What's your laundry procedure?

[kathkath]

How do you get it done? I'm looking for ideas on organization, process, etc.

[Tutor]

I have a sorter in the laundry room for whites, delicates, and dry cleaning. Everything else goes in hampers in each bedroom. We wash on a schedule.

 

Monday: boys do their laundry (clothes and sheets)

Tuesday: I do dh's and my laundry

Wednesday: I do bath towels, kitchen towels, misc.

Thursday: I do specialty wash from the sorter and our sheets.

Friday: girls do their laundry (clothes and sheets)

 

I am available to help the kids with their laundry on Mondays and Fridays, although they can do most of it themselves (they just need me to nag occasionally).

 

This is the ideal, anyway. Sometimes things interfere with the schedule and I have a big laundry day on a Saturday. On those days I just wash and wash and wash and pile all of the clean laundry on my bed. Then in the evening I pick a movie or two and fold and watch until I'm done.

[Closeacademy]

I do all the laundry and this is how it goes:

 

at night--everyone puts their clothes in the clothes hamper

 

Friday--clothes in hamper goes downstairs to washer area

Friday to Sunday--I wash and dry clothes (3-6 loads)

Tuesday--Clothes come upstairs to be folded and put away. This takes about 2 hours so I usually find a movie no one wants to watch with me and watch a movie while folding.

 

:001_smile:

[Lara in Colo]

I have a dresser that I put in the laundry room and the clothes are sorted by white/color/DH work/and need stain treatment. Each sort has it's own drawer. When the drawer is full, I wash the load. I do sheets on Monday, I different room each Monday. (So sheets get washed every 3 weeks) I clean a different bathroom, every other day and rotate towels. It usually works out to 1.5 loads a day. I try to have all the laundry done on Sat so that I don't have to search for something before church, I know that it is all clean.

 

Lara

[Beach Mom]

I finally found a process that works in our house. I still don't wake up and say "woohoo I get to do laundry" but I am happy to no longer have overflowing baskets. Here's our process:

 

There are 3 laundry baskets in my closet - whites, colors, towels

Every child has learned from 3 on how to put their clothes in the correct basket.

 

First thing in the morning on my way to the coffee maker I carry one basket to the laundry room and start a load of laundry. Getting to my first cup of coffee is a great motivation to get it in quickly.

 

At the first time the kids take a run around break mid morning the clothes are moved from the washer to the dryer - one child has "laundry helper" as their chore and they do the moving. "Move the laundry then you can go outside."

 

After lunch we fold. If there is another load in that basket we start it. Normally if I am keeping up I only have one load per day, but the goal is empty a basket each day.

 

After dinner when all kids go up to for showers and pjs they find their clean clothes on their bed and put them away.

 

The next day I repeat the process with the next basket in line. Our order happens to be towels, whites, colors. On towel days I also change and wash sheets for 2 beds. I do laundry six days a week taking either Saturday or Sunday off depending on what's going on.

 

It seems complicated when I write it but it has become such a routine that it is now part of daily life around here. Often someone will laundry helper will ask in the morning "what kind of clothes are we washing today? Should I carry the basket down?"

[jentancalann]

no sorting here. all the clothes go in the hamper at the end of the day, and one load is washed the next morning. weekends usually throw things off, so i usually have to do a few loads on monday. i only sort if i absolutely have to. to date i've never turned anything pink! husband takes whatever he needs dry cleaned to the cleaners so i don't have to do anything there.

[Ellie]

There were just four of us. I was able to do all the laundry on Fridays. For many years there was one family hamper in a hall closet, but eventually, dds began doing their own laundry, so each had her own hamper in her room.

 

I don't sort clothing by "lights" and "darks." I sort by "all-cotton white" and "everything else.":)

 

So, on Friday mornings, I take the sheets--all-white cotton--off the beds and presoak them along with the white dishcloths, white washcloths, and white cloth napkins, using Amway's non-chlorine bleach. After an hour or so, I spin out the water and wash.

 

Then I wash all the towels, colored napkins, and dishtowels.

 

Then I wash Mr. Ellie's all-white cotton underwear. He has *very* sensitive skin, bless his heart, so I use a different detergent (still Amway), bleach and no fabric softener.

 

Then I wash the rest of the clothes. This might or might not be two loads.

 

Actually, I did it this way for many, many years, but recently I have started ocassionally doing my clothing on Thursdays (Mr. Ellie's white underwear and everything else--two loads) and sheets and towels on Friday.

 

So that's laundry only 1 or 2 days a week on average. Once in awhile there will be blankets or extra tablecloths or something on other days, but not regularly.

[myfatherslily]

How do you get it done? I'm looking for ideas on organization, process, etc.

 

Wait until we run out of clothes, wash as many loads as I can, throw the clean piles all together in one place, and dig through for what we need. Eventually, fold and put them all away just in time to start over again.

 

Does that help??? :lol:

[Remudamom]

Our laundry is usually done because we do it all the time. All. the. time. Of course, I have two teen girls that know if there is laundry to be done, those machines had better be running. And that means folded and put away. I'd much rather spend a little time when needed than have a pile of unfolded clothes sitting around in the way and getting icky.

 

Yeah, it'll never be done. Especially if you sit on your butt and don't do it.

[KS_]

I do most of ours on the weekends (at least the usual loads - I'll do extra things like rugs, winter coats to be put away, etc., during the week). Our electric rates are 1/3 the cost on the weekends, which I why I started this routine. I keep the kids' clothes separate from mine and dh's so I don't have to sort theirs out later (except for jeans).

 

So, on Saturday, I sort out the clothes and I usually do 4 loads of my/dh's clothes, then one each for the dc, and maybe jeans, if I get that far. Sundays, I do our sheets, bathroom towels and kitchen towels (the kids' sheets usually get done on a Monday). The kids' clothes get put back in their hampers and they are supposed to fold and put them away that day. I fold my and dh's clothes as they come out of the dryer and put them right into the laundry basket, so they can be carried up to our room later (I try to put the clothes away early in the week, but at least they're folded and not wrinkly).

[usetoschool]

Wait until we run out of clothes, wash as many loads as I can, throw the clean piles all together in one place, and dig through for what we need. Eventually, fold and put them all away just in time to start over again.

 

Does that help??? :lol:

 

Or...wait until we run out of clothes (or company is coming) and take all twelve loads to the laundermat at 8 oclock at night and stay up until midnight putting it on hangers and folding and putting away. That would be my daughters plan and mine occaisionally when all the kids were little. :tongue_smilie:

 

The real plan is to keep it sorted (jeans, whites, delicates, everything red or pink, permanent press, towels) and do one or two loads every. single. day. The best plan for us is to just keep it sorted and just keep doing loads. Folding is the hardest part for us. If it doesn't get put away immediately for some reason I have a rule about having to do 5 things every time I go near the pile. It is amazing how quickly it can get done and stay done when I just do a little at a time and keep working at it.

[AngieW in Texas]

I do a load at least every 2nd day. I usually do 2-3 on Sundays.

 

When I get down to just 2 bras left (I have 5), I put all my clothes in the washer. I finish off with dh's clothes. If there's still room, I'll call for the kids to bring their hampers down and put stuff in the washer until it's full. I'll do however many loads I have enough clothes for.

 

I run the clothes through the washer and dryer and fold them. I don't mind doing that. The kids do all the dishes (which I HATE to do). When I'm done folding the laundry (always do it in front of the tv while watching a show), I put it in stacks for each person to dispose of.

[SonshineLearner]

Yeah, it'll never be done. Especially if you sit on your butt and don't do it.

 

This is my problem. It's more fun to sit on my butt, until I'm looking for socks!

[Holly in FL]

No sorting of daily clothes...unless there are new, dark colors that I know will bleed. I do my husband's work clothes separately.

 

Anyhoo...I do a load every morning. I fold the clothes and the children put the socks together and fold the unders. Then, they put all the clean laundry on beds and the person who belongs to those clothes puts them away.

 

I do more loads on Friday's and Saturdays because those are the days for sheets, hubby's clothes, and towels. I try not to do a load on Sundays...but, sometimes I need to.

 

~Holly

[sbgrace]

What works here is to have a separate basket for each type of load. Then the loads (here it is hot clothes, bath towels, kitchen towels/cloths) that we go through the quickest are washed one after another in a sort of cycle (here that is bath-hot clothes-kitchen stuff one after another). Then I add in one or two other loads of stuff we go through less frequently or, in the case of underwear and socks, we have so much we don't have to wash frequently. Then I repeat my cycle. I never run out of anything anymore because it's routine and I'm washing high use things frequently enough that it works.

 

I put a load in at night before bed and set it to wash right before we get up so it's finishing around the end of breakfast. Then after breakfast I switch it to the dryer. The part of laundry I hate the most is the folding and putting away. Sometimes I put that off until I have to unload the dryer to put the next load in.

[Jennifer in MI]

Very easy here:

 

One load every day in the morning.

 

Fold hanging laundry (in basement) from day before. I have a bin for each person in the family to sort.

 

Hang wet load to dry (in basement).

 

Everyone is responsible for bringing up their own clean, folded clothes about every 3 days and putting them away. I put away the 4 yo's laundry still. Dh puts away our towels.

 

Easy, peasy and no dryer used!!!

[LBC]

I wash clothes two times per week, usually Wednesday and Saturday. Each child brings their laundry to the youngest dd's room (it's closest to the laundry room). I sort it on her bed. As soon as each load comes out of the dryer, I fold it (I hate ironing), put youngest dd's clothes in her drawers/closet, and put each person's clean laundry in a separate laundry basket. At the end of the day, I give each child their laundry basket full of clean, folded clothes, and I put mine & dh's away before I go to bed. If I don't get it all done and put away each day, it feels like laundry just drags on forever. Some days I really need to force myself to put it away.

 

Oldest dd usually does all of her own laundry.

 

Towels and sheets get done on a different day, since they just go back on the towel rack or bed. It's the folding and putting away of clothes that I need to stay on top of more.

 

Lori

[Chris in VA]

Boys and Dad do their own laundry when their baskets (kept in bedrooms) are full. Towels for mom and dad get thrown in separate basket, towels for kids get thrown in bedroom baskets. Mom does girls sheets, family towels, and her own laundry when the basket is full.

 

Dd folds her own. She also tells me when she needs a washing done and I do it.

 

I probably wash 8 loads a week--maybe 4 loads of towels a week. Ds does two of his own, and doesn't change his bed as much as he should. Dh does two loads of his own, too.

[jentancalann]

Very easy here:

 

One load every day in the morning.

 

Fold hanging laundry (in basement) from day before. I have a bin for each person in the family to sort.

 

Hang wet load to dry (in basement).

 

Everyone is responsible for bringing up their own clean, folded clothes about every 3 days and putting them away. I put away the 4 yo's laundry still. Dh puts away our towels.

 

Easy, peasy and no dryer used!!!

 

 

Do you have to iron everything? I use a dryer, but when I have to let something air dry it just doesn't look the same. Just wondering...

[Pippen]

Laundry is ongoing at our house and there are very few days when I'm not doing at least a few loads. My husband is really particular about his clothes so he does those himself.

 

Towels--I sort out because those get done in hot water and everything else is done in cold.

 

Pinks and reds--My daughter likes hot pink and I've had it bleed so I save it up all reds and pinks and do a load about once a week.

 

Everything else--I generally sort into lights and darks but I'll put it together if needed to complete a load.

 

Sheets--I fit in between everything else.

 

I dry sheets and towels all the way and most everything else goes into the dryer for a few minutes to take the wrinkles out, and then gets hung on the line (socks, undies, heavy jeans, etc) or on hangers (shirts, shorts, small size jeans).

[Jennifer in MI]

Do you have to iron everything? I use a dryer, but when I have to let something air dry it just doesn't look the same. Just wondering...

 

Heck no!!! :lol::lol::lol:

 

 

I do iron the boys' dress shirts and pants. But, mostly, we wear things that don't need to be ironed. Dd wears cotton dresses mostly - sometimes turtlenecks under them and tights. Boys wear jeans or cargo-type pants with cotton shirts. Maybe a sweatshirt. And, I don't mind if they are a little wrinkly!!

[2squared]

Very easy here:

 

One load every day in the morning.

 

Fold hanging laundry (in basement) from day before. I have a bin for each person in the family to sort.

 

Hang wet load to dry (in basement).

 

Everyone is responsible for bringing up their own clean, folded clothes about every 3 days and putting them away. I put away the 4 yo's laundry still. Dh puts away our towels.

 

Easy, peasy and no dryer used!!!

 

So similar to us!

 

1) We have two laundry baskets in the house. One in the bathroom and one in the upstairs hallway.

2) First thing in the morning ALL dirty clothes comes to the laundry room.

3) ALL the clothes are washed every day. Absolutely no sorting ever. If we have something new that may bleed, I throw in a colorcatcher thingy.

4) All clothes are hung to dry.

5) Dry clothes are folded and put away.

 

Repeat the next day.

[Tap]

I have two large hampers in my room, the kids each have their own.

 

On Sunday, I sort and wash all clothes, usually 9loads. During the week, I will wash towels once or twice depending on the kids swimming habits. Bed linens get done as needed. If not on Sunday, then during the week. My kids bathe often so if I miss them for a week or so, I am not to worried.

 

When the laundry comes out I sort it all on my bed and at the end of the day it all gets hung up or folded. I make outfits for dd3 and they get folded together to make things easy in the mornings. Almost all of dh and my laundry is hung.

 

Ds15 washes almost all of his own laundry unless I sneek in and grab it. I like to do his whites occasionally to give them a good bleaching. :)

Edited April 22, 2010 by Tap, tap, tap

[lynn]

I have a family of 6.

 

I do 2-3loads a day. 1 set of sheets a day plus 1-2 other loads. I never do more than can be folded and put away. I think I got this from mother for the first thing we always heard in the morning was the washing machine being turned on.(we were a family of 7). I do use my clothes line more than my dryer.

 

I have friends that do one day a week laundry and that's all they do that 1 day.

 

My oldest ds does his own laundry on Sunday evenings. We started this since he could not seem to get his laundry to the laundry room in timem so if he wants clean clothes, he's on his own.

[elise1mds]

I only do laundry twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. We have four hampers in the house - one per bedroom and one in the laundry room (also by the back door).

 

Mondays: Change the towels, change the sheets every other week (pillowcases more often in summer). Sort all the laundry. Put denim and delicates into laundry room hamper. Wash knits (sometimes two loads in winter, darks and lights), towels, and sheets.

 

Fridays: Sort all the laundry. Wash knits (sometimes two loads in winter, darks and lights), denim, and delicates.

[Giraffe]

We're a family of three, so you'd think it would be easy for us, right?

 

DH and DD are sweaters. DH can change shirts two or three times a day, not counting pajamas. DD can change a couple times too. Between that and changing sheets at least once a week, sometimes more, I'm doing lots of laundry. Oh, and DH takes at least two showers a day, with a fresh towel each time. Can't break him of it.

 

So I have a hamper in DD's room and 2 in my room. Every morning I sort towels, lights, and darks and run approx. 2 loads a day except weekends, where DH hates the sound of the machine (we have a small condo). Mondays I do 4 loads. If I don't have a lot of clothes, I do sheets that day.

 

Wash, dry (I use the dryer here, when we move I might have space for a clothesline), fold, put away. DD (2yo) likes to help.

Edited April 22, 2010 by Hopscotch67
Hit submit too soon!

[TammyinTN]

I do laundry on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. One dark and one white load Monday and a load of towels. On Friday one load of whites, darks, towels and bed sheets. That's it.

[justamouse]

They gather up the laundry, put it in baskets in front of the washer and I wash it. 4 loads a day, not including towels, shower curtains or sheets and bedding.

[milovany]

How do you get it done? I'm looking for ideas on organization, process, etc.

 

Our kids do all our laundry. We have five old enough for this. They rotate out weekly. So for one week one of them is in charge. Everything goes into one bin, and daily they have to work on it. A couple times a day they go do the next things -- move from washer to drying rack/outside line, take down from rack/line, fold, put away, load new loads, etc. Works well!

[Sandy in Indy]

I do laundry twice a week--usually. I have four large baskets--jeans, darks, whites/lights, towels. Sometimes my older kids do their own, but not always. I like to fill up the washer/dryer and would rather throw in their stuff than make them do separate, smaller, less efficient loads. (They're busy and they help with other things around the house.)

 

I usually fold as soon as the stuff comes out of the dryer...generally while I'm watching TV. I end up with piles all around my feet. Everyone puts away his/her own stuff.

 

I used to dread laundry with a capital D, but it's not such a dreaded chore since I bought the big front loaders. Facing 4 or 5 loads twice a week is less daunting than 15 loads a week. (At least for me.)

[McKay]

We have two laundry baskets in our upstairs hall linen closet, a mauve one and a blue one. Dark clothing goes in the blue basket and pink/red clothing goes in the mauve basket. We have a white laundry basket in the linen closet in the bathroom, for white clothing. This helps a lot to have the clothing pre-sorted. I'm also able to see what color load most needs to be done.

 

I do sheets and towels on Monday and work on the rest throughout the week. Generally I wash/dry and the kids fold and put away.

[Rosie_0801]

I wash until the line is filled, or the clothes horses in winter. Then I wait until they are dry, take them off and wash some more. I usually fold clothes as I take them off the line, but if I don't, they sit in a pile on a chair until I do fold them. A whole washing line of washing to be folded is rather intimidating, so it gets done in dribs and drabs over the next couple of days.

 

Rosie

[KidsHappen]

I have hampers in the laundry room that I sort the clothes in: whites, towels, jeans, darks, reds, all other colors and linens. When a hamper gets full I wash that load. Whites, darks and towels get washed much more frequently than say reds. The teens all do their own clothes. I don't fold anything other than towels and linens. I hang anything that is hangable including pants. Socks, underware, shorts and things like that are distributed to each person in a laundry basket and it is their responsibility to put it away. I have been doing it this way for 20 years and the family still hasn't figured out the system. My hubby just came to me yesterday and told me he didn't have any whites (underware & t-shirts). So I took him by the hand and led him to our closet and showed him the large basket of whites sitting right in front of his dresser. He would have had to move the basket to open the drawer to see that it was empty. :001_huh:

[keptwoman]

Every morning when I get up I put a load on, it will either be lights darks, white towels or beach towels. What type I do depends on which I need to do. Today I will soak and wash teatowels and cloths because that is the need. Then I hang it out on the line, at the evening chore time one of us gets it off the line, folds and distributes it. Sometimes in Winter, it can take a wee while for the clothes to dry, so I end up with a backlog and frantically try to get it all done on windy days.

Edited April 22, 2010 by keptwoman

[Jen in PA]

I don't separate by color, but do pull out anything that might bleed color or requires special care. I empty the hamper each night and start the washer about an hour before I go to bed (and after all the showering is done, so there is plenty of hot water for everyone). When I first wake up in the morning I move it all to the dryer, and it dries while I wake up/exercise/check email. I fold it as soon as it is dry (I hate ironing!), and put my clothes and DH's away immediately. The DC are usually waking up around this time and I give them their clothes to put away before the school day begins. On Saturday mornings I run an extra load or two of linens, coats, etc.

[Karen in CO]

The girls each have their own hamper. When they need clean clothes, they bring it down to the laundry room (with help if needed) and start the load. I'll help them fold and put it away. I started this with them since I figure it matters most to them if their clothes are clean. It takes away the responsibility from me to nag them about it and lets them have the natural consequence from not being responsible. My hubby and I both are responsible for our shared hamper. I wash towels with the clothes of the person that used them. I gather sheets once a week on days when the washer and dryer are empty. Hubby and I fold clothes together at night after the kids go to bed if there is something in the dryer.

 

When we have our other adults in the house (my mom lives with us about half the year and my ds is in college), they get their own hamper too and do their own sheets and towels.

[Amber in AUS]

Have not read everyone else's response but here is what works for me.

 

In my laundry i have a clothes rack. I wash 1 load of clothes every morning, even if it is only a small load. While it is washing i fold and put away the clothes on the clothes rack which are from yesterdays load. Once the load is finished i hang it on the now cleared rack.

 

I wash towels and sheets as necessary and put them straight in the dryer and back on the towel rail or bed.

 

This is the only method that has kept me from having piles of clean laundry all over the house that need folding and putting away. Amazingly it has also helped the lost sock phenomenon :)

 

I will be back to check everyone else's responses a little later.

[Laura Corin]

Everyone dumps their laundry in one of two baskets. I wash clothes every day, do two loads of towels a week and two loads of sheets about every two weeks, plus occasional loads for coats. I pick up dirty laundry as I head for the kitchen in the morning. I unload the washer with yesterday's stuff and hang it up outside (if fine) or throw in dryer. Then I put on today's wash. Extra washes (towels, sheets, coats) get fitted in later in the day. I separate light and heavy weight colours because my dryer works better that way if I need to use it. The schedule goes something like:

 

Monday: light weight colours

Tuesday: heavy weight colours

Wednesday: Maybe colours, plus two sets of towels

Thursday: Karate, Taekwondo uniforms plus other whites

Friday: light weight colours

Saturday: heavy weight colours

Sunday: Taekwondo uniform plus other whites

 

Clean clothes get dumped on the spare room sofa-bed and Calvin sorts them on Mondays and Thursdays. Each of us then puts away our own clothes.

 

Laura

[texasmama]

I am the laundry queen. I am organized and have a good system. It rarely gets away from me. I like that it is one fo the very tiny parts of my life that I can actually control.:tongue_smilie:

 

There are two "dirty" hampers in the laundry room - one for lights and one for darks. There is a large hamper in the laundry room, in addition to those, for clean, non hanging items. I put up two of those metal shelving units covered in white stuff on the wall in the laundry room. The detergent and stain remover goes there. We don't use fabric softener or sheets but rarely. When a basket is full, I wash a load. This means that I wash 1 -2 loads a day. I do it all times of the day, whenever I can fit it in. Right out of the dryer, the hanging clothes are put onto hangers and hung in a specific spot on the shelving unit, depending on whom they belong to. The non hanging items of ds's and littlest dd's go on top of the washer. I put away these items and the hanging items piecemeal here and there as I have time. My teen does her own laundry. We have a hamper for dirty clothes in the master bath and I combine that with the one in the laundry room frequently. I take 1-2 days a week off of laundry. This means that on the other days, I might do 1-3 loads. Since I started hanging items up right out of the dryer, they are not as wrinkled and the clean hamper doesn't pile up horribly as it did before. It is more time efficient, as well. The clean nonhanging hamper gets emptied by me (sometimes dh) and put away when it is full, maybe one a week.

[Peela]

All 4 of us do our own laundry nowadays. DH always did.

 

There is a basket in each person's room, and we basically do a wash when its full. Dh and I do separate whites washes for ourselves, but the kids jsut dont have whtes. Easy.

 

We dont have a dryer. We don't hang outside either except that on sunny days in winter, we take our drying racks outside because its gets a bit slow drying them inside.

 

We have 4 drying racks, each of which hangs a load of washing. Our laundry room though is huge- the size of a normal bedroom- so all the racks can be in there at once. The hot water system is in there- it keeps the room a little warm.

 

The key for getting ds14 to beable to manage his own laundry was to limit the number of his clothes. He still needs to be reminded reguarly to wash his clothes- and himself- when we notice the smell.

 

No specific laundry days. I do a load maybe 3 times a week- my clothes and sheets and towels. The rest is up to everyone else.

 

When I was the kids' and my washing, it did used to pile up- not the washing- but the "put away" pile. A mountain on the spare bed. Flylady helped me deal with tha, 15 minues at a time, and its never been an issue since then.

 

As for ironing- I iron once a month or so. THe kids don't have anything to iron. Dh irons a shirt here and there, not much. No routine around ironing at all, since we just dont tend to buy clothes that need ironing.

[PeterPan]

I don't know, I'm pretty pragmatic. As long as it goes in and comes out not destroyed, I'm happy. I don't sort or do anything fancy. If the load happens to have red in it, it goes on cold. Otherwise warm. Adult/nice clothes go on the quick wash cycle (frontloader, 25 min). Everything else goes on the regular/normal cycle (about an hour). I keep a lot of laundry baskets with occasional hints of ownership, so it's easy to divide stuff up and put into rooms. I color code towels, so it's obvious which bathroom they go in. My SIL actually coordinates a clean laundry basket, bath towel, etc., all in the same color, to keep her horde accountable.

 

Oh, and I only do my laundry and the baby's. Dd has done her own laundry for years. A frontloader is as easy to run as a dvd player or vcr, so let 'em do it! :)

 

Extra hint: Buy more underwear. ;)

[OnTheBrink]

Wait until we run out of clothes, wash as many loads as I can, throw the clean piles all together in one place, and dig through for what we need. Eventually, fold and put them all away just in time to start over again.

 

Does that help??? :lol:

 

HA! I have the same system! :lol: I was going to make it sound more "organized" though.

 

1) While wearing pj's (because nothing else is clean) drag baskets to the basement.

 

2) Throw clothes into the washer until it's full.

 

3) Pour scoop of soap into soap thing. (yes, that's the technical term)

 

4) Push "start" button.

 

5) Approx 40 minutes later, when washer beeps, send 12 year old to move the laundry from washer to dryer. Revel in the added joy of hearing 12 year old gripe about it. While she's down there, grumbling, holler down that she should start a new load in the washer. Smile with contented joy as her grumbling continues, taking care her complaining doesn't transfer into slamming washer or dryer doors. If this happens, threaten death-by-iPod-loss.

 

6) When dryer buzzes, drag clothes out of it, dropping them into basket. Catch clothes you plan to wear to work and hang them over the water pipes so they don't wrinkle in the basket (hence, saving having to iron them).

 

7) When all loads are washed and dried, drag basket back upstairs. Let it sit in the kitchen for a few days. Only when tripping over it has become too much to bear, drag it into the living room, armed with a bottle of wrinkle release. Have 12 year old gather all hangers. Sort, fold, hang, spray with wrinkle release and put away.

 

There. All done! :D

[nmoira]

I have set days for sheets and towels (we go through a lot of towels as the girls swim 3x per week). For the rest, I'm prepared to do a load of laundry every day but only do it when necessary:

 

Morning:

 

• I check to see if there's enough to warrant a load; if yes, I put it in the washer.
  
• I remove any items in the dryer which should be folded (pants, t-shirts, etc.)
  

Night:

 

• Before bed, I check to see if there are clothes in the washer; if yes, I put them in the dryer (or lay to dry, depending on the item)
  
• Well, I put them in after folding the clothes left in the dryer after Step 2 above :tongue_smilie:
  

Special loads (delicates, not colour fast, etc):

 

• not typical, but do them as soon as I have enough items, or if not applicable, throw in a towel and turn on the alarm to deal with immediately after washing
  

[IsabelC]

Everything gets presorted into 4 large containers in the laundry. I put washing in the machine early in the morning and hang it out a bit later when the kids are having their outside play time. After I have hung out a load, I bring in whatever is dry from the previous load. I fold it into my basket and go inside and put it away immediately, so that we don't develop a mount foldmore. I pretty much do two loads every day, or when I don't have a load in any of the containers I will iron dh's shirts, clean the laundry floor or do some other job in that room instead.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

I start a load first thing every morning. I don't sort unless I have a brand new navy, black or red piece of clothing. Towels go in with clothes. By doing 1 load every morning laundry never piles up. If I tried to sort then I wouldn't have full loads and have to use more water.

[Mejane]

I wander through the bedrooms on my way downstairs in the morning gathering whatever into a load and throw it in first thing. By the time I'm done with my coffee and computer-time, it's ready for the dryer. Then I have the kids fold it and put it away. This way, it never piles up.

 

(Just read the post above mine. Great minds...)

[Angie in VA]

Most week days and some Saturdays, one load gets washed, sometimes more. DH and I have one basket for darks and one for lights in our closet. Likewise, each child has one dark basket and one lights basket. Towels get put into the appropriate color basket when they're dirty, but *dry*. I'm thinking about having baskets in the bathrooms for towels and rugs.

 

If someone doesn't have a full load but would like to wash lights/darks, (think baseball season, uniform, etc!) he/she asks if someone can combine to make a full load. Things are dried on drying racks inside or on the back porch, or, best of all, on the clothesline. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to read that so many of you use clotheslines. I'm goofy for them, I admit! We only use the dryer when we have to (sheets in the wash and it's raining, for ex.)

 

For combined loads, one party may pull all the clothes out of the washer, but the owner hangs his/her own clothes to dry, takes them down, folds them and puts them away. My dc have done their own laundry (w/ LOTS of supervision) since they were about 3.

 

We're a small family, but I never feel overwhelmed w/ laundry doing it this way.

 

I'm weird. I *like* to do laundry! In fact, when I offer to help someone out, I offer to do their laundry. They usually keep unmentionables at home, but let me do the rest. I'm happy to do it!

 

[Slartibartfast]

I do the laundry throughout the week.

 

I then pile the laundry around wherever it seems to fit.

 

I yell at dh to fold the laundry throughout the week.

 

On the weekend dh says "I am going to do laundry" Then I point out that the laundry is all clean and laying around, did he not get the "FOLD THE LAUNDRY" memo?

 

Dh folds the laundry while watching something. He usually does a halfway job and leaves folded laundry on the furniture.

 

I complain about folded laundry on the couch after a few hours because ds likes to sit on ONE SPECIAL SPOT on the couch and nurse. If it is covered in laundry ds gets angry.

 

Dh then has dd put away her laundry, the towels and ds' laundry. The remaining laundry sits around until I tell him there will be NO DINNER EVER unless the laundry is put away. I then spend awhil trying to find what really happened with ds' clothes since they don't seem to be in a spot that makes sense. I also notice that dd has thrown FOLDED CLEAN CLOTHES ON THE FLOOR!! GGAAHH!! I then make dd do some random chore as punishment and pick her clothing up.

 

I guess we don't have a good system. :tongue_smilie:

 

Laundry is the thorn in my side.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Sis

[Nestof3]

I wash one load every night. This includes all of the kitchen towels, my washcloth and hand towel, and all of the clothes worn that day that need to be washed. The boys usually take theirs off and throw them straight into the washing machine. Odd things that need to be washed gentle cycle get washed during the day sometime.

 

Once a week, I wash towels and little rugs in the kitchen and bathroom. We each have our own towel, so this is often enough.

 

Sometimes I dry the clothes and fold them before I get to bed; other times, I dry them when I go to bed and fold them in the morning while my coffee is brewing (I also unload the dishwasher then -- it's started when I go to bed).

 

It's pretty easy with only 5 of us.

[Mommyof4ks]

Wait until we run out of clothes, wash as many loads as I can, throw the clean piles all together in one place, and dig through for what we need. Eventually, fold and put them all away just in time to start over again.

 

Does that help??? :lol:

 

That was my method when I had a laundry room LOL! Now I have a laundry closet and I have to put clothes away in order to get to my deep freeze. :glare: I usually do towels every other day, sort laundry on Friday in the bathroom and hopefully get it all done by Monday. Sheets get done once a week, usually Tuesday. Summer throws us off though, so who knows what we will do next year.