when I'm doing laundry, I fold them on the folding-clothes counter in the apt. bldg's laundry area.

When DH does laundry, I fold them on the bed (it's actually why I started making the bed--to give myself a worksurface)

When it's kid laundry (which I *always* fold after they're in bed), I try to fold them on the DR table, so I don't have to carry them as far (their bedroom's on the far side of the apt. from us)

And we only have the DR table (no table in our galley kitchen), so I have to put them away pretty quickly.

I used to fold in the LR on the sofa, but I've given up.

I don't tend to leave folded clothes out; putting them away once they're folded makes me feel better, so I don't run the risk of leaving them.

I fold everything as I take it out of the dryer. I thought everyone did. --Kris

Kris, You reminded me that I do know someone who folds right out of the dryer. Certainly reduces wrinkles!

A lot of bending takes its toll on me so the clothes come out in one fell swoop, into a bucket, then carried to where ever they will be folded. Ideally, this would be the top of the W/D or even the small counter in my laundry room -- but -- this room doubles as the cats' room (at night) and it is where there litter is kept (under the slop sink) -- so, folding right out of the dryer is not an option for me.

I think many fold in front of the TV, but I could be wrong.

I have a large laundry room, but I don't work in there. I take the basket to my bedroom and fold on the bed. I can immediately put mine and DH's stuff away and have the kid's piles at the foot of the bed. It's just part of their bedtime routine to go get anything off my bed and put it away. This is the first time I have had the laundry on the same level as the bedrooms and it's really nice. Once in a while the kid's clothing doesn't get put away and we just put it on the fireplace ledge.

I can see when people have to haul it up from a basement that it gets stuck on the couch or someplace. I never liked folding there because I just didn't seem to have enough room for all of my separate piles so I just took it on up to my bedroom. I don't like loading them back into the basket either, so the closer I am to where they need to be put away the quicker it gets done for me.

I've not put a folding are in the laundry room on purpose or it would just be one more place for us to pile stuff. When clothing is done on the bed or the table, it seems easier to get it moved on and put away because you need that surface. The clothing piles all over the sofa are a pretty common sight in some of my friend's homes. More often than not, someone's knocking a pile over before they can get put away.

One thing I always liked about having to use a laundramat was that everything came home, folded, and ready to put away and you were just done for the week.

Gloria

I used to fold everything as I took it out of the dryer but I got sick of standing in the hot laundry room to do it. I now fold in the family room and use the back of the couch (which is in the middle of the room not against the wall so I stand behind it) as my work area. After each basket/dryer load is folded, the clothes are immediately put away.

I will say that everyone one in my family (DH and two sons) does their own laundry. I taught my sons when they were around 12 yo or so, it's a very simple task really, the hardest thing to get through to them is not to overload.

I'm with Kris - fold right out of the dryer. Then it is DONE! Not another pile to shift around....

I have gotten better about folding them right out of the dryer. But I still get sidetracked before I put them away. So there are always dangerously leaning stacks of folded clothes on the dryer. If I had a front-loading washer there would be stacks there, too, no doubt. But this a great improvement from unfolded baskets that only I knew if they were dirty or clean. I am getting there, slowly but surely.

I learned something on Martha Stewart! How to fold t-shirts. I've seen her do it before and wasn't in the mood to learn a new way to do an old chore. But a few weeks ago I really paid attention and thought, ok, I'll try it your way. (She was teaching a guest, the acress who plays Brie on Desperate Housewives, of all people. And I happened have t-shirts that needed folded handy.) It really was easy once I got the hang of it. So now I lay the t-shirts over the dryer door as I unload and fold everything else. Then I lay the neat stack of t-shirts on the washer and in a minute have them all folded "Martha's Way." They look so neat (in their stacks on the dryer). And now I am amazed at how much of my laundry is made up of t-shirts! I almost want to get a job at a clothing store so I can fold t-shirts!

My laundry area is in the basement and I fold on the living room sofa and stack the folded clothes on the seat, back and arms. Then it's back into the basket and upstairs to be put away. I don't mind folding, but I really don't like putting it all away.

Wow. I'm so suprised that so many people have so many clothes that they fold. I hang up everything that can possibly hang! I fold shorts, that's about it.

But I do have to go through it and sort our what belongs to each person, put stuff on hangers, and match up socks. I sit on the couch and do it if there's something on TV to watch. Otherwise I put away laundry from my bed.

- Jena

I know you're supposed to wash whites separately from darks, separate the towels, etc. but I always found it easier to wash each person's laundry separately. This way, there was no separating one person's from the next and things like socks were much easier to match up.

I use my ironing board to fold clothes, like socks, underwear (yes I am OCD), t-shirts, bed sheets and towels. The height is perfect (no sore back), and it all gets done on the same day.

The hanging clothes are hung as soon as they come out of the dryer. Folded clothes like t-shirts are put across the dryer door (so they don't immediately wrinkle) and folded on top of the dryer and then put in laundry baskets by-person & are easy to carry upstairs. Underwear is folded, then socks are matched last.

It all goes really quick.

First I put them on the line by person- eg all my clothes on one section, all DH's on another etc. Then I fold them as they come off the line in their section order. That way when I go inside they are in piles for individuals and they can put them straight away.

I take anything needing ironing off last- so it isn't getting extra wrinkled by other clothes weighing in on top of them.

If I use the drier because it rains, then I grab the lot into a basket and pull out DH's stuff, then mine etc placing them into an empty basket as I go. Usually I fold with the unfolded basket on one lounge seat and the other on another lounge seat so I can catch some TV!

Em

I hang a lot of clothes to dry, and still more go onto hangers right out of the dryer. The rest, I fold on the top of the washing machine and put them away immediately, or they'll sit there forever.

Dining room table in summer when clothes come off the line and we eat on the porch.

Play room floor in winter after the kids have gone to bed so I can watch Sex in the City re-runs :)

Oh God, I'm so sad, I bring them up and fold them in the livingroom in front of the TV!!! Then I bring them to the rooms they go in and put them away!!

Usually on the coffee table in the living room. I toss them into a huge bag straight from the dryer and dump them on the table. It is big and round and dh and dd can both help. We enjoy doing it together.

When I'm alone I fold them right out of the dryer.

Soon I'm getting a back door so I will be able to take my clothes outdoors to hang (currently involves going up one flight of stairs, down another, and around the house.) I'm looking forward to my sun fresh laundry!

I fold my stuff on the bed too.

Don't feel to wierd about it. I don't like to put the clean clothes back into a dirty clothes basket so I just grab everything and walk into the bedroom and plop it down. Luckily upstairs laundry rm.

I haul it upstairs in front of the tv, dump it out on the floor in front of the couch and fold it. I arrange piles on the couch for each of us, then put it back in the basket and take to the bedrooms. Everyone's stuff goes on their beds to be put away before bed. I do laundry every day (or I'd be buried in sports uniforms) so there isn't that much for them. 14 year old will start doing her own laundry when school goes back in a few weeks.

Take my laundry out of the dryer and bring it to the sofa, fold, then put in rolling hamper and bring to designated storage places.

OK Stephanie, please tell us how Martha folds T-shirts! You've got me curious. ;)

I fold laundry on my bed, too. Doing it here forces me to fold and put stuff away unless I want to sleep in a pile of clothes. I can watch TV while I'm folding and only have to walk a few steps to put everything away.

from Martha's website

Here is a link that might be useful: how to fold a t-shirt

LOL Talley, I stared at that pictorial for 10 minutes and it still makes absolutely no sense to me!!

After 40 years of folding laundry this old dog would love to learn a new trick, but what the.....?!

Folding? What's that???

My clothes stay in the dryer until I need them, at which point they're quite wrinkled. However, my natural pudginess helps to fill out the creases :)

I fold mine right out of the dryer also. Each person gets their own pile as I go, and then they get to put them away! Socks/undies are the only things that go in a basket to get folded on my bed.

Re: Martha's shirt folding, lol. I get the end result of hers, but I do it a bit differently. I hold the shirt in my hands, front side facing me. I then fold each arm/side to the back of the shirt and then fold in half. Nice and neat, and they stack very nicely! :)

I fold on the bed--so handy!

I fold t-shirts in half (top to bottom), flop the arms to the inside, then in half (again top and bottom) and in half again! Takes up so much less room that way. DH has many white t-shirts...

I fold laundry on my bed, it gets done faster (DH even helps!), plenty of room to spread out and fewer steps to store.

To fold t-shirts, I fold in half (front out, top to bottom), flop the arms to the inside, fold the bottom up to the sleves and then up to the collar. Perfect square and if there is a design on that white shirt you can see what it is.

I always folded on the ironing board. I have a Flip Fold board that I use for t-shirts... I used to anyway... I hang everything now. I didn't take my dresser to the new apartment. Saves space, and is easier. I would highly recommend to get a flip fold board if you don't have one... do a google image search to see what it looks like. It "almost" makes folding fun. I got mine at a flea market for 10 dollars, but barely use it anymore.

I fold the tshirts like Crystal does--Martha's explanation reads like 1040 instructions. I never folded underwear, or kitchen towels. I told my kids they had to do it as I belonged to the mothers union and we weren't allowed to do that. That is the union that says she who cooks doesn't wash the dishes.
Now that I have a lovely laundry room, I fold everything and sometimes even iron things. Not enough to create expectations that it would always get ironed though.

when they come out of the dryer i fold and sort. the things that don't need ironing get put away then. the rest is put in the ironing box until i have half an hour to spare for ironing. Am i the only one that irons? apart from underwear, socks, towels and sheets i iron everything else.........

I always fold or hang clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. Where I fold them varies. I always put them away as soon as they are folded. I know if I don't, they'll stay in piles forever!

Sheryl

I fold as I take out of dryer, make piles for each person and if its towels, my washer and dryer are in the guest bathroom which also houses the linen closet I have door open and put right away,
sons and hubbys I put in their rooms on bed(hubbys on his side of bed so if they are still there when I go to bed I don't have to bother, mine I fold and then put away

My laundry is in the basement. I TRY to fold right out of the dryer, but it doesn't always happen-clothes get dumped in a clean clothesbasket, then are folded & put in stacks for each person on the oversized ironing board. I try to hang my DH's work clothes (he's a little fussy about wrinkles, so since I don't iron, I try to hang them fresh out of the dryer)-the rest of us wear just jeans & tees, mostly, so it doesn't matter if they're wrinkled. I fold tshirts like sdflenner does.

It helps that the laundryroom is not a total pit, although that's where my litter boxes are, too. It's carpeted, has decent lighting, I even put a tiny tv/DVD player & collection of exercise DVDs down there, w/ the hope of someday feeling the urge to exercise down there where noone can see or hear me-hasn't happened yet, but I'm hopeful....

before the laundry room, I folded on the bed...or sat down in my old laundry room and folded on my lap, then they went into baskets for each person and that person puts their stuff away...Now I have this...I love it!!..the lady we bought the house from had a ton of kids...she built this...

Fold clothes..from dryer to cramped in drawers or closet floor