amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

mamarina · 02-16-2005, 10:43 PM

We don't have a w/d in our apartment, but I really want to keep on top of it. I just finished an embarrassing amount today, and I never want to do it again.

I found today that if I wash, fold, put away, it is much easier when I am finished with the laundry. I used to make piles and put away when I was finished, but I was so tired of clothes they just stayed there for awhile.

So let me in on the little secrets of keeping the house clean all the time.

jessica_momof7 · 02-16-2005, 11:09 PM

with 6 kids, I do a TON of laundry. I have found the only system that works for us is this:

once I finally got it all caught up and put away....

everyday now, when the kids take off clothes...they walk in an immediately put it in the washer....when they take a bath, they put their dirty towel and clothes right in. then I start it when I go to bed at night...throw them in the dryer when I wake up to feed baby...and in the morning we sort them into piles by kid and they all fold their own clothes and put them away.

I of course do extra loads on diaper washing day etc....but it has been working GREAT!

I have 2 baskets in my laundry room (well, 3) 1 for regular clothes, 1 for whites, and 1 on top of the dryer for things that need to soak.

I have no more back loads of laundry and it is great!

my2girlz · 02-16-2005, 11:23 PM

As for laundry, I just try to do at least 1 load per day. If I miss a day I fall behind.

annb · 02-16-2005, 11:35 PM

Get dh to do it, that's the only way!

We just got 2 laundry hampers for our bathroom so we could sort clothes right into them, and then it's easy to see when a load is ready to go in. We have a similar system for ds and his laundry gets done separately (not necessary at his age but it saves on sorting and it's the way we've done it since he was tiny).

mamaferreira · 02-16-2005, 11:50 PM

I have to do one load a day or every other day or I can't keep up. It also helps to put everything away right after it is folded, otherwise it just sits.

Sharon · 02-17-2005, 12:43 AM

I have a laundry schedule, or I fall behind.

Monday - diapers
Tuesday - clothes
Wednesday - diapers
Thursday - towels (3 loads - rags, bathmats and dining room chair towels (messy eaters!), and bath towels)
Friday - diapers and sheets
Saturday - clothes and sheets (sometimes sheets on Monday)

Diaper covers get done when needed. The older kids put their own clothes on hangers and put them away (Michael still needs help with pants) while I take care of the rest. I pay them sometimes to fold towels or help with diapers.

Oh, I'm a lazy launderer. No ironing. No sorting into colors.

griffin · 02-17-2005, 02:11 AM

i will have 5 children in july and my mum stays with us.

to cut down on laundry which is a load a day, it used to be slightly more:

- we change bath towels, floor mats once a week
- the sheets get changed once in two weeks
- the older children are to wear their playclothes twice before it goes to the laundry
- all the children are to wear their bedclothes at least three times, ditto for me and mum (dh sweats too much to this)

barbs

cathleenc · 02-17-2005, 02:27 AM

I start a load at bedtime and then toss it in the dryer while my morning cup of coffee brews. If neccessary, I wash another load upon waking and dry it after dinner while the new load starts.

jeni · 02-17-2005, 07:01 AM

I do laundry once a week. I don't have the time or energy to do it more, and it would never finish! I do everyone's laundry to save on resources - water, electricity, etc. Bigger loads save money! I do all of it on Saturday, except sheets and towels on Friday night. It all gets washed, dried, and put away by Sunday night. This does require a big laundry hamper, but that's why God gave us Rubbermaid.
While we do this, we scrub the entire house. All of the kids are involved, always have been. My boys can scrub a floor like no one's business! We move furniture, scrub floors (with a scrub brush, or with a rag on the wood), dust ceiling fans, clean fingerprints from walls, etc. Then during the week all we have to do is tidy and a quick vacuum or swiffer.
Also, every night the kitchen has to be clean. We all do the kitchen after dinner, and it includes wet cleaning the floors.
I have a small house and a big family, so it gets dirty quick. We have to do this, but with the kids it can be more fun. This is quality time - lots of time together spent on a task from which the whole family benefits.

erika · 02-17-2005, 07:08 AM

Quote:

We don't have a w/d

neither do I. since starting this new semester(I go to school everyday and during the week I also take my kiddos to their activities and mine)I don't have time during the week. so, every sat or sun (if I don't work) I get up early and wash everything at the laundry mat. Fold it there then bring it home and put it away. Since I worked all weekend this past week -I will have two weeks worth this mon-I'm working again this weekend but I'll be on school vacation next week. Once a week is the usual for me.As for cleaning the house-clean the toilet and sink everyday , wash dishes and sweep everymorning and try to before I go to bed. Its not to bad -can't be perfect-good luck, Erika

~MamaCharly~ · 02-17-2005, 07:26 AM

There are 4 of us and I do laundry every 3rd day. I start with the diapers then I do about 2 more loads, I only run the dryer once because I hang up mostly everything except towels and the wipes and diaper inserts. As I am taking things off the line I fold them and then I just go put it all away. I am not the best at putting it away right away but it's usually within 24 hours.

This may sound gross to some but I am a stickler for, if you have not been wearing it all day and there is no visible ickyness on it, it goes back in the closet. Jeans, towels, jammies etc. unless they get something spilled on them I will not allow a 1 time use. I just feel it is a waste of water and time and it wears things out too quickly to wash them constantly, plus it's just how my parents did things. I guess that is probably how I manage to do laundry only 2-3 times a week. When I lived in my house that didn't have a washer and I had to go to the laundrymat I only did wash 1x a week, but it was ALOT of laundry LOL

Shoshoni · 02-17-2005, 08:23 AM

We do have a washer and drier and clothesline as well.
I got rid of our hampers because they took up too much space in our small home.
I use the laundry baskets and I try to do 1 load every day, and I wash, dry, and fold that load.
For the other chores, I have a list of daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly things I do. I am not that organized right now as I just started this system but it seems to work well. Dh definitely sees an improvement.

Erica · 02-17-2005, 08:24 AM

a friend in my mothering group just recently shared her secret which is pretty much a no-brainer.

One day a week for wash. Wash, dry, fold and put away and that's it. Dont do wash any other day.

I chose Sunday because we usually stay at home or close by.
It's made my life so much easier to get it all done in one day. I used to do wash everyday and it stunk!

eta: when Ellery comes, there will be CDs but that's easy to wash every other day!

beanandpumpkin · 02-17-2005, 08:38 AM

I too have the kids take off their clothes and put them directly on the floor in front of the washing machine. In order to sweep the kitchen/hallway/laundry area, I have to get the clothes off of the floor. Hence, all of our laundry stays clean and dry.

Putting it away is antoher story...I put that down on my list of things to do for today. When we start rummaging through the baskets for clothes instead of getting them out of our drawers, I know it's time to fold and put away....usually twice per week. Otherwise they sit in baskets. I hate folding clothes, LOL.

The other thing that's helped is moving to a warmer climate. The clothes are lighter, and I can fit more of them in the wash at once. Only for a few weeks did we have bullky sweatshirts, and jeans season is nearly over. Aaah, I'll be down to one load per day again, once we're only wearing tshirts and shorts!

Michelle

Barb · 02-17-2005, 10:00 AM

i do laundry every day . have a washer and dryer.

but i pick one basket and my goal is to wash, dry, fold and put away that one basket that day.

so monday is chelseys laundry. I pull her laundry basket out of her room and start the first load over coffee. She usually has 2 loads in her basket. My goal is to wash, ddry, fold and carry the basket into her room for her to put away by the time she gets home at 2:30pm.

tuesday is zoey and romans basket.

wednesday i usually skip cuz its library day

today we're going to the zoo so i'll just do cloth napkins, tablecloth, placemats, washcloths and miscellaneous stuff - 1 load

tomorrow i'll do mine and dh's basket

sunday i do diapers and towels that way i do a prewash before we leave and i soak while we're gone. when we get back i do another wash and rinse, then hang the outers on the line while the inserts dry in the dryer