4Real Forums: My laundry hat is off to you

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

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Topic: My laundry hat is off to you

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Karen E.
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:04pm \| IP Logged

... to those of you with more than three kids, that is. I have only three, and sometimes feel that I'm doing laundry all the time. How must you moms-of-many feel? I'm properly humbled when I imagine what a real chore laundry is for larger families.

Just a quick three cheers for you moms and the thankless task of laundering, laundering, laundering, and more launder ... well, you get the picture.

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Elizabeth
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:09pm \| IP Logged

Flylady can have her sink. In my house, the whole house goes the way of the laundry. If I'm caught up, life is good. If I'm behind, nothing is in order. I still can't distinguish the chiken from the egg here, though.

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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)

Donna
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:17pm \| IP Logged

Elizabeth wrote:

In my house, the whole house goes the way of the laundry. If I'm caught up, life is good. If I'm behind, nothing is in order.

I'm with ya, Elizabeth. It's the first thing I do when I get up in the morning just to stay ahead. Once I get behind....it feels like I'll never get caught up again...and then the whole place falls apart

.

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MacBeth
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:23pm \| IP Logged

2 dryers, Karen....think 2 dryers.

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momtomany
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:38pm \| IP Logged

I'd change it to 2 washers and 2 dryers! Seems like they are constantly going here between 6 kids at home, plus the 2 college boys that drop in for the weekend and just happen to have laundry bags with them.

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Mary Ann in PA
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mrsgranola
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 4:44pm \| IP Logged

And also make sure all the kids don't try to wash their jammies and towels everyday (instead of putting them away and hanging towels). Also, we don't all bathe *every* day in the winter months... too much eczema in our family for that. 2 of my kids' skin cracks and scales too much already, as does my dh's.

Glad to have a chance to read these boards again!

JoAnna

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Sarah
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 5:51pm \| IP Logged

Glad someone brought up laundry, because I've been meaning to ask. . .

1.How is it that the Large Family Logistics lady can wash on only one day (I know she says a few loads here and there throughout the week also) but really, there would be nothing else I'd do that day. I'd hate to feel like every time the dryer beeped I had to drop what I was doing and get it all put away.

LFL laundry day

For some reason lately I keep hearing the words "wash on Monday" in my head. Could this be a sign?

If someone does this method, I'd love to here about it. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

2.Do you fold and put away immediately? or let it pile. . .

or do like me and bag it in fabric bags and take it upstairs to fold. . . someday. Its contained, you see, so theorectically no one can access I until I take it out to fold. . .

downfalls to the bag method:
3:00am- someone has the stomach flu and needs new clothes, since baby is nursing, Dad's on the hunt. Plagued with guilt, I can see his silouette dumping bags into the dimly lit hallway. Finally I can't take it anymore, and with flashlight in hand, I find a fairly clean pair right on the boys' floor

(why didn't they look there first?)

3. Is it better to do a couple loads each day? The author of Home Comforts(who I think may have only one kid) talks about never having that feeling of accomplishment, that the job is done for a while, that you can rest. Rest? What's that again?

One of the biggest stressors for me is laundry--clean laundry, that is. Dirty laundry seems to be okay because you can shove it into a hamper. Clean laundry HAS to be dealt with. Hmmm. . .I wonder what other ladies think about clean laundry?

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Mary G
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 8:22pm \| IP Logged

One way my SIL with 10 kids stays ahead is having the kids take turns doing the laundry -- bringing it to the laundry room, sorting and folding and putting away. She does the actual wash (fewer pinks and shrunken sweaters

).

We have an "oversize capacity" washer and dryer -- I do two loads every day -- darks, lights -- and occasionally one small load of delicates. That's it! I do have the washer/dryer right off the dining room so I can start a load, do a bunch of schooling, throw it in the dryer, start another load and fold after lunch. Works for us....

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Rachel May
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 9:35pm \| IP Logged

The Home Comforts lady does have one kid, and she's the one who says wash on Monday (it was a historical thing). I was able to do that until we had #5 and my husband took that year long "business trip" to Afghanistan.

We have recently started a new laundry system that is working well. First, and best, each person only has 4 days' worth of clothes. This way it can not get completely out of control. I got the idea off one of the old laundry threads here.

DH does 2 loads per day except Sunday. He takes them down in the morn and brings a pile of clean, dry, wrinkled clothes back to our bedroom in the eve. Before I get into bed, I fold and sort laundry into 5 colored boxes (1 per kid), the tops of our dressers, and linens go back in the basket for "later." At least they're folded.

Before school, the older 4 put their own clothes away, and when I get a chance, I do the baby's. I close my eyes about how the drawers look

, but once a month we clear out their dressers.

I've recently started trying to occasionally throw in a load myself. Two loads a day isn't really overwhelming, but our basement's smell is nauseasting to me. Home Comforts says if you are an every day doer, you need a good system or it won't work. This one has for us for several months now.

I LOVE MacBeth's suggestion. If only we didn't expect to spend the next 10 years in military housing......

BTW, has anyone ever looked into getting machines like they have at a laundrymat?

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5athome
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Posted: Jan 26 2006 at 10:44pm \| IP Logged

We do laundry everyday here so I don't feel so overwhelmed by the mountains. What has helped immensely is each child has a labeled basket in the laundry room on shelving. I just pop it out from the dryer and right into their basket and the children take the basket to their room and put it away. I also give extra allowance to the older kids to put away the ones too young to do it themselves. My only problem is we are running out of basket room with each new baby!

dhbrug
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 2:39am \| IP Logged

Firstly we bought a commercial quality washing machine.
Then we made sure we had the largest clothes line we could get.
We also cut down the amount of clothes we have. (Moving between countries certainly helped with this!)
Lastly we have split the laundry into three: Boys, Girls and Ours/baby.
The boys (12, 9,7) wash and hang out their own clothes, and the Girls (14,4,1.5) do theirs. Actually the eldest girls does theirs, but the 4yo helps.
There is a clothes hamper in each of the three bedrooms and it is working pretty well. It also means that if anyone complains that they have no clothes to wear, they have no one to blame but themselves. If you don't believe the boys can do it, we have photographic evidence!

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Bridget
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 8:20am \| IP Logged

I am trying to accept laundry as one of those things that just won't be under control for a few years. We have a small laundry room and just one washer and dryer. (Someday we will move it to the basement where there is room to make it more usable for a large family.)

We just keep plugging away at it. We keep the dirty clothes sorted in 3 tall baskets. I wash. I send whoever I can grab in to transfer loads. My 9 and 4 year old daughters do all the folding, not perfectly but it gets put away. I do Kevin's work clothes.

We do at least 3 loads a day.

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Elizabeth
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 8:45am \| IP Logged

We do three or four loads a day. The athletic clothing really pushes the totals up. I have a hamper for each bedroom and rotate through them--at least one room a day. That way, when I wash and fold, I don't have to sort by possession; I know that those clothes go to that room. The people who live in the room can figure out whose is whose. There is a big person paired with a little person in each room, so the big person helps the little with the putting away.My problem really seems to be drawer space and what appears to be a genetic aversion among my children to hangers

.

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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)

Bridget
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 8:56am \| IP Logged

Elizabeth wrote:

My problem really seems to be drawer space and what appears to be a genetic aversion among my children to hangers

Yes, my kids think hangers are for bows and arrows or to make mobiles out of.

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jdostalik
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 9:23am \| IP Logged

Oh, I'm glad that I'm not the only one to have a child who uses a hanger as a weapon!!

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Patty
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 10:25am \| IP Logged

I don't wash my kids' clothes! OK, does that make me a bad mother??? We each have a day for laundry...Mom and Dad on Wednesday, boys on Thursday, girls on Friday. On Saturday we do sheets. I wash towels as needed. My youngest is 6 and he and his 12yo brother do theirs together. I do sometimes have to remind them, but all in all they do a pretty good job.

Patty

Willa
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 3:39pm \| IP Logged

I always wondered WHY so many people seem to do SO much laundry. But Elizabeth's explanation works for me -- the athletic clothes. We only have spring and summer athletics. Oh and also DH works at home and wears jeans and T shirt so not much ironing to do.

We seem to be able to do the bulk of the laundry on Monday if I keep feeding the washing machine all day. I fold in between other things or while talking to the kids or listening to music or whatever. We do our "Blessing Day" on Monday too, where we do the general house cleaning all together. I can do about 6 or 7 loads since we don't go anywhere, and they help with the putting away. Then I do a little catching up on Thursday and Friday.

Still that only adds up to perhaps 10 loads a week for 9 people, including sheets, towels and rotating through the comforters and scatter rugs one or two a week. I've always wondered a little what I'm doing wrong. We do have a BIG washer and we don't discard our clothes every single day

. I also only keep a few spare outfits for most of us in the family, so we HAVE to keep on top of it or run out of clothes in a very short time.

For some reason I feel embarrassed to say all this. ... like I'm admitting that we're one of those medieval noble families that took a bath and changed clothes about twice a year at most!

Really, that's not it! They change if their clothes are dirty, and all.... sometimes Aidan changes several times a day because he likes being able to put clothes on and off.... proud of the milestone I guess.

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Bridget
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 4:05pm \| IP Logged

Another thing that makes a difference is the size of the people. My dh is the size of a football player and I'm tall. My oldest boys are getting big too. Bigger people means fewer clothes fit in each load.

Summer clothes are lighter and less bulky so more items fit in the washer and laundry is easier to keep up with then.

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lilac hill
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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 4:10pm \| IP Logged

IN the laundry room there is a basket for each bedroom.
Clean clothes from the dryer and drying rack and stuff dropped around the downstairs is put in there.

With living on a well and septic system, doing all the laundry in one day is not a good idea so a load or two everyday is what works here.
Getting it out of the dryer and in the bedrooms before dinner has been a New Year's resolution so it has become one of the things I check before we set the dinner table.

DD#2 does most of her own laundry(except today, I did a huge pile from dd#2, but it fit in with housecleaning so not a problem) so I try to do DD#3, dh, mine and house laundry on days other than Saturday.Sometimes throwing in a load at bedtime gives me a head start the next morning.
DD#3 helps with the laundry and I do not fold laundry, just put it in the baskets.
When the girls bring it too their rooms, they can fold or hang, whatever system works for them.
Their drawers are usually messy, but it is their business, as long as they do not leave the drawers hanging open(my live in furniture makers gets crazy when the drawers are left open

).BTW, as the girls get older, they've gotten tidier.
Seasonally we go through the drawers and I occasionally help with a room cleanup.
Very tidy rooms and drawers had to become a non-issue or I would become the wicked witch of the west.

When it gets too messy, the computer is shut down until I am satisfied. There is usually a warning that this will happen so there is less misery.
Having the girls do their own laundry started when dd#1 was in 7th grade. At times their laundry left in the dryer slows me down but not being responsible for that one pair of jeans or team shirt ultimately reduced tensions. Now that DD#1 is in college she has said she appreciates knowing how to take care of herself.

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Posted: Jan 27 2006 at 4:27pm \| IP Logged

My two older girls (ages 11 and 9) have been doing their own laundry for a year or two now. It helps a lot, but they tend to procrastinate on doing it. So sometime it still causes me aggravation when one of them announces right before bedtime that they have no clean underwear for the next day. But, being homeschoolers, they can do the load the next morning and still be completely dressed before leaving the house!

It really helps that I have all girls and they don't tend to get very dirty or muddy when they play outside.

And Willa, my kids wear clothes a second time too, if they are not stained or stinky from sweat.

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