Laundry Time is Family Time

This week’s tips are a combination of little tips and major tips. Today, its a little tip. I dislike doing laundry. Okay – I dislike doing most chores. But laundry ranks really high on that list. And as we have added children, this chore is all that much more miserable. Lucky for me, I believe children should be doing their fair share of work to keep the house running. My kids all began chores by the time they were a couple of years old. And laundry was one of the first chores they all did.

And by doing laundry I mean they are increasing in involvement. Several years ago I got smart about this particular chore and went on a mission to make it more manageable. My biggest and best tip here is to color-coordinate. I don’t mean sort the clothes…exactly. I mean – color coordinate the laundry baskets!

Each of my kids have their own laundry basket. They use their basket to sort their laundry and bring it to and from the laundry room. When the loads get done and folded I just put it into their baskets and its up to them to come get it and put it away.

I only remind them once that the clothes are there, and then I don’t bother anymore.

And since they’ve been doing this for as long as they can remember they don’t complain. much.

Okay – I made my boy pose for this picture. The best I could get when he was actually putting the clothes away was this:

The best news of all is this: my oldest daughter does her own laundry. Did you just hear the angels singing? I do. Every time she walks in there with a load. And if she doesn’t do laundry, she doesn’t have clothes. And I am just fine with that!

To make it even smoother, I recently created a chart to hang by the washer to answer all the questions my daughter asks:

“Mooooooom!!! Do pinks get washed in hot???”

or~

“Mooooooooom!! I need to wash my jeans.”

“Okay…”

“How do they get washed again?”

SO-heres my chart, hanging by the washer, at eye-level, to bring peace.

{Why, yes! That is homemade laundry detergent! If you ask real nice, I might share my recipe(s) for homemade cleaning products}

Day one: laundry tip. Check!

Tomorrow: Feeding Your Family With Once A Month Cooking (OAMC). Strap on your seatbelts! Its gonna be a much LONGER post. Ye-haw!