This has been a full weekend between The Driver’s birthday, Valentine’s Day and now the Presidential holiday. Whew! Gotten a lot done, but want to still get a lot more done so this is a simple thought for a simple day. Laundry.
People ask me all the time how I manage to keep up on the laundry for seven people. I think they imagine that I have mountains of laundry to conquer. I think they fear my laundry more than I do. I don’t know why, but laundry really doesn’t bother me. I have it organized in such a way that I master my laundry, not the other way around.
I use a simple system that maps out what I wash and on what day. I don’t even do laundry every single day! Can you believe that?
Mondays – Dark clothes and jeans
Tuesdays – Light clothes
Wednesdays – off
Thursdays – Whites
Fridays – off
Saturdays – off
Sundays – definately off
If I have sheets or towels to wash, I just add them into the color day that they match. Or sometimes I’ll wash one bed a day so that I don’t get overwhelmed at the prospect of washing and making 6 beds in one day. I did that once…never again! I hate making beds. Absolutely hate making beds so I avoid it like the plague! I think it’s the “short thing.” Making beds just wasn’t made for short people!
Back to the laundry, I don’t get overwhelmed by laundry because I don’t have to fret about whether certain clothes will get done or not. I know that those jeans or that specific shirt will eventually get done, even if it’s next Monday–it’ll get done. On average I only do about 2-3 loads per actual washing day.
I used to do all of our laundry on Mondays but would spend Monday nights in tears because I thought was going to die before I ever conquered it all. That obviously wasn’t going to work so I had to find a way to break a large task down into bite-sized pieces. A few loads of laundry a few days a week also makes it so that I will accomplish the task of folding and putting away in the same day. It’s just one of those things that I choose to make sure is done by the time I go to bed. I don’t want the extra work for the next day.
Every once in a great while, I’ll get my machines going on an “off” day, but that is probably because the kids played in the mud or someone threw a washcloth into the laundry room that was used to wipe up a milk spill and it is stinking to high heaven! Again, I don’t fret because it’s only one load. That one load doesn’t feel like a burden because I’ve conquered everything else on the other days.
Another way I make this large job smaller is by enlisting the help of my kids. I have a laundry helper each week. That person makes sure that the laundry keeps moving. I am generally the “folder,” but I have been known to turn up the music and seperate the clothes out to each family member and we have a “laundry folding par-tay!”
Here’s another idea for you, you’ve got some great help with putting clothes away if you send each of your kids with a stack of their own clothes to put away. Those are the moments when you let your organizational ideas go out the window and let your children feel like a part of the team by helping–no matter what the outcome. Who cares what their drawer looks like if they feel accomplished? If it’s really that big of a deal to you then take some of your time to teach your kids how you want things put in the drawer. Either do it over and over again until they get it right OR show them and then be happy with their efforts. Sometimes you’ve just gotta pick your battles, Mama!
By breaking it down into small pieces, an impossible task has become possible. Off to wash my darks and jeans…
Thanks for sharing some practical advice now that I’m back to doing my own laundry after a month of “freedom.” I like how you enlist your kids. I have Meilani help put hers away now, although you are right about having to surrender my idea of “perfect” drawers when she helps.
My fun addition is the “pee-pee” laundry/cloth diaper load as we are still in the potty training stage. Gotta move that laundry before it stinks up the rooms. 😉
How do you sort? Is there one central basket for laundry? One in each room? Multiple baskets for each color group?