Monday, January 10, 2011

The L word...

And not the good one. This time? I'm talking about LAUNDRY. Yes, I know it's dirty, bad word. But I need help. I feel like the laundry is never ending. And it's not Owen. I felt this way before we had him. It's just my least favorite chore. Folding and putting away laundry? That = torture to me. Especially my kids clothes. Perhaps they have too much? Perhaps I just hate tiny little things to put away. I don't know. But I need advice.

Here's our current laundry set up.

In our room (awful, hence the reason for this post)
Whites, lights, darks (If you don't know, I pretty much ONLY wear black ;) )
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Boys hamper
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Towels
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So, you see my dilemma. I have too many clothes to do. Please help me!

Should I incorporate boys clothes into ours? I feel like I neglect their laundry because it's out of sight (in their closet) until they have no more long sleeves to wear! and then it's crazy!

I use to have a schedule like Monday lights, Tuesday, darks, Wednesday Julian, Thursday Gabe, Friday whites and towels. But it didn't work so well. Should I change the schedule?


Give me advice. Tell me how YOU do laundry. Please also remember I have diaper laundry 2-3 times a week. But if I could only get a handle on the clothes laundry I could easily squeeze diapers in somewhere! HELP!

8 comments:

Julie said...

Okay so I know there are probably things I should be doing differently in the laundry area, but with my system I don't feel overwhelmed. At this point, I have been using a different detergent for Ky, so I do all his clothes in one load on the same day or two that I do the rest of our clothes. If I didn't use different detergent, his clothes would totally go in with ours. I feel like Joel and I can go almost 1.5-2 weeks before we need laundry done, but I do at least a load a week for Kyper, which actually works well, because on the off weeks I throw towels and other random ones in with Ky's load. On the weeks that I do our stuff, I typically have 4-5 loads (whites/lights, brights, darks, Ky's clothes and then a misc. one if one is overflowing) And, I do all my clothes on cold to save money, which I know may not be the best for everything, but hey you do what you gotta do to save a few bucks where and there. :)

I don't mind the laundering part and if I remember to switch loads I can normally do it all in one day. It is the folding to me that is torture...I try to remember to do it while watching tv during naptime or bedtime the same day I do the laundry. Otherwise it sits in the basket clean for days on end.

Sarah said...

I was just thinking about this today- it has been YEARS since we have sorted our laundry into lights/darks/etc. With 6 people in the house and a 7th on the way, the less work I have to do the better. When I first got married we did maybe 2-3 loads a week, but now that is up to 8-10. I try to do laundry on Monday, but it seems like lately it's been trickling into Tuesday, and if I can have everything folded and mostly put away by Wednesday I'm doing really well. Ironing is another story though- I have a basket full that I have been collecting for several months now. It's hard... and I definitely don't have answers because I haven't figured it out myself yet :-P

Kate Nally said...

I don't really have anything different to add :) I throw Madeleine's clothes in with ours and separate the laundry by whites/lights, darks, sheets/towels. I make Monday my laundry day. The upside to having to use a laundromat right now is that I can do all of my laundry at once :) But it does create a HUGE pile to fold when it's all done!

Shannon said...

craig always calls me laundry deficient. i suck!! i don't mind the washing and drying, but then i am left with a ton of clean clothes. we usually tackle laundry on sat/sun... by the time sunday night rolls around everything is done, and then we (as a family) put all the clean clothes away.

i keep all the dirty clothes in one location too... it didn't work well when we had the kids separated.

just know you are no alone... lol!

Heather said...

Oh my goodness, the LAUNDRY! It's a menace.

Here's what I do, and I am still not happy with it. We combine all of our laundry and I literally do at least one or two loads a day. In the morning, I'll start or switch a load, and in the afternoon or evening I'll switch another one. This goes on all week long until Thursday or Friday, when I haul it all (clean stuff) up to the dining room, and start folding. I stand and fold while the kids watch TV or play in the living room next to me. Then it usually takes me two days to get it all put away. I never put all the socks away or match them all. We're usually hunting for socks in the dining room in the sock basket.

Honestly, I usually only get it ALL done and put away every two weeks. I wish I was better at it, but at least we're usually clothed and fed, right?

Miss Pink said...

I say routine is the key. I'd wash ALL lights one day, ALL darks another day and then do a load of colours, and then towels or linen on your fourth day. That gives you 3 days off.
I wash 4 days of the week and do roughly 2 loads a day. I rarely use my dryer (like maybe once a month?) you can totally do this!!
Get up and put a load on first thing in the morning that way it's done for the day.

Devin & Shalise said...

Laundry is probably my least favorite choir as well. This is why I only do it once per week. My laundry is Thursday (I don't know why I chose that day!) Anyway... I do all laundry on Thursdays. Otherwise I feel like I am doing laundry all week long. This way I only feel like I am doing it all DAY long. Hope this helps :)

Kelli said...

at one point I had 5 kids (steps)but got divorced. anyway just saying I know laundry. I have a bin for whites and everyone even the little kids throw it in the correct bin, bin for whites, bin for darks, bin for other and a bin for towels. That way you see it full, you dump it in the washer. I try to get it all done always by friday (folded and put away) so that I dont have to do laundry sat or sun. Also I just got one of those things that hangs in the closet and has 6 shelves. When Kyler moves out (so we have more room and I can move the bins of toys from the little kids closets to Kylers old room (to be the toy room) I plan on letting them pick out their closes on friday for the following week then atleast I know that for a week they have a pair of "can be seen in public" "matching" with socks and underwear clothes. Now if they choose to change part way in the day they can dig in their dresser, like they always do but I wont have to worry if I need to do any laundry all week if it ends up being a crazy week or for you, you could just be doing diapers. and really if I do let my laundry go until I have 4 or 5 loads to fold, yuck, I know if I sit down and fold and watch a fav show, its only going to take 45 minutes to an hour to fold and put away. Never ever dont fold socks! stay ontop of that one or you will have a huge pile and some one even have matches so they are just taking up room, if we havent found the match by back to school of the next year they all go in the garbage. I like to know that my kids are wearing matching socks, which means, the bottoms, are they both stained or both clean, I dont want an old sock with a newer one even if they technically match in brand/color. Good luck! the bins totally help and your two big boys can so throw undies and socks in one and jeans and shirts in the other at their age. good luck!