My wife K. and I started talking about how to lean up our home and what we can do to make our lives easier.
We made a list of things we wanted to simplify in our lives and the laundry came up high on the list.
We brainstormed about what we disliked most about the laundry. Tops on the list were:
- Clothes overflow in the laundry bin and clutter our room (Excess Inventory)
- We are always looking for specific items that need to be washed right away (Expediting Orders)
- Sorting darks from lights (Re-work)
- An entire day is usually dedicated to laundry (Large production runs)
- K does most of the laundry (Un-even work load)
What we changed to make it easier:
We divided the bin into 2 sides "Lights and Darks". Each side is the equivalent of a single load of laundry.
BEFORE LEAN AFTER LEAN
Rules:
Dirty clothes are immediately sorted into the bin and not piled or put on the floor.
When the bin is full, the person adding the last bit of laundry is in charge of taking it downstairs and running the load.
Results:
We no longer find laundry to be a chore and it's now routine. We have more time because we aren't loosing an entire day to laundry and we are both happier.
If you like this Lean for the Home tip you should check out: Loading the Dishwasher using Lean
