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Jenny
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| Posted: March 09 2006 at 10:04pm | IP Logged
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I just read that the Dugger Family has a Family Closet as part of their laundry room. How would this work? Laundry is my greatest challenge. I will wash, dry & I enjoy folding...it's putting it away that gets me! My children have started putting away laundry, but I am intrigued by a family closet. It seems like it would free up some space in bedrooms & laundry wouldn't be scattered in different areas of the house.
Any ideas on how to do this?
Jenny
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Jenny
Chris' wife and momma of 7. My blog: The Littlest Way--Bible Journaling, Inspiring Bible Quotes, Daily Affirmations, Prayer Journaling & photography
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Jen L.
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| Posted: March 09 2006 at 11:05pm | IP Logged
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I found this on the Dugger Family website
Laundry
Hanging clothes are kept in the ‘family closet’, a room converted into closet space just off from the laundry room. Socks, underclothes, etc. are sorted into clothes bins on top of the dryers (large square plastic dishpans) that are labeled with each family member’s name.
When laundry comes out of the dryer it can quickly be put in the clothes bins or family closet. No more shuffling clean clothes from one end of the house to the other. (They never seemed to make it to the dressers or closets, & frequently clean clothes ended up back in the dirty basket!) When we need clothes, we simply go to the family closet. Seasonal clothes are boxed or hung in ‘off limit’ closets.
Also, laundry is made easier when we wear matching colors (Mon- red, Tues- blue, etc …We call it our ‘homeschool uniforms’. We feel unified & more serious about school, like a team!) We keep socks simple, too. The girls wear white & the boys wear black.
I really like this "family closet" idea -- but our basement is a little damp, so I'm not sure.
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Rebecca
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 1:46am | IP Logged
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This seems like such a wonderful idea! No more carrying the clean laundry upstairs and putting it in the appropriate drawers in the appropriate rooms. No more carrying dirty laundry down to be washed because all of the changing clothes occurs in the basement. Just keep it all downstairs which makes laundry-doing so much easier! It would eliminate the need for dressers in the bedrooms which frees up living space. I think it sounds pretty good!
God Bless,
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Erin
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 4:40am | IP Logged
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I've always been dubious about this idea. I could see it being one big mess! Children come and get their clothes and leave their discarded choices scattered, at least I'm still working on this with younger ones in their bedrooms. Why would it be any different in a family closet?
I'd love to hear if anyone has successfully done this. Wouldn't it be one more headache for mum? Maybe I'm a wet blanket.
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Lisbet
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 6:49am | IP Logged
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We've sort of implemented this system ourselves. My washer and dryer are in the basement, and just off the laundry area is a half finished room that we were not using for anything else, so my husband hung some rafter organizers from the rafters, they have space for hanging and shelves above, then along the walls he put shelving. Everyone has hanging space and shelf space this way, and clothes go straight from the dryer to the "clothes room" as we call it. Then when the kids go down to change, we have big bins, one for light clothes, one for darks, one for sock/underpants, one for towles. I teach them to sort as they take them off. We have a laundry shute from our upper bathroom, so clothes discarded from there go straight to the laundry area too.
This has REALLY helped the problem of clothes all over the house. Even if the clothes room gets messy, it's all contained to one spot, rather than the whole upstairs. I never have baskets of laundry sitting around the dining room waiting to be folded or carried upstairs. We no longer have dressers in the bedrooms, which ended up making room for more bookcases, so it also helped with the book clutter! The closets are where linens, blankets, and sleeping bags are stored. We did get the idea from the Duggers, and it was pretty easy for us to implement b/c of how our laundry area is arranged. Of course, that spare room in the basement looks like a Goodwill store! 
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humanaevitae
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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I hadn't heard of the Duggers but we also made a "family closet" in our laundry room when we added on. Our four children each have their own dresser and then share a large closet for church clothes.
When we made plans for this room many thought we were crazy...  I put a recliner in the room also (for folding laundry or just a quiet place to hide  )
This has definately helped us as I was terrible with getting the clothes put away in the upstairs rooms and I remembered from being a kid just stuffing my clothes in various drawers or just throwing it back down the laundry chute! Because this is a room I frequent often, I am quickly able to catch whomever didn't put their pjs away or left their church clothes on the floor. I really think a common room has made it easier to train the children in neatness. I'm also better at catching the 2/3 year old who wants to change outfits 6 times a day! This room has also made it more convienent for me to grab everyone's church clothes to set out for the next day.
I'm sure as the kids get older they will want their clothes back in their rooms. However it will be a privilege that they must earn.
I absolutely love the way our laundry room is set up. I appreciate that all clothes are contained in one room and not scattered throughout the house. When I want to completely finish laundry I just have to grab our hamper and the bathroom's - everything else is already sorted. This makes it easier if I want to do loads everyday too.
It has worked for our family.
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 11:29am | IP Logged
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Well, I've never heard of this before, but I'm curious now! I'm struggling with how to fit 3 girls in one room, and later on 2 boys in one room (12 yrs apart) and getting rid of dressers would help immensely.
Do Mom and Dad also use the family closet?
Also, what do you do if a child "forgets" to get clothes before taking a bath/shower or whatever, and then either streaks through the house or hollers "MOM!" at the top of his/her lungs for clean jeans?
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Rebecca
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 11:48am | IP Logged
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Thanks so much, Lisa and Nicole, for sharing how this works in your homes. It has been something that my dh and I have thought about for quite some time. Hearing firsthand how it works inspires me to give it a try!
God Bless,
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Bridget
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 2:01pm | IP Logged
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We have a family closet. It is a poorly insulated bedroom, unfortunately not near the laundry room, which would be better. But i love that all the children's clothes are in there, including the boxes of off season and off size clothes.
It does get messy sometimes but mostly my 9 year old, who folds all the clothes, maintains it.
I'll lose it in a couple of years when the big boys get too big for bunk beds and we need the bedroom, but maybe by then we can build on my dream laundry and kitchen!
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Sarah
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 7:01pm | IP Logged
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I tried a modified idea of the family closet when we brought the children's dressers into the laundry room, which is right off the main family room.
It didn't work for us because the children walked around scantly dressed trying to find clothes and it drove me crazy.
However, I use bins and the kids and got rid of dressers, which in my opinion are the worst invention for kids.
My kids have one huge rattan basket and one bin. I fold the clothes out of the dryer and place them in the bins and they dump the bins into the basket which is in their rooms and it works great. One older kid takes one younger kid's basket. I also have hooks with their names on them in the bathroom and they reuse their towels. Then when I launder the towels, I put a one towel in each bin so they can put it back on their hook.
For hand towels I made long hand towels out of linen toweling and hang them in a loop (buttoned) over the rack so they can pull it around to find a dry spot, but they can't get it off to throw it on the floor, or wipe up a popsicle or something. This has all cut down on laundry. I launder and return immediately every couple days. I use other hand towels for guests, however.
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 8:46pm | IP Logged
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I love this idea and have been wanting to do it for years but we just aren't set up for it in this house yet. Our laundry room is in the basement and it would not be a good idea to have the little kids go down there (the steps are steep and narrow - it's a 100 yr. old house). There no where else to do it because we are full up on all the bedrooms. Someday we want to add an addition on the back of the kitchen and the laundry and family closet will go there (we have a back staircase off the kitchen so it would work well).
God bless!
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 8:49pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
I've always been dubious about this idea. I could see it being one big mess! Children come and get their clothes and leave their discarded choices scattered, at least I'm still working on this with younger ones in their bedrooms. Why would it be any different in a family closet?
I'd love to hear if anyone has successfully done this. Wouldn't it be one more headache for mum? Maybe I'm a wet blanket. |
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Personally I think it would work better because it would be where I can see them better. it's too easy for them to trash their rooms because I don't walk up there sometimes all day or they close the door after trashing it. But a room off the kitchen would be right where I can see what's going on and correct on the spot. It would be something to stay on top of at first but once they are trained in it I think it would work very well.
God bless!
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Michele Quigley
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 8:54pm | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
| Do Mom and Dad also use the family closet? |
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I wondered about this too but think that since Dad and I can manage to keep our rooms clean and clothes put away we should be allowed to have our clothes in our room. 
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| Also, what do you do if a child "forgets" to get clothes before taking a bath/shower or whatever, and then either streaks through the house or hollers "MOM!" at the top of his/her lungs for clean jeans? |
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Make sure each child has a robe and takes it into the bath with them. If they forget thier clothes they are covered to go get them. 
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Michele Quigley
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Jenny
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 10:31pm | IP Logged
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Ok, we're going to try it. Dh is skeptical, but since it is not costing him any money, he said, "Do what you want." My laundry room is off the kitchen & leads to the garage. It has a small walk in closet which we use for shoes & coats. I will also now hang up the girls dresses in there. It has cabinets on one wall. The space underneath is 2' deep, 4' high & 6' long. I have moved the babies 4 drawer dresser & my sons 6 drawer dresser in there. The baby & my little guy will share the 4 drawer & my 3 girls will share the other. For the girls (7, 6, & 4) they all pretty much wear the same size; so one drawer for socks & underclothes, one drawer for night clothes, etc...
I will leave their dresser in their room though. It is an armoir & they can each have 2 drawers to keep their personal belongings.
Dh & I will keep our clothes in our room though. I'm excited! I hope this works. I told dh if after a year, then maybe instead of 2 mismatched dressers we could find something nicer
Jenny
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 6:22am | IP Logged
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I love this idea. I think Alice was planning something like this too...Our laundry room is a narrow passageway from the kitchen to the garage. There are no spare bedrooms and I can't imagine where will put another dresser, never mind a bed  . My house would stay pretty clean if it weren't for clothes. Right now, since I've been "supervising" largely from bed for the last ten weeks, there are clothes everywhere and it's so discouraging. I keep purging and giving away, thinking the problem is that we have too many--but the reality is that nine people need enough clothes for nine people! There must be a way to do this...I wonder, too, wouldn't you need two; one for each gender?
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 7:19am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
| My house would stay pretty clean if it weren't for clothes. |
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I hear ya!! Clothing mess has to be the biggest issue here. I was talking to dh about this idea last night and he loved it too. . .for the same reason.
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| There must be a way to do this...I wonder, too, wouldn't you need two; one for each gender? |
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My plan has always been that they can dress and undress in thier rooms (thus everyone has their own robe for modestly) but that the clothes have to be gotten from the laundry and dirty clothes have to be returned there. I know it doesn't sound as efficient as having them dress in the same area but I could see that being an issue with so many people and as you said both genders.
God bless!
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 8:20am | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
| I'd love to hear if anyone has successfully done this. Wouldn't it be one more headache for mum? Maybe I'm a wet blanket. |
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Not all all, Erin. You're trying to be realistic.
The room is no good if you don't have a team working together to maintain order and if, more importantly, you don't have someone in charge of the room. The room idea is great; that's the ideal. The logistics of organizing and maintaining the room are what matters; that's the reality.
Just a reminder: a new show on the Duggar family comes on tonight on TLC. Here's the station and showtimes. 8 PM Central/9 PM Eastern
My laundry room is a small room off the carport (which is soon to become my study). I tried getting a copy of it here but it was sized too big. Here's a photo at my blog. The side of the room that doesn't show is still unfinished. My dh is planning to place a shelf and hanging space on that side. Hampers for darks, whites, wets will be placed under the shelf.
It's small but cosy and better than the closet I had off my kitchen in my other house.
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 9:43am | IP Logged
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MicheleQ wrote:
Quote:
| There must be a way to do this...I wonder, too, wouldn't you need two; one for each gender? |
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My plan has always been that they can dress and undress in thier rooms (thus everyone has their own robe for modestly) but that the clothes have to be gotten from the laundry and dirty clothes have to be returned there. I know it doesn't sound as efficient as having them dress in the same area but I could see that being an issue with so many people and as you said both genders.
God bless! |
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Perhaps I'm a mom of little laundry faith...
Don't you think it would be a problem getting them to get those dirty clothes back to the laundry room? Why do I feel like my kids are not nearly as well-trained as they used to be? I think we need a fresh thread on habit...
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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)
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MicheleQ
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 9:59am | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Perhaps I'm a mom of little laundry faith...Don't you think it would be a problem getting them to get those dirty clothes back to the laundry room? Why do I feel like my kids are not nearly as well-trained as they used to be? I think we need a fresh thread on habit... |
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They would have to bring their dirty clothes down before they would be allowed to get new ones. I don't see this thing running itself, in my mind it would be overseen by dh and I but I think that's realistic if it's in a good location. Ultimately the idea would be that it becomes a habit.
Now, an entirely new thread would be how those of us who worked to train our older children have found oursleves slacking off in the trainging of the younger children. Of course human nature being what it is the older children then decide to slack off (despite their training) and so it goes. . .
Can anyone relate??
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Michele Quigley
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Elizabeth
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MicheleQ wrote:
Now, an entirely new thread would be how those of us who worked to train our older children have found oursleves slacking off in the trainging of the younger children. Of course human nature being what it is the older children then decide to slack off (despite their training) and so it goes. . .
Can anyone relate?? |
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I'm going to cut us a little slack and say that we might be too dependent on our big kids and wayyyy busier and more distracted than when they were little. Still, it's a phenomenon menitioned to me by more than one mom of many recently and certainly worth a new thread to brainstorm.
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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)
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: Dugger Family Closet
