How To Do Laundry With One Hand

Laundry, what a time-consuming chore. Don't you think? You spend hours upon hours sorting the clothing into piles, putting a pile into the washer, cycling it, and putting it away. It's practically an all-day chore, sometimes two if you don't do laundry every week. Everyone has to do it but what is the easiest and most effective way for people with disabilities to do their laundry? Let's find out.

Sorting Laundry

To be honest, I don't do laundry very often. I am one of those people that can go two or three weeks before I run out of clean clothes to wear. Usually, my mom and dad do the laundry and I help them keep it going throughout the day, but the times that I do laundry on my own I have my own little system in order to get laundry done. As we learn at a young age, at least that is how it was for me, was that the first step to doing laundry is to short it into piles depending on if their colors, jeans, whites, etc. When I do laundry I like to start with my colors, because it is normally my biggest load of laundry, and that way I know that I have something to wear if I don't finish all my laundry that same day. The best way I found to sort your laundry especially if you have a lot is to either have a few different laundry baskets available to put each pile into or grab out everything you would normally put in a load, for example, all of your colored clothing and put everything else back in the basket for now. By doing this, it can help you keep your piles separated and not have piles all over your walking area that you have to step over while tackling your other household chores.

Putting A Load Of Clothes In The Washer

When loading the washer with a pile of clothing, make sure that your load is evenly balanced around the agitator( the middle of the machine) to help protect your washer from vibrating so hard that it moves and prevents you from having to spend a lot of money on repairs.

After I put in my full load of laundry into the washer I found that using Tide Pods is very handy because you can just throw it in on top of your clothing, close the lid, turn the dial to the setting you want, and press start.

Transferring A Load From The Washer To The Dryer

This doesn't really take much to complete. When you hear your washer go off, check the dryer to make sure nothing is in there. take the clothing from the washer and put them in the dryer. Once all of your clothing is in the dryer check the lent trap and clean it out after each load to help your clothing get dry the first time. Next, you will want to put in a dryer sheet. Finally, you will put the dryer on the setting you want and press start.

Hanging And Folding Your Clothing

You sorted, you washed, you dried, now it's time for the fun part.

Folding Your Clothes

This can be a little challenging at first, but luckily there are a few different ways to fold your clothing with one hand.

1. Shirt Folder products
2. Alyssa-bility Way

Shirt Folder Products
I knew these were a thing, but I didn't realize how cool and fast these are to use when doing your laundry. It looks super simple to use and it would be a fun way to fold your shirts perfectly while getting your laundry done.

                  Shirt Folder by Wardy00712

Alyssa-bility Way

For me, folding my clothing is more than just a chore; it's fun because I get to practice and improve on a new skill. When I fold my clothing the biggest tool I use is my bed.

Folding Shirts

1. I start by laying the shirt out on the bed where there are no wrinkles the best you can
2. Next, I pull the right side of the shirt to the center.
3. Then, I pull the left side to the center to were it touches the right side.
4. Finally, I pull the bottom of the shirt up to the top to line up with the collar

Folding Your Pants

1. Start by laying a pair of pants out on the bed where there are no wrinkles the best you can
2. Pull-on one side of the waistband and fold it over to line it up with the other leg
3. Grab ahold of both of the bottom legs and fold the bottom of the pair of pants up to the waistband

Hanging your clothing

Hanging up your clothing with one hand can be quite simple if you put your mind to it. When doing my laundry I like to use non-slip hangers to help keep my shirts and jackets on the hanger. Much like I do with folding my closing I start by laying my shirt out flat on the bed. From there I place the hanger overtop of the shirt where the ends of the hanger line up with the collar of the shirt as much as possible. After that, I pulled part of the collar over one end of the hanger and then pull the other side of the collar over the other end of the hanger.

There are many different ways to accomplish a task. Anything is possible when you have an open mind and a little imagination.