Laundry for the Survivalist!
So….I have a 2-year-old, 4-year-old and 6-year-old that needs a lot of help. school is getting out. I’m starting this blog. And the house is starting to feel CRAZY!
How about I share with you some of the tricks that I use to make our house sane, AND you tell me yours? And IF your life if perfectly and beautifully clean, you might just want to keep it to yourself and have a good laugh at the lady that copes by throwing laundry into piles!
First, The big L:
Laundry for the Survivalist!
…for those with not-so-tidy homes, and full days
It’s taken me years to learn. This is how it’s gone in the past:
The occasional person came over to help, (or a few years ago I was ignorant enough to do this too) – We’d fold a load of laundry and leave in out on a couch or the table…AND THEN… days/hours/minutes later the once folded laundry is in a crazy heap again…maybe on the floor.
OR…even more often, it’s all me. In this scenario, when I’m madly fishing through 6 baskets of laundry to find that one shirt that I need to match that one pair of shorts…for myself AND the 3 kids!
Talk about temporary insanity!
(This inevitably happens when I’m late to go somewhere and already tense.)
So, my new system (It’s not pretty, but in the end, it takes away a little chaos and helps us all stay clothed!):
- Essentials first: Do things in smaller increments, so that if you get interrupted you aren’t prepping dinner in the middle of a pile of clean laundry while your hungry family turns MANIC!
- Sort first. That way, if you don’t finish, everyone still knows where THEIR clothes are. Before I fold, I SORT. Each family member has their own laundry basket. I pour the 10+ accumulated loads on the kitchen counter, once a week, and THEN, madly begin to toss clothes in every direction until everyone has their basket of unfolded, albeit clean, laundry. So…IF the tyranny of the urgent intercedes: I don’t have to fish through 10 loads per person…just 1 basket/person!
- Why fold little kids clothes…they are so small…and does it really matter? I don’t fold my 2 and 4 year old’s clothes (as much as that makes those of you with perfectly ironed clothes cringe). As long as you know where you can find dresses, shirts, shorts etc…isn’t that good enough? I have bins in the closet for one child and dressers for the other 2.
- And…if I don’t have time to fold it all,
IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD TO HAVE A FEW DISH TOWELS THROWN IN THE DRAWER (gasp!), UNFOLDED! This also goes for towels.
- I put each person’s laundry basket into their room, and fold their laundry in their room, as time allows…so I’m not folding 10 loads at once.
- If you have kids that can…GET THEIR HELP (I’m not there yet…but I know that even now, my kids are SO much more satisfied when they have jobs that can contribute…bored kids make unhappy ones…as I well know (could someone please train me on how to train my kids–while being quite distracted myself!)
- Other rules, I’ve made:
Only clean laundry goes in baskets. If I'm a room with laundry that needs to be put up, I make myself do it while I'm there, if at all possible.
Clean PJ's go on their hooks, first thing in the morning.
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- When your life is upside down, it’s important that you be able to feel that sense of accomplishment…one step at a time.
And yes, sometimes my husband and I’s laundry baskets end up on the floor of our room. And they sit, and sit, and sit, and sit…for weeks before they are ever folded. But I’ve learned to be at peace with this. At least we know where to dig for that shirt and we aren’t frantically running back and forth looking through laundry basket’s anymore! Baby steps away from chaos!
It’s clean, and I know where to find it!
SURVIVAL!
a Rearranged Life 
I am loving this blog. Don’t know how you do it with all on your plate, but then again you’ve amazed me since I met you!! I’m one who does 1-2 loads per day (starting by 8AM), immediately folds it and puts it all away. Guessing you want me to keep my mouth closed about that, huh? You have a busy household and the fact that you share how you do it is great!! My hat’s off to you once again, Miriam!!
Love it! I have to say I was laughing about it though cause I’m the one who goes crazy for the wrinkles..lol!!! So my method is to leave it in the dryer for the fluff and fold or put it back in!! I’m also infamous for folding it and never putting it away so we often have stacks in everyone’s rooms that are clean and just not put away. Makes me laugh though -to each his own i guess : )
When we are on top of it, all shirts are hung as they come out of the dryer on a pole in the laundry room and everything else is folded on the pool table and the kiddos claim what’s theirs and put it away. The rest of the time, the pile is dumped on the pool table, shirts are laid out in a nicer pile (maybe) and the kids still know where to search. The biggest thing that has helped me is hanging all shirts as I pull them from the dryer….just makes the piles a little less daunting!! Love the baskets as they come out of the dryer idea. Right now we have baskets in each room, so many times a load will be mainly one person’s (or one room’s) stuff…thanks for the ideas!!
I just found your blog and I really appreciate this post. Right now there is a mountain of clothes on my laundry room floor belonging to my husband and I and our three little boys ages 1, 3, and 6. I’m usually up until midnight or 1AM folding and putting away.
Love your blog so far!
Thanks! I’m so glad that everyone out there doesn’t have it all figured out! It’s nice to not be alone and I hope my weird system helps you! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! -Miriam
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