Laundry on chol hamoed

Hi,

We care a great deal about setting the proper tone for holidays, to the
point that the sages created certain decrees to ensure that we would
prepare appropriately before the holiday.

One may not do laundry on Chol haMoed (the middle days of the holiday). This law is intended to encourage people to do laundry before the holiday, so that they then enter the holiday with a clean home and with clean clothes. Similarly, one is not to take a haircut during Chol haMoed - one should enter the holiday well-groomed.

There are exceptions to the rule prohibiting laundry. The major exception is for clothing which will not last 8 days, so that laundering everything right before Yom Tov will not help. Example: Cloth diapers, or other baby clothing which gets dirty with similar frequency. One must still launder as much as possible before the holiday, but in the event of need one may launder it during Chol haMoed, too. One should do so in private.

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 534:1; Mishneh Berurah 534:7)

מועדים לשמחה,
Mordechai