Schedule your laundry! This has been the biggest life-saving tip that I can give. I will share my system with you. If my system can keep a family of 9 from having laundry pile up, then it can certainly work for you too!
–There are three basic principles to my system.
1) Keep the dirty laundry pre-sorted. (more about this below)
2) Teach everyone in the family who is big enough to reach the machine how to properly do laundry. (All my kids help load, unload, and fold. At about age eight or nine, I will trust them to actually run the machine.)
3) Designate days of the weeks for different “zones” to do laundry.
–As an example, here is how it works in my household: The “zones” around here are GIRLS, BOYS and PARENTS. Each zone contains at least two dirty clothes hampers — one is for lights/whites and one is for darks/colors. In the boys zone, there is also a hamper for towels/linens. Even the youngest person in my house knows that their dirty clothes go into the proper hamper. We no longer spend time sorting laundry. It is pre-sorted for washing!
–My laundry schedule runs like this:
On Monday and Thursday, the girls must do all the laundry in their zone. That means wash, dry and fold and put away! They are also required to change their bed linens on one of those days.
On Tuesday and Friday, the boys must completely do all the laundry in their zone, including all the towels. They also must do their bed linens.
I do laundry on Wednesday and Saturday.
Even if your family is not as big as mine, making a laundry schedule and following it may revolutionize your life!!!
For more Works-for-Me-Wednesday tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer.
7 comments:
Hmmmmmmmm.
I used to do something like that.
But I'd miss a day and throw the whole works off and everything would be chaos for me.
Chaos is my middle name.
Slug Chaos Mom.
Ahhh...but you see, that is the beauty of the system. If someone does not do their laundryon their day, THEY suffer the consequences, not YOU!!! If they get behind, they have to wait until their next day, or at least wait until the designated laundry people of the day are through with the washer.
Don't be so hard on yourself!! You are GREAT!!!
oooh look
I'm slugmom now!
but you underestimate the chaos that ensues if the works get thrown off. LOL.
I've got my own system that I'm tenuously clinging to, I can not entertain new systems yet.
Visiting your site for the first time...
I was hanging on your every word because with only two little girls, we seem to always be drowning in a sea of laundry. I really need to try a schedule and are my girls are now old enough (4 and 7) to help a bit. They do now, but we need to be consistant.
Oh, I'll be back...I homeschool, also, and this will be my second year.
Blessings!
Wow. I like this! Getting everyone to pitch in would be wonderful!
Wonderful idea - we pre-sort here too and it is a wonderful thing! Our tip is up and we're also hosting the Carnival of the Vanities this week if you haven't visited it already ;).
GREAT ADVICE!
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