BHope
01-21-2009, 04:48 PM
I posted in another thread about how I'm revamping my laundry system. Mainly because my old system has been failing for almost three years now. The biggest issue, for me, has not been washing the laundry, but getting it put away. So, a little bit ago I was watching an episode of Jon & Kate plus 8 and she talked about how she washes laundry in cold. She doesn't separate the laundry, instead she does each persons clothes by themselves. That way there is no need to sort the laundry when it's dry. For instance, all of DD1's clothes go into one basket, that basket is washed all together on cold, and everything is then dried together. When it comes out of the dryer it goes back into it's basket and sent to the designated wardrobe.
Anyway, it was a light bulb moment for me.
So, I went out and bought six baskets at the dollar store. One for Dh and I, one for each daughter, an extra one for a foster placement, and then one for rags and towels that I can keep downstairs. I've been using my new system for just under a week now and I can say that I LOVE it. Each person is assigned a day, and on that day they are in charge of bringing their own basket downstairs. I wash, I dry, and then I hand that basket to the person it belongs to.
Everybody is assigned a towel for the week and towels and linens are washed on Saturdays. You'd be amazed how enforcing that rule has almost cut my laundry load in HALF. Apparently we were going through a lot of towels per week. :jawdrop To cut down on towel cheating I've started storing folded towels on a shelf in the laundry room.
I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it has been to get the laundry monkey off my back.
I'm down to only a load of laundry a day (with two loads on Saturday). The biggest "effort" in all of this is finding a place to store all the baskets. Right now they're in my room. I had a basket in each of the girl's rooms, but they spent so much time playing with them I got tired of it. I'm tempted to build a giant laundry sorter with individual compartments for each person, and store that in my master closet. But have decided that project needs to wait. I may just suck it up and budget for two of these (http://www.amazon.com/Stacks-and-Antique-Bronze-Sorter/dp/B001AX1IZM/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1232581651&sr=1-9).
Anyway, it was a light bulb moment for me.
So, I went out and bought six baskets at the dollar store. One for Dh and I, one for each daughter, an extra one for a foster placement, and then one for rags and towels that I can keep downstairs. I've been using my new system for just under a week now and I can say that I LOVE it. Each person is assigned a day, and on that day they are in charge of bringing their own basket downstairs. I wash, I dry, and then I hand that basket to the person it belongs to.
Everybody is assigned a towel for the week and towels and linens are washed on Saturdays. You'd be amazed how enforcing that rule has almost cut my laundry load in HALF. Apparently we were going through a lot of towels per week. :jawdrop To cut down on towel cheating I've started storing folded towels on a shelf in the laundry room.
I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it has been to get the laundry monkey off my back.
I'm down to only a load of laundry a day (with two loads on Saturday). The biggest "effort" in all of this is finding a place to store all the baskets. Right now they're in my room. I had a basket in each of the girl's rooms, but they spent so much time playing with them I got tired of it. I'm tempted to build a giant laundry sorter with individual compartments for each person, and store that in my master closet. But have decided that project needs to wait. I may just suck it up and budget for two of these (http://www.amazon.com/Stacks-and-Antique-Bronze-Sorter/dp/B001AX1IZM/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1232581651&sr=1-9).