I think I do too much laundry.
Seriously.
At least, I don't think I have a good system in place.
Here's what I do:
1) Bring the upstairs hampers down to the downstairs hampers.
2) Cry and wail because it looks like I will never get all this laundry done in one day.
Interruption: It is quite rare for me to, in fact, get all the laundry done in one day.
3) Wipe tears from eyes and start doing laundry.
4) Bring all clean laundry to the couch where I fold, hang, and sort.
5) Tell the dudes to stop hitting each other with hangers.
6) Stare at my 15 different piles of laundry: ie girl pajamas, boy pajamas, girl underwear, boy underwear, mama underwear . . . you get the point.
7) Stop Handsome Dude from "helping" take up clean laundry piles.
Why?
Because he takes said piles and just throws them in random spots.
For example: once he took a pile of the girls' pajamas and threw them in the upstairs tub.
I did not discover this for a few days.
He is not helpful.
Not one bit.
8) Take 15 different piles of laundry to their correct destinations.
9) Finally finish with that one load and then stare in dismay at the disaster my dudes have created in the living room.
8) And this process goes on and on for all eternity.
So, this weekend, I tried to start a genius new laundry system.
I bought 3 cheap hampers from the local Walmart.
Walmart . . . it sure is a treat, isn't it?
Each hamper is for a specific destination: one for me and The Lumberjack's room, one for the girl room, and one for the boy room.
Interruption: This post is terribly boring, isn't it? I am getting bored writing it. I am sorry. But I really want laundry advice. Help me.
Everyone's folded items go into their designated new, cheap Walmart hamper.
So, hopefully, instead of making 75 trips upstairs each morning, I will fill up the hampers and just deliver them to their appropriate rooms.
Where they will probably sit full of clean laundry for days on end because no one will think to put them away.
Ah . . . such is life.
So.
Here's what I want from all of you on this lovely Sunday morn:
Tell me your laundry shortcuts.
Do you hang up items and take them up hung, or do you fold items and hang in their specific rooms?
How often do you wash the bath towels?
Do you wash kids pajamas every day?
Do you cry when you look at your laundry pile?
Where do you store your empty hangers?
What on earth do you do with loose socks?
Oh, don't even get me started on socks.
Socks will, I guarantee you, be the death of me.
So, please, have mercy upon me.
Tell me any laundry tips, tricks, or advice you have.
Or any housekeeping tip, tricks, or advice you have.
Because, if I am being honest with y'all, I have NO IDEA what I am doing.
I fear I am ignorant.
Please.
Fact: The Lumberjack's Wife has washed not one, but two diapers this week.
Fact: Do not, I repeat, do not ever do this.
Fact: It is nasty.
And since this post was soooo boring, I will leave you with this joke.
It is my all-time favorite joke.
Why did the tomato turn red?
Because he saw the salad dressing!
I feel for you. It's just me and the hubby and I still can never seem to get caught up on laundry. In all fairness though, my hubby has to change several times a day. He gets up, puts on sweats and a shirt while he eats his breakfast etc, then after his shower he puts his uniform on and goes to work, then when he gets home, he changes into jeans and a shirt. Sheesh. Some days I just stay in my jammies all day to help counter-balance the laundry epidemic.
ReplyDeleteDo you cry when you look at your laundry pile?
ReplyDeleteNo, I cry when I look at my ironing pile. Granted, it takes several weeks to get that ginormous, and if I would just iron once a week it wouldn't be so bad, but where's the challenge in that?!
I feel ya on the laundry. Four kids make for WAY too much laundry. Okay, the only laundry "system" I found that works to keep us up on the laundry is to get as caught up as possible and then just be sure to do a load a day. And then one of Jaxson's chores is to fold the laundry and I put it away. Not elaborate, I know, but it works. Other than that, you must just accept that this thing called laundry will never, ever be done. You will always have at least three loads waiting to be washed.
ReplyDeleteAs far as keeping the house clean here's what I do. I've made a cleaning schedule for Mon-Sun and just divide all the housework up. So for instance Mon is Scrub bathrooms thoroughly, Tues is vacuum bedrooms, Wed is clean laundry room.. etc. Daily: I dustmop the floors, wipe down the bathrooms (sinks and toilets), straighten the kids rooms.. etc. Every other day: I dust and mop the foors. Anyway, it just helps me not get behind on things or feel like I have to do it all in one day.
That's probably way more information than you needed or wanted.. but you asked for it!! :p
Okay, I know the punchline to the joke, but I don't want to ruin your opportunity to share it in the morning. It's a good one for a laundry discussion, though, hee-hee.
ReplyDeleteLaundry is an endless battle for me, too, though it's much easier in this house since it's not located in the far, dark reaches of the basement.
I don't have it mastered, but here are a few things that help me:
* I fold in the living room, making piles on the back of the couch. I HATE a cluttered living room, so this motivates me to deal with the piles immediately. And their location keeps my two youngest destructos from being able to reach them while I fold.
* I put clothes on hangers as I fold and hang them on a dining room chair until I'm done. Then I take them upstairs with the piles.
* I've taught my two oldest (9 & 7) to fold. The theory is that one folds while the other is unloading the dishwasher. Notice I said theory. I often forget. I also assign extra folding as a form of discipline when I get bad attitudes. (Not mine, theirs.) I also require them to put away their own clothes.
* I just bought a really cool thing at Big Lots for storing unused hangers. It's a plastic guide that they slide down & stack on. Two bucks.
* I try to do at least one or two loads every day. That seems to help.
I do not wash pajamas after every use. Usually after two nights. We use our bath towels 2-3 times and then wash them. Dishcloths & washcloths every day, hand towels every couple of days.
And as far as socks, here's my question: Why do I still hang on to ones that have been orphaned since 2001? I think I may need counseling.
I'm probably not qualified to give housekeeping advice, but I will answer your questions anyway.
ReplyDelete- My kids wear their pj's for two nights
- We use our bath towels about a week each. Sorry if that grosses anyone out.
-I usually do a load every other day to avoid the huge pileup. Like the one that is currently overflowing from my hamper
- I fold right from the dryer into piles in the laundry room. One pile for each room, plus linen closet stuff. Then I deliver each pile to it's room, where things are theoretically put into drawers or hung up.
The hangers stay in the closets.
-Also, I go a disgustingly long time without changing sheets. This is not intentional, but happens regularly nonetheless.
- For your socks, I suggest a little basket that stays on the dryer. Label the basket: "Socks Without Partners" It's kind of like a support group for lonely socks.
Then if a solo one comes out, throw it in there and hope to see it's partner in future loads. If it's partner never materializes, use it to dust with or just toss it.
For Derek, I decided to buy all of the same style sock. Basic white with gray bottom. This helps makes matching easier.
Happy Sunday to you!
Wash towels every day? *gasp* That is not very green of you!:) You are drying off a clean body. So, if you hang up the towel, it is clean! I use them a week, or until they smell sour.
ReplyDeleteI wash sheets once a week. There is a designated sheet day. It used to be Monday, but that is changing.
Also, I wash kids pjs whenever they land in the laundry. However, my kids do not eat in pjs. They are dressed when they come to breakfast, so how can their pjs be dirty when they put them on to go to bed and get right out of them? So, I probably wash pjs twice a week. Maybe less.
I like the hamper idea. I use it myself, except my kids have to put away their laundry every single day, but my kids are older. Maybe that could be your oldest's chore, and you could pay her each time she does it. Just an idea, but I HATE putting away laundry.
Also, I hang the second it comes out of the dryer, and take it to the correct closet.
Good luck with laundry...It's like dishes, because it always comes right back. Every. Single. Day.
I am buying 3 lingerie bags like this for socks. http://www.amazon.com/Mesh-Lingerie-Bag-Pink-12/dp/B0000TQKUA
ReplyDeleteI figure one for every room so that I can just put dirty socks in and they will still be in there when they are clean and I can deliver the bag to each room! I'm hoping to do away with my homeless sock bin... good luck.
The tomato turned red because it saw the salad dressing. I have no helpful tips on laundry, as my clean clothes stay piled on my couch for weeks.
ReplyDeleteHere's what we do.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a split level and rent out the downstairs. The garage, also downstairs, is the home of the washer. I hate it, but there are no other options.
First, we got caught up on ALL the laundry. We took a day we both had off and worked our butts off and got every single stinking laundry item washed and put away.
Now, we keep one small laundry basket upstairs, at the end of the hallway. ALL of the days laundry goes in there, girls, boy, me, The Musician, kitchen, bathroom. It gets filled up, but not to over flowing, on most days.
At night, I toss the load in the washer.
Yes, that's right, THE LOAD. Unless someone has a new black item or pair of blue jeans everything gets washed together on warm. Whites, darks, everything. We don't care how white our whites are because the adult's whites are always under something else and the kids whites won't ever be white anyway. If a particularly icky kitchen towel gets in there, we wash on hot. If nothing is really that dirty, we wash on cold.
Then, either before bed or in the morning we move the load to the dryer. If there happens to be two loads, we move them before bed and then switch it again in the morning. Then by noon everything is washed and put away.
On wonderful days the basket only gets half full, so we skip it.
This takes right around 15 minutes of work a day. Plus or minus 10 minutes.
You have to make sure to keep up with it, but it is a really freeing experience...no giant laundry day looming over your week, you know?
For you, since you have four kiddos and a guy who sounds like he gets dirty at work, you'll probably have to do two loads. But that's only a half hour of actual work a day.
That's my two cents!
Laundry.... a curse on my life... if ever there was one...
ReplyDeleteOne day a few months ago I worked all day, got the laundry completely done only to have our girlies come home, "clean" their room and take 4 baskets of dirty clothes back down... to add insult to injury, some of the "dirty" clothes were ones I had washed that morning! I lost it and enacted a system where they each had to do laundry for a week... worked well until younger girlie would avoid laundry during her week and older girlie protested. We don't have a working system right now... which means for all intents and purposes... I do it.
As for sheets and towels...
Monday is sheet day and all beds are stripped and washed made... this is my one thing... without fail, no matter what... (honestly, that means it happens about 75% of the time...)
As for towels, my family is made up of 2 teens and three adults, they need to switch out their own towels... and although sometimes I worry the towel will hop off the hook and walk itself to the hamper... I try not to intervene... (If we have company I do empty the hooks so nobody accidentally wipes their hands on my family's nasty "butt drying" towels...) but otherwise they are on their own.
We do the hamper thing and it works enough to keep me from scrapping it...
Sorry, I guess I'm no real help....
i have tried the basket idea but have just ended up with tons of extra baskets that really don't get used. i keep a large basket for hot water and a large basket for cold in the laundry room and the kids know the difference so they can sort as they clean. someone told me once about getting dishtubs at the dollar store and stacking each persons clothes in a tub and have them put it away. i also own quite a few dishtubs now but am not currently using the "system". i have a thing about wrinkles and so everyone's shirts (and my pants) are hung in the closet out of the dryer. the kids have to put away all of their other clothes. and i have a bag that i throw all the socks without a match in. i also have a cute little box to hold all of my kids hangers. i do laundry every single day and am resigned to that fact. there will always be laundry to be done. we don't use our towels more than once or twice, i know....we are so not "green"! :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, let me say that I HATE laundry! It never ends. Even when I think I am caught up my husband will come along and ruin it....
ReplyDeleteAnyhow. My system is not great but here is what I do. I try to do laundry every couple of days. I fold the laundry as it comes out of the dryer and put it into stacks, 1 for each of the boys, and 1 for me and Chris. I put the boys stacks right on the dryer door (it's a fold down door) and ours on the top of the dryer. I take all our shirts that need to be hung and shake them out and put them on top of the dryer too. Then I deliver the boys stacks to their room and take our pile and the things to be hung upstairs. I try to hang them right away because I despise ironing!
If I actually follow through then it works out pretty well. Problem is that I don't always take the clothes where they belong and I end up with huge stacks of clean laundry on top of the dryer....
Oh, and as far as the towels go, ummmm, definately not everyday! As long as they are hung up when you get out of the shower you can use them a few times.
I have six children. The only way to keep up with laundry was for all of us to go naked until the kids were old enough to help with the laundry.
ReplyDeleteAs for socks, everyone in the house wears the same kind, style, size and color. Some have socks that are too big, and some have socks that are too small, but we can always find a match.
Wow-we really have a lot to say about the subject. I guess it's a part of all our lives, unfortunately. So my only thoughts are this. We have five different hampers, yes, I know, five. One for darks, one for whites, one for cold wash, one for towels/sheets, and one for kids. As we take off we put into the correct hamper, which actually works perfect in our house(wow! something that works!) and then there is no sorting to be done beforehand. So when load is done I take it to either the couch or the dining room table and watch a show as I fold. Each load is already designated to one area-darks are me and my husband's dresser, kids in their room, towels in linen closet, etc, and so I put it in the laundry basket and immediately put it away, or it will sit there for over a week. I know because we've been experimenting with this method for 10 years. :) Also, I have also done with kids socks the "lingerie" bags. All socks go in bag before wash and when they come out of the dryer you just dump the bag and put together. Works amazing when I actually do it! As for pj's, my kids get new ones every night because they eat breakfast in them, and they wear their food. I'd rather wash pj's a lot than dress them and then have to change clothes again after breakfast! Argh! :) Bath towels: hand towels in bath everyday, body towels maybe once a week, maybe. Usually more than that because we are clean when we use them! Is that gross? I hope not! Good luck, friend!
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter what you write about - your posts will never be boring! And I just buy new clothes when ours get dirty. I have a sun lamp in the bathroom so we just twirl in front of it to get dry. And we only wear tights so they don't get separated in the wash -
ReplyDeleteI don't try to do laundry all on one day anymore. I have one of those sorters in my laundry room that has four bags on it. ...and I have a basket for towels/bedding. So, I just keep it sorted. One of the kids helps sort laundry everyday as a chore. Your girls could definitely do that! I sort jeans, whites, colors, and reds. Then I just wash a load or two a day as they fill up. I make myself fold them as they come out of the dryer.
ReplyDeleteAll six of us have a dishpan size tub for clean clothes. I fold them into each person's tub and then everyone gets to put their own away. I started having my boys put away their own at about age 2. I just helped them sort it into piles in their room and figure out what drawer the socks went in, etc.
Laundry is my favorite chore. Isn't that wierd?
I think I read two posts and then commented...I actually like doing laundry, too, but I don't like putting it away. I like to enjoy that clean laundry smell for a while. ha
ReplyDeleteHey, i feel your pain. I've only got 4 of us in the house, not 6 like you.
ReplyDeleteWe wash towels approx once a week. Agree with earlier post that you're drying a clean body. We hang on towel rails to dry for next use. Kids towels an exception as there's the occasional snot nose wiped on these. Prob twice a week.
PJ's washed as needed, my 3 year olds can go 3 days, but my littlie is probably every day as we breakfast before getting dressed.
Sheets around once a fortnight or just as needed. As we all shower/ bath before bed I don't think I need to torture myself.
My only tip would be to do a once over on clothes worn that day to see if they are actually dirty. Only wash those that smell bad or have had spillage. You'll be surprised at what's folded for wear another day.
Good luck!
In our house… Monday is a wash free day because I am not fond of Monday’s or of laundry. The rest of the week I do laundry daily so I don’t get behind and overwhelmed. I fold clothes on my bed and have them separated into everyone’s piles. My kiddos are older and are able to put away their own clothes, even my hubby puts his own laundry away. I hate doing the laundry the least they can do is put it away their clean clothes. I only change towels once a week, glad I’m not the only one that does that. Sheets are changed every Saturday, kiddos help with that. If I stay on top of things I usually only have two loads a day. For little socks I use to throw them into lingerie laundry bags to wash and dry. Never loss a sock again.
ReplyDeleteHere is how I do laundry:
ReplyDeleteI do 10 loads a week (there are only three of us, so I'm sure it is more for you) I try to do 2 loads a day and then bedding on Saturday.
We each get our own towel and I throw those down the laundry shoot once, maybe twice a week, same with dishtowles. Washclothes get thrown down everyday.
I change the bedding on the weekends (sometimes I may not get to it every week)
As far as putting everything away, as I take it out of the dryer I fold it and put it in a basket (everyone has their own basket, as well as the bathroom and kitchen) Once a week, usually Saturday, my husband and I bring up the laundry and put it away. My son, who is 3, is in charge of putting his pj's and pants away, and he has to help with the rest of his clothes in the drawers he can't reach.
We have a hanging rack in our laundry room and that is where I keep all the empty hangers, so I have them there ready when I go to hang up clothes out of the dryer.
We have a small basket that stays on our dryer for lonely socks, and I go through it once a month and match socks up.
I never am caught up with laundry, I don't think I ever have been, but I get most of it done without having to dedicate a whole day to it.
I hope this helps, good luck.
My child refuses to use a towel more than once (which end is the face end and which is the 'other' end?) But she is 18 and will soon be doing her own laundry and will discover the foolishness of that!
ReplyDeleteMy kids are mostly grown but here's what I did/wish I did.
Your kids are little so this might not work but it's easier if you don't mix everyone's laundry--I wash the kids stuff separately from the parents stuff--at least it's partly sorted this way. Dress clothes is another story because you don't usually have that many.
Pajamas are worn several days unless the wearer is not potty trained, then washed every night. I don't want to think about how often the sheets are washed now--I don't have a regular routine!
buy all the sames socks for the boys and same for the girls.
I don't fold underwear!
Have you ever visited Like Mother, Like Daughter blog? http://ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com/
She has some great housekeeping tips.
I used to hate doing laundry but have worked out a system I can tolerate these days. It helps that I'm not doing it late into the night after coming home from a long day at work.
ReplyDeleteThere are only the three of us, but with a baby and a husband who wears at least 2 sets of clothes a day, I am always doing laundry. I have designated days for each laundry type (I think Lani said she does this too, actually) and it helps a lot! Monday is our clothes, which may be anywhere from 2-4 loads depending on if I was good and did laundry the previous Monday. I never make myself fold the same day because I get irritated and really feel like my whole day was laundry, so I fold our clothes the Tuesday while washing cloth diapers and a load of baby's clothes and another load of blankets/burp rags, etc... Wednesday/Thursday is towels and dishcloths and, every other week, sheets. I should probably do our sheets more often than that but realistically I just won't because I hate changing sheets. every other week is reallly good for me compared to how it used to be!
I usually have another load or two of diapers to wash through the week. I do need to buy another laundry basket because if I don't fold clothes the same day, they are overflowing everywhere and it drives me crazy (although it provides good motivation to fold and put away!).
We use our towels for a few days each - I could usually use mine almost a week but Jesse always thinks his smells after a couple days so I try to change them out more often than that.
Oh and SOCKS! They drive me insane, I do NOT understand how socks go missing even in our tiny apartment. I wish someone would explain it to me. I think the washing machine gets hungry and eats them. It's the only logical explanation.
And we definitely do not have an ironing pile since it would remain a pile. I much prefer laundry to ironing, so we just hang our clothes up after washing and iron as needed. I find I don't have to iron quite as often because with some clothes the wrinkles just hang out if you put them up shortly after they come out of the dryer. This way I know where our clothes are - either the hamper or in the closet. No pesky ironing baskets to go through when we're trying to find a missing article of clothing.
Good luck, I'm sure my methods and system will either change or disappear as we have more children!
I'm great at starting laundry, but I never, ever finish. Ever. I despise folding and putting it all away....bleh!
ReplyDeletei detest laundry!! :) it makes me want to pull my hair out!! it doesn't help when buster wears his jeans for a total of 3 seconds, does nothing in them to get them dirty, then throws them in the hamper!! BBBAAAHHH!!! I am in charge of washing and drying laundry ...my beautiful pumpkin_seed folds it for me because she loves me (actually cause i make her!!) :) i do fold towels and jeans though!! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll just do a laundry post one of these days and you'll feel better immediately about your situation. When I've been sick vomiting for four months with a new pregnancy, we've actaully gone out for things like underwear cause' we can't find any clean ones in the dissaray of laundry. Like I said, you'll feel better, or at the very least, like you're not alone. Thanks for making me laugh. It's cheaper than that therapy I've been thinking about going to.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks to all for the great ideas/tips. I will try and sort through all this and come up with a better system!
ReplyDeleteOur family had inherited a clothes rack from a great-uncles wife's sister. It was next to the dryer. Out come the clothes and directly to the hanger and hung. Eliminates most of the ironing. I don't know, my dad taught me to iron when I was little and he put me in charge of ironing all his scores of handkerchiefs. He never used kleenex. Plus he had allergies like me and used several handkerchiefs per day. I loved it, in go all the gray stiff and horrid, wadded up balls of nastiness and they come out bright white and ironed, folded and stacked. Miracle. I love fabric. I love laundry. I still hang my clothes on a clothesline. I have a sister who has laundry facilities on a different floor than the one they store their clothing. Her husband built a laundry chute, down they go. I guess you could be Pollyanna and look on the bright side - look at all the exercise you get going up and down the stairs. My parents were smart - we wore uniforms. Wool pleated skirts didn't have to be laundered very often - that was my job too. All those 1 inch pleats. Had to hang them up fairly wet and put clothespins on each and every pleat for all the girls so they would dry with crisp pleats. Gosh I hate plaid wool skirts. I never wore a skirt again.
ReplyDeleteThis also reminded me of the time when Patti Kowalski & Judy VanderLoop & I snuck into the nun's home and went up to the third storey and jumped into their laundry chute and whooshed down to the basement. I'm sure I got in a lot of trouble for that but it was worth it. And regarding sister's laundry chute - yes, it was up high so little dudes don't fall in. See, if you don't have so many clothes, you don't have so many to wash. Haven't you ever heard of the 'wear-a-day-air-a-day?
ReplyDeleteI used to live in a damp environment near the ocean. Not a good place to hang wet towels or dishtowels. But now I live near the desert so all wet things dry very fast. Since I'm clean when I get out of shower I use my towels for one week. But I am only one person. Neil would also just by new clothes. My goal has always been to have seven nitegowns but I have not achieved this yet because I'm too busy making little girl or doll clothes. They are much more fun to look at than my larger-than-live-sized clothes. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteMy answers
ReplyDeleteDo laundry anytime you have a full load - doesn't have to be an all day event. Throw a load in, make dinner, pop it into the dryer, wash dishes, fold clothes, make kids put away their own clothes (don't know how old your kids are).
Do you hang up items and take them up hung, or do you fold items and hang in their specific rooms? Lay flat over basket, hang once upstairs.
How often do you wash the bath towels? Once a week.
Do you wash kids pajamas every day? NO! Kid uses about 3 pair of pjs a week - wash all at end of week.
Do you cry when you look at your laundry pile? Don't have one - only one kid and only 3 loads every weekend.
Where do you store your empty hangers? Umm, how about hanging in the closet?
What on earth do you do with loose socks? Nothing, we sort them when we put our OWN stuff away or when we need to wear them.
I do my 13 yr old's laundry, but he has to bring his basket to me and bring it back to his room when I am done. It usually doesn't get put away and he just lives out of the basket until next wash day - if he doesn't mind the wrinkles, why should I? He'll stop one day when someone other than Mom comments :)
Don't overwash your clothes - they will not last as long. Jeans can be worn more than once. Many things can be worn more than once. Only underwear, socks and anything really soiled gets put into the hamper after one wear.
We wash our towels every week (sometimes longer, depending on if Mr.Laundry, aka Husband remembers to toss his in.) Socks remedy can be using safety pins to pair them before they head into the wash. It works, but I'd only do it with kids socks that will soon be outgrown because after a while it tears tiny holes in the socks.
ReplyDeleteI try to do all my laundry in one day. I wash a load, when that is done I put it in the dryer and put another load in the washer, and so on.
ReplyDeleteNow you can do it 2 different ways - save all the clean dry laundry through the day then sit down and fold all at once (which might help keep your kids out of it), or fold each load as you bring it out of the dryer (which is better for wrinkles).
Then once all your laundry is folded, do as you are doing, put each room into one basket and take it to that room. I think at least some of your children are old enough to put their own laundry away. Especially the way you already have it sorted into a pile of pyjamas, a pile of undies, pile of shirts, pile of pants, etc..
I don't fold things that are hung up - I just drape them over the arm of the sofa and then drape them over the top of the laundry basket containing all the folded clothes.
I keep my extra hangers in each person's closet so they'll have a hanger when their un-hung clothes get back to their room.
I think your system will work for you once you get your children trained to put their laundry away.
Or maybe you need one day for doing the laundry and the following day you can go around and make sure it is all put away.
Best of luck!
Ok, I hate laundry, but it never makes me cry. I have figured out how to make it a simple as possible - and I live in a country where the washer is out on the roof, cold water only, I have to line-dry, and there are two sets of stairs between me, the washer, and the appropriate dressers. So, here's my system.
ReplyDelete1. Basket in each bedroom - me and hubby, daughters - plus one with top handles (like a grocery hand-basket) that gathers random house laundry (apron, towels, sheets, etc.). Each room basket holds about 2 loads. The handled basket holds one, and is the only one that roams - I dump out the sheets/towels, etc. in my "laundry room" and go pick up the loads to be run as applicable.
2. Days have assigned laundry, and this is 2-3 loads these days - Mondays are sheets/towels/random, Tuesdays are parents' clothes, Friday afternoons are girls' clothes (to wash school items once home). The other days I DO NOT DO LAUNDRY!!! Woo hoo. Days off rock!
3. I sort laundry based on putting away, not color (see cold water comment above). Thus, for my husband and I, I separate pants, undies, socks (all in one load means pairs are complete), and folded shirts for one load, and hanging shirts for another. I wash pants, etc. first and hang them out, as they take longer to dry. Follow with the shirts. I take down in the same order. Folded things I fold as I take them off the line, put into the carrying basket and deliver straight to the dresser. (If my oldest daughter is home, she helps put hers away. If not, I do it. I want it to be done.) Shirts are quickly gathered and carried downstairs where I lay them in a stack on the bed (right side out, facing the same direction). Then I grab a stack of hangers from our closet (where they are stored), and put a hanger in the first shirt, flop it about halfway down (like folding in half where the hanger is at the hem), and proceed with the next. When I'm done, I pick up the entire stack of shirts by their hangers and slap 'em on the closet rod. Done! All my daughters' clothes go in a dresser, so no sorting there.
4. We have enough towels for everyone to have two per week, and we also change sheets once per week. I prefer making these changes at the end of the week, then washing it all Monday, so we don't end up trying to dry sheets at the last minute.
5. I'm fine with my kids sleeping in something two times, then it goes in their hamper.
Final comment, the way to feel good about laundry is to set a certain time to do each part, do JUST that part, and stop. Trying to do it all on the same day is too much. Just wash what you can reasonably dry and put away in the same day, finish it all the way, and consider yourself successful.
(Sorry to write a book! : )
Looks to me like you are doing laundry. See this post: http://eco-novice.blogspot.com/2010/05/lazy-and-cheap-ways-to-be-green.html
ReplyDeleteTip #1: lower standards - don't wash unless seriously smelly or seriously dirty
Tip #2: consider storing clothing on the same floor where it is washed (if possible)
Tip #3: put all laundry in one huge pile, and put all the lightest clothes in the washer until full. Wash. Repeat
Tip #4: wash sheets every 2-3 wks. Same for towels
Tip #5: consider having older children (older 8), wash and fold their own and possibly others' laundry
Tip #6: I wash PJs only if they are peed on. Otherwise, see rule #1
Good luck! Remember, they used to wash stuff by hand! How often do you think they washed stuff then?
It sounds like I don't have as much laundry as you do. One thing I just recently discovered that helps me is folding and putting away a load as soon as it comes out of the dryer. I used to just pile it all on the bed and fold one BIG load. Not fun! If I stay on top of it it's more manageable. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for how often I wash things...only when it's noticeably dirty. So the boys' pajamas usually last at least several nights...sometimes long. My shirts usually get pretty dirty during the day between taking care of the boys and food preparation. :-) But I get several wears out of my skirts before I have to wash them.
~ Carrie ~
I try to do at least one load of laundry every day. (I don't always get them put away, though.) I try to get the kids to wear their jammies for at least two nights, but my daughter balks at that most of the time. We use our towels for at least three days, too.
ReplyDeleteI have a smaller family but a full-time job, so laundry is a challenge for me, too! I honestly find it EASIER to line-dry the laundry, and if you click that link you'll get all my misc. laundry tips too. I guess the main reason it works for me is that it keeps all the laundry tasks in one area, the basement, and it makes all the dry laundry visible when I'm folding so that I can see what I have and fold one category at a time. Then I carry it up and put it away immediately.
ReplyDeleteWe put bath towels in the laundry when they seem dirty, which takes 3-10 days depending on humidity and frequency of towel use. I wash them along with clothes of the same color when there's room in the load--we have lots of towels.
I encourage my kid to wear his pajamas several nights in a row. He doesn't take a bath every night except in the hottest weather, so the usual policy is clean PJs after bath, unless he spills something on them.
Most of his other clothes are "dirty" after one day, but his dad and I get multiple wearings out of our jeans, sweaters, silk underlayers, and some other clothes. That reduces the laundry pile!
We have an empty hanger section in the closet. We also have hangers that live in the laundry room. Clothes that dry better on a hanger go on one of those to dry, then get folded into the basket, then get hung on a closet hanger if needed. (My knit tops dry on hangers but are stored in a drawer.) It sounds inefficient, but when I carried clothes up on hangers then I had to remember to bring empty hangers down, and it was difficult to carry hanging clothes and the basket at the same time, so I'd have to make two trips...so this way works better for me!
I have a loose socks section on the clothesline for socks whose mate didn't come through in the same load. When I take a sock there, I check to see if its mate is waiting there, and if so I hang them together with the paired socks.
My mom's strategy for laundry sanity was to teach my brother to do the laundry when he was 7. He did a good job and was very proud of himself!
[...] Help her with her laundry!! [...]
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