For more than 25 years, I have coped with intense chronic pain and daily injuries all over my body because of a genetic condition. It makes the simplest of daily and household tasks very hard, and laundry sorting is no exception.
Anything that involves bending down or crouching tweaks my painful lower back, pelvic joints and knees and laundry has become an increasingly hard task for me. My household is a a wear-once-and-wash one so laundry sorting is a constant churn.
Enter my new hero: the Joseph Joseph Tota laundry organizer as it's transformed the previously painful chore of doing laundry into a painless one.
Why the Joseph Joseph Tota is brilliant for people with back pain
My genetic connective tissue disorder, hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) means my joints dislocate and soft tissues become damaged during the most simplest and straightforward movements or household jobs.
That's why bending down to empty my old 60 liter lidded laundry basket from Amazon, or crouching or kneeling to sort a pile of dirty washing would end up in a lower back, pelvis or other joint injury.
When I saw the Joseph Joseph Tota 90 liter Laundry Organizer, available on Amazon, which has three pull out linen bags with handles and a tipping-out handle on the underside, I hoped it would be the solution I was seeking for doing my laundry without hurting myself in the process, and to my joy, it really was.
I love it. After testing it out for a month in my home, this laundry organizer has banished the previous physical pain I was suffering when having to manually sort all our washing on the ground or when reaching into the bottom of a basket. 10/10 – highly recommend!
Assembly of my Joseph Joseph Tota laundry organizer
Though assembly was straight forward, it had quite a lot of steps and need floor-level work. As I can’t stand up for more then two minutes without injury, I ended up sitting down and my eight-year-old daughter gleefully helped for the 10-minute task, as pictured above.
If you have back pain, weakness in your grip, or pain in your fingers, enlist the help of a friend or loved one as I have these too and would have struggled to do it alone, especially pulling the stiff, canvas-like outer material over the structural plastic lip and tucking into the dedicated track.
Together, my daughter and I followed the clear instruction booklet (there’s a handy QR code you can scan with your smart phone's camera to see a video tutorial too) and popped the organizer together. It ended up looking sturdy, sleek and was very spacious.
Mine is the 90 liter Tota with three compartments, pictured below. To make using it easier for my daughter, and avoid laundry mistakes when washing colors, in our household, I made a note on the interior plastic edge with an ultra- fine-tip permanent Sharpie pen, available on Amazon showing what goes where. You can't see the writing day-to-day as the organizer comes with a lid.
I marked the compartment for white, colored and dark items and after trying out this laundry organizer in my home for a month, I have found it holds around a week of dirty washing before it becomes full.
If you live alone, have a smaller household or wash your clothes after every few wears instead of once or twice like us, there is a two-section 60 liter Tota on Amazon, too.
Learn more about whether you should be washing your laundry every day in our dedicated guide, though, spoiler alert: two to four times a week is enough for the average family.
I used a permanent pen to note which section was for what to help my young daughter use this organizer independently
Using the eclipse Joseph Joseph laundry organizer
This was a week’s worth of dark laundry and filled my 8 kg drum almost to the top
In order to use it, lift the light and comfortable lid, pop the item to be laundered in the allocated color bag, and forget about it till one of the bag teaches capacity. I have an 8 kg washer drum and one full bag of the Tota will just about fit into the washer.
To use the organizer, simply grab the two well stitched and sturdy smooth fabric handles and pull the bag with your white, colored or dark washing out and transport to your laundry room.
It takes me less than 15 seconds to dump the already-sorted items of my laundry organizer on the floor then stuff them into the washer. No more back pain and injury for me!
My washer dryer machine is in kitchen so I simply turn the bag upside down and dump the clothes onto the floor or on the dining table, before transferring into the washer. As I don’t have to stay crouched down to separate the laundry, it doesn’t cause my injury to crouch and stuff the clothes in the washer, which takes me about 10 seconds.
And that’s it. A household chore that would have usually caused me quite horrific injury and pain has now become pain free. I will never go back to any other type of laundry basket.
My verdict
I keep my 90 liter Tota on the landing between our bedrooms so we all have easy access to it
Oh it’s good. Really good. Excellent, even!
I give this laundry organizer a 9/10 for all things: its sturdiness, how sleek it looks, the ease of which the sections pull out and the thoughtfulness of the design, which for me as a person in chronic pain, has resulted in making laundry loading accessible on my own again.
The only note I have is if you opt for the 90 liter like mine, it has a relatively large foot print so make sure you have the floor space for it. Ours lives in the hall upstairs, pictured above. My previous was 17 inches by 13, whereas this is 23 inches by 15.
If I could change one thing about it, it would be for the lid to be on a hinge, like the but really, it is no hardship!
The other thing I love about this large laundry organizer is it is forcing me to do less laundry, as I tend to wait now till one compartment is full. I can't imagine anyone wants to do more laundry than necessary, so having a larger holding space for my dirty washing has actually changed how I do this essential household chore you should be doing weekly.
Now, instead of squeezing in loads of laundry in my lunch break, I blast through mine over the weekend, bar a mid-week wash of essentials.
What to shop
There are two sizes and three colors (mine is Ecru) available of the Joseph Joseph Tota laundry organizer, and below, I have picked a similar, budget-friendly version of this item as well as a rolling laundry organizer in case you are not able to lift anything without injury.
This extra large hamper has removable bags, and a hinged lid for ease. This will suit larger households as it comes in 160 liter and 145 liter options.
If you suffer pain and can't carry a full, heavy laundry bag, roll your piles where you need them with this handy bit of kit. The wheel are lockable and the bags removable.
I highly rate mine, and it's transformed the way I sort laundry, and how often I do it. The bags are machine washable and the outer wipe down only.
Next, learn about the discreet Joseph Joseph laundry airer we tried and loved for tiny spaces.
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