Clean Sweep: Brisbane mum reveals insanely easy laundry hack
A Brisbane mum who hated doing laundry has managed to cut her time on the chore in half — and it involves no baskets or washing lines.
Welcome to Clean Sweep, news.com.au’s home organisation series featuring exclusive advice on how to declutter your home direct from Aussies who have spruced their way to success.
For most of us, laundry ends up being the most time-consuming — and dreaded — part of housework.
Busy mums and dads can easily clock up the hours every week hanging clothes, bringing them back inside, folding them before (finally) putting them away.
But not Brisbane mum Leanne Neiland, who has managed to cut down the laundry time for her family of four from “in excess of two to three hours” to just one hour a week.
“I love cleaning but I don’t love washing, and being a mum of two kids we have a lot of washing,” Ms Neiland told news.com.au.
“I’ve cut out the step of hanging it on the clothes line.”
The 38-year-old, who shares her best tips for non-toxic cleaning and housework on her Instagram page @raw_homemade, recently revealed her simple secret to making laundry so easy it will soon become your favourite task.
RELATED: Woman’s simple $6 Kmart pantry hack that went viral
RELATED: The linen press that turned this mum into an influencer
HOW IT WORKS
With Ms Neiland’s method, you can throw out your laundry baskets and forget about the clothes line.
Instead, you’ll need to buy a clothes rail on wheels and different coloured clothes hangers for each member of the family.
“My husband and I both have black, my son has a blue one and my daughter has pink,” she explained.
Instead, Ms Neiland takes clothes out of the washing and hangs everything except underwear straight onto hangers and puts them onto the clothes rail.
If it’s winter she keeps the rail inside, but if it’s a sunny day Ms Neiland will wheel it outside.
Once dry, all she has to do is wheel the rail down her hallway and each family member can take their clothes off and put them straight in their wardrobes.
“The family gets involved because their clothes are physically there so it’s not always me having to, they can do it themselves,” Ms Neiland said.
Putting clothes away in their household is also easy, with almost every clothing item on hangers allowing for crinkle-free and easy access to outfits.
‘Everything in our house is hung up. The only thing we don’t hang up is undies and swimmers and socks. Everything else gets hung up so it’s easy to put away. I don’t have to fold it,” Ms Neiland said.
RELATED: Mum spends $120 on Kmart wardrobe makeover
RELATED: Woman’s simple $2.80 kitchen sink storage fix
“I enjoy having everything hung up because it doesn’t get crinkled. I found that when I had washing baskets it would sit there for days and be all crinkled.”
Ms Neiland’s method also means she barely has to iron anything anymore, and oh, did we mention how long it took her to do laundry now?
“I probably only spend 10 minutes a day on washing and I do it everyday,” she said. “Say an hour a week on washing of or a family of four, and my husband goes to the gym everyday so he’s got work clothes and gym clothes.”
Since sharing it in a video on Instagram Ms Neiland’s laundry method has been praised by her followers who have labelled it a “great time saver”.
“This is a game changer,” another commenter added. “No baskets of clean clothes that need folding.”
“This post changed my life lol. I went straight to Big W this morning after I dropped kids off and bought a rack. Thank you for sharing this!” Another follower wrote.
RELATED: Mum’s housework schedule keeps her home neat and tidy
RELATED: Everyone is copying this mum’s super-organised fridge
FIVE A DAY KEEPS THE MESS AT BAY
Ms Neiland also swears by completing five non-negotiable household tasks everyday — a result of growing up in a “ridiculously clean family”, she said.
The simple yet effective tasks include:
1. Making all beds every morning
2. Unloading the dishwasher every morning
3. Vacuuming the kitchen and one other room
4. Wiping down the kitchen benches and including the bathroom benches every third or fourth day
5. Doing one laundry-related task every day, whether it be putting on a wash or putting away dry clothes
Sticking to this and delegating different tasks to each family member means a busy family home never becomes unmanageable.
“I find the days I’m working I still do my tasks, I’m able to keep on top of things so they don’t become a massive effort and become overwhelming,” Ms Neiland said.
“You don’t have piles of dishes sitting in the sink or loads of washing piling up. It’s just tackling little tasks everyday to make life a whole lot easier.”
Got a good home organisation or cleaning story to share? Email Clean Sweep at hannah.paine1@news.com.au
‘Perfect’: $1500 item found at Kmart for $27
A popular product that is 57 times cheaper than the most expensive version has landed once again at a budget department store.
Aussie kitchen item banned from January 1
Australians will no longer be able to import this everyday kitchen item into the country from January 1, 2025 after the government announced it was banned.
‘Add to cart’: $8 Big W item shoppers love
An $8 item from one of Australia’s department stores has been described as the “ultimate find”, with many others expressing an eagerness to get their hands on them.