In any size family laundry is a never ending task. Laundry in a home with several, or more, children can really be an unending job. Here are few things I do to keep the dirty laundry from overtaking our home, at least on most days!
1. Do it yourself laundry detergent – For a couple years now we have been making our own laundry detergent. Not only is this a big money saver, but it allows me to make a big batch at one time. Even though it’s not my main purpose, making your own detergent is a bit more “green”, because you aren’t running off to the store every couple of weeks to purchase a new plastic bottle of detergent. I also make a point to keep laundry making supplies on hand so I have it available when the need arises.
2. Have laundry days – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my big laundry days. When I get up in the morning on those day, I know one of my priorities is to get the laundry completed. The other days I don’t really have to think about doing laundry. It makes me feel like laundry isn’t such a never ending task.
3. Get it sorted – this is a no brainer, but either the night before, or when I’m tossing in my first load, I sort by color and turn things right side out. I’m trying to train my peeps to do that before they put the item in the laundry basket, but so far haven’t been very successful. I’ll keep trying though! Sorted, ready to go piles are easier to scoop up and toss into the machine during the business of the day.
4. Start early! – On my laundry days I generally put my first load in right after I get up, usually between 5:00-5:30am. I can normally get a couple of loads done before our school day starts. The laundry is just about finished before afternoon activities get started and I need to be out of the house. This past Monday I was able to get my last load in the washer by 1:00pm
5. Fold after each load – I try to fold after each load has been dried. I fold clothes on our bed. Our family closet is in our master closet and I sort the folded clothes in piles by who they belong too. Before we had our family closet I used to fold clothes on our couch, that meant the couch was always piled with clean clothes. Clean folded clothes that usually got tipped on the floor. Having folded clothes on the bed is also an added incentive to get everything put away before I go to bed.
6. Family Closet – having a family closet makes putting away laundry much easier. Everyone’s laundry goes in the same place, no walking around from room to room putting things away.
7. Solicit help – One of the many benefits of having a family closet is that it keeps the littles from having access to their clothes when they are in the mood to try on every stitch of clothing they own. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be a part of learning about how to maintain said clothes. The older kids help put away their own clothes, they all fold towels, and even our 4-year-old can help by running clean clothes upstairs and dumping the laundry basket on the bed.
Bonus Tip :: We have three kids playing soccer on Saturday mornings this year. I have found it helpful to have them change clothes as soon as we get back home and do a load of soccer gear. By early afternoon it is washed, dried, folded, and stuck back in their drawer for the next week. It alleviates the chance for a soccer sock or soccer shirt to get swallowed up in the normally weekly laundry and keeps me from scrambling on Friday night or Saturday morning looking for their gear.
What’s your favorite laundry tip?
Linking up this week at Works for Me Wednesday and Raising Arrows
Thanks for the tips, Jen… I’m off to check out your family closet, too.
I fold laundry on my bed as well. The laundry room is downstairs, but I find that if I fold upstairs where the bedrooms are it all gets put away faster!!
these are great tips, Jen. I’m going to go check out your homemade detergent post.
Hi Jen, you are well organized and would need to be with so many kids! I’ve never heard of anyone making their own laundry detergent and that is a great idea. I will have to check it out!
I think I could benefit from the Monday-Wednesday-Friday laundry schedule. That would leave 2 weekday mornings to tackle something else . . .
Thanks for sharing these tips!
I am very tempted in our new home to add a family closet, but so many examples of family closets I have seen were in the laundry room and we just don’t have that kind of room there. However, our new home has a HUGE master closet in it! So, you’ve inspired me! Thank you for sharing your laundry tips (so glad you put that family closet link in!)
Amy, I agree that a family closet in the laundry room would be perfect. We have a tiny laundry room, most homes aren’t made for big families!, so it wouldn’t have worked for us either. We are making it work in a decent sized master closet. In my “dream home” it would be nice to have a second floor laundry/family closet.
I need to touch laundry every day. By this I mean that I must wash and dry OR fold and put away, though ideally it is both.
I just bought supplies to make my own laundry detergent for Melissa’s challenge. These are some great tips even for this mother of one. We have to go to the laundromat once a week. Sometimes I can stretch it to two weeks, but I hate to let it get out of control.