As an organizer with thousands of people viewing my content daily, I get a lot of questions. Today I got asked why we fold clothes? While it is a basic question, it is a good one.
For most garments, there are three main reasons to fold them: it keeps them from creasing, it saves space in your drawers, and it lets us neatly organize our clothes so it is easy to pull out the ones we need.
I am sure for many of you, folding can feel like a boring chore. So I have decided to show you some better ways to think of laundry, and some fun ways to fold your clothes in the rest of this article.
Why People Hate Folding Clothes
Most people look at folding clothes as a boring chore that there is no way of avoiding. Not only is it unavoidable for most, but it can also be incredibly repetitive, and for most, there is very little to master after you have folded clothes a few times.
To make matters worse, for many, folding is often a task that gets put off for later. Not only is this demotivating, but it will also lead to the clothes creasing up if they lay in a large pile in your laundry basket.
How to Make Folding Clothes Fun
So I’ve been pondering this since I started my organizing YouTube channel a year and a half ago. I am going to give you some good tips on making folding clothes more fun.
1. Listen to an audiobook, podcast, music, or watch your favorite sitcom on Netflix
This will take the restlessness out of folding laundry, and make it more enjoyable for you to do. In addition to this, you can also learn a lot if you find something informative to entertain you. Personally, I listen to organizing audiobooks while doing laundry.
I recommend Audible for audiobooks (Amazon paid link). They give you a credit to buy an audiobook a month which is a perfect amount for me personally. If you use the link, you can get an audiobook for free.
2. Do laundry more often so you don’t get overhwelmed
This advice may sound crazy, but let me explain. If you do laundry every week instead of every other week, you will only spend half the amount of time on laundry each week. This small chunk of time dedicated to folding clothes is a lot more manageable for most.
3. Make it part of your routine
Piggybacking off the previous tip here. If you split laundry day into smaller batches, you can make it a weekly or biweekly thing instead of a random monthly nightmare. Doing this will require a lot more willpower on your end the first month, but after you get the routine going, it will be easier and easier. After a while, it won’t feel like a chore anymore. Especially if you incorporate the other tips I am sharing with you as well.
4. Make folding more challenging
This is what makes laundry fun for me. Instead of just folding all my clothes in half twice, I started experimenting with ranger rolls, file-folding, and quick folds. This added some much-needed mastery and excitement to folding clothes.
You can check out this entire website for more folding guides, here’s one for shorts for example. My YouTube channel Small Space Organizing also has a BUNCH of folding clothes tutorials if you prefer video.
I recommend starting by learning how to file-fold all your clothes, as that is a good place to start practicing. If you’re ready to jump into the deep end of the pool I also have an entire Folding Clothes to Save Space Course that you can check out to learn the best ways to fold clothes. Some of them are a bit more tricky than file-folding though.
5. Build discipline with folding clothes
This one goes hand in hand with tip 3. If you set a dedicated time to fold your clothes and follow up on your goal every week, it will start to build your discipline. You can apply this to many other areas of your life as well as you start to get a stronger will.
Is Folding Clothes a Waste of Time?
The way we see something in our heads can often lead to reality ending up like that as well. So instead of thinking of folding clothes as a waste of your time and a boring chore, I want you to think of it as a way to keep your clothes neat, build your own discipline, and learn new skills:
Folding clothes is not a waste of time. It keeps your clothes from getting wrinkly, it saves space in your drawer, and it keeps them neat and organized. If you spend your time wisely while folding clothes, you can learn new skills through audiobooks, podcasts, and videos. Routinely folding clothes will also build your discipline over time.
If you enjoyed this article you can check out how to fold shorts next. Or if you want some company while folding laundry, check out this video from my YouTube channel.
I’m an expert wardrobe organizer and a bit of a clean freak. I created this website and its YouTube channel to share practical guides about laundry and organizing. My teachings have been featured in multiple large news publications, and I’ve self-published two wardrobe organizing books and an entire course on the subject.
