May. 15, 2008 - Laundry Tip
With a house full of people who insist on eating multiple times a day and wearing (mostly) clean clothes each day, I can't help but fantasize about having an "Alice" in my home. You know, a faithful housekeeper who shoulders the tasks I like least (cooking and laundry), therefore freeing me to be the fun, hands-on, crafty mom that stares back at me from the glossy pages of the lastest issue of my favorite homeschool magazine.
Well, police work pays the bills, and we have a nice home with plenty to eat, but paid domestic help is just not in the budget. Therefore, I try to utilize time-saving strategies that keep everything running--sometimes even smoothly.
A few weeks ago I implemented a new laundry system in our home. (Forgive me if you are reading this and have been doing it all along. I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but I eventually get it!) I can take no credit because I learned it from another mom with many children, but it would work with a smaller number, too, I think.
Here goes: I do laundry by bedrooms. We have 4 bedrooms and each room has it's own labeled laundry basket. Each person is to put his/her dirty clothes in that basket ONLY! The bathroom hamper is for towels only, so if they strip in the bathroom, they need to cart their dirty clothes back to their room. Next, each bedroom is assigned a specific laundry day. On that day, the children are responsible to carrying their basket to the laundry room and to sort it into "light" and "dark" piles. Even the shortest folks can do this one. If there are mistakes, I just fix it as I toss in the loads. The max number of children I have in one room is three, so most days I only do 2 loads because we wash it all on cold.
You cannot believe how much this has simplified my laundry chore! We now have no huge piles all over the floor waiting to be washed. Folding is a snap because I already know I'll only have 2 or 3 piles. When all is washed, it just goes back into the basket, up to the appropriate bedroom, and it's done!
One more tip: since my oldest 2 children share a room, they are responsible for washing their own laundry. I have had to be very strict about the assigned laundry day, so the rule in our house is this: If you miss your day, you will wait until your day comes around next time! There are some slim pickins come day 12, I tell ya! Vanity is a powerful motivator.
Anyway, I hope this helps out someone else who can't afford a laundress. If we have to do a chore, it might as well be organized. Besides, maybe it will give me a few extra minutes to try my hand at being crafty. Or not.
Comments
May. 18, 2008 - Gonna try it!
Posted by moonshowr
I'm definately going to try this out once the kids are out of school! My oldest needs to start learning about the laundry anyway, since he's going to be 8 this Sept.!
Thanks so much!
