As a homeschooling mom of 3, it is no secret that sometimes I have to climb Mount Laundry. I have tried many systems including having a set laundry day where we would basically have a laundry party and do laundry all day long. I realized quickly that system does not work well for us. So after struggling and struggling with Mount Laundry, I have finally found a system that is working for us. The best part is – it is so easy!
We follow these simple steps to a hallelujah chorus of clean underwear for everybody by the end of the week:
1. Each person has an assigned day of the week for laundry. We have 5 members of our family so that also gives us Saturday as a towel and sheet day or catch up day. Here is our break down of days:
- Monday – Me
- Tuesday – Hubby
- Wednesday – Jonathan
- Thursday – Stephen
- Friday – Sarah
- Saturday – towels, sheets, catch up day if needed
2. Teach the children to do their own laundry on their day. My kids absolutely love being in charge of their own laundry. Can you believe that? They love it and so do I. They are in charge of everything. We are still at the stage where mom must be there to supervise right now but I can tell they are getting the hang of laundry duties quickly.
3. Do not sort. I repeat – do not sort. Okay, I know that may weird some of you out, and please don’t tell my mom, but I’m telling you it works for us. I used this method recently when we were staying in a hotel and all our clothes turned out fine, so we went for it. This makes it so easy for the children too. No more statements like, “Is this your sock or your brother’s.” Nope! And the best of all – no more sock basket! Doesn’t everyone have the bottomless pit called the sock basket? Maybe not, but we sure did. The socks are not being eaten by the washing machine as much either.
Those are my simple steps to sanity and freedom and I’ll take as much of those as I can get! What does your laundry routine look like?
When Melissa isn’t busy supervising her children’s laundry chores, she can be found over at Grace Christian Homeschool where she writes mostly about the adventures of homeschooling.
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{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
In our family of four, we like to do days by type:
Mon – Linnens (sheets, blankets)
Tues – Towels (bathroom, kitchen)
Wed – Dark loads
Thu – Light loads
Fri – daycare items: blankets, bibs, aprons, soft toys (I do in home childcare)
Thanks for sharing Liz! I think the best thing is to do what works for you!!!
Melissa´s last [type] ..Climbing Mt. Laundry
I do laundry almost every other day. I do sort; lights, darks and reds/purples. Each person is responsible for bringing the laundry to the laundry room. (It’s conveniently located between bedrooms.) I will not search for anyone’s dirty clothes! No clothes pileup and things get done quickly.
I do like your idea of teaching laundry early and rotating the chore amongst the family. I’ll have to do that too!
Sounds like a great system! I forgot to add that hubby has a day but I do all of his laundry. :) The kids are really enjoying having their own day.
Melissa´s last [type] ..Our History
THANK YOU! my kiddos are still little and only one would be old enough to do her own laundry, but even if this system adds a shred of organization to my disastrous laundry situation (and especially if I can find more socks!) then it is DEFINITELY worth a try!
Let me know if you try it! It takes some grace at first and extra time to show how but it will pay off in the long run!
Melissa´s last [type] ..Climbing Mt. Laundry
I love your idea! I will have to try that as our children get older. However, when our teenage daughter is visiting us, she does all her own laundry and likes it that way.
I struggle with similar challenges…just one question…how old were your children when you started this?
Thanks!
Mary Joy
Mary Joy´s last [type] ..Do you ever forget to Breathe?
Oops! Forgot to tell you that my sock basket is making me crazy!
lol – I understand completely!
Melissa´s last [type] ..Climbing Mt. Laundry
7 was the youngest age but I honestly think they could start earlier with mama there to supervise!
Melissa´s last [type] ..Climbing Mt. Laundry
I do our laundry on Mon/Thurs. and this seems to work well for us. The kids help with folding their own clothes and putting them away. They are learning how to use the washer and dryer now too. I stopped sorting our laundry about 2 years ago, best thing ever.
I think the sorting is really the best time saver!! It is so freeing. :)
Melissa´s last [type] ..Climbing Mt. Laundry
Our laundry room is in our bathroom, so when people are changing clothes for a shower or to get into pj’s, they put dirty clothes directly into the washer. When it’s full, it gets run. My oldest does her own laundry when her own basket gets full, but she also will throw items into the washer if she’s dressing in the bathroom. It works for us. When items get folded, they get put in a pile for whomever owns the clothes. We do have a sock pile. I go through it about once every 2 weeks (I just leave it the socks on the dryer, and folks pick out of it during the week).
laundry room in the bathroom is a genius idea!!
Melissa´s last [type] ..TOS Review: We Choose Virtues
Do you have your husband do the laundry on his day? ;)
I forgot to say that didn’t I ? No, I do his laundry too. :)
Melissa´s last [type] ..TOS Review: We Choose Virtues
1) What is a sock basket? We don’t really wear socks… so do you put them in a basket by themselves and wash them in a load all together or…??
2) How do your whites not get grey? Do you use a certain product?
3) My laundry schedule goes like this:
Mon-Fri: Diaper laundry… Saturday clothes all together! Ack!
Someday I will figure out a system too, I hope!
Jeni,
You do not want to know what a sock basket is, believe me!
It is a bottomless pit of never ending, never matching socks, lol. In our home, it was where all the stray socks ended up that were supposed to be matched once a week. We did play a fun sock basket game usually to encourage the matching but still no sock basket is really better!!
Also, I don’t know how they don’t turn grey!! It blows me away. I use Tide but I really don’t think it matters. I was so skeptical and floored the first time everything turned out okay.
Melissa´s last [type] ..TOS Review: We Choose Virtues
We don’t have dedicated days, but we do divide laundry by person. We each have our own hampers (that includes THREE hampers in the grown-up bedroom, because my husband likes to do his whites and darks separately) and each person gets their own load of laundry. Folding and putting away the laundry is so much easier that way and I’ve never had a problem with colors bleeding.
CM´s last [type] ..Kid art
There are just three of us in our family, but with a 3 year old we have the laundry of a family of 10 some days. Up until recently we were cloth diapering (thankfully potty training has finally taken) so I was doing some kind of laundry just about everyday. Now I only do laundry every couple of days. If we have a sleeping accident (still happen often) I do all of the clothes laundry with my daughter’s sheet and in this case I don’t sort anything. When the laundry gets to pile up I will sort the laundry into “waist up” and “waist down” and do those two loads. Towels and sheets (not accident toddler ones) gets washed about once a week.
Christy´s last [type] ..Snow Leopards like to have fun too
I have 4 homeschooled kids, the oldest of whom is 7, so I totally get Mt. Laundry. I stopped sorting long ago, except for the occasional “brighten with bleach” load for whites or a new item.
We have a laundry chute for getting it there. I do a load (or two) a day, and fold immediately into each person’s basket, which is on a rack right next to the machines. Then we deliver to the bedrooms twice weekly.
I’ve also seen people who have a family closet in the laundry room (no delivery to rooms, and everyone chooses the day before), which we might end up with sometime in the future!
Amital @ OrganizedJewishHome´s last [type] ..Bo: Resources and project ideas
I’ve seen the laundry closet before too – so wish I had seen it before we built our house 11 years ago!! I think it is such a great idea!!
Melissa´s last [type] ..TOS Review: We Choose Virtues
I have a family of six and we don’t sort clothes. I do keep towels, kitchen linens, wash cloths separate because I like those to be washed in hot water. Never have any issues with it. I do keep new red things separate or hand wash till I know how they wash but I rarely buy red.