Laundry - what's your system?

[AimeeM]

I feel like I'm drowning in laundry.

 

Between Schmoo who goes through several tops, random blankets, sleepers and pods every day with projectile vomiting, standard spit up, and exploding diapers; the preschool boy who goes through at least two outfits a day; my daughter's clothing (which she is rough on; she enjoys playing outside), my own tops that are usually covered in spit up and end up changed a couple times a day, dh's slacks and tops for work and then his lounge wear... bedding from the beds, towels, dish rags, etc...

:glare:

I sat down to fold laundry this morning (I have several clean loads that need to be folded and put away, and several more that still need to be washed) and it took no less than two hours to fold and put away one basket - between Schmoo needing fed and held, and the preschooler trying to "help".

 

What is your system? Do you do a specific person's laundry on a certain day? Do you only do laundry on a certain day, dedicating your day to just that?

[petepie2]

My DD8 and DS6 do their own laundry on either Monday/Tuesday. Also, either of them can fold towels for chore money. As far as the rest of us, I usually do 4-5 loads over the course of a week. I fold on the same day that I wash so that part doesn't pile up.

[5LittleMonkeys]

My system is my 14 yo. She does all the laundry; washes, dries and puts away household laundry and mine and dh's. She washes and dries the other dc's and then gives it to them for them to fold and put away. She has a chart for whose to do on what day. It comes out to two loads a day. Each dc's clothes are done in one load to save time on sorting.

 

The beauty of having older dc.;)

[Susan C.]

I do a load or two a day as I get full loads and fold right away. My dc are grown (but at home). Dd and I are laundry load buddies, her darks and my darks make a full load, same with lights. And our clothes are the same texture, not yard or sport dirty. Dh clothes wash by themselves, his yard clothes are prewashed, then I leave them in and add the rest. Ds gets dedicated loads, he wears most of what he has, then I wash it, then repeat. Dh and ds share a white bleach load (yard socks, t-shirts) and I add the white wash rags and the fabric shower liner to that. I split sheets (white and colored) and towels (light and dark). If I keep things up, I'll wash every to every third day. There is quite a back log if I let it get behind.

[Guest]

I do all laundry twice a week; when kids were little (and I used cloth dipes), it was more frequent, but main laundry was still no more than 3x a week. (Dipes were every other day.)

 

Here is my system:

 

1. Everybody brings their clothing baskets to the central hall area and dumps them. I used to use separate hampers and baskets, but now, each family member has a clothes basket for their closet, which will be returned with clean clothing folded in it.

 

2. I sort them. When I had toddlers, they helped sort. Generally, I have a whites pile, a red/orange/pink pile, a delicates pile and 2-3 large loads of darks. I sort of intend to wash jeans/towels/dh's construction darks in their own load, but I want full loads, so sometimes other less-sturdy things go in that pile as well.

 

3. I start fairly early to go on the laundry. I put in a load, start it washing and go do whatever else. In about an hour, I will switch out loads and start the next one. When a load is dry, I basket it up, take it to my bedroom and fold. Even when I had babies, I always got that basket folded up! I do not ever wait and keep piling dry-but-unfolded clothes up. Now that my kids are older, they sometimes do switching-out and/or folding. Note that I also have no reservations about running washer or dryer if I leave the house. I just pick back up where I left off when I return.

 

4. As I fold the clothes, I keep them separate for different family members and later, I will put them each back in the baskets and each will go to their own rooms. The kids are responsible for putting them back in the drawers. They are terribly unreliable about this, just so you know. :tongue_smilie: I put my own and dh's clothes away myself.

 

5. This is it. It often takes "all day," in one sense: the laundry is in use for that whole day as I process the laundry. But I don't really look at it like this and I do think how you frame this in your mind matters. It's really only a few minutes every hour or so and at the end of the day, it's done.

 

6. One last element: anything that wrinkles all to heck and back I pile up (on my exercise bike ;)) and iron later. Sometimes at night, sometimes early in the morning. But I only iron things that wrinkle all to heck.

 

Even if you do have many outfits or blankets or what-not with a spitter-upper, it is probably pretty equal to the amount of laundry you will do later, when your children's individual pieces of clothing will all be larger. I have a lot of laundry, partially due to the nature of my husband's work clothes, but laundry is just not something that registers as a difficulty to me. Some of it will be in how you think of it. Actually, a lot of it will be in how you think about it. :001_smile:

[MamaAkins]

We do minimal sorting: towels (usually 2x per week), whites, colored (I wash whites or colored laundry whenever the laundry baskets are filled), and sheets (1x per week).

 

I try to start a load each morning; throw it in the dryer at morning snack time (around 10:30), fold it while the kids eat lunch; and have them put away their laundry on their way to "quiet time" in the afternoon (where they read/work quietly in their room while I eat my lunch and have a quiet moment or two in order to "gear up" for the remainder of the afternoon).

[Dory]

I do two loads of laundry every day. Usually putting the first in on the way to make breakfast and the second in during lunch. Then I fold in the evenings during my wind down time which is usually somewhere around midnight or slightly before. On Thursdays I wash bedding and any extras usually averaging 4-5 loads that day and Friday we only have a half day of school so that we can clean house. My kids all help with the laundry sorting and changing loads and folding. Usually ds8 sorts out a couple loads for me in the afternoon so that I can shove them in the washing machine the next day.

[Mom-ninja.]

I have a hamper for each load. So a hamper for whites, one for colors, one for darks, one for dh's work clothes/delicate wash, one for dry cleaning, one for rags/dish towels. When I cloth diapered I had a hamper for dirty dipes.

 

When a hamper becomes full (one full hamper is exactly one load in my washer) I put it in the washer in the morning before lessons. Then at lunch I put it in the dryer or hang it up. In the evening after dinner (sometimes after kids are in bed) I fold and put away.

 

My boys do their own laundry on the weekend. My dh takes care of his dry cleaning clothes by taking it to the cleaners when that hamper is full.

 

I've been able to keep the laundry mountain tamed this way.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Kleine Hexe

[*Michelle*]

We do minimal sorting: towels (usually 2x per week), whites, colored (I wash whites or colored laundry whenever the laundry baskets are filled), and sheets (1x per week).

 

I try to start a load each morning; throw it in the dryer at morning snack time (around 10:30), fold it while the kids eat lunch; and have them put away their laundry on their way to "quiet time" in the afternoon (where they read/work quietly in their room while I eat my lunch and have a quiet moment or two in order to "gear up" for the remainder of the afternoon).

 

That's pretty much what I do.

[elfgivas]

two loads a day, starting the first one before breakfast.

 

then once i have taught the first subjects and dd are doing their work in that subject, i hang the first load outside. and start the second load.

 

then after i teach the third subject and they are doing their work in that subject, i hang up the second load, and bring in any of the first that is dry. i put it away as i bring it in, and don't use a basket. eg. i'll bring in all the jeans in an armload, walk to bedrooms, fold and put in drawers. take the next few things out of the washer, hang them up, bring in all the dance gear, etc, etc.

 

re sorting:

mondays i do one load of linens, and

a load of the weekend clothes washed on cold, unsorted except for jeans.

 

tuesday:

jeans load

any left over clothes from the weekend and monday

 

wednesday:

one load of linens

tuesday's clothes

 

thursday:

all dance clothes

wednesday's clothes

 

friday:

thursday's clothes

+ any accumulated

 

i can't possibly sit and fold anything for more than a few minutes, so i just do it in batches.

 

when they were little, i'd have a load of dried things in a basket, and would fold and put away a few at a time. it might take all morning to accomplish in little moments, but then i'd have all afternoon to fold the next load.

 

and so it goes.

 

hth,

ann

[Soror]

Once the washer gets filled it is washed, no sorting. We have a load every few days ( I have a large capacity washer). Everyone helps and the 2 oldest are expected to sort, fold and put away their own clothes.

[Myeightkiddies]

I do laundry every day. It's folded and put away immediately. If I didn't put it away immediately there would be clean clothes baskets everywhere (until the dogs or cat slept in it at which time they would be dirty).

 

Usually there is never more than half a regular-sized laundry basket of dirties waiting to be washed. If I let a basket or two pile up, it would completely become a mountain. The washer is always running. Hopefully in a few weeks, dh will get my second washer and dryer hooked-up, as soon as I get the laundry room painted.

 

Also, be sure to minimize what gets dirty. Pack away seasonal clothing. Purge anything that is too small, too worn-out, or too much of an excess. Back when we had too many clothes (they still have a lot of clothing), it seemed as if I was washing clean clothes all the time (kids cleaning rooms, overabundance of clean mixing with dirty, etc.). The same goes with linens. If you have too many comforters or if the children just pull them out constantly, either put them away or get rid of them. All these things add up in the long run.

[shanvan]

I feel like I'm drowning in laundry.

 

Between Schmoo who goes through several tops, random blankets, sleepers and pods every day with projectile vomiting, standard spit up, and exploding diapers; the preschool boy who goes through at least two outfits a day; my daughter's clothing (which she is rough on; she enjoys playing outside), my own tops that are usually covered in spit up and end up changed a couple times a day, dh's slacks and tops for work and then his lounge wear... bedding from the beds, towels, dish rags, etc...

:glare:

I sat down to fold laundry this morning (I have several clean loads that need to be folded and put away, and several more that still need to be washed) and it took no less than two hours to fold and put away one basket - between Schmoo needing fed and held, and the preschooler trying to "help".

 

What is your system? Do you do a specific person's laundry on a certain day? Do you only do laundry on a certain day, dedicating your day to just that?

 

Well, my system is to get it done in as little time as possible. We usually do it on Mondays, but that may change once school starts. Then I may switch to Fri so that we have te weekend to finish up. If we are diligent, we can get everything but sheets done in one day, though we do spill into Tues sometimes.

 

On either Sunday afternoon or Mon morning everyone brings their laudry to the main level and helps me sort into piles by colors and delicates. We spray stains (I used to forget this all the time). Clothes are taken to the basement in baskets. I make sure Ds knows which is the delicate pile and should not go to the dryer.

 

Ds or Dd (whoever is convenient) starts a load, moves it to the dryer, starts the next load and so forth. I make sure they understand that our light colored towels should always be run after the whites have been done with bleach.

 

Ds brings all the clean stuff upstairs and immediately pulls out Dh's no iron dress shirts and puts them on a hanger. I usually fold and sort everything b/c I'm the one who knows who owns what. Sometimes I'll assign folding to someone else if I'm busy. (If Dh does it some of my stuff disappears for who knows how long---until Dd realizes it and gives it back.) Clothes are sorted by piles according to who they belong to and then placed in their room for each to put away.

 

I'm probably going to transfer the major laundry responsibility to Dd once the school year starts. This will be Ds's first year of high school level work and I think he's going to have his hands full.

[laughing lioness]

The boys, 12 and 17, who sleep near the laundry, switch it around. Twice a week I go fold, the 9 and 12 yo put it away. We hang up as much as we can to dry.

I try to do socks all in one load.

[Wheres Toto]

I do it all in one day. Mainly because our laundry "room" is actually a nook off the kitchen that holds the washer and dryer (stacked), the hot water heater, the water softener, the laundry baskets and the garbage cans (among other things). Doing the laundry means pulling out the garbage cans and the hamper and laundry baskets and sitting them in the middle of the kitchen floor. While laundry is being done it is very hard to do anything else.

 

Every Monday I start a load (usually towels since its the easiest to sort out) as I'm making my tea and breakfast. After I eat, I get the other hamper from the bathroom and sort the laundry - whites, delicates, everything else. I do sheets on alternating weeks - the kids one week, dh's and mine the next week. As loads are done drying, I fold and sort them out on my bed. It's then easier to put them away since the kids have separate drawers for everything.

 

My oldest does her own laundry.

[Pawz4me]

Keeping up with it on an almost daily basis is what works for me. It's a very rare day that I don't do at least one load.

 

Towels are done on Tuesday and Friday.

Sheets get washed on Wednesday.

And then throughout the week I do loads of clothing as needed. As soon as there's enough to do a load of any type I go ahead and do it.

[Nestof3]

I wash a load every night with everything I can possibly wash together. About every 5 days, I wash all the bathroom towels. Kitchen towels and washcloths are washed with the general wash.

 

I wash sheets as needed for the boys and -- oh, who knows when, I wash our sheets.

 

I dry in the morning, then we all fold and put away.

 

My yoga pants, quick dry shirts and such are washed on cold sometime during the day. Then I hang anything that cannot be dried on the bathroom shower curtain rod.

[snickerplum]

Two words - laundry Monday.

I used to have a schedule, certain loads on certain days. But I'd get behind one day and feel I was doomed for the rest of the week.

We do sort a lot, but have a basket for each kind of load (brights, whites, darks, towels, blankets/linens, tans/grays). Dirty clothes are supposed (ahem) to go into the right basket right away, so there's no grand collection on Monday morning.

So that day laundry is my main focus, not much cleaning gets done otherwise, but then I'm free to clean each day the rest of the week without having to worry about laundry getting done. And hubby doesn't mind because he knows I've been busy and will get to other things later.

Each person has their own basket (except hubby and me) and clothes go from the dryer into the right basket. I have a rod in the laundry room so I can hang hanging things right away. Folding gets done as clothes get put away which is NOT on Monday :D but on Tuesday.

It takes all day, but I'd rather dedicate a whole day (obviously, school and other things do get done, just not other projects) to it than do a little each day. I'd be lost in a sea of laundry that way.

It may sound silly, but Laundry Monday has revolutionized my house. We used to have piles all around, clean and dirty. It's probably not for everyone, but this has helped us a lot!!

:grouphug:

[justLisa]

I go through different spurts with it. I do everyone's laundry.

 

I sometimes go through times where I keep up with everything doing smaller loads every day and put everything away.

 

Then I have times I let it pile up but sorted and do an insane amount in one day.

 

I have a bad habit of leaving the socks/unders in basket and everyone has to dig to find theirs.

 

For sorting I use a big 3 bin thing on wheels. I keep it in the hall upstairs and just collect and sort daily.

 

I do sheets/bedding on fridays and towels.

 

Other times I go looking in drawers and just making sure everyone has one things to wear and decide what is in dire need at the moment :lol:

 

So basically, I guess I have no system.

[Carrie75]

I go in spurts, because I do like to sort. I don't wash towels with clothes, and prefer to wash darks with darks and lights with lights. I also don't mix my clothes with the kids or DH's clothes.

 

The main rule I go by that at least keeps the clean clothes where they should be is, I always fold and hang right out of the dryer. I never, ever fold and not put away. My son has allergies and I can't risk leaving his clothes, ect in a basket where the carpet/furniture/cat dander can touch the clean clothes. It keeps the wrinkles at bay as well! When you hang right out of the dryer, you don't get basket wrinkles.

[carriede]

I wouldn't bother folding the baby's or 3yo's laundry, unless it's a blanket or something that won't fit unless folded.

 

When I get backed up, I don't sort and wash on cold until I get caught up. DH will help fold if I ask him. Other chores besides cooking and dishes take a back seat.

[kathkath]

fold straight from the dryer into stacked rubbermaid bins with handles/front openings--1 per person. They collect folded clean clothes for as long as a week or so, then get put away when I get around to it. This method has saved my sanity.

[SKL]

Ideally, I toss in a load when the kids & I get home in the evening. Then it's time to put them in the dryer after I tuck the kids in bed. I go up and do some work on my computer and then take out the clothes. (Or I take out the clothes in the morning.) I immediately hang/fold the clothes upon taking them out of the dryer, and I sort them as I'm folding/hanging them.

 

I usually do my clothes separately from my kids' clothes. That cuts down on the sorting work. (My kids share a room / closet / dresser.)

 

I don't have any set day for washing. Usually I'll do the kids' clothes after they go swimming, because you can't just leave wet clothes/towels sitting around. My clothes get done when I get a break in the action.

 

I don't even own baskets for clean clothes. A key to efficiency in any task is to not touch a thing any more times than you need to. In the case of laundry, it gets put in the dirty clothes hamper when it's taken off. The hamper gets dumped into the washer when it's full. When dry, the clothes are pulled out of the dryer, folded, stacked, and put away with as few "touches" as possible. It may take some time to work up to max efficiency on this. It generally takes me about 10-15 minutes to process all of my kids' clothes from dryer to closet/dresser. If they are around to "help" me, but I'm in a hurry, I'll give them stuff they can't mess up, such as combining socks, stacking undies, and folding jammies. If I give them the task of hanging clothes, I simply delegate it and go do something else.

 

Thanks for the reminder - I need to go put in another load. :001_smile: I'm a little behind . . . .

[delaney]

No one touches the laundry but me and we are a family of 8. I do laundry about 4 days per week and line dry 50% of it for resale purposes.

I have 3 of these http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/025947/025947138005sm.jpg

they sit next to the washer and I sort whites, colors, lights. When one is full I do the load. I sort, line or dryer, and then start another load. I fold straight out of the dryer into baskets. I have 1 for the big boys, little boys, DH and I, and the girls. They take the basket when it is full and sort and distribute.

The key for me was folding right out of the dryer(sitting on a low stool right next to it)

I use square baskets from walmart for the acutal clean laundry because they are easier to carry and they don't break like the rectangular ones.

I have to say that I have a very large laundry room to do this all in though.

[delaney]

I need to ask. How does the laundry not turn into a wrinkled up mess sitting in laundry baskets? I have not managed to pull this off and I need to know the secret. Please. :001_smile:

 

Fold out of the dryer. My number one rule

[ktgrok]

I put laundry in as soon as I wake up. Move it to the dryer an put one more load in. I do NOT take it out of the dryer until I can fold it. Period. End of story. In fact, I often will turn the dryer back on for 10 minutes to get the wrinkles out, knowing that is my "timer" until I have to fold laundry. I empty it into a laundry basket and then put the basket on the kitchen table and fold. I do NOT leave the room for any reason until the laundry is folded. The folded clothes are put back, NEATLY into the basket, in layers by room. I put the ones in the washer into the dryer at that time. I must put away the ones in the basket before folding the ones in the dryer. Now, sometimes, that doesn't happen until after dinner, but still...at least by the end of the day two loads are folded and none are getting more wrinkled laying around.

[laughing lioness]

I need to ask. How does the laundry not turn into a wrinkled up mess sitting in laundry baskets? I have not managed to pull this off and I need to know the secret. Please. :001_smile:

 

we have a large folding table that the dry clothes get turned out on. Ideally, dh's work clothes get shaken out and neatly laid out.

[MiniBlondes]

Laundry is such a pain! :grouphug:

 

We have bins in the laundry room that are labeled for sorting. We sort like this:

dishrags/cleaning rags (all are white and all get bleached)

bath towels

sheets/blankets

reds/oranges/pinks/purples

blues/greens

browns/blacks/grays

whites

 

We do 1-2 loads a day. I start one before breakfast. When they stop, my DD's are responsible for changing them out. They throw the dry ones on my bed. I don't like they way they fold. ;) At night, they rotate the second load out and throw them on my bed as well. Sometimes I will fold them while my girls are showering/bathing because my bed is nearby and it seems like they ALWAYS need me while they're bathing. But usually me and DH will fold the laundry and put it away at night before bed. I found that our bed was the best place to put them because that way they were certain to get folded. We have to fold them in order to sleep. Otherwise they sit around in baskets and get all wrinkled. I know what you're thinking. We have only thrown them in the floor without folding twice! (and one of those was because we wanted some teA) ;)

[PeacefulChaos]

My plan:

Laundry every day or 6 days/wk.

Day 1: Our clothes/Pink's clothes - 2 loads

Day 2: Boys' clothes - 2 loads

Day 3: Towels and 1 load of sheets - 2 loads

Day 4: Our clothes/Pink's clothes - 2 loads

Day 5: Boys' clothes - 2 loads

Day 6: Towels and a load of delicates - 2 loads

 

My reality:

'Mom, I don't have any pants!' --'Bring me your laundry'--- does boys' laundry

'Honey, I don't have any socks.' ---goes and gets laundry--- does our laundry

'How many days have you been using that towel?'---'I dunno'--- grabs all the towels and does a load

 

:D :D :D :lol:

[Kelly1730]

Laundry is one household task that I really don't mind doing and do it pretty much the same way every week. I do one/two loads every day but Sunday. I put a load in the washer each morning while my tea is heating in the microwave. I put it into the dryer either right before or after my shower and start the next load if there is one. I fold and put away the first load while the boys are doing math and the second load after lunch.

 

Mondays: Dark Clothes: one or two loads

Tuesdays: Light clothes and whites

Wednesdays: Dark clothes

Thursdays: All towels

Fridays: Dark and light clothes (if needed)

Saturdays: Sheets, boys one week/ours the next and any "extra" laundry like blankets, curtains etc.

 

I wish the rest of my housework would run like such clockwork!

[dbmamaz]

Only mine and DH's clothes get folded. daughter does her own and teen son helps me sort. I wash once a week (but more often with a baby in the house!). I wash by color/temp/cloth weight and sort by person. Starting around age 3 i expect the kids to start helping put their clothes away. I put labels on their drawers with picture and name of what belongs there and we start it like a sorting game. By 5 or 6 they can do it themselves.

 

so i only put away my clothes, linens and towels, and clothes of kids under 3

 

I once read that by middle school a kid should be doing laundry themselves. I waited until high school and they could either help or do their own. Dd and i were fighting so she decided to do her own. Ds is getting off pretty easy - he sorts his own laundry in to my sorting system and carries baskets for me now that i have a leg injury, but he has done loads before.

[lynn]

My goal is 2 loads a day or only do what I time to fold and put away after it comes out of the dryer.

[shanvan]

I need to ask. How does the laundry not turn into a wrinkled up mess sitting in laundry baskets? I have not managed to pull this off and I need to know the secret. Please. :001_smile:

 

Anything that really needs to be wrinkle free gets pull out of the pile immediately and either folded or hung on a hanger. I *try* not to let clean clothes sit in baskets. Ds & Dd know to dump the baskets unto the front room couch, which is where I fold (or whoever I assign to folds). Now, that's in theory --- in practice, it doesn't always get done quite that way, though most of the time it does.

[El...]

This is temporary! Hang tough!

 

My kids are now almost 5 (changes outfits with each whim, puts each in laundry...I'm working on that) and 10 mo (not so gross anymore). My husband wears a uniform, and works out every morning, so that's a lot of sweat.

 

My strategy right now is to do a load a day. There's a round basket in each bedroom and a stinky one in the laundry room, and I have an extra round basket for the load in progress. I pull whatever load seems to dominate in my room, add the items from the kids' rooms that can go along, and just do it.

 

I do sheets and towels on Mondays.

 

I need to fold right from the dryer. I hate folding. Right now I'm online instead of folding. :tongue_smilie:

 

Oh, I have rectangular baskets for the CLEAN laundry. So I don't use the dirty basket to hold the clean stuff.

[Impish]

System? *laughs hysterically*

 

Uh, when the mountain of laundry becomes avalanche territory, threatening to bury a kid, we start digging. Or, someone runs out of clean clothes.

 

Honestly, my *cough* system is, grab what's on the laundry room floor, and throw it in. Yell at the kids periodically to haul dirty laundry from wherever they happened to have it squirreled away.

 

Then everyone lives out of laundry baskets, rather than actually fold it and put it away :glare: Dunno WHY they have dressers :glare:

[BakersDozen]

I love our system - love, love, love it! I can honestly say that we are never behind in laundry either washing/hanging/putting away! That's quite a feat!

 

I gave up having laundry baskets in bedrooms - way too much time spent gathering laundry! I now have stackable recycling bins in the laundry room for girls' lights, girls' darks, boys' darks. The dc are responsible for putting their dirty clothes (inside out) in the bin; clothes left in rooms do not get washed until the next time the bin is full. When a bin is full that is one load (we have a very large washing machine). I also have a tall trashcan for whites and a smaller one for rags.

 

First thing every morning I start a load of laundry - usually towels, rags, whites, baby clothes, etc. By the time breakfast is done the load is ready to hang/go in the dryer (we only use the dryer for whites and towels). Friday is my "hot laundry" day: bath towels, sheets, blankets. I just keep running loads until the floor is clear (everyone pulls their sheets/pillowcases as soon as they wake up), everyone helps hang/sort/put away. I love going to bed on Friday night knowing everyone is sleeping on clean sheets and using clean towels. I'm weird that way. :)

 

Each of my oldest 5 dc have a laundry day. After school is done they run a load then hang it before dinner; the next morning (or before bed if the weather is really dry...which is 95% of the year, lol) they take it all down and sort it on the couch. One of the dc's evening tasks is to check the couch and put laundry away. Any laundry not put away I put away for .25/item.

 

I've tried so many systems (a certain color on a certain day, all laundry on one day, etc.) and this is the system that works best for us. I love never feeling as though I can't keep on top of laundry. I love not having to do a "laundry call". Wash gets done only when there is a full load so that is cost efficiency. The dc are learning to be responsible not only for their own laundry but for everyone else's; if they don't take their laundry day, everyone is affected.

Edited August 28, 2012 by LuvnMySvn

[pageta]

I feel like I'm drowning in laundry.

 

Between Schmoo who goes through several tops, random blankets, sleepers and pods every day with projectile vomiting, standard spit up, and exploding diapers; the preschool boy who goes through at least two outfits a day; my daughter's clothing (which she is rough on; she enjoys playing outside), my own tops that are usually covered in spit up and end up changed a couple times a day, dh's slacks and tops for work and then his lounge wear... bedding from the beds, towels, dish rags, etc...

:glare:

 

We have two categories of clothing - home clothes and town clothes. If I am at home and the baby spits up on me, I do not change. I use spit up cloths to keep the mess to a minimum, but other than that, unless something has poop or vomit on it, it stays on. When we go to town, we change into town clothes (our new clothing vs stuff we bought used) and we take them off immediately when we get home (and usually put them back away unless they are actually soiled).

 

Beyond that, here is my system - I gather the laundry every day and take it to the sorter downstairs. Here is the schedule:

Monday - darks

Tuesday - whites

Wednesday - jeans

Thursday - linens

Friday - delicates

Weekend - nothing

 

I have soiled clothing from potty accidents put into the diaper pail and that gets washed twice a week, M/T and Th/F. I try very hard not to do laundry on weekends.

 

Washing clothes is hard on the clothes and makes them wear out sooner. Folding clothes and putting them away is a lot of work. So my strategy is to avoid generating laundry as much as possible.

[Shellers]

I don't have much of a system. I do laundry for five.

 

Every Monday and Friday I get all the laundry in the house done. I do this in case DH has to go on a business trip.

 

My Speed Queen washing machine only takes 28 minutes to run a full cycle, but the dryer takes a hour. I'll wash a load of darks that I will run through the dryer (I don't like lint on darks), and then I'll wash a load of towels or blankets/sheets that can be hung out to dry. I keep alternating loads that go in the dryer with loads that can be hung outside to dry until everything is done. I can get all the laundry done in a day. I use the timer on my cell phone to keep on top of when cycles are ending.

 

To minimize sorting time I wash each of my kid's hampers individually. I don't want to ask what shirt belongs to what kid. When the load is done I make the owner put all the clothes away.

 

I used to do laundry every day but I found my electric bill was higher.

 

I found doing laundry much easier when I bought a few rolling laundry baskets. My house is long and my back (sciatica) has seen better days. The bedrooms are on one end of the house and the laundry room is on the opposite end. I really hated lugging baskets of clothes back and forth. These are my rolling baskets, I've seen them at Walmart too.

 

*** My biggest tip for doing laundry is put the laundry away when it's done. Don't let laundry sit around in baskets. ***

[Sasharowan]

I assigned the older kids each a day. They are responsible for their own clothes from washing through putting them away. The most I do is transfer from washer to dryer if I need to wash, or putting them in the basket if I need the dryer, unless I am feeling really nice!!! I wash ds6, dh, and my clothes. Dh will help fold if he is around and not to stinky from mowing or other outside stuff. Ds6 is in training, I expect him to take over his own clothes somewhere between 10 & 11.

[Farrar]

"Dh, are you going to do laundry soon?"

 

That's my system.:tongue_smilie:

[Heather in Neverland]

I do one load per day from start to finish.

 

Never let clean laundry that needs to be folded and put away build up into a large pile. It just becomes too depressing to conquer.

 

I have 6 people to do laundry for and this keeps me sane.

 

One load a day... Start to finish... Every day.

[Lisbeth]

System? Bah ha ha ha. I wish I had one. Getting ready to quit my pt job. Then I'll have a system. :)

[momto10blessings]

I do 2 people a day. Plus towels, sheets, etc twice a week. My older kids do their own.

 

After using this system for 6 years I CAN NOT handle doing it any other way. I tried and my brain just cant do it. I used to just throw it all in together and I remember starting this system and having a tough time with it.

[shanvan]

Is it weird that this thread completely fascinates me? Who knew there were so many approaches to laundry? I also cannot fathom following some of the systems in responses. Some of you are just doing it all wrong and it upsets me terribly, especially if I think about someone in my own home trying to make me follow your systems! :willy_nilly: JK! I guess we're all attached to our own particular approach.

[shanvan]

"Dh, are you going to do laundry soon?"

 

That's my system.:tongue_smilie:

Winner! :thumbup: My absolute favorite system on this thread!

[momto10blessings]

I must add that while I do 2 people each day I do their laundry seperately. And I don't do laundry on weekends, unless there is a laundry emergency. Each child has their own laundry basket.

[justLisa]

Winner! :thumbup: My absolute favorite system on this thread!

 

That would be unbelievable! :D

[Guest]

Is it weird that this thread completely fascinates me? Who knew there were so many approaches to laundry? I also cannot fathom following some of the systems in responses. Some of you are just doing it all wrong and it upsets me terribly, especially if I think about someone in my own home trying to make me follow your systems! :willy_nilly: JK! I guess we're all attached to our own particular approach.

 

Well, I'll be weird with you, then. There are things about how others do laundry that have puzzled me for a couple of decades now. :tongue_smilie:

[PeacefulChaos]

Is it weird that this thread completely fascinates me? Who knew there were so many approaches to laundry? I also cannot fathom following some of the systems in responses. Some of you are just doing it all wrong and it upsets me terribly, especially if I think about someone in my own home trying to make me follow your systems! :willy_nilly: JK! I guess we're all attached to our own particular approach.

 

Ok, I have to ask! What systems seem odd to you?

I'll admit my own seems odd to me.

[shanvan]

Ok, I have to ask! What systems seem odd to you?

I'll admit my own seems odd to me.

 

You really want me to say? I'm afraid I would start a WTM WW or at least another cupcake kerfuffle.

 

ETA: I'm just attached to my own system, it isn't really that other systems are odd.