My Favorite Items That Make Laundry Day Less Miserable

I hate doing the laundry, which is why I usually send mine out with a service to avoid it altogether. Sometimes, that's just not possible, though, and I find myself with the boring task of washing and folding a ton of clothes. I don't believe in needless suffering, so I've invested some time and money into making this neverending task less tedious and miserable. Here are some products that help make your laundry day more efficient.

Rethink your hamper

I've talked about this before, but you need a hamper upgrade. You need one with wheels (or at least a shoulder strap of some kind) so you can take the laundry to the machine with ease, whether it's in another room or down the street at a laundromat. Ideally, you should also get one with sections, so you can sort by color, family member, or type of clothing. Overall, look for something like this:

Get tools to help with the job

Keeping your clothes in order and getting them to the machine easily is just the first step toward doing the laundry more efficiently. What you use while actually washing the clothes is also important. My first recommendation is the SockDock, which I've had for about two years and has completely cut out the stress of matching my socks up after a wash.

It's really basic: It's a stretchy cord on a foot-shaped hook that has dividers along it. I keep mine by the hamper and put each pair of socks I take off right into one of the spaces along the cord. The entire device gets popped in the wash and the socks stay stuck together while they're in there, so when you pull it out, they're already in pairs. The time this saves after each wash is significant.

There are other ways to keep your socks in order while you wash, like individual sock clips ($17.90 for 20) or mesh bags ($19.79 for four bags with seven compartments each). I prefer the SockDock because it's not fussy; I just clip the socks to it and I'm done without having to zip a bunch of compartments. Still, the mesh bags are handy for a variety of things including and beyond socks, like intimates, headbands, sleep masks, bonnets, scrunchies, or any other small fabric items you need to wash.

Speaking of mesh bags, consider this one that's specially designed for shoes. Washing shoes can be stressful because they bang around in the machine, which is noisy and can be damaging to both your footwear and your appliances. Use this bag instead, since it attaches to the inside of the washer's door, stopping the shoes from getting tossed around in there.

Another option is these really fluffy bags that keep the shoes and washing machine safe by surrounding them in padding ($29.99). With these, the shoes still fly around in there, but it won't hurt your machine. And while you're at it, pick up this special cage to wash baseball caps ($9.99). It's shaped just like a hat, so it helps them keep their shape while they're tumbling through the machines. I've been using these since I was a kid and the design hasn't changed much in 30 years, but that's just because when something isn't broken, you don't need to fix it.

I also recommend getting a hanger stacker and keeping it in your closet. When you remove something to wear, put the hanger on the stacker instead of leaving it in the closet. Then, when laundry day rolls around, take the stack into the laundry room so you can hang everything as soon as it comes out of the dryer instead of hauling it back to the closet, pulling each hanger out individually, then putting it back in. You'll save time and deal with fewer wrinkles. A two-pack is just $13.88.

Finally, if you've been on the fence about getting a folding board, I say just do it. Folding clothes is one of the most boring parts of doing the laundry, if not the most boring. Even if you're really good at it, it's repetitive and time consuming. Just set your clothes on the hinged board, fold the sides a few times, and marvel at how quickly you get a stack of shirts or pants that are all uniformly-sized and ready to stack in your drawer.