Monday, July 21, 2008

Laundry Day(s)

Rockin' Granola has a great post today about laundry (and a couple of really great posts before that about toy storage).

At our house, we recently moved from doing laundry one day a week to doing it two days a week. I know it's kind of silly, but I'm REALLY surprised at the difference it makes in the amount of clothing that we need. I never thought I'd make it through the summer with just three pairs of shorts, but it's been no problem (well, other than having to replace a pair that I "outgrew") now that we do laundry more often. (If I didn't spill on everything I wear every single time I wear it, that would additionally help.)

We don't have enough laundry right now for daily loads (though we would if we used cloth diapers), and for now, two days a week is working.

How often do YOU do laundry?

(Also, SuperDad swears by the method of putting laundry away after EACH load, but I haven't yet been converted. Which is why the basket of laundry *I* did is still sitting on my bedroom floor. Sigh.)

9 comments:

zdoodlebub said...

Also two days a week. No one in our family would have enough clothes to last more than a week without doing laundry. Unless we didn't care about matching.

And even doing two days a week, I'm loving how much more quickly the laundry goes in the summer. You know, because shorts are smaller than jeans, etc.

Lindsey J said...

We used to be able to do it just once a month. Seriously. We'd recycle jeans but we had enough shirts & underwear...

But now we have kids. And cloth diapers. We tend to have a big "laundry day" on the weekend where we do a ton of it and then do at least 1-2 loads of cloth diapers or other "oh crap, I'm out of underwear" loads during the week.

We're horrible about putting clothes away right away. I hate it. I *want* to put it away right away but it just never seems to happen.

Sarah M said...

I love your new banner!
We have a very weird system. We put everything in together (other than new reds, whcih bleed) and have 3 baskets that stack. When the top basket is full, I do a load, etc.etc. I HATE doing 4 loads in a day (if I haven't done laundry in over a week) so its just less stressful to do one/3-4 days.

Apostle to Suburbia said...

My 8-year-old is in charge of most laundry. It is her daily chore. We have three baskets, one for mom & dad, one for the girls' room and one for our son's room. Kitchen towels get tossed in with whatever needs washing and occasionally we do a towels or sheets-only load.

Her job is to empty the dryer, take the clean stuff to my room. Move the wet wash to the dryer and start it. Then reload the washer with dirties. I usually pour the soap though because it can be messy. I fold and put away unless there is a lot and then I rope everyone into helping.

We work at keeping our clothing to a minimum and that helps. Right now my son makes the most laundry (he's two) of anyone. Between dirt, lunch and leaky diapers...he easily has twice as much laudry (including his bedding) as his sisters.

I tend to wear the same outfit everyday until it's actually dirty. But I don't work outside the home, so I can get away with that. :)

Manic Mama said...

I wish we could wash only once or twice a week. I usually wash 2-3 loads each day. The heavier days are when we are washing bedding (which we do a lot of since LC likes to wet the bed AGAIN).

I wear the same clothes until they are visibly dirty or smell funny. :) My kids think if something goes on for 5 minutes its dirty. By the time I find it and try to rescue it from the hamper its usually wet and smelly. We are working on them hanging towels up to dry and using for a few days. This gets difficult if they go through the mud while playing in the pool.

Guess for the next 18 years or so, I will be washing A LOT of laundry.

Oh... and I think laundry should be put away after each load. I have assigned that job to the kids. So it often sits on the folding table longer than it should! I take it right out of the dryer, dump it on the table and call them over.

I DETEST ironing with a passion... so I try to hang shirts and dressed quickly to avoid extra work!

Cheers!
Jamie

Carrie said...

LOVE the new header! That is WAY too cute!!!

We currently are trying a new laundry schedule. When I get home after work if there is enough of any laundry for a load I go ahead and wash it and dry it.

I'm still not converted about putting it up immediately afterwards either! If you figure out the magic way to get converted let me know. That way I won't have two baskets of clean laundry sitting in my living room! haha!! ;-P

huddtoo said...

I do laundry once per week, but I have so many loads it really does help me out when I throw in the kids stuff mid-week. It saves me some time on the weekend.

I wish my laundry would do it self, I'm getting tired of folding!! UGH!

huddtoo said...

WOW. I posted, then read the comments. I've always thought I had an odd laundry system, maybe it really is.

We have a hamper for each person in the household. I'll do the wash once per week for each person. My son's (he's 3, so small clothes) stuff will make one load, I throw his sheets and blankets all in with his clothes. My girl will make one load of clothes, and one load of sheets. I do two loads for me, one for work clothes and one for play/casual/PJ stuff. I wear my PJs for a couple days before I throw them in the hamper, but my work clothes I don't wear more than once. Not sure why, but even tho I don't get "dirty" I just feel they must be washed. OCD kicking in.

I do two or three loads for my hubby. I swear that man must change his clothes 4 times a day, I have NO IDEA where he comes up with it all. He's got jogging clothes, work clothes, pj's and jeans and t's and shorts, etc. UGH!

Then I do a load of towels and a load of sheets.

So...long story short, I feel like I spend all weekend long doing laundry. We all have accumulated more than enough clothes over the years to go for at least a week.

Lindsey J said...

I've been told that we over-separate. I didn't post this in my original comment but huddtoo made me think of it. We have 2 of those 3-compartment sorters + a standalone hamper in our closet. One of the compartment separators was broken so we have 5 slots there--the big one is used for colors. One each for reds, whites, jeans, and khakis/dress pants. The standalone is my delicate cycle/handwash items. Each kid has their own in their room. Cloth diapers get their own, of course. A bin in the bathroom for towels and a final standalone hamper in the corner of the kitchen for towels, dishcloths and cloth napkins. Honestly, the system works great for us because we can then easily deposit the washed items to the room that they should end up in so if we don't have time to get to them right away, at least they don't have far to go. (Plus, we don't end up with bluish pink whites). Then again, maybe that's why we are so horrible about getting clothes put away...

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