The Best Laundry Hamper

Buying Guide

Dirty laundry has a sneaky way of piling up into small mountains for many of us that live busy lives or have large families. Being able to get those odoriferous clothes off the floor and out of sight is a must for anyone who wishes to maintain a tidy and pleasant living space between their laundry days. Clothing hampers are designed to help hold your dirty laundry. Some will have compartments to let you separate your clothes based on colors or delicacy while others are collapsible mesh containers with thin wire frames for those consumers focused on function at a value.

Size is a big factor when determining which laundry hamper is right for your needs, according to Kate Desmond, a parenting and infant safe-sleep expert and mom of two kids.

“I don’t know how or why but my family of four creates mountains of laundry with no summit, it keeps going and going and going,” she says. “The first thing I look for in a good hamper is size. It has to be large enough to hold all the clothes for an entire laundry cycle, be that a week or two.”

If you only have a small space to fit a hamper, or you live in a situation where your dirty laundry only piles up minimally throughout the course of the week, keep that in mind and find an appropriately sized hamper like the Handy Laundry Pop-Up Hamper which provides a simple solution to your needs. Alternatively, be sure to plan for a larger hamper if you have laundry for multiple people or you find yourself wearing multiple outfits every day between your job and workout clothes. Those needing more hamper space could look to a more oversize product that can hold two full loads of laundry.

According to Desmond, there are a few other key functionalities that help narrow down the search for the perfect hamper.

“I am a big fan of a laundry hamper that can mask as a piece of furniture rather than something plastic that screams laundry,” she says. “I also really appreciate a washable liner. This helps keep things fresh and clean with a quick wash every so often.”

Taking these areas into account can really help narrow down your search. A washable liner can be very handy if you commonly fill your hamper with sweaty workout clothes or heavily soiled sports uniforms. Often you can toss the liner in with a similar load of laundry like towels so it’s as convenient and efficient as one could hope for. However, there is another step to take if you find your dirty clothes are putting off a quite foul aroma. Desmond adds:

“Beyond that, a good laundry hamper, for me, has two things: a lid and a divider. A divider makes it easy to separate lights from darks and delicates from towels without creating a million piles all over the floor on laundry day. The lid hides all the nasty clothes and wet towels and provides a nice little buffer between my nose and my husband’s sweaty workout clothes,” she says.

The aesthetics of a home product like this are something to take into account as well since this will be something that is generally in plain view in a laundry room bedroom or maybe even a bathroom. A cheap-looking plastic hamper will stand out against the nice finishes of a home and not necessarily draw any positive attention. Luckily there are beautiful hampers that have a natural and stylistic look.

• Measure the space you have available before starting your search for a new laundry hamper. Knowing when a product is too large or too small for your specific area is an easy way to narrow down the field of options.
• If you use your hamper as a tote bag to take your load of clothes to the laundry room, there are many designs that have comfortable handles and are sturdy enough that you can even place your detergent bottle right on the top of the pile, which can be extremely helpful to those of you in an apartment with a shared laundry room.
• Separating your clothes as you put them into the dirty laundry hamper is an efficient way to chip away at the task. A hamper with two separate bins will help you be more organized with your time and it saves you from having to sort through all your stinky clothes on the spot when you are about to put them into the washing machine. This style of hamper can be a real time-saver when used properly.
• Match your bathroom or bedroom decor with a hamper that comes in a color you like. This is a purchase that may very-well last for countless years, so be sure that you actually like how it looks. A white plastic hamper can be very effective at holding clothes, but it may not present an appearance of quality and style to fit in with your other pieces of furniture.