Laundry Out of Control?

One night my friends and I were talking (I really mean griping!) about our household tasks. One task that we all had difficulty with was how hard it is to keep up with laundry...especially with children! We felt that is was too time consuming and never seemed to get put away once it was folded.

I am probably the odd ball here because laundry is one of my favorite chores! However, I don't enjoy all aspects of it. The part I don't like about laundry is ironing and putting away the clothes. I have come up with some suggestions to make it less time consuming, less of a headache to deal with, and less work for you!

1. Get LOTS of Laundry Baskets!
Go to the dollar store and stock up on laundry baskets. Simple plastic ones will do the trick, and make sure that you AND YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS can carry them easily. I typically do not like the fancy wicker ones because they are not easy to carry and tend to harbor ordors!

2. Divide and Conquer!
I have three baskets in the master bedroom closet (one for whites, colors, and jeans/heavy duty). I have one basket in each of the children's bedrooms. I have one basket in each bathroom where bathing takes place, and one basket in the laundry room.

3. Laundry Day
Pick a day(s) of the week that you will be doing laundry. Since the master bedroom will have three baskets (one for whites, colors, and jeans/heavy duty), TEACH your family members to sort the contents of their baskets from their bedrooms into your baskets. As for the baskets in the bathrooms, have your children alternate weeks and do the same thing with the contents of those baskets as they did with their laundry baskets. The laundry basket in the laundry room is for kitchen towels and other misc. items.

***TIP--by giving your family members and/or children some of this responsibility is equals less work for you and teaches them a valuable lesson about contributing to the family!

Also, please note that when teaching your family try not to be too critical or too much of a perfectionist or they are not going to want to participate with helping out!

***IMPORTANT--have a separate basket for delicates, items that need hand-washing, or cannot be put into the dryer! I would do that load myself to ensure that items do not get ruined!!

4. Washing/Drying
Decide on who will be putting laundry into washer and dryer. I for one, am a bit particular about laundry, my husband wouldn't even know how to turn the washer on, so I am the one that does it all. However, you may want to give older children/teenagers this responsibility. Afterall if it is all sorted now and brought to the laundry room/area, the easy part is loading the washer and dryer!

5. Fold and Put Away as a Family
In our house, we fold as a family in front of the TV. If you have children old enough to help fold, teach them how you want clothes and towels folded so you are not refolding items. Have a basket on hand for each person and/or bedroom. Load baskets with items for each bedroom and/or family member. Load one basket with linens to put away. Have members of the family bring their basket back to their bedroom, and again, if old enough put his/her OWN clothes away neatly! You may have to check their work a few times to ensure they are not just tossing things into drawers.

6. Ironing
This is my least favorite task! I typically tackle ironing once or twice a month. I do it in front of the TV usually when the kids are sleeping or napping. If you have teenagers that are capable of doing a good job with this, you could have them do this chore or do a portion of it.

Other Tips!

• Start loads of laundry at night. Not only will you be saving energy (and money!), you will be one step ahead of the game!
• Do not let items sit in the dryer. Otherwise, you are creating more work for yourself if they are all wrinkled when you go to iron. If you do put laundry in the dryer at night, fluff the load for a few minutes before folding in the morning.
• Line drying (again for energy consumption) is something I take advantage of in the summer months! I love the feel of line-dried towels, and the smell of line-dried clothes! This is something that family members can help out with as well!!!
• Do not put wet or damp items into laundry baskets! That just creates stinky laundry and often the mildew smell is hard to get out of clothes. Moreover, mold can grow on items, which is virtually impossible to get out except by using bleach. Teach children to dry items first by handing them on the tub or towel racks!!

I hope this helps you loathe laundry less! By getting your family involved, you are teaching them responsibility and the value of helping each other out. You will be giving yourself more time to be with your family instead of a bystander doing all the chores while they are having all the fun!!! Even very small children can help out too. Give the appropriate tasks to the appropriate age!

Good luck and happy laundry day!!

Weekly Housework and Errand Routine

I find that if I don't keep up with housework daily and errands weekly, it throws me off making me feel unaccomplished, overwhelmed, and frustrated. Over the past year of being a stay-at-home mom, I have slowly come into a weekly routine.

Please note that when I use the word "clean" it means cleaning all surfaces, vacuuming , mopping floors, dusting, mirrors, etc. When I use the word "tidy" it means wiping off coutnertops, picking up toys, no dishes in the sink, putting away anything that should be put away, etc.

My weekly routine goes something like this:

Monday--I stay home and usually do not go anywhere. I clean the kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room, and living room areas (basically the main living areas that are most used). If my son is having a good nap or the day is going well, sometimes I can get Tuesday's cleaning jobs done as well. Generally this takes me about two to three hours.

Tuesday--I clean the entry, laundry/mud room, and main floor bathroom. This usually takes me about 20 to 30 minutes. I run errands this day according to my to-do list, which is created/updated on Sunday or Monday.

Wednesday--I tackle paperwork (i.e. filing, invoices, receipts, etc.) for our small business and tidy our home office. The time it takes to do this really varies based on the time of the month. This is our trash day as well (we do not get curbside trash service where we live so I have to bring the trash/recycling to the refuse station). I finish any errands not completed on Tuesday.

Thursday--I clean the two bathrooms upstairs, clean and/or tidy the boys' bedrooms and our bedroom. I vacuum the entire top floor. Sometimes I have to finish this on Friday. Generally this takes about one to two hours.

Friday--I am usually catching up on anything not checked off my to-do list.

Saturday and Sunday are generally my "days off" meaning I just tidy the house and spend time with my family. If I was not able to take the trash/recycling out on Wednesday, I can do it either of these days. This is usually my husband's job, but if he is away working, then I do it.

Life happens and sometimes my routine gets thrown off, truthfully it happens just about every week! So for example, if my Monday cleaning doesn't get done, I just tidy and clean the Monday stuff the next week. I try not to stress out about it!

Generally every other week, I move the furniture in our main living area to vacuum and mop (if needed) underneath it. I only do this because we have hardwood floors and this is where the dust settles! If you have carpet, you would not have to do this!

*****One key area I would like to point out, is every night before I go to bed, I spend about five to 15 minutes tidying up the mainfloor. I feel refreshed in the morning when there are no dishes in the sink from the night before and the toys are not laying around everywhere!*****

Creating a routine that has room for "life" is key for me when staying organized and on top of things in my household! Then housework doesn't seem to build up! If this happens it is because we are really busy, and in that case, I just start up the next week.

When you create your own routine, you will need to decide which day you can tackle your cleaning chores. For example, if you work a typical Monday through Friday job, you may have to do your cleaning on the weekends and save weekdays for tidying and spending time with family. If you have children, they can definitely be helping out with these tasks saving you a lot of time. Husbands can also help out with things! I will tackle that subject in another post as I have had lots of inquiries on how to get husbands more involved!! In my household, we have the belief that we are a family unit. We help each other out with cleaning, errands, and yardwork. We work together to get it done faster in return giving us more time with each other for play! Since I am a stay-at-home mom and my husband works a great deal away from home, I generally am doing most, if not all, the cleaning and household chores.