A Piece Of Cardboard Will Make Folding Laundry A Breeze - Here's How
Doing laundry may seem like a neverending chore and folding your clothes might be the most tedious part of the process. Fortunately, there happen to be ways to make this kind of housework a little less dreadful.
Per Taste of Home, if you live with family members, then you might want to delegate and divvy up the task. Each person can tackle a load or be responsible for their own clothes. You can also separate the items that need to be folded from the ones that will end up on hangers to make the pile smaller and use mesh bags to keep socks, bras, underwear, and other delicates on their own. That's not to mention putting on a show, movie, or music to distract you while you get down to business.
On top of those ideas, there's a handy-dandy hack that makes folding laundry easier than ever. All you need is a little know-how and a piece of cardboard. Yes, the same cardboard that you might have been about to toss in the recycling bin.
DIY a cardboard laundry folding board
Once you're in the folding zone, you may be able to fly through your laundry. While that may not happen often, TikTok user @michicapitan shared a hack that will make your life — or, at least, doing laundry — a breeze. In their video, you can see someone put pieces of cardboard on a table that are eventually attached together. To get the folding done, they then put a T-shirt in the middle of the cardboard and fold one side in before the other. They then flip the bottom up and voila! A neatly folded shirt.
Although you may have spotted retail workers using pre-made plastic folding boards in a store and you can certainly purchase one if you'd prefer, this is something that you can also make yourself.
First, you'll want to find or cut two rectangular pieces of cardboard measuring approximately 7.9 inches x 23.6 inches (per @michicapitan's instructions). You'll also need two smaller ones (8.7 inches x 11.8 inches). Now, lay all the pieces down together with the bigger ones on the outside and the smaller duo in the middle with one above the other. Use thick tape to stick all of the bits together on one side only and you're done.
The cardboard should be able to easily flip up to fold your shirts. It can do the same for other pieces of clothing as well if you know how to use it.
You can fold pants and skirts with cardboard, too
Once you have all your shirts nicely folded, it's time to do the same with your pants and maybe even a skirt or two. In that case, you can simply follow the tutorial offered by TikTok user @lenniamc, aka Lennia the Folding Queen. Although she uses a pre-made board, you can put your cardboard version to good use.
When it comes to pants, you first want to fold them in half so that one leg is over the other like you normally would. Next, place the item of clothing on the board but be sure that it's both sideways and that the waist is lined up with the far edge. Fold the bottom of the pant legs up before flipping the left side of the board over and then the right. If you want, you can also tuck any protruding bits in. As for a skirt, simply pop it in the center of the board and then proceed to the (almost fun?) flipping action on either side and then upward. If your skirt is a little longer, then you might need an extra fold or two but you should end up with the same tidy result.
Finally, underwear. Well, hopefully, you can figure out how to fold those for yourself. Although if we're talking about itty-bitty thongs, then you might need to make a new board with smaller cardboard pieces.