After reading CJ's post about Laundry Monday, I was amazed at how many of you do waaay less laundry than me! Either you all live by yourself or you have a system or a secret that lets you do so many fewer loads than I find myself doing!

So please....help an overworked mom get a handle on this laundry situation!! What do you do to keep things from getting out of hand?? Does everyone use paper towels to dry off after a shower? I need HELP!!!! :)

Farmgirl - here are a couple of my secrets.

~We each have one large bath towel we are responsible for. When we use it, we hang it up to dry. I have a couple extra towels in case of an emergency and I find we often use those extra towels. Thats okay, because I don't have a large amount of towels. Faceclothes are used only ONCE and then thrown in the dirty clothes.

~we use hand towels to dry our hands on. Again I have a limited amount and we hang them up when were finished using them. Remember, its not the towels that are extremely dirty, its the hands and they are washed BEFORE you use the towel.

~kids clothes - again the kids wear their clothes for more than one day. We homeschool so that does help. Underwear and socks get changed everyday!!!

~adults - we have limited amount of clothing as well, so we wear our clothing for more than one day. Again underwear and socks get changed everyday. I also wear aprons over my clothes at all times when I'm in the kitchen. It saves a huge amount on my clothes.

I really think it comes down to how much you have in regards to towels, clothing etc. Before I started wash on MOn., finishing on Tues. I was washing almost everyday. I decided laundry was ruling my life and I had enough of it. So I went through all our clothes, towels, bedding etc and decluttered. It changed my laundry completely. Before, the kids were changing clothes all the time, even twice a day. Towels were used and usually just left on the bathroom floor.

Its so nice now to get all my laundry done on Mon. & Tues. During the summer when I hang my clothes outside, I can get it all done on Monday because I have a huge clothesline. I don't have to worry about having to do laundry any other day.

Now if were sick, thats a different story. Bedding, towels and clothes get washed right away!! We've only had that happen once since I started this when we moved here, and that was just before Christmas.

HTH

A couple more tips:

~my kids fold their own clothes and the rule is, you put them away as well. When the kids have to fold their own clothes, seldom do you find them on the floor or not put away. They don't want to have to fold those clothes the second time. They each have their own dresser and are responsible for keeping it half way tidy, so that all clean clothes can go in. Thats the neat thing about decluttering, there is always room to put the clothes away right away, rather than waiting until you have to take something out of the dresser, kwim.

~we use cloth napkins at meal times, especially if we are having spaghetti, chili, etc.

~I don't have a dryer, haven't owned one now in over 20 years. I use my clothesline in the summer, 2 clothesracks in the winnter. I'm still on the hunt for an old clothesrack. The new ones are something else!!!

My secret would be not having water for 8 months! A year ago in the fall we had problems with our well and we were very restricted on water use. I had to haul all our laundry to the laundromat every week. We are a family of 5. That was a huge task for me and I made that very clear with the boys. I set some strick guidelines for laundry.
They changed into play clothes as soon as they got home from school. They wore the same play clothes all week. Shirts they wore to school, they could wear more than one day. They didn't have to wear it for two days in a row but could put it on again later in the week. They need to examine the shirt before throwing it into the laundry, look at it and smell it! Don't just assume it's dirty because it's been worn.

Of course with limited water, they could shower only twice a week and not on the same night as someone else. We each had our own towel and we used it all week, which was only twice. They each have their own washclothes for washing their faces. They use the same one all week. It doesn't get that dirty just from washing your face.

In my case the rules had to be steadfast. It wasn't like I could slip in a load or two during the week if they ran out of underwear or something. Sometimes they would wash things out in the sink if it was something they really wanted for the next day. Having a washing machine at home is very convenient! Now that we have water again and I'm doing clothes at home, it's a lot easier. It's easy to just throw in a load. We have slipped a little as far as how much clothes we use but it's way better than it was before. The boys have been trained. ;) They know I do laundry on Mondays so they don't expect anything in between because I just say no. lol

I agree with CJ on wearing an apron. I wear one always when I'm in the kitchen. I'm such a slob.

We do as CJ does with her towels, both bath and handtowels.

Also, all our socks are white, but womens and mens different styles..so matching socks goes quickly.

We also wear clothing more than once before washing. I do the look and smell test, if it passes it is hung up to wear again, with the exception of socks and undier of course...We wear ALOT of cotton items, less washing means clothing lasts longer too..

I don't currently wear an apron, but I have thought to so many times...I am thinking of making some for Christmas gifts also.

Laundry is the one area in my life that is a complete disaster. Mel does his own so that's good at least. Ryan thinks if a piece of clothing touches her body is has to be washed. I am constantly making her pick up her clothes and look at them to see if they are dirty. I truly hope that she one day learns to be neater. I stay on her about her clothes in the floor more than anything else. She and I both have our own towels that you use for a whole week. Wash clothes, socks and underwear are used only once. I will wear my clothes more than once if they aren't dirty, especially jeans since I only wear them on the weekends. I still end up doing tons of laundry on the weekends.

I would say the same things-- your great granny wore the same clothes all week, but she had a few tricks to help her.

Teach your kids to wear the same outfit for at least 2 days, and more if you can manage it. Change to play clothes when they get home, if they can't be bothered with a hanger, compromise like me with the back of the door hooks. Give them their own bath towel, and a rod to put it on to dry between uses.

Adults too, recycle daily clothes by changing into play clothes, wearing aprons, and airing "good" clothes out. If you change underwear and sox daily, and allow time for clothes to air, you don't need to change clothes daily.

And of course keeping clothes nice means bathe regularly (depends on your skin-- I can't bathe oftener than every 2 days, others feel stinky if it isn't once a day, my sister is even drier than me and it's several days between baths and she doesn't stink, neither do I. Her kids pre puberty manage on a once a week bath, and they smell fine but they do a mini wash at the sink daily.

Your great granny had a once a week bath and she managed fine, because she did a daily "top and tails" which is what we call it in the hospital when we keep people clean between baths, sometimes for a very long time indeed.

I prefer to do my housework in my nightie pretty much, then change into my day clothing which spares a lot of sweat and stains. I change my nightie when I shower which is every other day.

I have 3 or 4 hooks behind every door. They are for:
a nightie/jammies that are re used
playclothes/work clothes/ home clothes (same thing)
the current set of good out of the home clothes

A long time ago I figured that it takes a lot more handtowels to fill up a wash, so I stopped using bath towels to dry hands. We have lots of handtowels and use them.

Bath towels people can use again and again (clean body we hope) esp if each has their own.

Ways to make sorting and putting away easier:
I take the laundry basket up to our room, dump the contents on my bed and open some drawers, my underwear, his underwear, the sock drawer and dh's undershirt drawer and I throw the fresh stuff into the appropriate drawer.

When I finish flinging (takes LESS than a minute, I DON"T FOLD OR MATCH ANYTHING!!!!) I take the linen closet stuff and fling it into it's boxes and homes. Then I fling the kitchen linens in it's drawer and the remainder I dump on the appropriate kid's pillow for them to sort, put away, deal with.

Dh and I share white cotton and black cotton sox which I buy in bulk for the best prices. Mainly the drawer is whites, but over to the side I have a shoebox for the black socks. Throw in. Do NOT fold.

LINEN CLOSET:
I have rubbermaid baskets and shoe boxes there. I just throw facecloths in their box, cleaning cloths in theirs, bath towels are rolled like a sausage roll, and stacked. Hand towels I fold sometimes, toss in box sometimes.

It's like the drawers, if it's confined to a drawer or shoebox, and it doesn't matter if it's folded, then toss in and forget about it. If you feel you have enough time and energy to come back later and fold, then knock yourself out, have at it, but I'm in the kitchen relaxing with a cup of tea if you care to join me.

Kitchen Linens, never fold, dump tea towels and dishcloths in their drawer. Saves time and energy.

Oh and the reason I do a mini load a day as soon as I've accumulated enough, is because I find it easier to manage sorting and flinging smaller loads regularly

but others find a single day in which it gets done, brings closure to this task so they feel they can rest. Bonnie McCullough in her terrific book Totally Organized mentions this. How nice it feels to be DONE and able to rest.

Different approaches, but the same thing. less work either by doing little bites regularly or one big efficient blast.

In her chapter on laundry she mentioned a mother who was always doing laundry because the house was small and the kids had too much stuff for it to get fully put away so the clean stuff got piled ON the dresser and the kids ripped thru the pile for the favourite blouse or top and then the pile fell, got trampled

and mum cleaned every day by rolling thru their rooms, pulling the laundry off the floors (where she ended up rewashing stuff that hadn't been worn)

The solution is something mentioned above, less clothing, so it's easier to get it all put away at once, and improving the storage space.

this mother was saving clothes in other sizes for handme downs and using prime space in the kids drwrs and closets to do it.

If you store handmedowns then store in an out of the way place where they don't take up valuable space for everyday clothes that are being worn.

ditto storing of other stuff in drawers. Mementos, keepsakes toys --those can safely go under the bed in special boxes designed for that.

WOW! Thanks for sharing such great ideas. Isn't it funny how you think everyone does things the way you do? I never even thought about not folding washclothes....I mean, my MOM always did so I just do like she did!

I think the towel hook with everyone having their own is a great idea. I do a ridiculous amount of towels - mostly bath towels. I love the idea of tossing the unfolded clothes in the middle of the kids bed and letting them fold their own things. Although my DS would probably fall asleep right on top the pile - he has a high tolerance to things being a mess.

I think you all make a good point about too many clothes. The more there are, the more you have to wash. I like the sniff test too regarding whether something needs washing or just airing out....although I can hear my daughter howling with laughter already...'You want me to WHAT?' I guess the alternative can be doing their own laundry. I'm sure then it will make more sense to them not to wash clothes that really aren't dirty.

All I know is something's got to give. I want my life back!! Thanks for the great ideas and inspiration!!!

Thought I'd bump this up. there's a lot of good info in here.

PS. After doing the ironing yesterday, I decided to count how many shirts my dh has. 36!!! I'm going to cut that down to size.

I'm glad this got bumped. I've a thought I want to add.

Out of season clothing tends to fill up a lot of space.

When space is cram jammed, you can't put stuff away easily and laundry day becomes a hassle to be procrastinated, put off till we can't stand it any longer.

I am doing my summer switcheroo finally along with a purge.-- I actually have done most of that this last month in between packing, unpacking and company!

It's really not that hard to do if you do it regularly every season change.

If I didn't wear it last winter, it's gone. --referring to winter stuff. Everything winter is put away in the downstairs closet because my bedroom closet is one motion storage for conveniance and ONLY SUMMER THINGS BELONG THERE RIGHT NOW.

This means I can see (and purge as we go) summer things. It means that I can reach in and grab stuff to wear, and it's not all wrinkly, but nice and fresh looking.

On laundry day it's easy to put stuff away.

When you make the task easy, it's like my shoebox containers, and just tossing. Eliminating most folding and pairing of socks for example.

When you do the seasonal switcheroo, it's easy to spot stuff that should be purged, it's the stuff you didn't wear all season long. Your "spares". Well there is a reason for that. It's because for whatever reason, you don't much care for it, even if it does fit, and look pretty on the hanger. It's scratchy or it bunches or it's the wrong colour or whatever.

RELEASE it to bless someone else.

You'll be glad you did every single laundry day.

I'm doing my drawers again too. Just got new bras. I just ordered some new panties, and I've done a bra and panty purge. With drawers it's the same as closets, if you do it every winter/summer changeover it never builds up to ye awfull terrible very bad nasty evil task!

Seasonal changes make it just perfect to go thru and make room LOTS of ROOM for putting stuff away easily, storing it gently without wrinkles and speeding you along the morning decision of what to wear, what to wear!

And it's a wonderful celebration of the changes of the season. I'll be glad to see my winter and fall woolies and snuggly stuff when the fall weather rolls in, I'll have something to feel good about, and I can put the summer things, I"m tiring of away and put on new clothing to celebrate. :hurray:

One final note, if you don't have an extra closet (I use the spare room closet downstairs) try using a barrel or bin or box that you can use as an end table or two. Extra storage. Fold neatly and don't cram.

FREEZE WOOLENS 24 to 48 hours in sealed plastic bags to kill the moths!!! :icon_wink

I've added a new wrinkle to my laundry system,

a triple hamper from Walmart, which consists of 3 removable stiff plastic wire or mesh bags with sturdy metal handles that I can haul out and take to the laundry.

it has wheels, and a narrow little frame that fits nicely by the side of our bedroom dresser by the wall.

Right handy to where dh and I would dump clothes for the wash.

Right handy to a bottle of 1 week stain remover that you can apply up to a week in advance of the wash

and right handy to a wastebasket for cleaning out the pockets of dead kleenex.

Now all we do is as we take the stuff off, check pockets, zip zippers, turn socks right ways out, PUT IN CORRECT BASKET (the 3 are lights, darks and delicates)

AND do the stain stick thing.

Hey presto ready for laundry day.

All I do now is check the presorted, pretreated level of the baskets, and do whatever approaches a small load.

MUCH simpler yet again. :hurray:

several weeks into the experiment and I wish I'd done this YEARS AND YEARS ago.

it's been over a year now and that triple hamper is worth it's weight in gold, as is the stain stick beside it, right up where dh and I undress in a corner of the bedroom.

It's up there with my fling and toss box method of sorting and NOT FOLDING things like sox, facecloths etc.