Laundry. It’s always here. No matter how many times it gets washed, dried, folded and put away, the piles of clothing come back again and again. So what’s a wife/mother to do? Find ways to at least manage the beast as long as we know it has to be dealt with.
Now I am not a “one load a day” type of person. I do laundry when it has to be done. For our household of 5 (3 kiddos: 8, 6, and 2.5) I try and do all the children’s laundry one day and then the rest of the laundry on a separate day. My definition of doing laundry is two-fold: wash and dry is part one, fold and put away is part two.
To make life easier for me and to help my children learn how to take care of their own clothing laundry is a part of their chores. For starters, the children each have their own hamper. My two older girls are responsible to put their full basket in front of the laundry room door. Usually my husband or I will notice their overflowing basket and then ask them about it or remind them what they should do the next morning. I used to have a scheduled day for laundry at our old house, but that doesn’t seem to work as well for us at this particular time.
My son’s laundry was getting done every week to week and a half until potty training kicked in hard core. Since we have a limited supply of underwear, we wash his clothes when all of his briefs are dirty. Thankfully, I think we’ve made it over the hump of knowing when we have to go, so we should be able to go back to our regular weekly schedule.
Generally, I take care of starting the loads of wash. Even though I start the load, that does not mean that I complete it. Delegation is key in not getting overwhelmed by all the many chores you may have. Delegation also helps train your young women and young men of what their future will hold for them. All of my children have certain responsibilities and tasks that they complete weekly; laundry is one of them.
Each child, even my youngest, is responsible to perform certain tasks, depending on their age, to help with the laundry chore. Here is a list of ways your children can help you too:
- Separate laundry into darks and lights. (even my 2.5 year old can do this)
- Take laundry out of the dryer and bring to the proper room. (Another task my son does.)
- Take laundry out of the wash and place into the dryer.
- Turn the dryer onto the correct setting.
- Start a wash including starting the water, putting in the soap, and throwing in the clothes.
- Separate clean clothes into piles (shirts, pants, dresses, pj’s, towels, etc.)
- Fold clothes
- Put clothes in proper drawers
- Match socks.
Some of these may tasks may be harder then others, but with a few training sessions, most children can be taught to properly do the tasks in an effective way. These tasks being done by my children have helped to keep the laundry beast at bay, while not being too overwhelming for them to perform.
One last tip I have is about towels and blankets and the like. If you have enough of them to do a separate load then do that, but if not, just throw them in with the rest of the clothes. Including them in the normal load not only gives you one less load of wash to do, but it will take less time to dry.
Kellyann is a homeschooling mom of 3 (ranging from 2.5 to 8), wife to an amazing husband, Stephen, and living in SC. Her family loves to spend their free time exploring and learning together, playing board games, and just doing life together. You can read more about Kellyann and her family at Walking Home … .
Great ideas-especially involving the young ones early! Even the little-bitty ones can fold the towels (my toddlers had a valid sense of contributing when they could fold a stack of face cloths).
With a large household of runners here, I MUST do at least one load a day (it makes the weekend’s task of “getting it all done” less daunting). As they grow older, it’s good to let them do the task from start to finish (from noticing -or being told to notice-the overflowing baskets, to sorting, loading, operating the machine, drying, folding and putting away). Each one of my family members is responsible to put away his/her own pile of clean things, with a current emphasis on serving one another by taking another’s pile as well and putting it away for him/her. Thanks for the post.
I have set days for laundry. It works for us and keeps under-garments in the drawer and towels in the closet.
I used to do it when it “had to be done,” but I found that so stressful. I think it’s neat to know that everyone does it differently, and what works for one household may not work for another!
One thing I’ve been doing that is super helpful is folding the load in the room where the majority of the clothes must be put away. As I fold, I put the laundry in the proper drawers/closets. For example, if it’s a load of towels and wash cloths, I fold the load right at the closet door. So as I fold I can just stick the item in its proper spot. It cuts out a step for me, and more laundry gets put away!
With a family of 10 we do at least 2 or 3 loads of laundry everyday except Sunday. I sort and get the laundry in the washer, the children hang it out on the lines, or use the dryer in rainy weather. I fold the laundry and everyone puts thier own stack of clean laundry away plus an extra stack (towels, blankets ect). I don’t fold laundry everyday, more like 2 times a week. This has worked for us for years. We moved into a differnt house a year ago with a laundryroom I had my husband build a low counter top to pile the clean unfolded laundry on(a table could be used for those who aren’t a handyman) and another shelf above that for the folded laundry. Now we don’t have piles of clothes on the couchs or beds. I can stand in 1 spot and fold all the laundy so it goes so much faster and everyone knows where to find thier clean clothes.