Quick Tip: Have A Separate Laundry Basket for Stinky, Sweaty Clothes

For the first week we lived together after we got married, my wife and I only had one laundry basket, where we deposited everything dirty. Lightly used shirts with an unfortunate stain co-mingled with sweat-drenched workout clothes and towels.

At the end of the week, when I started to do the laundry, I was confronted by a large mass of stinky clothes that was damp throughout. The heavily used sports laundry had contaminated the other dirty, yet dry, clothes.

After powering through that first batch of laundry, I promptly went out and bought another basket to hold our sweaty sports laundry.

There are a couple advantages to the two-basket system. First, it keeps the wet clothes wet and the dry clothes dry. I find this keeps the smell down, too. Second, when the sports laundry basket is full, I simply toss its contents into the washing machine. No sorting – or even touching – is required.