For our family of 6 (soon to be 7) I have been in search of a way to simplify our laundry system and eliminate a few problems that were occurring in our home.
First of all, the kids were going through an unnecessary amount of clothes.
You know the story...
They would either change their clothes multiple times a day and when they would clean up any clothes, clean or dirty, that were on the floor would end up in the hamper (X4)!
The problem really came to a head when I was in the hospital last year and my husband had to deal with it all on his own. The hamper was full EVERY DAY!!!
I knew something had to change, but how to go about it was the question.
I had read the books that the Duggar family had written and loved the idea of how they have one family closet off of their laundry room.
No dressers and closets full of clothes in their bedrooms,
meaning no free reign of the clothes for the kids.
Every night they each got their bin with their name on it from the family closet.
The bin contains their pj's and clothes for that night and the next day.
When they came to collect their clothes and pj's they would bring down their dirty clothes.
Pj's are worn for three days (unless an accident arises) so those would get washed every three days.
When I read this I remember thinking that maybe someday, if we move to a bigger house, that we could implement some form of a family closet.
Then I realized...
We have this problem now and this need that needs to be addressed now.
Then it dawned on me that we could make what we have work in the home that we are in.
Isn't that how it always seems to be?
We always think, if I had "this or that" that things would be so much better?
We need to learn to think outside of the box and work with what we have to make it work best for us and our families.
We will be much happier Mamas and families for it.
So, this is what we did...
First, I totally eliminated all of the kids clothes from the closet in their bedroom and moved them downstairs next to the washer and dryer.
It is SO much more convenient to put them away after they are washed now!
I wash, I dry, I hang, and I fold, all downstairs. I bring the folded upstairs and put them right in the dresser drawers.
No more unfolded loads of laundry waiting to be folded and it takes about
10 minutes of my time per load!
What a difference!
(We will be moving the dressers down stairs soon which will eliminate all clothes in their room and putting away foldeds even easier.)
And the plus side is that now there is more room in their closet for storing toys and such.
Then...
I bought a three drawer rolling bin which holds socks, underwear, and t-shirts.
One drawer for each child that is stored under the folding table that sits under where their clothes hang.
Then...
I got inexpensive bins and put their names on them.
These bins get an outfit, socks, underwear, and a t-shirt every day.
When brought upstairs they sit on top of their dresser or on the shelf in their closet where they can reach them.
They are responsible for folding their pj's every morning and putting them in their bin for that night. Their dirty clothes go in a community laundry basket and get washed on the third day when the pj's are ready to be washed.
This makes two laundry days a week, doing approximately 6-8 loads a week.
That includes all of the laundry for the whole house!
This has been a HUGE improvement in our home and a great stress relief for me.
No more clean clothes in the hamper!
No more multiple clothing changes a day!
Everyone is responsible for their own clothes, pj's, and bin every day!
As an added bonus the girls can work the system all by themselves
and we have been working on that process for after the baby comes.
What a big help that will be for Mommy
and what a great teaching opportunity for my girls to learn this homemaking skill.
(The boys will learn as well when they are mature enough to do so.)
This may not work for every family but it has made such a huge stress in our household
an easy task.
I had to share because I know that I am not the only one that was stressed out by piles of laundry and baskets waiting to be folded.
I went from trudging up and down the stairs, doing 10-12 loads of laundry,
all day, to one day a week, doing
6-8 smaller loads of laundry, two days a week,
all done in about an hours time!
While it is deffinitly not a beautiful Pinterest-worthy laundry room
it is what works best in our home
and that to me is a beautiful thing!
I hope that you find encouragement if this is an issue in your home
and that it may help make your laundry system a little less stressful.
-Kristin
How far along? 30 weeks!
