Part two in a series on the ins and outs of running a house.
Heather Hendrick Laundry Stats
Strengths
stays on top of the laundry situation
each laundry step is tidy around her house
each laundry step is tidy around her house
Weaknesses
could not fold a fitted sheet to save her life
needs to wash bedding more often
needs to wash bedding more often
When you have a large family laundry becomes sort of...well...
a horrible practical joke.
I've had college girls walk into my dining room, see a week's worth of clean clothes folded into piles for my family of 7. They look at the table that's covered with clothes...then at me...and say, "Are you kidding me?" I sit them down and break the news as gently as I can..."Everyone poops and everyone wears clothes. You find this out when you get married." It's INSANE how much laundry grows with each child.
"Laundry multiplying exponentially" and "socks" are numbers 4 and 5 on my list of why I hate winter.
Who knew something as simple as laundry could make someone despise an entire season.
I know everyone is different. Some people hate laundry altogether, others only hate parts of the inevitable process.
I never mind sorting, washing, folding. I detest putting clothes away.
Tons of clean, folded laundry makes me happy. Thinking about putting it up makes me want to run away or become Samantha the good witch. I have often times relived that scene from the Sword and the Stone, where Merlin magically cleans the kitchen. Except, it's not the kitchen. Instead, I'm holding my finger out watching a pile of Anson's t-shirts float down the hall and into his cabinet.
I've done laundry differently as my family has grown...so I'm going to try and cover each season of our life. Our family is weird because we've been small (just the two of us), average (3 kid family), large (5 kid family) and then back to average waiting to get large again. **We were foster parents. We did not sell our kids to the gypsies. Now, we're in the process of adopting.
First, we'll start with some basics:
Sorting
I sort laundry into four groups...
1. Whites (all whites that can be bleached if needed)
2. Light colors (whites with colored collars go in this category)
3. Darks
4. Delicates
Whites
I use the hot/cold setting for whites and either pour in a little bleach or Oxyclean. When I use bleach, I always make sure I pour it in BEFORE adding the clothes. Instructions are on the bleach bottle. Oxyclean and bleach are the only things I've found to keep my whites WHITE. Anyone else have things that work?
Light colors
I wash on the warm/cold setting.
Dark colors
I wash darks on the cold/cold setting.
I wash on the warm/cold setting.
Dark colors
I wash darks on the cold/cold setting.
Delicates
These are things that have tags that say, "wash on delicate"...or my quilts...or comforters...or rugs. I wash them on cold/cold. If I only have one white delicate, then I'll put the delicate item in with a big load of whites and wash the whole thing on delicate. I do the same for the other colors of delicates. I add them to a large load of the same color and just wash the whole load on delicate. This saves time...and water...and I'm always down with that. Delicates usually have to hang to dry. I hang them in the laundry room or over the shower in our bathroom.
I have found it's always smart to pour the detergent into the water before adding the clothes. Sometimes detergents do weird things to clothes...and I've ruined many because "something" got on them in "the wash." I think "something" was the straight dish soap I poured on top of them. Soap should not be allowed to make things dirty...that should be a rule.
Dry cleaning
We don't have a dry cleaning pile. If I get something as a gift that says, "Dry Clean Only" that is interpreted in this house as, "Try to keep it clean for as long as possible, because once it gets dirty, it's going to goodwill." I'm not joking. I always try and wash it on delicate...and many times...the tag was telling a big, dirty lie. Lots of times clothes that say "dry clean" do just fine washed on delicate and hung up to dry. If I ruin something...then oh well. I didn't buy it.
I stick to one section on my washing machine's dial. I have no idea what all those other settings are for. Maybe if I tried one out, when I did, a nanny would appear in my house and do all my laundry. Maybe if I tried one out, I would get cancer. So, you see, I've never tried them. I wish I knew what they did.
What to do with dirty clothes before you wash them...
Because I know myself and would let laundry get out of hand if it was spread all over the house in many different baskets...I only have TWO laundry baskets where we put dirty clothes.
One is in the master bathroom.
One is on top of the dryer.
Once those fill up, the only other place to put laundry is in the washing machine...so that forces me to stay on top of it. I do a few loads every couple days. I don't put it away. I just wash and fold it.
I will DEFINITELY be taking Aaron's mom's advice and replacing the laundry basket in the master bath with one of those cute three compartment ones, so I can sort as I go. Some even have wheels on them, so you can roll it right to the laundry room and begin making dirty underwear clean again.
My kids know that when they take off their clothes to get in the bathtub...they are responsible for putting their stinky garments in the dirty clothes basket. Ashton has been doing this since he was 18 months old!
After the laundry is sorted, I call the boys in to help me "pre-fold." Yep. I'm too picky to let them help me actually fold clothes. I like mine neat and tidy and in perfect stacks. Asking a little boy to do this would be like asking a turtle to run. But, one thing they CAN help me do is turn all the clothes right-side-out BEFORE putting them into the washing machine. This makes folding clothes LATER, once they are clean, go by SO MUCH FASTER! We also look for stains. This makes pre-treating and spraying stains easier...and is always a good time to reteach Hayden about this wonderful invention called a NAPKIN.
Folding
I fold clothes right out of the dryer. I always have. The few times I have piled clean clothes up on a couch to be folded later...I have hated it...and it has stressed me out and made me want to cry. Besides, they are so wrinkled. I don't feel like I've accomplished much when I put up wrinkled clothes. For all the work laundry involves, I want to feel like I did something super when I'm finished.
I always fold shirts with the design facing OUT. This is a must in our house. If I didn't, when my kids were getting dressed they would undo every red shirt to find the red shirt that says, "My brother did it."
Pre-kids I would do all my laundry in one day. I would fold it on our bed because again...I know myself. If I folded it anywhere else, I would never put it up. Folding it on my bed meant, to go to sleep that night...which is one of my favorite things to do...I HAD to put the laundry away.
Post-kids I've done laundry several different ways.
Although I only have TWO dirty clothes baskets in this house...I have a bunch for folding laundry. They are all perfectly stackable so they can compactly be put away when not in use. I had to do this slowly...invest in matching clothes baskets. Well worth it. Give all your mismatched laundry baskets to newly weds. They will love you. Remember the days when buying a laundry basket was too expensive? I do! "Do we want to eat this week, or buy a laundry basket? I think the clothes can stay in the corner on the floor for a while longer. I could get hungry this week."
As I'm folding clothes I put them into the baskets. They are not sorted at all. However, I keep one basket reserved for underwear, socks and sports bras. Another is reserved for towels. Even if the clothes have not been put away...those items are the only things that can RUIN my morning if I can't find them quick enough...so they get their own basket. At ANY point, if someone is out of socks, underwear, or needs a clean towel, there will ALWAYS be a laundry basket holding those things in the laundry room.
Once one basket is full, I set it aside and fold clothes into another one. This keeps all the laundry washed and tidy UNTIL I can put it away. Once four or five days have passed, and I have several baskets full of clean clothes, I take all the baskets to the dining room table and sort the clothes into stacks for each family member. I make "mini-people" columns. This makes sorting faster. At the bottom of the column will be socks. Then shorts. Then pants. Then underwear/pajamas. Then shirts. Then undershirts for Aaron. All my workout clothes go in one pile...shirts, pants and sports bras. They all go in one drawer together.
If you have a large family, sorting into random piles can be very hard to do! I used to stand there a few seconds trying to remember which pile was Ashton's shirt pile. Now that I'm making mini-laundry people, it goes by so quickly!
Once the clothes are all sorted, I call each child to the table to take one stack at a time to their clothing cabinets. They don't have drawers. They have wooden cabinets in their room. I have taught them how to neatly set their stacks where they belong. This means I have to keep those cabinets neat. This means, I rarely let them pick out their own clothes. They are messy clothes lookers. They each take their shirt pile, their shorts pile, their pants pile, etc. For our clothes, or kids that are too little to put their own clothes away, I put the sorted clothes back into a clothes basket and take them in ONE TRIP to the correct bedroom to put away.
When I had five kids in my house and barely had time to do anything, I bought one clothes basket per child and kept them in the laundry room. As I folded clothes out of the dryer, I would put them into the correct child's basket. Then, lots of times, after the laundry was done, I would simply go set that laundry basket with the folded clothes in their closet. There was a good year of my life where I hardly ever put laundry "up." Aaron and I would put our laundry away, but sometimes kids would be napping in rooms where laundry went, so I always just put it in their basket and then set it in their closet. No big deal.
Folding clothes straight into baskets did a couple things for me. There were no more laundry piles in the house. Laundry piles can make a house look like a disaster...and like I said, a couch filled with laundry was a visual reminder to me that my life was a mess and I was always behind. I felt like it mocked me every time I walked past it. No more! Everything looks much neater in baskets. Folding into baskets also took the stress out of feeling like all the laundry had to be put up immediately. When my family was small...that was a realistic goal. Once you have 5 kids in your house, who knows what's going to happen between the time when you start laundry and plan to finish it. With the baskets...the worst thing that could happen would be...we had clean clothes...but they were waiting to be put away in neat little laundry baskets.
Some other laundry things we do
Once we had several kids, we took ALL of their underwear and pajamas and moved them into the bathroom. Yep...you heard me right. Their underwear and pajamas were in the bathroom they used. I've used the actual bathroom drawers for this...and at one time, I bought one of those plastic, three-drawer Rubbermaid containers, put it in the bathroom closet, labeled each drawer with a child's name...and stuck their underwear and pj's in that thing. This way, they could get out of the bathtub and put their pj's on. And, when we had a couple kids at one time that were too little to dress themselves...this kept me from running all over the house after bath time.
I want living and laundry to be functional, so I've broken out of the box in this area. No longer do clothes go where kids sleep. Clothes go where kids get dressed. I've been known to have ALL the clothes for kids in one bedroom or in one huge closet because then, I could take them all into one room, pull out their clothes and dress them in one location. This made putting laundry away SO MUCH EASIER when laundry was kept in one room. I don't know what this will mean for your family...but I challenge you to go for function, not for what has always been done. Question everything! Who says kids clothes have to go in their bedroom? Put them all in something cool in your guest room...or the playroom...put all of them in one child's closet and all the toys in another child's closet...or put them ALL in the master closet. Some are big enough to hold the entire family's wardrobe. Make life EASIER! Having clothes in one place means having dirty clothes in one place...and having only one destination for clean clothes to go. I love it!
When this house is finished, I will have a laundry room where...are you ready for this...I keep ALL the kid's clothes. They each will have a cabinet in the laundry room so that I can fold/sort and put away their clothes DOWNSTAIRS where they are when it's time to get dressed anyway. Besides, the only ironing that gets done in this house is accomplished with a spray bottle of water and the dryer. Now all clothes will be close to the "iron." Their underwear and pj's will still stay in the bathroom. No clothes will be in bedrooms. When you have many kids, you waste a lot of time running from bedroom to bedroom trying to get each child dressed and to gather dirty clothes. Silly.
Pj's
Before the kids eat breakfast, I try to get them dressed for the day. This is so their pj's stay clean...which translates into LESS laundry. After they put their clothes on, I say, "Go put these in your pajama drawer." They shove them into their underwear/pj drawer in the bathroom. Awesome.
Socks
ALL socks for the kids go in ONE place, in ONE basket...right next to the shoe cubby in the foyer. The middle basket holds the socks. Since they all have different socks (see post above), they easily find theirs, put them on, turn around and put on their shoes. This makes things FAST. I like fast. Again...I have socks in my foyer. Sue me.
Socks are next to the shoe cubby.Socks and shoes are friends, so they should stick together.
Random Thought
Never wash or dry rugs with anything else. That's nasty because your clothes smell like rubber. Gross.
Summer Laundry
Since swimming is a HUGE part of our life in the summer, I once again opted for function over fashion. During the summer, we don't need to hang coats on our coat hanger...so instead, the kids come home, strip down naked in the foyer and immediately hang up their swim suits and towels. I wash them only after we've swam a few times...or twenty five times...whatever...and then from the dryer, they go right back on the hooks. I never put them away. The swim suits are under the towels in this picture.
Yes. I have towels hanging in my entry way. So what. Having it all right there, next to the swim bag makes life easy and makes sense. I also keep sunscreen and OFF in one of those baskets up there...and I keep extra beach towels handy too. Martha Stewart would probably cringe. But she doesn't have a bunch of kids...so she can take her lemon zester and stick it where the sun don't shine.
Laundry Products
We'll have to hear from others about this topic. Hayden's skin is very sensitive. We only use ALL Free and Clear. I do not use fabric softener. If whites are stained, I spray them with Spray and Wash and then wash them on hot with bleach. It always comes out. If colors are stained, I fill the washing machine up with HOT water, spray the clothes with Spray and Wash and then soak for about an hour with Oxyclean. Again...I've found there isn't much Oxyclean won't take out. If you don't want to soak them in the washing machine, you can soak them in the sink. I love fabric softener and miss it...so maybe Rachel knows something I can use that won't hurt Hayden's skin.
If any of you made it through this laundry post...that goes to show you...we are some sad, strange little women.
PLEASE share with us what you have found that works in your house! What is your system that keeps clothes clean and easy to find? I've debated putting clothes away in outfits instead of shirts/pants/shorts, etc. Has anyone tried that? Does it make things easier?
When I had a bunch of kids, I would also get their clothes out for the next day before I went to bed at night. I would set them in their shoe cubby. That worked great. Now, with less kids, I don't do that right now.
I'm sure this post is scaring college girls to death! Who knew someone could have this much to say about making dirty things clean! Just wait, sweet pea. But remember...all this work is worth it. What a joy children are...and serving them is one way we serve the Lord. I have to remind myself that God delights in me folding Lightening McQueen pj's...that it's a privilege to take care of little people every day that the Lord sees as so valuable. So don't worry!
So come on ladies...what works? What am I missing?
Spill the beans...
And if they get on your shirt...
Use some Spray and Wash.
35 comments:
This is going to sound pretty rigid (i.e. anal), but we have a laundry schedule posted in the laundry room. For instance, on Mondays we do whites, Tuesdays are darks, Wednesdays we don't do a load or else we do things that have to be washed separately, and so on. Whites are darks are always done at least twice in the week and sheets and towels are always on Sat. morning. Here's how it works: in the morning, the particular load for the day gets put in the washer and started (three of the four of us are capable of doing this job now). I don't mind leaving the washer running, but I don't leave the dryer running while we're out. As soon as we get home in the afternoon, one of us moves the wet clothes into the dryer and starts it. In an ideal world, when the dryer buzzes, the clothes come out and get put away right then. Occassionally we may need to do two loads of a particular group in a day, but most of the time this keeps our laundry under control. I don't like doing laundry every day, but it sure beats being totally overwhelmed with mountains of it on Saturday morning and feeling like you can't do anything else all day because you're chained to the house...
Also, I used to think everything had to be washed at least on "warm" -- now we save energy costs by washing everything but underwear, sheets and towels on cold/cold and we're no worse for wear...
awesome.
I need to pick a day to designate as sheets day.
Good idea.
I also wish mythbusters would cover the whole, "Do clothes need to be washed in warm to get clean?" I have wondered that and thought it was probably an old wives tale. I'm all for cheaper bills...so I think I'm going to try this!
well, even though i usually only do my laundry, one thing we do at kamp when you have 12 kids laundry to do as well is get a huge safety pin for all underwear and1 huge safety pin for all socks...then you don't have to sort through all 15 people's socks to find the matches! and it leaves no mark on the socks/underwear! i find this to be genious personally!
one other thing! on the trampoline post, joe white-the guy who runs kanakuk, has a trampoline room in his house, complete with basketball goal. needless to say, it's AWESOME.
I'm with the Weavers; I wash all my clothes in COLD water for energy purposes. I've also found the Spray & Wash StainSTICK to be more effective than the spray...at least with baby poo which is what I'm most familiar with at the moment.
We made a very convenient decision when Jude started to feed himself that we would remove at least his shirt for meals. This cut down on a LOT of laundry and a LOT of stains! There was just no way to prevent him from rubbing the meal all over his belly! Now he's a much cleaner eater so he's back to wearing clothes again.
For some reason, between the ages of birth-6mo, my child always knew how to get poo OUTSIDE of his diaper (and all over his clothes)...also called a "blow-out". I finally learned my lesson after the 9,746th blow-out that I should try using a bigger diaper. Since then, Jude has consistently worn one size bigger diaper than his little tush.
In planning for moving overseas, I dreaded the fact that I wouldn't have a dryer. But somewhere in the process I learned that the dryer is the archnemesis of my clothing. I don't know about you, but my clothes don't come from Ann Taylor LOFT. And as a result, they don't hold up as well against natural conditions (aka the dryer). So for Jon and my "nice" clothes, I've decided to start hang drying everything. My clothes last much longer now! Maybe I AM ready to move overseas!
That's enough. :0)
Sally
Well...this post made me laugh, but I was glued to it. Laundry is my life, basically. I do laundry pretty much every day to try and stay caught up with 8 of us. My sorting system is whites, darks, reds, lights, towels, bedding.
We have two places for dirty clothes -one in the master bedroom closet and one in the kids' bathroom cabinet. John Mark keeps his own dirty laundry basket and washes/puts away his own clothes. If I see him washing, I'll throw in some of ours that match what he is putting in, but most of the time, I don't even know until I hear the washer going.
I was determined that by their freshman year in high school, all of my children would have full knowledge of laundry skills, to bless their future roommates and/or spouses.
I have two boys who wear the same size everything, so that makes it very easy on their sorting. The only thing I KNOW I should be doing and am not, is buying one brand/style of socks for them and that brand only. All of their socks should look the same to eliminate sorting.
I also use multiple laundry baskets to sort clothes, but I do sort them into who they belong to. I call that child down to take their basket to their room and put clothes away. They have to return the basket.
Years ago, I started hanging all t-shirts. I got so tired of folding the t-shirts all neatly and then finding them hanging out of drawers when the boys went digging for that perfect shirt. They don't get wrinkled and they're easy to spot. The exception to that is the category we call "BIG SHIRTS," which are used as pajama shirts.
In foster care you are required to wash bedding once a week, so when we started foster care, I put that in my Tuesday reminders on my computer. That pops up every Tuesday morning to remind me. If I don't start early, I won't finish all the comforters in time, though!
I use Tide With Bleach, but I make sure to put that in as the washer is filling up, wait until the water covers the detergent, then add the clothes; otherwise, I get bleach spots on clothes. I use Spray 'n' Wash by the gallon, practically, but I've never tried OxyClean. I will! Stains are a way of life around here.
LH girls are a regular fixture around here, folding clothes! I love it. I had to swallow my pride on that one, but I'm OH so glad I did.
I do use fabric softener - Downy Ultra - and my family can tell when I've run out of it! They love the fragrance.
My laundry dream?? To have a laundry chute that makes the clothes land in a basket in my laundry room!!!!!! I would LOVE that! Hauling laundry up and down stairs is no fun. Aaron can do ANYTHING! Maybe he can build me one in his SPARE TIME! ha!
Monday is laundry day at our house. This is when I wash all clothing. I have a hamper for David & I and each kid has a basket in their rooms. I start my Monday mornings by dragging the hamper and baskets to the garage and spread out laundry baskets all over the garage. I sort the clothes into darks, lights, whites, jeans, and towels. I start laundry and I put it up as soon as it gets out of the dryer. I sometimes dread Mondays because of the marathon of laundry but I know that I don't have to do it the rest of the week. I occassionally do my sheets/rugs or other random things on other days but I love it when on Monday night I am done with laundry for the week and everything is clean and put up. It is such a sense of accomplishment!!
WOW! I am loving this. I'm so putting pj's and underwear in the kids bathroom. SO smart. I love the shoe idea but with two girls it would take a lot of bins.
I too find that hanging my husbands undershirts is faster then folding. We hang all t-shirts.
As for ironing - I hate it but my husband wears dress shirts everyday. I use Magic Sizing to lightly starch his shirts. It's so cheap and it has little smell to it.
Fabric softner - I use the liquid Downy and it is free of smell and everything else. I do not like my clothes to smell like anything. My nose works too well and smells give me a headache.
I use the cold/cold on everything except bedding and towels.
Ladies you have encouraged me to be more organized and learn to love it rather than hate it.
Oh last thing. Save up $ if you don't have front loaders. My parents gave me some for a gift. Well, my mom wanted new ones so I got the old ones. But they were new to me! You can wash so much more and you use 1/4 less detergent. Things dry so much faster as well. I save $ with detergent, water and energy.
This stuff is so great! I love this. We really do need to add comments, then compile them and make a newly wed book!
I admire all you ironing/dry cleaning ladies! I don't know what I would do if Aaron wore nice clothes. You women are amazing...and I hear that does add an entirely new element to laundry.
You should get to have something...something that sets you apart from a crowd...something that says, "She irons and dry cleans." Something equivalent to the Buddhist women's red dot. What could we give you?
Heather
Okay,
Believe or not, I made it through this entire post. Comments and everything.
Laundry is a source of ulcers and nausea for me mainly because I haven't had a good system. I get overwhelmed really easy at the volume and size if I let it go too long.
I am taking lots of tips from you wiser laundry divas. I like the schedule idea. I think I need that.
One thing I did that has helped is get those open faced cubby things that hang on the racks in closets instead of the traditional dresser or chest of drawers. I think they are made for sweaters and such but I use them for both of the girls' clothes. They each have their own. Ikea sells them for 6.99 a piece which is by far the cheapest around. I think the are 19.99 a piece at Linens N Things.
This makes putting clothes up super easy and quick. KK can also help put up her clothes away and get dressed because she knows which ones have t-shirt, shorts, etc in each cubby.
Also, I'm with you on ONE location for all of the kid's clothes. In our new floorplan, the girls have ONE huge closet to share that will house all of their clothes instead of having to run around to each room. I'm thrilled about this.
I'm off to do a million loads of laundry so I can get it under control and get it on a schedule. I'm pumped.
One more thing....
Jason and I were antiquing in Brenham the other day and saw the MOST fitting sign to hang in our laundry room.
It said,
'Laundry today or naked tomorrow'.
I love that!
Ha! I love that sign! I want one! But my boys would love to go naked for an entire day...so I don't know if it would work for them.
Only me.
Heather
okay..so theres a lot to read..and i made it through the post...but not so much the comments..but i wanted to include Lombardi Laundry duty. Growing up in the Lombardi household, Mommma was the laundry sergant. (sidenote: this will probably come in handy during the teen yrs). Mom only did laundry on Saturday & Sunday-i dont know how, but she did-shes an amazing lady. We received allowance. so when she was sorting,we paid her a dime for every article of clothing that was inside out. She also air dried our clothes..meaning for every hanger that was left in our closet we owed the bank a quarter...was this crazy? maybe, but it made her life easier for doing laundry and it taught us..not to wear a lot of clothes during the week..cause once they were dirty..they were dirty; and I definitely learned to appreciate our Momma who was cleaning them. After the laundry was clean, it sat on the back of the couch and we had until Monday to put it up..if not there was a consequence of some sort but i don't remember...
okay so thats my laundry story. that momma of mine..shes a good one and pretty smart.
I do a load of laundry almost every day. I do the loads in the order of how easy they are to fold. I do a load of towels because they are easy to either hang back up or fold.
I do my clothes such as pants and shirts seperately because I have a rack in my laundry room and I just hang them up to dry and not put them in the dryer and then they are right there ready to wear again.
I do the boys clothes last because then I can just put them in the dryer and then take them out as I need them...when I do take them all out to fold, I put them on my bed because I know I have to do it before bedtime.
Dryel is the best...dry cleaning in a bag in your own home.
Lots and lots of spray and wash because Alex also thinks his shirt is a napkin.
I'm going to implement lots of these ideas!
I don't mind doing laundry unless it gets out of hand. But I detest putting it all away.
My 5 year old and 3 1/2 year old can fold towels, so they are a big help for that.
And, Heather, I can totally teach you how to fold a fitted sheet, but I'm not sure how to do that on the internet. Maybe Phil can video me doing it and I can send it to you.
Aimee
I only skimmed the comments, so maybe I missed something and am repeating.
To stay on top of laundry, I've implemented Monday as laundry day. I finish all the clothes and have them put away that day, but towels and sheets often carry over until the next day. I only do laundry for three, so that is very different than two more. I appreciate your tips about storing clothes, those are great ideas.
If you don't want to use bleach on your clothes as it can be irritating (and makes your clothes smell like bleach), you can try adding lemon juice (about 1/2 cup) to the wash cycle and then line drying. The sun is a natural bleacher--I line dry our whites every other week and the times in between I just use oxiclean (if I remember) since it isn't as strong as bleach, though I never have that much lemon juice on hand...
As far as fabric softener alternatives, adding 1/2 cup of vinegar to the wash cycle (not if there is bleach in there as it can become a toxic compound) makes for softer clothes, but not as soft as fabric softener. Liquid fabric softener is a huge polluter of water, so we definitely don't use it anymore. It takes some getting used to, but once you make it over the hump, you don't miss it as much. I add vinegar when I am line-drying things as it keeps them from getting so crunchy. Have you heard of dryer balls? They are supposed to prevent static, but it's just a ball with bumps on it to toss the clothes around. You reuse it each time. Not sure if they work well or not.
Laundry is really a science, huh? Wow.
I do sheets and towels on Mondays and they are the only thing I wash in warm water. Everything else goes on the energy efficient cold delicates setting. Why delicates? It's less harsh on our clothes. Knowing our budget we just can't afford to have our clothes wear out and simply go buy new ones. We really need our clothes to last as long as they possibly will. We also dry on the energy efficient setting. Sometimes a couple of things aren't completely dry but I'll hang them out for a couple of minutes and then they are done. Drying is SO energy consuming. We may be moving to a clothesline soon. And as Sally mentioned it actually deteorates your clothes. Have you ever wondered what lint actually is? It's the wearing away of your clothes.
Moving on...Oxyclean spray is amazing. It can tackle any baby spit up, poop, etc. I've never NOT been able to get out a stain. I can't say the same for Spray and Wash or Shout spray. I've never tried one of those sticks before.
We have the 3 compartment sorter in our closet and it holds lights, darks and reds. We have just had too many incidents with red bleeding so we do a separate load. Anything that needs to be handled in a special way is draped over the side so I remember. Our house isn't very big so going to get Taylor and Beckett's laundry will take me all of 2 minutes. Small houses are wonderful in the cleaning/laundry aspect.
Oh, and our washer and dryer are in the garage so I am forced to bring the clean clothes in and fold on the couch. A plus is that the whole family helps fold, even Taylor. And by "help"...yes, she slows down the process, but she's learning!
I usually just do laundry all on one day and some times it carries over to the next. I like to get it done!!!
But we have a 2 story house now and I am with Melodi, carrying laundry up and down stairs is the DEVIL! Especially 9 months pregnant!
I wash lights and whites together, never had issues there. Then there is reds, darks, & my fav category Mike's stinky chicken Layne's clothes. Those have to be washed in hot.
I have extra sheets for every bed so I don't feel rushed to have them done in one day. And we just have the cheapo sheets. I get sheets at TJ Maxx or Ross and you can get good ones for cheap.
Otherwise, not really many secrets here, but I do love the idea of the laundry basket with dividers.
Well, having a "small" family right now, I don't exactly have a routine, but being married a short time, Brent and I are trying to figure out how to do laundry together...
Since we both work out of home right now, we help each other out in alot of things around the house. As far as laundry goes, I am terrible about putting the clothes away but Brent is GREAT!
In the last few months, we have had to revise the way we help each other with the laundry. Either of us would sort, wash, dry, fold, and put away...okay Brent did more of the putting away then me. I just really don't like it. I am perfectly fine living out of a basket...
Anyway, we had to revise our plan because I did not make it clear to Brent what was to be dried and what was to lay flat to dry, what was hand wash/dry clean only and what could be washed like normal. That was my mistake. There was not any major tragedies or anything but it would be better for some things, for the life of them, not to be dried.
We wash everything on cold using Tide Coldwater. I think it gets everything clean. I did wonder if it would get towels/sheets clean enough, but it seems to be working fine. I also sprinkle baking soda in the wash and use Downy Enhancer fabric softener.
Oh, I learned how to fold of fitted sheet from a guy in college. You will need a partner for this to do it properly or you can use your bed to assist you if you are home alone. Here goes trying to explain this using words...I am much more the visual person. First, you and your partner need to find all four corners of the fitted sheet. When you find them hold one of the corners right-side out (pinch it)then using your pointer finger, hold the other corner (like a tent), tip of your finger should be on the right-side of the sheet. Each partner should be doing this at the same time. Okay, take the corner you are holding with your pointer finger and stick inside the other corner (the one that is pinched). So now, your sheet should be folded in half. Fold down the extra part of the sheet (that fits around the mattress) inward, so that the sheet is a rectangle (?) but with 2 rounded corners. Is this making any sense?? Then fold like you would normally fold. It probably won't be perfect but I have found it to work WAY better then me getting frustrated and balling it up and sticking it in my closet.
I hope you can visualize that, if not maybe that suggestion of a video being posted will help.
-Leigh Ann
I thought of something in regards to disinfecting laundry or pretty much anything your house. It is a much safer alternative than using bleach.
I use Grapefruit Seed Extract to disinfect. It is an all natural anti-bacterial & anit-fungal. Its uses are vast and according to some of the research I've done, it disinfects better than bleach since it is an all-natural plant-based disinfectant. Bacteria can't grow resistant to it. But, I put some drops in the washer with my detergant. Hospitals are starting to use this in some of their disinfectants as well.
I laughed when Ash said Mike has a stinky Layne's piling of laundry. We have a stinky farm pile of laundry for Jason that has animals what-nots all over them. So, the GSE comes in really handy.
I have spray bottles with it in their too along with some essential oils to use as a homemade disinfectant. I like it a lot and it smells great too!
If you google Grapefruit Seed Extract you will find a lot of info. But, don't be confused with grapeseed extract (although still very good for you, it is totally different).
Where do you buy that stuff, Lyns?
I'm not going to post anything new about "running a house" until tomorrow. I want a chance to hear from everyone who wants to give us some tips before moving on!
Friday, we'll do exercising since it seems to be a favorite topic right now. Be thinking of what has worked for you!
You ladies are fantastic!
Heather
Unfortunately I am unable to contribute to the tips of laundry, being a single guy with barely 3 loads of laundry a week, and really being unaware of the details of laundry. I did have a question that I am sure someone would be able to answer here.
I just was given a queen size bed, (finally a bed that fits) and realized I would have to get new sheets and bedspread. (Yes, after I had it here in the bedroom. Sometimes I am a little slow and do not think of the details) So where would be the best place to get inexpensive sheets and such, and what I would really like would be to get a "hand-sewn" quilt, or a look-a-like as a bedspread. Nothing too expensive, but something that looks nice. Any idea on the price range? And what would be the care of those?
Thank you all for your input here. It is amazing to me to be challenged by things I never have considered before.
Jimmy!
You outed yourself on the blog. Way to go!
Well...since I will take ANY excuse to go look at Target online...
I found this:
Boy Quilt
Aaron just taught me how to make a link. I feel cool.
I LOVE Target bedding. We are a pure quilt family as well...and they have come from Target.
They are thick, heavy...and last forever. Really.
So, even if you don't like that one, there are others online at Target that are not bad. You would have to buy sheets separately with this one. There are quilt sets on Target online though. I saw nice looking sets running about $120 for the entire thing...sheets, quilt, shams, etc...and they list the care instructions right there for you.
I especially think the Terrace Stripe Quilt Set and the College Blue one are winners.
Let's all put our hands together for Target.
Heather
The only thing I can say at this moment that I am STILL living in a temporary 2bd apartment with my husband and 3 children.....
Be thankful that you aren't having to cart ALL of that laundry to a laundromat!!!!! And bless those of you who have to do that all the time!!!!
OK, I just have to ask. How old does a boy have to be to be old enough to get out his own clothes and dress himself? I think that would reduce the workload.
Also, from a Mom with 2 grown kids--it's ok for the stacks not to be perfect if we are teaching skills and responsibility.
I'm a little late, but laundry is a hot topic around here and I have some products to promote...
We have a front loading (stackable) W/D and I love it! Noah(5) and Addison(3) can pull the wet clothes out and put them in the dryer w/o problems. I made magnets that say "wet" and "dry" to prevent any confusion and I use a dryer bag for clothes that do not need to be dried.
My sister found these amazing blue Oxy laundry balls that are GREAT! You throw the ball into the washing machine and it stays for many, many loads until it is dissolved. Noah can actually start an entire load of laundry for me in the morning b/c he doesn't have to mess with detergent; it is great! I'm not sure how expensive they are b/c I had free coupons, but they are fantastic and I have never had any detergent left on clothing. Target carries them and I would highly recommend it. Did I mention you only have to throw the clothes in for many loads??!! (:
I also like Shout Color Catchers. You put this in a load with something that may run and all the color attaches to the magical sheet. I have been very happy with these as well.
I was introduced to Shout travel wipes which are good for stains while out, but the best find was the Clorox stain stick. Addison spilled cherry juice down the front of a cream shirt and everything came out before I even washed it. This girl did an experiment for school and the Clorox stick won hands down! I am very fond of OxyClean as well. You can usually find stained clothes soaking in a tub of very, very hot water at our house.
Another good use for vinegar is to put some in a dryer ball to keep darks looking new.
I also use 2 laundry baskets. We keep a wicker basket at the end of the hallway b/c our bathrooms are tight on space and Noah empties the dirty clothes into the basket in the laundry room each morning. I am the worst about putting clothes away, but my kids are well- trained. They have a cheap $1 white round basket that I fold their clothes and towels into and they put their things away each morning as part of their jobs. Noah does Tanner's as well. Addison also folds kitchen and bath towels and puts those away. The baskets stack in the laundry room when they are empty. I need to motivate myself to put our clothes away; I am pitiful. Noah even puts away Bill's white shirts, socks, and underwear.
Glynda Bricker and Flylady both recommend doing a couple of loads a day which works best for me when I am feeling better. I try to start one in the morning and do one more throughout the day.
I have tried putting outfits in their drawers and it worked very well, but not when the children are putting their clothes away. Flylady also suggests laying out clothes the day before, but I normally only do this for Sunday or on a busy morning.
I do hate folding fitted sheets also, but am very grateful for the amounts of laundry I have. When I am feeling overwhelmed or burdened by the laundry, I think about how empty our home will be when laundry is no longer a constant issue.
Yikes! That was long.
Heather
Heather, have you tried Downy Free and Sensitive for Hayden? I have issues with fabric softeners, as in, I break out in hives and look like I got run over by a truck with some of them. Thus, I use the free and sensitive stuff.
Also, the dryer balls do work. I have no idea how, but my mom has some and they actually work pretty well. You just leave them in the dryer and use them over and over again.
LD
This was from Lisa Smith...
I wanted to put it down here with the laundry stuff. She has four kids!
From Lisa...
Do I have to go to the laundry post to comment? Anyway, the best thing I've learned about laundry is that Dawn cuts grease. Seriously, pizza, spaghetti, tacos, dish liquid gets them out. The most freeing thing about laundry is that I've let loose a little. If I can't get a stain out, it goes to Goodwill immediately.
Things I've revamped with four kids...If I don't match the sock up when the laundry hamper is empty, I toss it in the trash. Yep, the trash. I also splurged and bought everyone enough socks and underwear to go at least a week without washing...in case of sickness, busyness, VBS, pregnancy, etc. We have extra sheets and place wet towels directly in the washer along with stained stuff or any items that we had "accidents" in and these are washed daily. I do four loads three days a week. Lights and darks for kids and adults. I dry everything. For the things that I have to hang dry, they go in a different pile in my closet and never get mixed in with the others. If they do, they get dried. If they get ruined, Goodwill gets a donation. Best advice is be laid back. Take it from someone who never dried anything in the dryer, ever, prior to having kids, they're only clothes! Laundry freedom is awesome!
As far as folding and putting away, I fold on my bed for the same reason as everyone else. Each child has a basket with their stuff in it in their room. They put it away themselves. All my kids like to help fold towels, washcloths, socks, etc. I had to loosen up my standards on perfect folding and as a result they are learning very well and enjoy it.
Confession...I'm scared to use bleach but think I'm trying it on my whites this week! Hooray for white whites.
Sorry so long!
Heather...
I never thought about having a front loader making it easier for kids to help! That's great!!
About the boys dressing themselves question...
To be honest, I still buy all of Aaron's clothes. I don't think he would ever even attempt to do this on his own and could care less if people know this information. So I guess I haven't really thought about when my kids should dress themselves. Aaron has pretty much raised our boys by saying, "Always let your mom pick out your clothes, because she makes you look cool." So...I guess I was always thinking I would just pass that job onto their wives one day...you know, pass the clothing baton!
I'm sure I'm being naive...so maybe someone else will know the answer to that question!
And I agree with ALL of you...at one point, I will have to break down and let them help me fold the clothes. I have let go of so much stuff as a mother...I surprise myself at how much I've grown...not caring about things that used to be so important to me...and starting to care about things that never mattered before. I guess laundry is my last stand. I'm holding onto my cute, tidy piles. One day I will have to let go and let Hayden touch my piles...I just cringed!
Heather
I think it just depends on the child as far as when they can dress themselves.
Michael has been doing it since he was five or six. He matches really well. I have all of his shirts hanging on a bottom rack color coded.
Alex is five and I don't know if I will ever let him completely, he puts together the strangest things...but this is the child who wears two different shoes and his hoodies on backwards (so he has a mask whenever he wants!!!)
Mindi Greene...mother of a million called me yesterday with some laundry ideas!
First, I'm pretty sure she's actually working on getting a patent for disposable socks. Keep your fingers crossed!
Second...
She and her husband have Thursday night sock party. They make a date of watching TV together and matching socks.
Third...
She does one load of laundry every single morning, first thing. She loads the washing machine, fluffs the clothes in the dryer and then folds them immediately. She stays on top of her laundry for THE ENTIRE family by doing it this way every morning.
Cool!
Okay, some of this may be repetitive to what others have said, but this is what I do...
I have a laundry schedule hanging in front of my washer. On Mondays I wash all the towels in the house...Tuesday I wash all the bed sheets (bedspreads once a month on the 1st Tuesday)...Wednesday I wash colors...Thursday I wash jeans...and Friday I wash whites. I don't do laundry on the weekend...besides, the Lord blessed us by setting aside a day of rest from our work on Sunday.
Before God broght this system of doing laundry to me, I was ALWAYS behind on the laundry. This system has WORKED for me for over a year now and has been a blessing to my whole family :)
I have a large nail in my wall beside my washer so as I pull laundry out of the dryer I put it on a hanger and hang it on that nail to prevent wrinkles. Also, as clothes come out of the dryer, I fold them and pile them on the washer. When the whole load is out of the dryer and either hanging on a hanger or folded on top of the washer I then put them in a basket for which room they belong in and at the very least put the basket in that room.
As for stain remover, I too LOVE Oxy Clean! I also have had great success with the Shout gel with the scrubber top. I use Gain for my detergent and for my fabric softener. LUUUUVVVV the smell of Gain and it works great too.
I don't fold and put my bed sheets away after bringing them out of the dryer. I put them back on the bed! I only fold and put them away once a month when I change the bedspread and bring out the sheets that match that bed spread. I'm right there with you about not being able to fold a fitted sheet!
I agree about boys folding laundry, it's better for my sanity if I just do it myself. However, I will later teach him how to wash, dry, fold, and put away his own laundry so he will be capable of takeing care of himself when he is on his own. If I need help, Justin (age 8) will go through the whites and pull out his underwear and match his socks. Once laundry is folded though I put the basket on his bed and he is responsible for putting it away. Okay, I must confess...I LOVE things organized so if you open his dresser drawers, they've been labeled with a label maker. Yep, it says on the inside where his underwear, socks, pj's, etc. should be placed in his drawer.
I have one laundry basket in the master bathroom and one in Justin's room.
One tip I've heard of for socks (I haven't personally tried this because I have one man, one woman, and one child in my house so our socks are obvious who they belong to) is to clip socks together with a clothes pin before putting them into the washer. Yep, you just wash and dry them with the clothes pin on them and they come out in pairs! How cool is that!?!
Okay, it's Thursday...off to wash jeans now :)
Kim
Hey Heather!
It's Kyle, Kirby's sister. I know this is an older post, but I wanted to share a tip from a Martha Stewart magazine I read. This will deal with those EVIL fitted sheets too! You just fold your sheets (as neatly as possible). Then you take one of the matching pillowcases and you put your folded pile inside! No more wobbly piles or lost sheets.
Kyle!
That is GENIUS and will be the new way I do this from this day forward.
It's sad how excited I am about this!
Heather
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