Laundry; friend or foe?...

[mom2many]

<r>I don’t know about anyone else, but laundry in my house is never-ending. It is a battle; one missed day of a load or two can set us back for days. I’d do anything to see an empty hamper for more than five minutes, but nope, just as soon as it is empty someone changes their clothes, gets dirty, or has an accident. <br/>
<br/>
Now I have to admit that I am lucky because I have older kids who wash and dry while I fold and sort. Over the years I have learned a few tips, and even when my mountain looks insurmountable I believe that these few things make a difference.<br/>
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1. Use <URL url="</s>sorting baskets<e></e></URL>. These are a great way to cut back on a step and are something all members of the family can do. <br/>
2. Don’t rush to throw the clothes right into the hamper. Just because it was worn does not mean it is dirty. I can wear a pair of pants for a few days before they need to be washed, and the same is true for kids.<br/>
3. Make it a habit to throw at least one load of laundry in the washer a day. Even if you can’t get to it until the next day, it’s one less load you will have to do when you have laundry day.<br/>
4. Wash your bedding only when needed. Bedding is done every other week here. We are pretty clean when we head off to bed so there is no real need to do it more than that, unless there is an accident of course.<br/>
4. Use cold water. You won't have to sort as much because it’s okay to have a darker color with a lighter color if you use cold water. It will also be lot nicer on your electric or gas bill.<br/>
5. Put the clean clothes away. Here’s where my family gets into trouble. It’s honestly not that hard and every age can get involved, but we are a little lazy about this.<br/>
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So what tips do you have?</r>

 

[philly_co]

I think having the kids help out is critical. There is no way that at I could the laundry for my kids unless there was some level of help. I think having your children learn how to do these chores as early as possible will make it easier for you.

I also have issues trying to get everyone to put there clean clothes away. This is important because having the clothes stay in the clean section will help them not get rewashed before they are worn.

 

[csdax]

I agree - putting things away is the difficult/annoying/boring but important bit. When my MIL is here, she 'helps' by folding things, but I never fold, I just throw everything in the drawers.

I have a rail next to the drier, where I hang shirts and dresses up right away, straight from the drier. I don't iron. Ever. (In our house, 'ironing' is a euphemism for putting something wrinkled into the drier for ten minutes, before wearing it)

And then there's socks. I hate sorting socks! My theory is that there are tiny 'wormholes' inside the drier, which suck out one of each pair of socks and deposit them on a planet somewhere in another galaxy. That's why it's impossible to find two that match.

 

[helpfulcounsel]

I agree with all of your points above. We have recently started enforcing the multiple use if clothes aren't dirty. My boys (6 & 7) tend to feel that pants are optional as soon as they walk in our door, so their pants are only warn for an couple of hours, max.

With a family of 5, I'm done washing clean clothes. Are problem tends to be getting the clothes back into the dressers without my kiddos diving in for their favorite shirt.

We started have "laundry folding parties". We round up several baskets of laundry that needs to be folded and we tackle each one together while watching a movie. As soon as all of the laundry is folded and put in the drawers. The kids are motivated to get done because we bust out the popcorn after everything has found its home!

~Heather

 

[Caffus]

Ya, I always have laundry to do..my boys are 4 and 5 ..they take there clothes off and throw them on the floor.

 

[ikon99]

Ah Ha, laundry, something I like to do, alone, with beer and good music. I do it also b/c no one else does it right. Here are some good tips
Socks and matching them. I don't. The kids have to match them when they pull them out of their drawers or wear mismatched. My 5 y/o loves mismatched socks. My socks are all the same, so they always match.
Bath towels: only 1 per week and I dole them out. They are drying a clean body the towel is not dirty.

 

[ikon99]

Oh and another idea. How about combining the washer and dryer into one machine that does both?

 

[Shaun Austin]

Yeah we have various issues with our four! It seems our eldest two boys think the floor is a great place for dirty washing. Its hard with having a two job family as well, but somehow we never seem to have an issue with any of the house work thanks to my wife's great organisation and delegation skills. What is important it making sure non of the kids get a free ride. Having three boys it can be easy for them to let our only daughter do it (she loves helping around the house) and sit back and enjoy

 

[ikon99]

HA, getting my 9 y/o to do his laundry is like trying to pull teeth. His excuse is "I don't know how" I call BS on this one. He is a straight "A" student, can solve a wide variety of mathmatical arguments and explain the associative properites of math but he can't remember the last time I showed him how to do his laundry? HA, BS.

 

[JanetDubac]

I've always gotten the same "I don't know how" response too, but if you are persistent and willing to show them multiple times how to do the laundry I think you will see success eventually!

 

[Shaun Austin]

What I have started to notice is a 'do we have to' attitude from our eldest two. They also love to 'disapear' on washing days, I love how a friends house becomes more interesting leaving me or Charlotte to make sure all the washing is out of their rooms. We know that if we don't it will never get to the wash it will just build up in their rooms and will never get washed and they will then be like where have all my clothes gone? when they run out of stuff to wear. Another thing they use a lot is 'we're too busy with study or home work' and as a teacher im not one to say that laundry is more important than study but we don't ask much all they need to do is put their clothes in a basket on the landing or in the garage if we have emptied the basket already. It takes 5 minutes and half the time 'study' means facebook anyway. So the battle goes on. We have decided to focus on training the other kids now before they reach adolesence that wayb avoiding these issues with them.

 

[JanetDubac]

I actually found it easier to tell kids in their adolescence they had to do their own laundry. If you do not do their laundry for them anymore they will run out of clothes to wear like you mentioned. However as teens, when they wake up for school with no more clothes to wear that is their own problem. As a teenager they should be able to handle the responsibility of making sure they have clothes to wear. With younger children it becomes your issue when they realize they don't have clean clothes and school starts in an hour.

 

[Shaun Austin]

We don't mind that we do the washing for them, thats not the issue because it is easier for us to do it in one go, but what I hate is when they can't be bothered to take it from their rooms and put it in the basket, on wash day. A five second job its not hard but they kick and scream no less.

 

[MoonstoneHoney]

I agree with all of your points above. We have recently started enforcing the multiple use if clothes aren't dirty. My boys (6 & 7) tend to feel that pants are optional as soon as they walk in our door, so their pants are only warn for an couple of hours, max.

With a family of 5, I'm done washing clean clothes. Are problem tends to be getting the clothes back into the dressers without my kiddos diving in for their favorite shirt.

We started have "laundry folding parties". We round up several baskets of laundry that needs to be folded and we tackle each one together while watching a movie. As soon as all of the laundry is folded and put in the drawers. The kids are motivated to get done because we bust out the popcorn after everything has found its home!

~Heather

Heather,
I really like the "laundry folding parties" idea. I have a family of 6 and the laundry is crazy. I can never keep up with it and my girls are the worse with trying to rewash clothes so they don't have to put the clean ones in the dressers. I am going to try the folding parties and see how that works. I am really glad to have found this forum and know that I am not the only one that is trying to tackle these parenting issues.

 

[LaraWard]

One of my kids is in his early teens, he does a lot of his own laundry as thats how he earns his pocket money.

 

[Emotfit]

One of my more troubled foster children was nine years old. He did his own laundry with great skill and was proud. Started me on getting my two bio sons on track. Glad I did for both were very happy when entering college that they were the few who knew how to both cook a bit, do laundry including ironing.

Teaching them required some patience, shrugging my shoulders at complaints of nothing to wear but dirty clothes, and ignoring poorly ironed clothes. Once the early teen set in, the laundry skills went way up.

Good luck all.

 

[Mommyof4in11]

I have 5 at home and they range from 14 to 18 months. We have had the standing rule for two years now that everyone has a wash day. My parents did this with me and my three other sisters. Our daughter does hers on Sunday so everything is clean for the week for school. The two older boys 14 and 10 do theirs on Tuesday and I do our 2 year old and 18 month old on Monday then wash mine and my husbands on Wednesday. If you miss your day and I remind them that morning before school or when she gets up on Sunday that its their day then they have to wait a whole week to do their laundry. Our sheets are washed weekly on Friday and the kids are to strip their beds before they leave for school and drop off their sheets and pillow cases before they walk out the door. This has worked great for us they have only forgot maybe two times in all the years we have been doing this. They have learned to do it all and we never have an over load of laundry. The 2 y/o loves to follow me and the big kids and help load and unload the washer and dryer and we let him it teaches great skills that I hope will help as he gets older.

 

[lkkirk75]

I have a 6 year old son. We both wear our clothes more than once if they're not dirty. I tend to just go do the laundry (dishes, chores) myself, not even thinking about trying to get my son to help. Next laundry day, I want to make an effort to remember to involve him. He's not always agreeable so we'll see how that goes. LOL