I am blessed with a separate laundry room that's not part of a hallway to anywhere (a first for me!). For a year and a half I had two washers and two dryers which made it much easier to keep on top of things. A couple months ago, the older washer quit on me right before we had to dump a bunch of money into our van. So the second set is purely decorative at this point.
We don't have hampers anywhere but the laundry room. The little ones strip right in there. The older ones are to bring their dirties in at least once per day.
In the mornings Caleb (7) sorts the clothes into our five big laundry bags. He'll often start a load then even though that's not one of his jobs (he's just that kind of guy!). In the afternoons he transfers whatever is in the washer to the dryer and brings the clean basket to the living room. I'll throw in loads whenever I have a short break, usually before breakfast and at night. Our goal is to wash and dry 3-4 loads per day.
As a regular part of our schedule, we have 30-45 minutes every morning when I read history to the oldest five children. During this time, the children fold the three baskets for the day. Each has specific folding assignments to eliminate the "she's not working as fast as me" griping. When reading is over, each puts away what they have folded.
Folding while reading gives them something to do while keeping their ears free to listen. This system keeps our laundry at a manageable level (meaning you can usually walk through the door to the laundry room). Now if only I could find a way to keep the little critters from throwing clean clothes in the hamper. Like when I find a shirt in the hamper with a hanger still in it! grrrrrrr
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I don't believe your children would ever put clean clothes in the hamper! What?! I thought we were the only ones. :) Grins! I know the pain and if you figure out a solution...pass it on. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome!! How many loads do you typically do in one day?
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