how do you handle clean clothes?

[Mom-ninja.]

Do your dc put away their own clothes into dressers and closets?

 

If so, how old are they?

 

 

My boys make a complete and total mess with their clean clothes. The dresser and closet is enough to set my blood boiling.

 

I'm thinking my 6 yr old needs my help keeping things neat, but my 9 yr should be able to put his clothes away *neatly* and keeo things neat, right?

[Jean in Newcastle]

My 8 year old can put away clothes that have been folded for her. Now I can put them in a pile and she can sort and put them into drawers but when she was a bit younger I would sort them for her. I would have an underwear pile, a shirts pile etc. depending on how they went into her drawers.

[fairfarmhand]

is it possible that they have too many clothes?

 

My 5 yr old dd can put her clothes away somewhat neatly (yes it is obvious that a 5 yr. old did it) but they are at least folded and the pants are in the pants drawer, the shirts in the shirt drawer etc.

 

However, when the drawers are crowded, even my 13 yr old can't/ won't do it properly.

 

I hang up everyone's clothes except for my 13 yr old, since I want their nice clothes to remain unrumpled.

 

but yes, all my girls put their clothes away themselves.

 

eta: my son is only 3.

[Impish]

*snort*

Wolf encourages them to 'just stuff it in a drawer'. He doesn't even fold it first.

 

My linen closet makes me hyperventilate. Nobody in this house can fold a towel properly...they kinda wad it up in a ball and stuff it in. :glare:

[Plucky]

9 is still kind of young for a boy to put things away neatly, but I'm sure some do. LOL

 

All my kids put away their own clothes, but I do help my 12ds, as he is organizationally challenged. Their drawers aren't super neat, but if they are in the drawers and the drawers close I am happy.

[Mejane]

Do your dc put away their own clothes into dressers and closets?

 

 

Yeah, right. :glare: My kids live out of their piles. You can see how old they are. Teens and their rooms... gak.

[Sherry in OH]

I put everybody's clothing away, including DH's.

[kfeusse]

I have a 6, 8, and 10 year olds...I wash, they put away. The only clothes in the closet are church clothes and I hang the youngest ones closet clothes...other wise it is up to them. I don't care if the t-shirts and sweat pants are wrinkled...I figure one day we'll work on folding. My oldest (DD) folds her clothes and the boys try...sometimes.

[K&Rs Mom]

I hang things in closets, because they can't really reach yet. Folded stuff, I fold & put a basket in their room; they have to put folded items in the right drawers and return the empty basket to the bathroom. They've done this since about 3yo.

[2squared]

I fold; the dc put away.

 

My 6yo, 4yo, & 2yo only have one drawer (no hanging clothes) apiece, so it's a pretty easy job for them. As long as the clothes go in the right drawer and it shuts, I am good.

 

My 8yo has an entire dresser, and she gets the clothes in the right drawers but it's not always neat. I don't care as long as the drawers shut.

 

My newborn is lazy. He doesn't put away his own clothes. :D My 8yo does his chores for now.

 

When I fold, I sort the clothes by type so it's easier for them to put away.

[Ginevra]

I fold; each gets their basket. My 5yo just started to mostly put away his own (in drawers, not hanging). The 11 and 13 yo have had this to do for years. The 11 yo is not very neat about it and the 13 yo procrastinates.

 

Incidentally, I learned early in my marriage that it would save me a ton of aggravation if I would just put dh's clothes away myself. Before we got married, he operated off two piles on the floor. :glare:

[Mom in High Heels]

Indy is 8 and folds and puts away his own clothes. It's not as neatly done as if I did it, but this is one of those "pick your battle" things IMO. As long as the clothes are folded and in the drawer, I can't get too stressed about the actual neatness.

[BikeBookBread]

SO FUNNY that this was posted because I've been on an unofficial putting clothing away strike with my girls. I just dumped their stuff in their rooms hoping they would get the hint that I want them to put it away. It hasn't worked for a week. I think it's time to give up!

[walkermamaof4]

I know this is a hard switch to make - but on the raisingolives blog I got this idea and it really has helped us. the deal is that i was washing daily and each kid had a small pile to put away daily. i loved this EXCEPT for the daily troubles of having to remind them to put things away properly. so, raising olives has a basket for dirty laundry for each kid in their rooms. each kids clothes are washed separately. the genius to this system is that the kid only has to put away once a week or so AND you don't have to sort any more. I had to finagle it a bit -- my towels go in with smallest ds's stuff... to make it work for us. But it is great all-in-all.

 

like others, i or older dd's hang up church clothes and youngers can stuff the rest in their drawers to their hearts delight for now. more training as they grow up. i used to hang everything except undergarments. too time consuming. they wear mostly knit shirts and jeans. really they don't look wrinkly!

[bluemongoose]

I fold and hang everything in my laundry room. I have color coordinated hangers so each person knows their color, and each person has a laundry basket with their name on it for the folded clothing.

 

I expect my nearly 6yo to carry her hanging clothes up and hang them herself. I carry her basket up for her (it is too big and heavy for the stairs) and she puts the folded clothing away.

 

DH comes and gets all of his own stuff and often helps with the boys as well.

 

My boys are nearly 4yo and nearly 2yo, they do not help put away clothing straight from the laundry. However, we are working on keeping our clothes in the drawers :glare:, and they help me refold them and put them back in the drawers when they ransack them.

 

Another thing I stopped doing is turning clothing to the correct side once the person has turned 5. That saves me a ton of time! And yes this means that it is hug inside out, or folded inside out if it should come through the laundry that way.

[fairfarmhand]

I know this is a hard switch to make - but on the raisingolives blog I got this idea and it really has helped us. the deal is that i was washing daily and each kid had a small pile to put away daily. i loved this EXCEPT for the daily troubles of having to remind them to put things away properly. so, raising olives has a basket for dirty laundry for each kid in their rooms. each kids clothes are washed separately. the genius to this system is that the kid only has to put away once a week or so AND you don't have to sort any more. I had to finagle it a bit -- my towels go in with smallest ds's stuff... to make it work for us. But it is great all-in-all.

 

THIS IS US! I'm the only person I know who does this, but it works so well.

[Punks in Ontario]

Now, I have boys so we don't have hanger types of clothes as a rule. All my boys have 3-4 shelves in their closets mostly instead of hanging space. They put all their folded clothes on the shelves. Depending on the neatness of the boy, they are in categories, or just in piles. They have a cubbie for their underwear and socks that either sits on a shelf or the floor. Of course each child's clothes are from about waist to chin height, so reach is never a problem. Even when they were 4 and 5, they could generally put away their own clothes.

 

They did abismally with drawers and hanging stuff up so the shelves are a quantum leap ahead. Once in a while I tidy up the younger boy's shelves, and make the olders tidy theirs, but other than that it's self maintaining.

 

FTR I fold the clothes for them. The littles bring the dirty laundry to the laundry room each morning, and when they have an armload of clean clothes, I'll remind them to take it upstairs and put it away.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Punks in Ontario

[Jen in PA]

I fold all the clothes and the kids come to my room to pick up their piles of clean wash. The 7-year-old puts away all of her wash plus most of the 5-year-old's. This involves sorting things into tops and bottoms (tops go in dresser drawers, bottoms into under-bed trundles. Socks and undies also have dresser drawers, and each child has a basket for jammies and their hooded towels. The 5-year-old is responsible for putting away his socks/underwear/pajamas.

[speedmom4]

I am probably contributing to my children's laziness but I couldn't take seeing clean clothes shoved in drawers or at the bottom of the closet. I now put everything away. My washer/dryer is in the basement and the bedrooms were on the second floor so it actually made more sense to keep clothes down there. I hated climbing two flights of stairs for four children and 2 adults.

 

I am much happier now. Even though my children are older I like knowing clothes are getting put away properly. I know that sounds silly but it wasn't worth the fight for me.

 

We began doing this about 5 years ago and I am still very happy with the arrangement.

 

Blessings,

Elise in NC

[Tonia]

Whoever is home at the time helps fold laundry. Everyone puts their own clothing away (even dh). I supervise dd (age 6) or she will just shove everything into one drawer. I do stack clothes in a specific order (underwear and socks on top, then pjs, dress clothes, shirts, pants to help her put things in the right drawers.

[Princess Peach]

Their ironed, hanging clothes I put into their closets for them. Mainly because I detest ironing and do not want my efforts ruined.

 

Their regular everyday clothing gets folded by me and put into separate piles. They put their own piles away into their dressers. They basically stuff them into their drawers, but it doesn't bother me. LOL.

[DarlaS]

I fold for the younger two and they put it away. There is a certain amount of ongoing instruction as to exactly what that entails.

 

The older two alternate between putting it away (after enough reminders) and living out of the laundry basket. (ETA: These two do their own laundry, the 10 yo does her some of the time.)

 

I only have two laundry baskets, which forces us to more or less keep up with things. My teens have been know to put their laundry away only after I dump it out.

 

I am thinking, however, of building one of these for my biggest laundry offender--dh! :tongue_smilie: (I would need more baskets though--but seriously, how nifty is that?!)

Edited December 1, 2010 by darlasowders

[MaMa2005]

DS is 5 and as long as the clothes are folded, he can get them neatly into drawers. I still do the hanging, but that is because I am OCD about the organization of the closet :D .

[MamaJeanne]

I make the piles, they put the clothes away. Well, the 7 and 5 year old put theirs away. The 2 year old will occasionally take a pile or two to put away as well. I hand him a manageable stack of something, then I grab the rest and walk with him to make sure that his stack goes to the right place. If I don't, we get funny surprises like my 5 yo finding a bunch of the 2 yo's pajamas in his pants drawer. :D

[Oakblossoms]

My boys each have a drawer for swim trunks, undies, and socks. Everything else gets hung up as it comes out of the wash. There is a hanging rack in the laundry room. We have a family closet. I don't allow a lot of clothes. If things start to fit, I have no problem removing clothes from the person who has too many. I put them away in the storage closet.

 

I wanted to add they each have their own hanger color, too. It has saved my sanity. My husband was always upset if he had to get a shirt or something.

[anneofalamo]

4 kids have been doing their own laundry since they were 7 completely,

 

I totally agree too many makes for freaked out little brains

 

 

we have a hamper in each room (boys and girls share separate rooms)

 

each has a day to do their laundry,

goes in after breakfast

first break into dryer

if a second load is needed started then

after school they fold and put away 1st load and reboot the dryer with 2nd load

and while I am making dinner they do last load (usually pants and heavy things) so a smaller load

 

They have their own drawers and I worked with them a ton for about a year, and spring and winter we go thru and do toss the too small and take inventory of what is needed. We don't have too many things, cause they wear the same things even if I have 20 shirts, they were their favorite 5 anyways, so we keep 2 extra and that is it! helps so much

[mommaduck]

The easiest years of my life were when we had a family closet (aka a room). If I had a few hundred to spend, I'd be set up again to my satisfaction.

[KrissiK]

My 6 & 7 Year old boys have been doing their laundry for a couple of years. I just inspect things. Their good shirts are hung in the closet, so they don't make too much of a mess of that. Playclothes I make sure they made an attempt to fold them and put them in the right drawers. It's hard, but as my old boss used to say, "You have to inspect what you expect." If it's not done right, they do it again.

[MamaAkins]

I fold all the clothes that go in dressers & arrange them in piles on our couch or my bed. The "hang-able" clothes are put into one stack. The kids are expected to pick up their stacks, take them to their room and put in appropriate dresser drawers. My 3 1/2 year old does it, although not always as neatly as I'd like. The 6, 9 and 13 year olds do it fine. The two oldest (9 and 13) hang all the "hang-ables" on hangers and then in appropriate closets.

[AngieW in Texas]

I fold all the laundry and leave it stacked in front of the tv downstairs.

 

My 12yo and 15yo put their laundry away in their dressers.

 

I stack my laundry and dh's laundry on top of our dresser. It almost never actually makes it inside the dresser.

 

My 17yo drops all of her clean laundry on the floor with her dirty laundry and everything else that ends up in her room.

[Whereneverever]

My 6 year can fold her clothes and put them away with direct supervision, encouragement and help with wonky items.

My three year old can fold leggings, match socks, and put away folded things pretty neatly- again with direct supervision.

My baby likes to roll around the clothes pile and knock over stacks of folded laundry.

 

I think 6 and 9 is fine to put away laundry, but maybe not solo.

[DarlaS]

I fold all the laundry and leave it stacked in front of the tv downstairs.

 

My 12yo and 15yo put their laundry away in their dressers.

 

I stack my laundry and dh's laundry on top of our dresser. It almost never actually makes it inside the dresser.

 

My 17yo drops all of her clean laundry on the floor with her dirty laundry and everything else that ends up in her room.

 

I have to confess the same is true much of the time at our house. My dh and I don't actually have enough dresser space.

 

It really does sound like The Laundry Basket Dresser may be the answer to all our troubles. I'm even envisioning a way to make it look like an actual dresser or armoire.

 

As soon as I finish my current bookcase project and a loft bed, I may just have to make one. Looks so easy! (It's a box, and the angled metal could easily be 1x2 furring strips or 2x2s.)

[Sasharowan]

9, 11, and 14 year old fold and put away all clothes. 9yo needs help with hanging clothes occasionally. All 3 of them are learning to work the washer and dryer. 4yo, I still fold and put away his clothes. I have attempted a few times to have him put away, but usually it is more trouble than it's worth.

[Mom-ninja.]

*snort*

Wolf encourages them to 'just stuff it in a drawer'. He doesn't even fold it first.

 

My linen closet makes me hyperventilate. Nobody in this house can fold a towel properly...they kinda wad it up in a ball and stuff it in. :glare:

 

Our husbands must know each other.

 

 

Incidentally, I learned early in my marriage that it would save me a ton of aggravation if I would just put dh's clothes away myself. Before we got married, he operated off two piles on the floor. :glare:

 

Ugh, same here. That was one battle I never ever won. If dh and I had separate bedrooms and I didn't have to live in his mess, I would leave his clothes to his own devices. However, since he shares my bedroom space, I put his stuff away for my sanity. He could care less. I actually bought a separate laundry basket for dh's "clean" clothes. The clothes he would throw on the floor or chair because "they're clean and I'll wear them tomorrow" yet the piles just grew and grew. It seems he never remembers to grab from his "clean clothes" pile on the floor when he gets dressed. He takes clothes from the dresser. So now every morning I grab his "clean clothes" from the floor and throw them into his "clean clothes" hamper. When it's full he washes the load. I refuse to wash the clothes in that hamper. I'm fine to let it continue to build until he runs out of clothes.

 

 

I know this is a hard switch to make - but on the raisingolives blog I got this idea and it really has helped us. the deal is that i was washing daily and each kid had a small pile to put away daily. i loved this EXCEPT for the daily troubles of having to remind them to put things away properly. so, raising olives has a basket for dirty laundry for each kid in their rooms. each kids clothes are washed separately. the genius to this system is that the kid only has to put away once a week or so AND you don't have to sort any more. I had to finagle it a bit -- my towels go in with smallest ds's stuff... to make it work for us. But it is great all-in-all.

 

 

 

I do a variation of this. My older boys have a hamper in their room (they share a room) and their clothes are washed separately from mine, dh's, and the baby's.

 

I am thinking, however, of building one of these for my biggest laundry offender--dh! :tongue_smilie: (I would need more baskets though--but seriously, how nifty is that?!)

 

Coolest thing ever.

 

 

I guess part of the problem is my boys have too many clothes. That would be my mom. She's always buying them clothes. The other half of the problem, I've decided, is that they have half dh's genes.

[mcconnellboys]

My older son could put away his own clothes from an early age, even though he has some sensory processing problems that make fine motor skill things like hanging, buttoning, etc. hard for him.

 

My younger son, however, still has difficulty at 12 that I don't think is motor skill related at all. He just can't seem to put together the steps for doing simple tasks and get them done correctly.

 

So I still often walk him through such things. He is folding and putting away all towels and related things and has been doing that for some time. He does fine with that.

[Jean in Wisc]

As a mom of older kids (so you can put me down as experienced or out of touch as you see fit :D )...

 

I have laundry baskets in the computer room--one for each family member and another for towels and whatnot. Each person folds his own when they are old enough to do so. We use to throw everything on the big rug in the living room and do it at the same time so that the littles could get help--I'd help them fold, put away and keep organized. Now they do it on their own.

 

I'd say it isn't the age that determines if they are going to put their stuff away and keep it neat. Some 3yos can do it. Some 33yos cannot. So...I'd say just keep helping them and making them do it right and, eventually, when they are old enough to "know better", making it uncomfortable for them--and someday you'll be looking at them in their wedding gown and crying that the time went waaaay to fast. :)

 

Do your dc put away their own clothes into dressers and closets?

 

If so, how old are they?

 

 

My boys make a complete and total mess with their clean clothes. The dresser and closet is enough to set my blood boiling.

 

I'm thinking my 6 yr old needs my help keeping things neat, but my 9 yr should be able to put his clothes away *neatly* and keeo things neat, right?

[2squared]

I do laundry daily, which I love, The piles are never too big for the dc - even my 2yo. I fold the clothes on the dinner table, so the dc put away before setting the table - or else no dinner for us!

[Peela]

Ds15 does his own washing. Usually it is left in the laundry so long that i put it in a basket and put it in his room to be put away. I am pretty sure that what happens is...the dirty clothes then get put on top of those clean clothes in the basket, and it comes back into the laundry a few days later to be washed.

 

Dd16 can manage to wash her clothes and actually put them away..

 

both need reminding to keep the washing moving.

 

In other words..they both need supervising even years after being technically capable of doing their own washing, bringing it in and putting it away.

 

I suggest a 9yo needs lot of patience and probably some supervision...for as long as he needs it. THe more time and effort you put in at this stage...patiently, consistently...the less likely you will need to worry about it later. It needs to become a habit. I wasnt consistent enough for my kids and dd16 has found her way but ds15...needs more consistency from me to follow the whole laundry cycle all the way through.

[2squared]

The easiest years of my life were when we had a family closet (aka a room). If I had a few hundred to spend, I'd be set up again to my satisfaction.

 

I would love a family closet! As it is, my 2yo & 4yo's underwear are in a drawer in the bathroom. My 4yo & 6yo's church clothes are in a drawer in my nightstand. My 2yo's clothes are in a drawer in my dresser. All the dc's socks are in baskets in the entryway. In the spring I plan on moving the dc's play clothes to the laundry room. I am trying to make the laundry situation work for us without a family closet.