Laundry, A system we use, and love....

Laundry, well it's one of the to do's on every families to do list, that is not a favorite.... I've never known anyone to say, 

I LOVE LAUNDRY

sure some of us say I love empty laundry baskets, or I love when my laundry is all done.

I do laundry, I don't complain about it, much... I just have accepted it, so to speak. 

How do we manage our laundry? 

I prefer to do all our laundry together. I don't like to share my laundry machines with everyone. I've tried to have set rotations or wash days for each child, or sometimes a group of children, maybe by room. However I found that was alot more headache for me. Remembering whose turn it is, or what day we are on, what rotation we are with. What happens when we have an off day, or a busy day, and laundry doesn't happen that day. 

We are able to do all our laundry for our house of 9 kids, plus towels and cloths, together. If I run atleast 2 loads a day, I am typically able to keep up with our laundry. Along with a sheet rotation. I like to have 2 days of kids clothes and house towels to 1 day of parents clothes. I also prefer to wash our sheets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays if needed. Sometimes I have teens wash sheets on the weekends, when I'm busy with errands and house keeping. 

I typically start a load in the morning, during my morning routine. Typically I read my scriptures, have my morning time and devotional time, then I move to my room, to tidy my bedroom and make my bed. As I pass by the laundry room, I start a load, then it's on to my morning routine... getting ready, dressed and exercise. By now we've had our breakfast and started our morning chores. Usually about now, I am able to either switch the first load, or start my first load if I forgot to earlier! 

We then move to our morning devotional and morning time, then before we start into our homeschool routine, and my busy time of teaching and guiding my little crew, I swap the load again. We are typically done with our independent studies and my one on one teaching time by 11:30-12. At this time we begin our lunch prep, at this time I'm able to swap my load again. 

We eat lunch, while having a read aloud... best time for a read aloud, LUNCH TIME!!! Everyone's busy eating, and listening! :) Then we have a clean up time, and listen to an audio book, for quiet time. After that, I should have got through atleast 2 or 3 loads of laundry! 

I don't typically sort the clothes, they go straight from the dryer to a clothes basket. I also don't buy many clothes that need extra prep, aka I do not like to iron, and try to stay away from any fabrics that might need to be ironed!!! I actually don't even own an iron right now! However it's about time for me to get one, hubby has some nice shirts for work, that need an iron now and then. I do try to lay out any shirts, blouses, dresses or clothes that need to be laid flat to help with wrinkle ease. I also like to wash these types of clothes together, as my last load of the day. I'm more likely able to hang them up right out of the dryer, later in the afternoon.

Then to the sorting. Usually this happens either right after lunch, during after lunch clean up, or later after our family lessons are finished while the kids are doing their daily chores. 

 
(the white basket with unfolded clothes, are to be sorted. The colored baskets are for bedrooms, for kids to sort. The towels are sorted around the baskets in piles based on location. Clothes folded on the floor belong to the youngest 3. The boys put theirs in the white basket to put away. Youngest daughters is added to the daughter who shares a room with her, to be put away.... hopefully with her help)

Then the folding and sorting begins.... I fold all our towels, and washcloths, sort them by the location they belong. I also fold all my husbands clothes, and mine (which are typically washed on a separate day, but sometimes things get washed with the kids) I also fold for and with my 3 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old. Yes for some reason little ones love to fold clothes!! Go figure! I sort these by how they are sorted in their drawers, pajamas and undies, pants and shorts, and shirts. I'm a pretty simple lady, I don't go to the extreme of outfit sorting, if we are going out I double check our appearance before we leave! I also like to allow my kids personality and independence in their clothing choices. 

While folding I sort the other clothes by room or gender. My teen son in 1 basket, my 2 teen daughters in 1 basket, and my 8 & 10 year old sons clothes in the last basket. I sort my 2 daughters and 2 sons into 1 basket and let them do the final sort, because it's quite confusing sorting their clothes, they are close in age and size. Once I have them all sorted, my younger helpers gather their clothes to baskets and go put them in their drawers, and always inform everyone else, laundry's done.  I stack these in a basket, in piles by drawers... as mentioned above. Bathroom towels are put away by the kid who cleans that bathroom. Usually my little helpers help put away cleaning cloths, and kitchen towels. 

Everyone does the final sort, then fold and put away their clothes. Return the baskets to my room, and 

TA DA laundry is done, for today.....
ready to begin again tomorrow!!

Now when I say I swap loads, or start laundry, this can mean I instruct someone to do it, too. The I in the article, is more of a team effort, and we all help with the rotations, sorting and folding. On busy days, we meet up in my bedroom, sit around the baskets and start sorting... it ends up in more of a laundry throwing party of sorts, but it works. 

Weekends, I don't do laundry unless for some reason we are backed up or if I need to do blanket washing or extra washing... weekends are for teens to take care of their needs.... the machine is shared on the weekends.