Routines!  Routines!  Routines!  Just as the thrice-repeated “location” is the guiding principle for real estate, so “routines, routines, routines” is the guiding principle for living with ADD.  When you see routines as your friend, you will discover a way out of the ADD chaos that you never dreamed possible.  And reducing your mountains of laundry to manageable mole hills is the perfect opportunity to establish a routine.  Here’s how. 

1. Have a laundry day.  Do laundry the same day (or evening) in the same way every week.  Busy families with several children may need two laundry days per week.  Schedule around sports or other activities that require more frequent laundry. 
2. Underwear!  Everyone in the family should have enough underwear to get from one laundry day to the next. 
3. Reward kids’ good laundry habits.  See Reward Systems.
1. Put clothes in the laundry basket
2. Turn shirts, etc. right side out
3. Uniforms (school, sports) into laundry basket
4. Fold and distribute clean clothes
5. Put away one’s own clothes
4. When using your own machines.  If you are fortunate enough to have your own washer and dryer, view Laundry Day as an opportunity to catch up on small projects.   Doing the laundry itself really only requires a few minutes to sort, a few minutes to load machines, and a few minutes per load to fold and put away.  Thus, much of the time is freed up for other tasks because the machines work by themselves!   So start thinking of Laundry Day as Catch Up Day!  You will soon have a whole different outlook. 
1. Always use an additional timer than cannot be ignored even if your machines have timers. 
2. While the machine is doing the hard work, do time-limited tasks that are less likely to pull you into hyperfocusing.  Most machines take 30 to 45 minutes.  During that time you can do tasks such as the following:

1. Fold and put away a previous load
2. Play a game with your child
3. Tidy a room
4. Organize a kitchen drawer or cupboard (see Clutter Busters:  The Kitchen)
5. Do hand washables
6. Schedule appointments or other phone calls 
7. Supervise a child’s homework
8. Pay bills

3. Fold every load as soon as it comes out of the dryer.  This takes less than five minutes and can save lots of ironing.  Enlist the kids to do the folding.    
4. Do NOT get on the computer unless you have an excellent track record of being able to stop!!

Using a Laundromat:

1. Sort laundry at home.
2. Use a separate bag for each load (pillow cases will do).
3. Budget your time at the laundromat:  a 45-minute task while washing and a 45-minute task while drying (e.g., paying bills; making phone calls; catching up on reading).
4. Don’t leave the laundromat until the laundry is washed, dried, and folded or hung.  You may forget to come back!

If you can put off doing your laundry for more than two weeks, consider the possibility that you have too many clothes.  You can reduce that mountain of laundry by reducing the number of garments that get dirty in the first place!  We will look at some strategies for getting rid of excess clothes when we tackle the organization of closets – coming soon.