Getting Organized: LAUNDRY

LOOK AT THAT LAUNDRY ROOM! Isn't is amazing? Doesn't it look so...so....so CLEAN?! 

So unrealistic?! 

I remember hearing a woman speak at a convention once. She was talking about the duties of a Homemaker. She was cracking me up. She had the best attitude. Slow to get overwhelmed. 

She said, "After years of struggling with laundry, always trying to get it done, always trying to win the battle, I have finally come to realize...Laundry is only ever done for the Naked and the Dead." 

It totally made me laugh! Trying to be DONE with laundry, while your family has the audacity to be walking around somewhere out in the world wearing clothes, getting them dirty, wiping their little grubby fingers all down the front of them, and each article will, at the end of the day, end up back in a pile, reminding you that your laundry is NEVER done! 

Well, that is unless you change your definition of DONE. 

I am all about a schedule. It takes a lot of things off your mind. You know what needs to be done. You schedule it and then it is off your mind. The feeling of being overwhelmed...gone! 

I know there are many of you that have your own schedule. The thing that works best for you. I am going to share what has worked best for me. Then I want you all to figure out what it is that will do the trick for you. 

Let's get to the run-down.....

Each day is assigned to a certain type of load or loads, depending on the need. I try to keep each day to 1 load, but every once in a while it ends up at 2. 

Monday- Whites and Hand-wash/delicate items

Tuesday- Colors

Wednesday- Jeans

Thursday- Towels

Friday- Bedding & Whites 

Saturday & Sunday- Off

In our house I am up by 5:30-5:45. I get up and start my laundry before heading downstairs for family breakfast and scriptures.

At 6:30 I transfer the laundry to the dryer, while the kids start getting ready for school. If there is a second load, I would start it now.

At 7:30 I open the dryer and fold the items as I take them out, then put them away. It takes about 10 min. tops. I transfer the 2nd load, if there was one, to the dryer at this time. 

With this schedule I am "DONE" with laundry by 7:30am or 8:30 if there is a second load. Everything is put away so my laundry room is left clean....not as amazing as the picture above, but it is clean and off my mind. That makes me happy! 

Another little jewel I have learned about laundry is that kids are more capable than we think! If we will teach them when they are interested in it, they do much better. 

When Jake was 5 we started working on sorting for his math skills. This is when I enlisted him to help me sort laundry...before the discovery of presorted laundry baskets...which I love! 

Then as I would load he always wanted to dump the soap in and push the buttons. Each time I would teach him what goes with what temp of water, how to determine the level of water needed, etc. THEN I started teaching him how to fold. He didn't do it perfectly and it took him FOREVER, but he was excited to be doing such a big thing and I always excitedly told him he was doing it perfectly. He got better with practice. In no time, he was totally doing his own laundry! Really...at FIVE! 

Now that he is 9 I laugh when I go to put something in the washer and it is already going. It makes me happy! Then I will hear him put it all in the dryer. Then watch him carry his laundry basket full of clean clothes to his room to fold, hang and put them all away. 

A lot of people worry that their kids will ruin something. I say, it's just clothes! I helped him sort and do all of that for a long time. He was totally into it. It made him feel big. I explained what would happen with a mixture of red and white, etc. If he ever ruined anything...what a great object lesson! He hasn't, kids get it more than we think they will. However, if he ever did, I would force myself to be calm :) and say over and over, it's ok, it's replacable and then let the lesson teach itself and keep letting him do it. 

Alright, now make some plans. Figure out what would work best for you. Really, if you have anything that you do, please share it in the comments. That way everyone can read some different ideas and decide what would be best for them! 

Now, you have a bit of a break. I want you to put all of these things into place and start working on it. Next Wednesday we will continue with the Organization stuff. FUN! 

GOOD LUCK!