The Laundry Room in Fall: Why Autumn Makes Laundry Feel More Difficult

As the weather turns cooler, do you notice that laundry day feels a bit more involved? Trust us, it’s not just you: Laundry definitely becomes more of a chore when autumn rolls around, and it seems to happen as gradually as the changing of the temperature. There are a few factors that contribute to this phenomenon, so we’re here to validate your suspicions with four major reasons that, yes, it is more of a task to do the laundry in fall!

Thicker Materials

In balmy weather, virtually everything you wear and sleep on is light and thin. Cotton t-shirts, linen pants, chambray blouses, bamboo bed sheets – summer stuff in general is incredibly easy to fit into the washer and super-quick to dry. Cooler weather, on the other hand, means thick sweaters, long pants, fleece athleisure, and flannel sheets. You’re fitting fewer pieces per wash, plus the thick fabric takes much longer to dry.

More Layers

Not only are autumn clothes thicker, but there are just more of them! An outfit on a humid summer day can consist of nothing more than a tank top and shorts, while an autumn outfit can be a shirt, long pants, socks, plus a top layer like a sweater or sweatshirt. The cooler the weather, the more layers you’ll be using.

Larger Pieces

A pair of shorts takes up less space in your washer than a pair of jeans. A tank top takes up less space than a sweatshirt. Summer clothes are smaller, which means you can fit more per load than non-summer clothes. It also means they dry more quickly, which is a perfect segue to the next point:

Dwindling Daylight

Hot summer weather certainly has some drawbacks, but the air-drying conditions for laundry are not among them! Sunny weather, high temperatures, and long daylight hours mean quick and easy outdoor clothes-drying if you’ve got a laundry rack or a clothesline. These quick-drying conditions combined with smaller and lighter wardrobe pieces makes summertime the best time to do laundry. When the weather turns to autumn, however, it’s the dryer or nothing. Outdoor drying won’t be nearly as quick or efficient, and in winter it’s just not an option. What’s more, the encroaching darkness can take its toll on your energy levels in general, making you less enthused about tackling chores or doing anything that involves getting off the couch.

So, what’s to be done about the increasing friction between you and a clean load of laundry once the equinox passes? Well, you can’t control the weather, and you certainly can’t control the hours of daylight. You can, however, keep this article’s info in the back of your mind and take it into account whenever a laundry day seems to be more arduous than usual. There’s no magical fix-all for how to do laundry more quickly in autumn, but being mindful of seasonal laundry fluctuations is the first step in being prepared to deal with them, so give yourself a little laundry grace as the seasons change!