Getting Systems in Place {Laundry}
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I don’t know about you, but laundry has always been a challenge for me. In the past I could never seem to keep up. I always had laundry baskets filled with dirty laundry, towels piled on the bathroom floor, and clean laundry waiting to be folded and put away. Laundry was always a “work in progress” that never got done! Whew!
Well..I wanted to share with you some different ideas for how to get a system in place so that your laundry gets done!
I have handled laundry a couple different ways the past several years. This system has worked wonderfully for me and maybe it will give you some ideas to try.
We live in a 2-story home, with all the bedrooms upstairs. Our main bathroom is on the main level (which is where we have our “main” dirty clothes hamper. This presented a problem. How could I organize our laundry for all the kids and my husband and me…how to get it all downstairs when it was time to do laundry…where to put all the kids’ dirty laundry without running up and down the stairs… Well, I came up with a plan that is working…here it is:
1. Purchase laundry bags
First, purchase laundry bags for every bedroom (those kind you can get at Walmart for about $5 that has netting with wire framing so that it stands up). Have the kids keep their dirty laundry in their laundry bag in their room.
2. Set up your laundry schedule
For quite a few years I set up my schedule like this, spreading it out over the week:
Monday – Boys clothes (the 2 boys that share a bedroom). They pull out any dirty white clothes in their laundry and put them in the hamper in the main floor bathroom to be washed on Wednesday. My oldest boy (age 12) takes care of washing and drying all the boys’ laundry, and folding and putting away his laundry. I help my 7-year old fold his clothes and he helps put them away.
Tuesday – Girls clothes & toddler clothes. They pull out any white clothes in their laundry and put them in the hamper in the main floor bathroom to be washed on Wednesday. My oldest daughter (age 18) takes care of washing and drying all the girls and toddler laundry, and folding and putting away her laundry. I fold my 4-year old girl’s clothes and 3-year old boy’s clothes and they help me put them away.
Wednesday – husband’s work clothes and our clothes. On this day I wash the clothes that are in our bedroom laundry basket, as well as the clothes in the hamper in the main floor bathroom. This usually means that I run one load of work clothes, one load (sometimes two) of colored clothes, and one load of white clothes. I also keep a laundry basket in the laundry room for my husband’s work clothes. He works concrete construction and his clothes get pretty dirty sometimes! So those are kept separate and washed separately on Wednesdays.
Thursday – Bedding and towels. All the sheets are washed on Thursdays, as well as a load or two of towels.
But the past year or so I have changed to something more like this:
Monday – Wash all the laundry
Tuesday – Fold and put away any laundry not yet done.
Wednesday – Wash my husband’s work clothes.
Thursday – Every other week I wash all our sheets.
Friday – Round up all the colored clothes and do one load.
Saturday – Wash my husband’s work clothes
The key is finding a system that works for you and your family and then sticking with it. Don’t be afraid to try something different! If it works for you, then it is the right way!
3. Post the schedule on the frig or add it to your calendar
Once your schedule is set up, post it on the refrigerator or add it to your calendar. Then simply follow the schedule each day to keep up with the laundry.
I have really liked having the laundry schedule on my calendar because then I don’t have to remember each week what I am supposed to do! I actually do that with other cleaning jobs that are not done every week, like cleaning the dishwasher and washing machine, changing the furnace filters, etc. I love being able to add it to my calendar and then forgetting about it!
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I think the most important thing is to look at your family, think about the simplest way to accomplish the task, and then make a plan.
Why not give it a try! You (and your family) will be glad you did!
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Helpful Resources
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