Hi Everyone! And welcome to our blog!
Today I am going to share about our large family laundry system.
Doing laundry is one of those evil necessities that I have had a love/hate relationship with for a long time. I have never really been able to stick to any sort of schedule so it always built up until there was a huge pile of washing to be done. Then one day something changed. I was able to get to the bottom of Mount Washmore and after that I was actually able to do one or two loads every day. I really don't like going outside to put the washing on the line, however the clothes turn out nicer when they have had time out in the sun. I do have a dryer and I was one of those people that said they would only use it when it was raining, etc. but yeah... I use it most of the time.
So here are the catagories I sort my washing into.
School Uniforms
Towels, kitchen cloths and face washers
Sheets
Regular Clothes
Just a note: I never sort clothes into lights/darks. I have never really had an issue with colour running so I just save some time and don't sort it that way.
School Uniforms
So when the kiddos get home from school, they need to get changed into play clothes and put their uniforms in the laundry. Then after Hubby gets home from work, he puts his out as well. So all uniforms are already in the laundry waiting for me to put them in the machine during bathtime for the kids. These get washed and dried at night so that I am covered if one of the kids needs that same uniform for the next day. When they are done in the washing machine, they go straight in the dryer and get put in their rooms for the following day. If they do not need that uniform for that day, they just put it away in the morning.
Towels, kitchen cloths and face washers
These get done about every 2-3 days depending on how much is there. The kids put them out in the laundry as a rule, however sometimes I do have to go searching in bedrooms etc. We have a fairly large washing machine so we can fit a fair few towels in at a time. And I do the face washers and kitchen cloths at the same time as they are mostly the same kind of material.
Sheets
With so many people/beds in the house, I wash sheets by room. In the boy's room, there are two beds that only really have sheets on them, so they get done at the same time. These boys rarely keep a sheet on them at night, so in our "winter" they just wear warmer pj's. In the mornings, I get the sheets off the beds and make sure I have them washed, dried and put back on the beds by the afternoon. As for what day I wash sheets, I just choose a day where I know I am going to be home in order to follow through with the whole process. And I just go from room to room and get these done within a fortnight.
Regular Clothes
Only a couple of my kids have baskets in their rooms for their dirty clothes. My reason for not having washing baskets in the kids rooms is that when they don't, they have no other choice but to put their washing out in the laundry. Yes, sometimes we have messy rooms with washing all over the floor, which we use as a teaching moment. If clothes don't make it out to the wash (especially uniforms), then they have to deal with the natural consequences of that. The kids normally change in the bathroom anyway so they just take a few more steps to the laundry to put it in the basket. This is something we have always done so it is ingrained in their routines. We do at least one load of normal clothes a day to keep Mount Washmore from returning.
Folding and putting washing away
I have always struggled with this step. When my daughter had a project for school that included them having to make up a rule for the whole family to follow for a week and consequences to go along with it, she came up with my life saver. Her rule was that everyone had to fold their own washing and put it away. The consequence of not following the rule was that they then had to do everyone's washing. Out of this rule came our new normal laundry routine. Next to my computer, I have a Closetmaid 9 Cube Organiser. As there are 9 people in the house, each person has a cube. As I sit at my desk and watch Netflix or YouTube, I fold up the washing and put it in the cubes. Once I have finished, everyone in the house grabs their washing and puts it away in their drawers. I also keep a plastic bag on top of the cubes to put anything that the kids might have grown out of to put in there to give away. The basket on top holds the school socks as well as odd socks. This is also where I keep out family weekly planner so the kids can see what days they need what uniform, what I am doing that day and what meals we are having that day.
Thanks for reading! If you have any tips and tricks you like to use in your laundry routine, please comment down below and have a nice day!
So when the kiddos get home from school, they need to get changed into play clothes and put their uniforms in the laundry. Then after Hubby gets home from work, he puts his out as well. So all uniforms are already in the laundry waiting for me to put them in the machine during bathtime for the kids. These get washed and dried at night so that I am covered if one of the kids needs that same uniform for the next day. When they are done in the washing machine, they go straight in the dryer and get put in their rooms for the following day. If they do not need that uniform for that day, they just put it away in the morning.
Towels, kitchen cloths and face washers
These get done about every 2-3 days depending on how much is there. The kids put them out in the laundry as a rule, however sometimes I do have to go searching in bedrooms etc. We have a fairly large washing machine so we can fit a fair few towels in at a time. And I do the face washers and kitchen cloths at the same time as they are mostly the same kind of material.
Sheets
With so many people/beds in the house, I wash sheets by room. In the boy's room, there are two beds that only really have sheets on them, so they get done at the same time. These boys rarely keep a sheet on them at night, so in our "winter" they just wear warmer pj's. In the mornings, I get the sheets off the beds and make sure I have them washed, dried and put back on the beds by the afternoon. As for what day I wash sheets, I just choose a day where I know I am going to be home in order to follow through with the whole process. And I just go from room to room and get these done within a fortnight.
Regular Clothes
Only a couple of my kids have baskets in their rooms for their dirty clothes. My reason for not having washing baskets in the kids rooms is that when they don't, they have no other choice but to put their washing out in the laundry. Yes, sometimes we have messy rooms with washing all over the floor, which we use as a teaching moment. If clothes don't make it out to the wash (especially uniforms), then they have to deal with the natural consequences of that. The kids normally change in the bathroom anyway so they just take a few more steps to the laundry to put it in the basket. This is something we have always done so it is ingrained in their routines. We do at least one load of normal clothes a day to keep Mount Washmore from returning.
Folding and putting washing away
I have always struggled with this step. When my daughter had a project for school that included them having to make up a rule for the whole family to follow for a week and consequences to go along with it, she came up with my life saver. Her rule was that everyone had to fold their own washing and put it away. The consequence of not following the rule was that they then had to do everyone's washing. Out of this rule came our new normal laundry routine. Next to my computer, I have a Closetmaid 9 Cube Organiser. As there are 9 people in the house, each person has a cube. As I sit at my desk and watch Netflix or YouTube, I fold up the washing and put it in the cubes. Once I have finished, everyone in the house grabs their washing and puts it away in their drawers. I also keep a plastic bag on top of the cubes to put anything that the kids might have grown out of to put in there to give away. The basket on top holds the school socks as well as odd socks. This is also where I keep out family weekly planner so the kids can see what days they need what uniform, what I am doing that day and what meals we are having that day.
Thanks for reading! If you have any tips and tricks you like to use in your laundry routine, please comment down below and have a nice day!
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