Simplify Your Home by Batching

Running a household requires a great deal of time and organization. Thus, simplification is always top of mind for me. Here are suggestions to simplify your home by consolidating and batching. 

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Ways To Simplify Your Home

1 // Don’t Mix Laundry Loads

You guys know I am anti-folding laundry. My goal is always to wash it and put it away as fast as humanly possible!!

In my opinion, the worst part of folding is the sorting.

Imagine a pile of towels: one category. You could probably fold them all in less than one minute. There is nothing more daunting than a mountain of laundry that needs folding in 26 different categories.

So I make my goal to sort as little as possible by not mixing members of our household. Sometimes I do mix if I have two small loads, but my goal is not to mix. 

Our laundry schedule

Thomas is on his own laundry schedule because he loves it (he gets it from his mom!). We try to wash each of the boys’ clothes about once a week. While as a family we don’t have a laundry schedule per se, we do about 4-5 loads per week – one for each person and one for sheets and towels.

I would much rather put away one small load in 5 minutes a day than mentally have to take the time to sit and sort (sometimes fold) a HUGE load of 4 different sizes of clothing. 

Batching our laundry saves so much time sorting the tiny socks from the big socks!

2 // Batching packages

As convenient as the mail is, I hate getting packages because of the cardboard and materials that come along. For a while package frequency had increased because I have avoided in-person stores throughout the pandemic. I felt like I was recycling packaging every day.

I have started to be a lot more thoughtful about my package cadence and batching things as much as possible. I’ll let something sit in my Amazon cart now for 2 weeks until I have a few other things to order just to avoid multiple boxes. (And it bugs me so much when they still all come separately!) They also have an Amazon Day option that batches automatically for you!

While packages in the mail will always be a thing (until they dissolve on the spot or are picked back up and reused – that would be awesome!), ordering smarter has saved both time and waste. 

3 // Consolidate your shopping from many stores to one

This was a huge lightbulb moment for me when I became a Beautycounter consultant. In the past I bought beauty products from who knows how many different stores. That meant an increase in receipts, reorders, shipping boxes (see above!), and reminders. I felt like I was always running out of one thing right after replenishing another. 

Consolidating (almost) all of my beauty supplies to one store has simplified and streamlined this process. One brand, one order, every few months. I definitely stock up a bit and use a first-in-first-out method on my extras so I never run out between orders. 

Want tips on how to organize all your receipts? Watch my class on organizing your digital clutter here. 

4 // Get on a household supplies schedule

I started using Who Gives A Crap toilet paper and paper towels after working with them on a post two years ago. I used to run out of TP all the time and felt like I was always buying a 12- or 24-pack. When I started using WGAP, I got myself on a toilet paper schedule!

Now that I know how much we need, we order twice a year and don’t have to think about it again! I keep extras in a big basket on the top shelf of our middle floor bathroom and disperse the rest to the vanities so it’s there when you need it. I know when the big basket is getting low it’s time to re-order. 

While I do wish I could roll into a WGAC store and pick up a box of 48 rolls myself (see point #2), the simplicity of 2 orders a year of 50 rolls is much better than 8 orders of 12 or 4 orders of 24.

TIP: Under-the-bed storage containers are perfect for storing extra rolls of TP and paper towels.

5 // Batch your food shopping and meals

A long time ago I decided that my time was worth more than the savings I could get from a coupon. While occasionally I do go to multiple grocery stores, our weekly trip is just to ONE store. We pick up staples at Whole Foods, and then we usually use Blue Apron or Plenty Cville for our dinners. Even within those services, and whenever we cook from our own meal plan, I have started ordering 4 servings with the goal of “cook once, eat twice.” 

I’ve always been good at stretching leftovers, but I used to have them for lunch a lot of the time. This year I’ve realized that I get more value out of leftovers if we eat them for dinner.

It’s easier for me to whip up a little lunch for myself without dirtying frying pans or splattering the stove. But dinners almost always involve those things! The cook once, eat twice mindset has really streamlined our family dinners and saved us so much time! Sometimes we do bring kid food into the equation because we have picky eaters AND it helps us stretch the adult portions to two nights.

Making 4-5 portions each time we cook means we only have to plan half as many different recipes and cook half as many nights. Win-win!

What are ways you batch or consolidate your household chores or purchases?