A laundry pro shows how to sort washing baskets by frequency: and save loads of time

Most of us sort by colours, fabrics, or vague good intentions. A laundry pro I met flips the script: she sorts by how often things need washing. It sounds tiny, but it turns chaos into rhythm—and shaves minutes off every wash day.

The utility room smelled faintly of citrus and warm cotton, and the first thing I noticed wasn’t the machines—it was the baskets. Four of them, plain and stackable, each with a handwritten label: Daily, Every 3 Days, Weekly, Fortnightly. Socks and gym tops fell into one, tea towels and school polos into another, bedding had its own orbit. She moved with a practised calm, no dithering, no piles on the floor. The laundry didn’t look like a battle. It looked like a flow. She calls it frequency sorting.

Why frequency beats colour in a real-life week

Colour sorting works in theory, until Tuesday evening lands like wet towels on your plans. By Wednesday, you’ve got darks, lights, and “I’ll deal with it later” sitting in stalemate because none of them are a full load. Frequency sorting sidesteps the deadlock. The basket that fills first goes first. It’s a simple rule that maps to real life: gym kit and tea towels build up fast; knitwear and delicate blouses don’t. **Frequency first, colour second** becomes the quiet logic that keeps the drum turning and your head clear.

Here’s the picture: a family of four with football on Saturdays, swimming on Thursdays, a toddler who treats yoghurt like paint, and a dog who treats the sofa like a field. Their Daily basket—kitchen cloths, bibs, gym gear—hits a full load every other evening. Weekly—jeans, sweatshirts—fills by Sunday. Bedding stacks to fortnightly. No half-loads, no “emergency” spins at 10pm. The father told me they cut their wash-day window by 40 minutes per week just by not re-sorting piles. Across Britain, households run about four to five loads a week; with kids, that easily climbs. A rhythm helps more than a colour wheel.

There’s a simple economics at play. You reduce touch-time—the number of times you handle the same item—by deciding once at the basket. You reduce decision fatigue because “what goes next” is already visible: the fullest frequency wins. And you reduce energy waste because you’re rarely tempted to fire up a half-empty drum. Think of each basket like a mini kanban board: items move from “incoming” to “wash-ready” based on how quickly they accumulate, not on an abstract rule. The system reads your life, and adapts to it. The week gets a little quieter.

Set up your frequency-first baskets

Start with four containers you actually like to use: Daily, Every 3 Days, Weekly, and Specials. Daily catches tea towels, underwear, gym kit, school shirts—the things that get sweaty or greasy. Every 3 Days is for everyday tops and darks that seem to multiply. Weekly is jeans, jumpers, bath towels. Specials is delicates, wool, silk, or anything that needs a separate cycle. If space is tight, go vertical with stackable crates, or hang soft hampers on hooks. Colour-code your labels, and tuck a mesh bag inside Specials for lingerie and socks. Keep stain spray on a hook by the baskets so treatment happens at drop-off, not at the machine door.

Don’t overthink temperatures on the fly. Let the basket decide the routine. Daily tends to run warm or hot for hygiene, Every 3 Days on a short 30–40°C, Weekly on a standard 40°C, Specials on wool or delicate. If you air-dry, park a foldable rack nearby so the loop finishes fast. Common trip-ups? Mixing kitchen cloths with underwear, letting microfibre grab fluff from cottons, cramming a drum “to get it over with”. We’ve all had that moment where you chase speed and end up rewashing. *It’s okay. Real habits settle in a week or two.*

The pro who taught me this swears by a “no sort on wash day” rule, and it frees your head at 9pm on a Thursday. Let’s be honest: nobody really does that every day. You decide once, at the basket, and the rest is automatic. The machine becomes a checkpoint, not a puzzle.

“Stop sorting on wash day. Sort at the basket, by how fast things get dirty. You’ll run fuller loads, fewer times, with fewer mistakes—and you’ll hate laundry a lot less.”

• Label four baskets: Daily, Every 3 Days, Weekly, Specials
• Keep a stain stick and mesh bag at the drop-off point
• Run the fullest basket next—no exceptions
• Heat Daily; keep Specials separate; air-dry delicates
• Review labels each season and adjust the mix

When life gets messy, the system bends—not you

Some weeks spill over. A stomach bug hits. The dog finds a puddle. Guests stay an extra night and the linen doubles. Frequency sorting flexes with that. Your Daily will balloon and your Weekly will wait. That’s the magic: the system adapts to input, not the other way round. You don’t argue with a colour wheel; you respond to what’s full. **Stop sorting on wash day** becomes a tiny act of kindness to your future self. The baskets tell you a story about your week, and you simply keep the story moving. *It feels oddly freeing.* Share it with a housemate, a teenager, a partner, and watch how quickly the rhythm becomes normal. The payoff is time you get back without thinking.

FAQ :

• Do I still need to separate colours?You can, but do it inside the frequency logic. For example, Daily lights and Daily darks on alternate days. If a basket is mixed, wash on 30–40°C with a colour catcher.
• What if I live alone and don’t fill baskets fast?Use three smaller bags and shrink the windows: Quick (2–3 days), Standard (weekly), Specials. Combine like fabrics to reach a full load without running the machine half-empty.
• How do I handle whites and school shirts?Give whites their own corner of Daily. Hotter cycle, oxygen bleach if needed. Keep tea towels and underwear apart from shirts to avoid greying and cross-contamination.
• My gym kit smells even after washing—help?Rinse or air-dry sweaty items before they hit the basket, then wash the Daily load within 48 hours. Add a sports detergent or a scoop of bicarbonate of soda for odour control.
• What about pet bedding and baby clothes?Pet bedding gets its own bag inside Weekly or a separate “Pet” basket and a hot cycle. Baby clothes can live in Daily with a gentle detergent; use a mesh bag for tiny socks and mittens.