Laundry Day

I'm crawling out of hibernation (although real hibernation is just now setting in for us here in Seattle) with a renewed spirit for blogging. It sure ebbs and flows, so hopefully I can churn out some useful posts before I decide this just a bunch of hooey.

I'm in the process of giving my laundry system a small tweaking.  Now that we're settled in a new house, and our routines are getting established, I think I can make the entire system more efficient.

A couple of years ago my son, who was 9 years old at the time, was interested in washing his own clothes.  I was pleased with his eagerness and showed him the ropes.  One down. Three to go!

The only flaw with that method is that the loads are too small and too far between.  I'd rather combine similar colors and types of clothes into large loads and have everyone pitch in with the laundry.   A lot of variables will affect how your laundry system works; number of little ones, types of activities, your own schedule, and how things flow in your home.  My laundry room is not anywhere close to the bedroom area and we don't have a laundry chute or anything fancy like that!  Thankfully, for now, I don't have any baby clothes or tiny socks to wash and dry.  Also, everyone who wears clothes knows how to put them away, and most of them take an active part in the process.  This is where this overhaul comes in... time to tailor it to work for me instead of me working for it!!

First thing I'm doing is going back to assigning bed sheet/towel day.  It used to be Mondays, but that was before I was homeschooling and Mondays were for major housecleaning.  Boy do Mondays look different these days.  I figured now that my 3 older children can handle it, they should all strip their beds on Saturday mornings and get one extra large load going in the morning.  The sheets can be dried and back in their rooms by lunch.  I will do my bedding on Sundays along with bath towels.

Second course of action I plan on using is something I've been doing for over 2 years now.  This habit formed *after* I began homeschooling thanks to the advice of other homeschooling moms.  I make sure to put a load in the washer first thing in the morning.  This means the basket comes downstairs with me when I go to fetch my first cup of coffee.  That load can be switched to the dryer (by a child) and then folded during our lunch time or just after we're done for the day.  If there is a lot of laundry for some reason, then I can squeeze in 2 or 3 loads by 4:00 if I need to.  This is where I'm trying to figure out how to get the kids more involved.  I might just bring the basket down and have them load the machine and switch them.  Or they can be in charge of certain loads that are already presorted thanks to the laundry baskets I have that have hanging bags to separate loads.

Today I gave the two middle children a little lesson on how to use the machines including how to sort loads, how much soap to use, and how to select the water temperature.  We went through appropriate dryer temperatures and times.  I will reinforce this by typing up (with pictures) a little "Laundry Protocol" chart to put up in the laundry room with information about each type of load and its settings.  (have I lost anyone yet?)  I got the idea for this laundry protocol list from a book called Large Family Logistics which I've been skimming for two days and am really enjoying.  Even if you don't have a "large family", I think the general advice for managing a home is fantastic.

Here's what I have so far for my list:

1.  Clothing gets sorted according to colors:

 Whites (hot water),

Reds/Pinks (warm water),

 Blacks/Dark Blues (cold water),

 Light Colors (warm water),

Multi Colors - stripes, patterns, mixture of bold and light colored clothing (warm water)

2.  Towels get washed by themselves

3.  Rags get washed with kitchen towels in hot water

4.  Look for stains, treat with stain remover, set a timer for 15 minutes, then start the washer

5.  Loosely fill the basket.

6.  If you use bleach in a load, the next load washed should be towels, whites or light colors so possible residue doesn’t ruin the next load’s clothes

7.  Hijabs, abayas, and silky dresses go in cold and delicate cycle. No dryer!

Line dry the following:

* Hijabs and abayas

 * Certain undergarments

 * Exercise clothing with spandex/stretch

 * Thin delicate tops of any kind

 * Jackets/coats/ski pants

 * Snow gloves, hats, scarves

 * Sweaters (ask mom, some of them can go in the dryer on delicate)

* Sports uniforms and cycling clothes

(I got inspiration for this list from this blog)

And finally, on this subject, I am in the process of fairly distributing chores.  I might have a laundry helper for one week and switch the next week.  This would cut down on confusion on whose turn it is or if someone got assigned a light day versus a busy laundry day.  The other person could have floor duty which would be my sweeper in the kitchen, breakfast area, and family room.  Yes, I think that sounds just right. 

Just like any task we undertake in life, it will yield a better result if it is well planned and if the right tools are used.  Looking at household work as 'systems' and setting up their structure in a well thought out way will hopefully make the task get done efficiently and well.