Each week, we’ll pose a question emailed to us from the community (hey, that’s you!) and open it up for you to share your thoughts and comments since we really do believe that it does take a village to raise a village of kids.
If there’s anything that I can’t seem to escape on an almost daily basis, it’s laundry. Over the last few years, I’ve put a semi-system in place, with separate loads for kids, adults, and towels and sheets, as well as special totes for each kid so that I can fold and easily transport their laundry back to their rooms. I’m still working on keeping my strategically placed baskets in their “homes.” Heck, I’d even take the laundry actually making it in the baskets. (And I’m not talking about my kids).
And while lately I’ve been putting the kids to work, with the older one folding and the littler ones sorting (homeschool activity!), I’m pretty sure there might be a better way, well, aside from hiring someone to do it all for me (ha!). Color-coded baskets? A special vetting system to avoid washing clean clothes?
So, we’d love to know – what’s your laundry routine? How often do you do it and what specific tools or methods do you use? Spill it! And if you have a question you’d like to ask our community, email us at 4KidsorMoreBlog[at]gmail[dot]com. We’d love to hear from you.
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Routine? My teens like to hoard their dirty clothes and them swoop down with them to overtake the hamper (heck they’ve overtaken the whole bathroom)
My laundry routine is DO IT—constantly. Hang it on the line. Throw it on the couch.. Fold it…yell for kids to come get it.
REPEAT
I designate different days of the week for different types of laundry: sheets on Mondays, towels on Thursdays, dress clothes on Fridays, with all else on the days in between. I also keep one laundry basket at the machines that is strictly used for transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer. Two other baskets handle transporting dirty/clean up and down the stairs to where they need to go. That way, when I’m out of available baskets, I’m forced to put away the clean, folded clothes that are just sitting at the top of the stairs to free up a new basket.
My routine is to throw a load in the washer in the morning. Forget to flip it until the next morning when it’s time to throw in another load. Catch it all up on the weekend. Obviously, this isn’t really working.
I do have baskets in the laundry room where everyone puts the dirty stuff, sorting as they go. That works.
I have to do at least a load a day, preferably two, and rotate between adult, children, and household linens.
I do the laundry as it needs done. Usually one or two a day. Usually we fold every two days, unless something is needed.
In my parents’ house, Monday is Laundry Day. All of everything is washed and folded that day. We matched socks as soon as we were capable, folded our own clothes when we were around eight, and took over our own laundry by the time we were in middle school…
A friend was telling me that she taught her kids to do their own laundry when they were five– she drew little pictures to explain the different settings, and kept a stool next to the washer. She said that you have to get over clothes being perfectly folded in the drawers, but that it was a huge job that was then shared.
I have a laundry routine that works well for 5 kids. (Whether I work it is another story…)
- Every kid gets a day.
- Mom, dad and baby share a day.
- One day is for linens
Kids are responsible to remember to bring down their hamper on “their day”. I wash, dry and fold. They (supposedly) put away.
This works out to laundry 6 days a week, but much easier than the weekend nightmare I had been dealing with for a long time.
We use clothes organizers for the kids so I feed those and my husbands work uniforms first. Next, whatever got peed on last night. Then thin down the eternal mountain until exhaustion sets in:)
I do laundry daily! The.teens have to do their own. I did have a time.she. there were overwhelming piles awaiting me and this put an end to that. Also, I get rid of outgrown, stained ppor ruined clothes as soon as possiblle to eliminate clutter.and more.work:)
I also have a laundry schedule. Mon- kids, Tues- hubby work clothes, Wed- linens, Thurs- adult clothes, & diapers as needed when it’s all said & done there should be no laundry Fri-Sun.
(Family of 7)
My big challenge is the kids and room cleaning. They pick each pc of clothing up and put it in the laundry whether it’s dirty or not. So I’m washing things two and three times. I have to wash/dry/away daily or it makes for a miserable weekend of catch-up. Ea child has their own tub for clean clothes, I toss them in after washing. They fold/put away their own (yes, even the 5 year old).
WOW, this is my exact same method with my five kids. I will add though that during the summer months each child is responsible for their own laundry getting done, incluing stripping and washing all their bed linens each week. It only works with consistent parenting though. I keep on them because these are important life skills and I’m NOT raising spoiled irresponsible brats.
With SEVEN of us, there is always a mountain of laundry to fold. And it seems like there is even more to dry. I’d totally do a family closet if we had the space (all clothes located in one room), but we are maxed out.
My 14yo has to wash/dry the laundry and the 11yo folds it all and puts it away (a job she BEGGED for – who am I to argue?). It’s done daily (or almost daily) with taking a day off on Mondays to wash towels and sheets.
We are a family of six.
#1 – Limit the amount of clothing that each person owns.
#2 – I do a daily load of laundry that includes kids clothes and rags. As things get stained or peed in during the day I toss it into the washer to soak. First thing in the morning I start that load. I switch it and fold it before noon.
#3 – Once a week I wash sheets. Once a month I wash blankets and comforters.
#4 – Once a week I wash towels. I keep a seperate laundry basket for towels.
I take Sunday off. This leaves me with an average of eight loads a week.
#3 -
We have a laundry routine and I blogged about it here: http://www.se7en.org.za/2009/02/01/saturday-spot-the-laundry
The only thing that has changed since I posted is that the price of electricity has trebled – I know – a nightmare!!! So now I do laundry every other day. It used to take half an hour at both ends of every day!!! Now it takes an hour to hang it and an hour to bring it in and fold it… But we do get a day off in between – so that’s compensation I guess!!! My kids pretty much do the laundry together… I just have to oversee that the steps get done!!!
Five kids here. I’m not too organized with a laundry schedule; if I can plug away at it without getting despondent, I’m doing well! We have a lot of pee-pee laundry and my new soap technique seems to be working wonders on the smell: vinegar for fabric softener, a mix of borax, baking soda and a finely grated bar of Dr. Bronners or Fels Naptha for soap. You only use 1/8cup per load and I can buy most of that with food stamps (let’s be real…that’s a bonus for a lot of us these days). I can’t believe how well that combo works on the smells! It seems to be gentle on the allergies and on the environment? I’m not sure about the borax; I’m ignoring that for now. Every day it’s a different kid’s job to switch out the loads and divvy the clean stuff into each person’s laundry basket/pile. Then everyone’s responsible for folding and putting away their own stuff. I still have to remind and harass for this to get done, but it’s getting done. (Well, not “done” ever, but you know…)
There are 8 of us, including the cloth diapered toddler. My laundry method?
Outsource it. My 13 year old gets paid a nice allowance and he does ALL the laundry.
BIG fan of your method!! ha ha ha
I constantly have a load of laundry running when I am at home. Or at least it feels like it. Better than having a ton to do at once, though!
I am just constantly doing laundry. From when I wake up until I go to bed. I always have it on my mind before bed to be sure that there is nothing sitting in the washer all night. I’m always folding and putting away. The kids only have a few drawers to use each, so the amount of clothing they own is smaller = more washing, but it’s ok. The kids’ clothes usually get washed together, then towels (separate from kitchen towels because that’s just how I do it!) and then my clothes separate from my husband’s. He actually usually does his laundry.
Steph
I used to despair of ever getting ahead of the laundry, but that was when my kids were all quite young and not really able to help — while simultaneously generating a GREAT deal of laundry. Those
whose kids are small should NOT despair. Eventually, the kids are big enough to (a) slow down on the creation of laundry, and (b) help a bit.
I used to call our pile of clean laundry Mount NeverRest, but we seem to have conquered it a bit lately *phew* !! I attribute this to a few factors:
1. sorting and putting things into the correct drawers is MUCH higher priority than folding
2. hanging things up comes next
3. Kids age 5 and up are expected to sort or hang their age in items whenever Mom attacks the pile. Many hands really do make light work.
4. Once I’ve gotten a pile of a child’s stuff sorted, that child is required to put it away asap.
5. Clean laundry gets dumped right onto our bed, which means that I have an incentive to get it sorted and distributed so that I can get into the bed and sleep!
6. When kids are asking for various perks, I have been known to reply along the lines of: sure, as soon as we get the laundry sorted and put away. Sometimes this actually works!
I have also done many purges of clothing, just to get rid of the sheer number of items that can be worn and washed. I am always amazed at how much can go into the Goodwill pile. And yes, that does help over time.
Ugh, laundry. A constant battle that I never seem to win. Ideally, I do a load or more every day. My older children (9&7) are responsible for folding and putting away their own clothes. Also the 9yo is responsible for bathroom towels and the 7yo is responsible for kitchen towels. Occasionally my 7yo will be nice and also fold and put away her 3yo sister’s laundry for extra allowance. They can sometimes get a load in or moved along but they’re not quite old enough to take clothes out or start the machines on their own- yet.
I do all the hanging, folding and putting away for myself, hubby, 3yo, and 1yo. It gets to be a little much, especially since I’m also working and volunteering and going to school … I wish the hubby could get to his own, but between school and volunteering he never does. I need a better routine, we have one couch in our family room that’s always covered with clean laundry waiting for me.
My secret to getting a lot of folding done in one night is to watch something trashy on TV. Somehow that always gets me folding.
Our system mostly consists of: do a lot of laundry, a lot of the time. Usually we do one load of clothes a day, and one load of cloth diapers or other household stuff (sheets, towels, whatever needs doing). Weird stuff like the occasional quilt or curtain or pile of bathing suits… well, that kind of stuff tends to wait a long long while before being dealt with.
My kids are still young (7, 5, 3 and 15 months) so we aren’t really to the point where they help much with the actual laundry. We have two hampers upstairs, one for whites and another for all colors. They put their dirty laundry in the appropriate one. I do at least one load each day and fold it right out of the dryer. Everyone puts their own clean laundry away with the exception of my HUSBAND and the baby. This works for us now, but as they get older I am going to insist that they do their own. I am the oldest of five children and my mom had us doing our own laundry starting at age ten. We each had our own day that we had to do it.
With 7 people in the family there is ALWAYS laundry to do so I don’t sweat it.
The 3 girls have one basket they share (there isn’t room in their bedroom for more than 1). My son has his own. Then me, hubby and the baby share 2 baskets.
Usually once a week I tell the kids to gather their dirty clothes and put them in the laundry room. They rarely get all their clothes (since they end up every where) so it takes awhile to get them to get ALL their clothes together.
Then I wash and dry. Our set is used (and hand me down from some neighbors that moved last year) and don’t work that great. Especially the dryer. It takes 2+ hours to dry a regular load of laundry but we can’t afford a new one right now (it’s #1 on the list of things to get with our income tax return).
I really only do laundry when I feel like it or we’re in desperate need. The # of loads I do each day depends on what I feel like doing. Last week I did all of the kids laundry in 2 1/2 days doing 3-4 loads a day. Then I did me, hubby and the baby’s clothes in a day and a half (although there’s still a load in the dryer to fold and they all need to be put away).
My kids start learning to fold at 3 and by 4 are expected to fold and put away their own clothes. So my 4 older kids do all that themselves. I just wash, dry and toss it back into their baskets for them to finish.
My older 2 kids (who are 11 and almost 10) also know how to do their own laundry. They learned at 9 and 8 and did their laundry for an entire year. They stopped last summer and with our washer/dryer here being so finicky I haven’t had them start doing it again but they do occasionally put a load in or transfer clothes to the dryer.
Lately I’ve been doing laundry every 10 days or so. It takes me about 3 days (on average) to get it all done. Towels and bedding get washed like once a month. Just depends on what’s dirty (the kids use robes, not towels, and we use them repeatedly before washing). Usually it’s when the pile in the laundry room gets out of control, lol.
Ugh… I just do something every day! Diapers get priority!
I do laundry Mondays and Fridays. On the lighter day, I do sheets. We don’t have a lot of space, so I can’t handle having laundry going all the time (the family room would always be covered in clean laundry). The goal (and sometimes the reality) is all the laundry completely done that day, and folded and put away before the next day dawns.
Well, I recently turned over laundry duty to the older kids. It is *way* less stressful now. They wash their own clothes on the weekends . (2-4 loads total) I do a load or two for the baby and I once a week, and DH washes his own stuff.
There are six of us – the four kids are 7 and under. I’m much happier now that I have a specific routine:
Saturday: Evening I gather and sort all the clothes
Sunday: Do the loads of clothes during the day. After the kids are in bed I fold while watching something on netflix instant. Usually an hour episode of a tv show is just the right amount of time. Stack it in the baskets – can’t put it away since the kids are asleep.
Monday: Get home from work and put the clothes away with help from my 5yo and 7yo.
Tuesday evening: Gather and sort
Wednesday: Get home from work and start running the loads hoping not to forget about them so they are done by 10. Fold/watch netflix/stack in baskets
Thursday: Get home from work and put away (same as Monday).
Friday: MY ONLY LAUNDRY FREE DAY – Yay!
My husband stays home with the kids and does all the sheets, towels, and blankets during the week. I am a admitted control freak and won’t let him do the clothes because he doesn’t sort it the way I like, uses wrong settings, and puts it away in the wrong drawers. He does often help me with the folding if he’s around — he works from home and does most of his work in the evenings. I don’t mind our set up. As the kids get bigger I will get them more involved in the process. Oh and I’ve never ironed anything in my life. Husband does any ironing we need done.
The only thing I really don’t like about laundry is remembering to go switch the loads. I fly off the handle (mad at myself) when hours go by and without switching. I’ve started setting my kitchen timer to remind myself. Oh and checking the pockets… I’m much better than I used to be after the “black crayon incident” and when my cell phone went through the wash cycle and died.
I’ve not yet really reached an ultimate solution, but it’s getting better. Youngest (3 1/2) has his own hamper, oldest (14) has his own hamper, the three girls (9, 7, 6) have three hampers but not seperated by child; the girls’ hampers are for PJs & Underwear, shirts & dresses, and pants/bottoms. I find it easier to put away a load of all hanging things or all pjs or all folded pants than to do a mix & match. The BF & I have a hamper that’s always the last priority (*sigh*), and there’s a hamper for rags, washclothes, towels, etc. I wash towels three or four days per week, sometimes more. We each have a Shower Towel that we air dry and use for a week or so (otherwise I’d have to wash towels twice a day or more; 7 daily towels plus assorted rags? NO!) before washing. The girls’ laundry gets done in shifts when they need pants or pjs, usually once a week. Same with the youngest, though I do his whenever he has an accident that requires immediate washing. The teen brings his hamper up to the laundry area every Friday where Dad does his laundry (I don’t trust him with my new machines) over the weekend, then he puts it away himself. It’s never-ending but a high-efficiency washer and dryer has helped immensely!!!
I despise doing laundry daily. Monday is laundry day here. I stay home all day, in my PJs and catch up in my DVR as I wash, fold, iron and put away. I actually enjoy the easy day after a crazy weekend. I will do small loads of during the week such as blankets, car seats, rugs, etc. I hate the feeling of always having laundry to put in the dryer or to fold.
It works like a charm for our family of 6.
Contrary to much advice, I don’t do laundry daily. Mondays and Fridays, with maybe a Tuesday sheet day thrown in. I force myself to fold most of the laundry right out of the dryer or off the clothesline. A good day is when it’s all put away that night, but I don’t beat myself up if it’s the next morning’s job. To make this work, I refuse to make appointments/run errands on Monday and Friday (in theory). I have six laundry baskets and I try to not let them become homes for the clothes for more than a day!
I’m a bit of a laundry avoider, so I don’t ever really have a plan. We did start getting the older two doing their own laundry (I got tired of hearing “MOM! I don’t have any underwear!”) and that has made it so much easier for me to control the piles. I also got rid of all the baskets I had (the clothes would sit in there for weeks!) and made a rule that whoever takes clothes out of the dryer has to fold and “deliver” them. It’s not always followed, but for the most part, it’s working!
I never get all the laundry done but here is my cute story of teaching my then eight and six year old to do the laundry while I was pregnant and I quit going up and down the stairs for the last two months. The girls were doing a pretty good getting their laundry done and I had had the baby and went down to actually look for some missing clothes and my six year old was standing in the washer handing clothes to her sister in front of the drier. I am like, “Why are you standing in the washing machine?”really rather loudly. “I can’t reach in it to get the clothes otherwise” answered very calmly. “Have you always done it this way.” “Yes.” Well, I guess the washer survived being stood in a couple times a day. That is what the chair was for that was next to the washer but well…