉 THANK YOU for sharing your wisdom
This is awesome!
I’ve never hung T-Shirts or tanks. Ever. I fold them, and done with it.
That being said.. this is a brilliant idea for those who do hang those items! Thanks for the great tip!
I used to work in a clothing store and when shipments would come in we did this move to hang the items. It worked GREAT!
thank you so much!!!!
I like the tip…. but one thing is driving me crazy! …… I happen to be OCD. … Your arm isn’t the needle it would be the thread and the cloths would be the needle…… you put your arm thru the clothes, like you put thread thru a needle. ….. Have a great day and God bless