I've had several people write and ask about how we do laundry. I've written a couple of emails to people describing what works for us, and since I've had some comments/emails from our blog about the subject, I thought I'd post about it here as well.
As I've shared, we follow a daily schedule. Laundry is acutally not written in that schedule. That being said, I do laundry every single day. With clothes for 11 children, 2 adults, the cloth diapers, towels, and sometimes wet sheets from little ones still learning to make it to the potty at night, we wash anywhere from 5-8 loads a day. If I don't or am unable to wash for a day or two, I end up a daunting mountain of dirty clothes.
We have a hamper in the children's bathroom, one in our bedroom, and one in the girl's bedroom. All dirty clothes (that aren't wet) go in one of these hampers. In the laundry room, we have the diaper pail for the cloth diapers, another hamper for anything wet (towels, sheets, clothes ect...) and then a 4 section cloth laundry sorter.
In the morning, the children get dressed and bring the hampers into the laundry room. Rebekah and I usually sort the clothes (this just takes a few minutes). We sort pretty simply around here...jeans; darks; whites; baby's clothes; light/pastels.
Then I start the machine. Throughout the day, the washer/dryer/clotheslines are always full until everything is finished. Our machines have buzzers, so when we hear a load is done, whoever is easily available between the older children or I simply take a couple minutes to put in a new load, move the wet load to either the dryer or clothesline, and take the dry clothes to my bed. There, they are immediately sorted into the proper baskets being sure to lay out the shirts, dresses or pants carefully so they don't wrinkle. They are put into one of 3 baskets...girls; boys; mommy/daddy/Eliseo. Sheets are just set on top of the proper bed and towels are folded by a younger child and put right away.
In the afternoon, during chore time, the laundry is usually all clean and the boys put away their clothes, the girls put away their basket, and I put away ours. The little ones put away things like socks/underwear, things that go into the drawers, and the older ones hang up things in the closet. Any beds that got washed get made at that time too.
The key is just for us to wash every day. With so many of us, getting behind on laundry can be a bit overwhelming. Usually, when this does happen (like getting back from a trip or being without power...a somewhat common occurance here), I end up having to dedicate a good part of a day to just working on clothes.
I wash our cloth diapers every other day and the girls or I fold them in the afternoon during chore time.
On Saturdays, the children strip their bedding, I wash their sheets, and they put clean sheets back on. I also try to wash Saturday's clothes that evening after the children are in bed so that I don't have to do laundry on Sunday. :)
First, thank you for sharing so much about your life. It has been a blessing and a help. Your family is in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteMy specific question is about the cloth diapers. What have you found to work best as far as actual diapers, for keeping them clean, and minimizing diaper rash?
It is something I've been investigating lately and I'm curious about what wisdom you have to share.
Blessings!
Thank you for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's so neat to hear how you manage so much laundry. I admire your organization.
Have a wonderful weekend!
I have a question. Would you mind sharing a little about each of your children and what they like? Toys, food, candy, games, etc. Or, if you've already done so in another post, can you point me to it? I'm slowly catching up with all your posts and am interested to know a little more about your families activities. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat happens if the washer breaks down?
ReplyDeleteI'd rather be quiliting~ If the washer breaks down you:
ReplyDeletea) try to fix it
b) if that doesn't work, you take it to the local repair man who tells you he has to order a part from the main land and doesn't know how long before it will get here
c)while waiting for the part, you stomp clothes in a tub or use a wash board
d)when you are too busy or tired of that, you tell the children they all have to wear bibs and stay inside with their hands in their lap all day so they don't get dirty
e)you pray a lot
f)you finally get a different washing machine...thank you Lord
g)you make monthly visits to the repair man to see if your first machine is working yet...after 4 months, he says, "they part will be here any time now"
h)if the first machine ever does work again, having two machines would be even better :)
LOL - amen, sister. I say two machines are better than one :o) And I only do half the laundry you do!
ReplyDelete