Comments on: homeWork: Systems

By: Trish

Trish — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:28:33 +0000

My new system: Instead of mixing up the whole family’s laundry together and then sorting into color piles to wash, I’ve assigned a weekday to each family member. I only wash that person’s clothes that day and it’s usually a load of lights and a load of darks. (Unless you need to bleach some whites- then it’s 3 loads). It makes the folding, sorting and putting away process easier because you just take the laundry basket of clean clothes into that person’s room and put them away as you fold. It’s really quick to shove clothes in a drawer and hang clothes in the closet if you don’t have to sort everyone’s clothes into different piles and haul them to different places in the house. I can do extra wash like bedding & rugs on the weekends. Here’s the bonus: I’ve noticed that I have a better attitude about this dreaded chore because I feel like I’m focusing on serving a specific person that I love that day instead of just “doing the laundry.”

By: jen zug

jen zug — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:25:36 +0000

Ugh. Laundry. I also do 1-2 loads a day. I designate a day for each load so I don’t run the risk of any one load piling up. For instance, I do sheets/towels on Monday, kids on Tuesday & wednesday, Bryan and I on Thursday & Friday. But to be honest, I usually end up folding it all on Thursday or Friday night!

As far as sorting, I have a three compartment sorter in the bedroom, and another in the bathroom. They are for lights, darks, and towels/sheets, so everything is presorted. The kids have their own hampers, which I never sort because their clothes are mostly second hand and don’t run the risk of bleeding between light and dark.

I feel you about the laundry baskets down the stairs. We have a three level house including the basement, so I have a long haul with all that laundry (our machines are in the basement).

I just taught Ruthie how to do her own laundry, so she mostly does that by herself now. She drags her laundry bag down the stairs, loads it into the machine, and starts the water. I have to help dispense the soap because the button is too hard to push. She can also switch the laundry from washer to dryer with the help of a stool (we have a top loading machine), and start the dryer. We fold the clothes together.

She’s been doing this a few weeks, now, and last week when I asked her to start her laundry she kept telling me “later, later.” Eventually she ran out of clothes and had to wear her “stupid jeans,” so it was a good lesson in natural consequences. She did her laundry that day after school.

A long time ago when I used to follow flylady.net, I remember her site had lots of suggestions for laundry systems.

By: trisha

trisha — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:14:07 +0000

Dang. I love this idea. I wish it could work for us! we are on a Septic Tank, a very sensitive one. We have to be careful to not use two much water in one day. I have to space stuff out, constantly.
We can connect to the sewer, but for $15K. So, until then we are forced to do a load or two a day. Both dishes and clothes. UGG! Great plan, though, Melissa!

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:06:25 +0000

thanks for writing your blogs… I like reading them!

For laundry: this is what works best for us. I only do laundry one day a week (every once in a while it will run into the next morning or I will have to do a load another time, but not very often)

So, Monday is laundry day. Every kid has their own laundry basket. I usually have them bring the basket into the room in the morning and I usally sort them (but the kids like to help too) into piles by color or type of clothes (jeans, ultra delicate, etc). Then I just keep plugging away on it all day. I need to plan to be home the majority of the day, but it still works bringing kids to/from school. I don’t usually do any other house chores that day and just focus on the laundry. I love that I can just think about it for one day and then not for the rest of the week! It usually ends up being somewhere between 5 and 9 loads of laundry for the day, so it is a long day. Often I do the easy to fold stuff first (towels, sheets) and save other to fold while watching TV in the evenings.
It works best at our house where I have a front-loading high capacity washer and dryer, but it has also been working here at the apartment for the last 8 months.

The down side is that Sunday, the laundry baskets are pretty heaping and the kid’s underwear supply is getting low, but just more motivation to focus on it again on Monday!